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European Physical Geography and
Boundaries
∗
Caitlin Finlayson
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0†
Abstract
An overview of the key physical geographic features of Europe and a discussion of its boundaries.
1 European Physical Geography and Boundaries
Europe? Where's that? It might seem like a relatively easy question to answer, but looking at the map,
the boundaries of Europe are harder to dene than it might seem. Traditionally, the continent of Europe
referred to the western extremity of the landmass known as Eurasia. Eurasia is a massive tectonic plate,
so determining where exactly Europe ends and Asia begins is dicult. Europe is bordered by the Arctic
Ocean in the North, the Atlantic Ocean and its seas to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea and the Black
Sea to the south.
Europe's eastern boundary is typically given as the Ural Mountains, which run north
to south from the Arctic Ocean down to through Russia to Kazakhstan.
containing the cities of St.
The western portion of Russia,
Petersburg and Moscow, is thus considered part of Europe while the eastern
portion is considered Asia. Culturally and physiographically, Western Russia is strikingly similar to Eastern
Europe. These two regions share a common history, as well, with Russian inuence extending throughout
this transition zone.
∗ Version
1.1: Jun 21, 2016 6:15 am -0500
† http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Europe Topography Map
Figure 1:
Topographical map of Europe.
Source:
Image courtesy of San Jose,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#/media/File:Europe_topography_map_en.png1
In addition to the Ural Mountains, Europe has several other mountain ranges, most of which are in the
southern portion.
The Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Carpathians divide Europe's southern Alpine region
from the hilly central uplands.
Northern Europe is characterized by lowlands and is relatively at.
Eu-
rope's western highlands include the Scandinavian Mountains of Norway and Sweden as well as the Scottish
Highlands.
Europe has a large number of navigable waterways, and most places in Europe are relatively short
distances from the sea.
This has contributed to numerous historical trading links across the region and
allowed for Europe to dominate maritime travel. The Danube, sometimes referred to as the Blue Danube
after a famous Austrian waltz of the same name, is Europe's longest river, winding its way along 2,860 km
(1,780 mi) and 10 countries from Germany to Ukraine.
This proximity to water also aects Europe's climate. While you might imagine much of Europe to be
quite cold given its high latitudinal position, the region is surprisingly temperate. The Gulf Stream brings
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#/media/File:Europe_topography_map_en.png
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warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean to Europe's coastal region and warms the winds that blow across the
continent. Amsterdam, for example, lies just above the 52
◦
N line of latitude, around the same latitudinal
position as Saskatoon, in Canada's central Saskatchewan province. Yet Amsterdam's average low in January,
its coldest month, is around 0.8
◦
C (33.4
◦
F) while Saskatoon's average low in January is -20.7
◦
C (-5.3
◦
F)!
Europe Map of Climate Zones
Figure 2:
Europe's climate zones.
Source:
Image courtesy of Ali Zifan,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Europe#/media/File:Europe_map_of_K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classication.svg
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While geographers can discuss Europe's absolute location and the specic features of its physical environment, we can also consider Europe's relative location. That is, its location relative to other parts of the
world. Europe lies at the heart of what's known as the land hemisphere. If you tipped a globe on its side
and split it so that half of the world had most of the land and half had most of the water, Europe would be
at the center of this land hemisphere. This, combined with the presence of numerous navigable waterways,
allowed for maximum contact between Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, distances between
countries in Europe are relatively small.
Paris, France is just over a two-hour high speed rail trip from
London, England. Transatlantic liners can make the crossing from England to New York in under 4 days.
Europe's Relative Location
Figure 3: Europe's Relative Location on the Land Hemisphere. Source: Adapted from images by
Citynoise, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_water_hemispheres#/media/File:Hemisphere_land.png3
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_water_hemispheres#/media/File:Hemisphere_water.png4
This relative location provided ecient travel times between Europe and the rest of the world, which
contributed to Europe's historical dominance.
When we consider globalization, the scale of the world is
shrinking as the world's people are becoming more interconnected. For Europe, though, the region's peoples
have long been interconnected with overlapping histories, physical features, and resources.
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Europe#/media/File:Europe_map_of_K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classication.svg
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_water_hemispheres#/media/File:Hemisphere_land.png
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_water_hemispheres#/media/File:Hemisphere_water.png
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