CONTENTS A LAND OF CONTRASTS 4 PENINSULA OF PENINSULAS 6 THE LAY OF THE LAND 8 TOWERING MOUNTAINS 10 COASTAL EUROPE 12 14 A CONTINENT UNITED SHIFTING PEOPLES 16 18 RIDING THE RAILS SPOTLIGHT ON LONDON 20 POSTCARD FROM PARIS 22 WHERE ANCIENT AND MODERN WORLDS MEET 24 CLIMATE CHANGE 26 THE SPIRIT OF COOPERATION 28 GLOSSARY 30 FOR MORE INFORMATION 31 INDEX 32
A LAND OF CONTRASTS Europe is the second-smallest continent in the world taking up barely one-fifteenth of the planet’s land mass Yet this relatively small space holds a world of contrasts and about 50 independent nations Europe is home to very different climates from the warm Mediterranean region to the frozen Arctic North More than 60 different languages are indigenous to Europe and immigrant populations from around the world bring even more With all its differences however Europe has a distinctive culture Geographical factors like wide-open spaces and a dense transportation network bring the continent together and allow people and information to flow across borders Despite the long history of war between nations in Europe recent decades have seen peace and cooperation NOT QUITE A CONTINENT Although we know Europe as one of the world’s seven continents it is actually a part of the supercontinent of Eurasia which also includes Asia To be a true continent Europe would need to be surrounded by water on all sides Although there is some debate over Europe’s borders the Ural Mountains the Ural River and the Black and Caspian Seas are usually considered the boundary between Europe and Asia Russia and Turkey are both transcontinental nations with land in both continents 4
THINK LIKE GEOGRAPHER These photographs of Greece above and Norway below show just how different the geography and climates of Europe can be A EUROPE AND ASIA BOTH SIT ON THE SAME TECTONIC PLATE CALLED THE EURASIAN PLATE 5
