PENINSULAS

Much of Europe, which can be viewed as a large peninsula of Eurasia itself, consists of peninsulas; the largest are the

Scandinavian Peninsula (Norway and Sweden), Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, and part of Turkey), Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), Italian Peninsula (Italy), Kola Peninsula (part of Russia), and Jutland Peninsula (Denmark).

HIGHLANDS AND LOWLANDS_

A west-east mountain chain—the Alpine—traverses Europe. It includes the following ranges: the Pyrenees (separating France and Spain); the Alps (in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia); the Dinaric Alps along the Adriatic coast (in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, and Albania); the Carpathians (in Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, and Romania); the Balkans (in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia); and the Caucasus (separating Russia from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan). Other notable ranges are the Apennines, extending through much of Italy, and the Urals, separating European Russia from Asian Russia. The Scandinavian Peninsula is also mountainous, its highest range the Kj0len (Norwegian) or Kolen (Swedish) Mountains.

The highest point in Europe is Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus, at 18,481 feet above sea level. The lowest point is located along the Caspian Sea’s north shore, at 92 feet below sea level. Between the mountainous Scandinavian Peninsula in the north and the Alpine chain in the south, and extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Urals, lies the Great European Plain. The Central European Uplands, consisting of a number of ranges, break up the plain. In the east is found some steppe country.

RIVERS AND LAKES_

Among the larger rivers in Europe, from west to east, are the Thames in England; the Tagus in Spain and Portugal; the Garonne in Spain and France; the Loire in France; the Seine in France; the Rhone in Switzerland and France; the Rhine in Switzerland, Liechtenstein (border), Austria (border), Germany, and Netherlands; the Elbe in the Czech Republic and Germany; the Oder in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany; the Vistula in Poland; the Danube in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia (border), Yugoslavia, Bulgaria (border), and Romania; the Dnieper in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine; the Dniester in Ukraine and Moldova; the Don in Russia; and the Volga in Russia.

The mountainous areas, especially in the Alps of Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, have numerous lakes, as do some plains regions, especially in Sweden, Finland, and Poland. The largest European lake is Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia.

CLIMATE_

Europe’s changeable climate results from air-mass circulation. Both polar air masses from near Iceland and tropical masses from near the Azores, with differing climatic effects, have a relatively unimpeded path eastward, as do continental air masses. The west-east mountains prevent the ready interchange of tropical and polar air masses. It can be said in general that the prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean pass over the ocean current known as the North Atlantic Drift and cause a moderating effect and significant rainfall in the west, with cooler and drier weather to the east.

Europe can be discussed as four climate types. A maritime climate, influenced by the maritime air masses, is found in the east on Atlantic islands, as well as much of Norway, southern Sweden, western France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, northern Germany, and northwestern Spain. Temperatures vary according to latitude and altitude but are moderate compared to those of similar latitudes elsewhere. The weather is changeable. There occurs year-round precipitation, the greatest amount in autumn and early winter.

To the east in central Sweden, southern Finland, southern Norway, eastern France, southwestern Germany, and much of central and southeastern Europe is found a transitional climate, resulting from the interaction of maritime and continental air masses. Winters are colder, and summers, especially in the lowlands, are warmer. Precipitation is adequate to abundant, especially in the summer; snowfall is plentiful in the mountains but not elsewhere.

A continental climate type is located in northern Sweden, most of Finland, northern Ukraine, eastern Belarus, and all of European Russia. There is less precipitation than in the west, but with more snowfall due to colder and longer winters and more snow cover than to the west. To the south precipitation can be scarce.

The subtropical Mediterranean climate along the coastal regions of southern Europe is characterized by hot and dry summers, and mild and wet winters.

With part of Europe above the Arctic Circle, tundra and subarctic climates are found in the north. Mediterranean regions in the south have a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and rainfall generally only in winter; there are some subtropical regions as well.

VEGETATION ZONES_

Most of Europe, except the treeless tundra in the far north and the grasslands of the Great European Plain, was originally forested. The tundra, located in northernmost parts of Scandinavia and Russia—as well as part of Iceland—is a generally flat and treeless region that is frozen in winter and marshy in summer, with a permanently frozen subsoil (permafrost) and low-growing vegetation, such as mosses, lichens, and dwarf shrubs. Similar vegetation occurs at high altitudes of the Alps and Urals.

To the south of the tundra, also in Scandinavia and Russia, lie the predominantly coniferous forests and swamplands of the taiga, also called the boreal forest, meaning “northern” forest. The more northerly boreal zone is “open,” with a combination of conifers, willows, birch thickets, and lichen. The more southerly “closed” boreal forest has more trees: conifers, birch, and larch.

A mixed forest of deciduous broadleaf trees once stretched across the heart of Europe, from the British Isles to the Urals; it exists now only in patches. The Mediterranean vegetation consists of broad leaf evergreen shrubs, bushes, and small trees. The steppes of southwestern Russia and Ukraine have both wooded-steppe and grass-steppe areas. Around the north-northwest coast of the Caspian Sea is found semidesert vegetation.

Er, crossbill, blackbird, tomtit, bullfinch, swan, duck, goose, lapwing, partridge, and lark. Seabirds are found offshore and in coastal areas. European waters have a wide variety of fish, such as cod, mackerel, herring, and tuna; sturgeon are found in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.