Europe's exceptional locational advantages
its relative location at the crossroads of the land hemisphere creates maximum efficiency for contact with much of the rest of the world. Europe is nowhere far from the ocean and its avenues of seaborne trade and conquest. It has navigable rivers and a sy
local functional specialization
it is a hallmark of europe's economic geography that later spread to many other parts of the world, whereby particular people in particular places concentrate on the production of particular goods and services
negative natural population growth
europe's population used to be exploding, sending people to the colonies of the New World. today europe's native population is actually shrinking. each woman must (statistically) bear 2.1 children to keep the population from declining. This poses serious
muslim immigrants
the majority of these______ immigrants are generally more religious than the christian natives. integration and assimilation of ______communities into the national mainstream has been slow and their education and islamic immigrants are highly concentrated
switzerland 2009
the swiss electorate approved a law that prohibits construction of minarets. a minaret of the swiss thought their culture was under threat from islam and that minarets gave expression to an overly assertive minority. others opposed the law, saying the fea
supranationalism
geographers define it as voluntary association in economic, political, or cultural spheres of three or more independent states willing to yield some measure of sovereignty for their mutual benefit. It is a venture involving three or more states' political
treaty of rome
six countries joined to become the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958, also called the common market. int 1973, the UK, Ireland, and Denmark joined and the renamed European Community (EC) now encompassed 9 members. membership eventually reached 15
euro
a single currency for the EU and has expanded with the introduction of a single central bank
four motors of europe
this refers to the growth centers of europe. they are France's SE Rhone-Alps region (centered on the country's second largest city, Lyon); Lombardy in north central Italy (focused on milan); catalonia in NE spain (anchored by barcelona); and baden-wurttem
devolution
the process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government. it is a powerful centrifugal force whereby regions and people within a state demand and gain political autonomy at
west germany 1990
west germany' population was 62 million in 1990. reuinification of germany that year was more of a rescue than a merger, costing west germany greatly. sales taxes increased and a surcharge on income tax was imposed. it was projected that it would take dec
primate city
a city that is disproportionately large compared to all others in the urban system, and exceptionally expressive of the nation's culture (ex. paris). it is a country's largest city, ranking atop its urban hierarchy, and is most expressive of the national
napoleon's rule
france was divided into a great number of "departements" (eventually 96), each of which had representation in paris, but with power concentrated in the capital. this remained in place for 200 years with the country tightly integrated and without notable r
netherland's triangular core region (randstad)
this is a roughly triangular urban core area anchored by amsterdam (constitutional capital), rotterdam (europe's largest port), and the hague (the seat of government). this conurbation (large urban area with two or more cities merged spatially) now forms
belgium's cultural fault line
this cuts diagonally across the country, separating a flemish-speaking majority (54%) centered on flanders in the NW from a french-speaking minority (36%) in SE wallonia. brussels, the french-speaking capital, lies like an island in the flemish-speaking s
brussels
the mainly french-speaking capital of belgium that is a cultural island in the flemish-speaking sector. it is one of belgium's greatest assets because it serves as the HQ, and in many ways as the functional capital, of the EU (though the EU has no officia
zurich vs. geneva
zurich is in the german-speaking sector and is the financial center. geneva is in the french-speaking sector and is one of the world's most industrialized cities
eastward austria
it has a historical geography that is far more reminiscent of unstable eastern europe than that of switzerland. even its physical geography seems to demand it looks eastward: it is at its widest, lowest and most productive in the east where the danube lin
vienna
it is the alpine subregion's largest city and is one of the most expressive primate cities with magnificent architecture and art. it is the mainland core's easternmost city. it became more centralized as the EU border shifted eastward
4 subregions of the UK
england, wales, scotland, and northern ireland
the "celtic tiger
hard-won independence in 1921 did no bring economic prosperity until the last few decades of the 20th century. Ireland was likened to the miraculous development of the so-called "asian tigers." for some time, they had the highest economic growth rates of
two countries of italy
italy is often described in terms of the progressive north and a stagnant south (known as the mezzogiorno). the urban, industrialized north is part of europe's core; the low-income south typifies the periphery. the north and south are bound by rome which
autonomous communities of spain
AC's (as they are also called) were created for all 17 regions as a result of devolution. every AC has its own parliament and administration that control planning, public works, cultural affairs, education, environmental policy, and even, to some extent,
catalans
catalans like to remind visitors to their corner of spain that most of the country's industrial raw materials are found in the NW, but most of its major industrial development has occurred in the NE, where innovation and skills drive a high-tech regional
catalonia vs. castile
these relations are a product of history. during the spanish civil war, franco brought all of spain under his control and violently crushed resistance in several regions, especially in catalonia. francos rule was bitterly resented in barcelona. things hav
gibraltar
the rock" was ceded by spain to the british in 1713. it has been a british colony ever since. spanish governments have since demanded it returned to madrid's rule, but the colony's residents are against it. under their 1969 constitution, gibraltarians ha
cyprus
in 1974, civil war engulfed the island. turkey sent in troops resulting in the partition of cyprus into norther turkish and southern greek sectors. in 1983, the 40% of cyprus under turkish control, wth about 100,000 inhabitants, declared itself the indepe
shatterbelt
a zone of persistent splintering and fracturing. it is a region caught between stronger colliding external political forces, under persistent stress and often fragmented by aggressive rivals. eastern europe (i.e. serbia) and south east asia are classic ex
balkanization
the fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile political units. named after the historically contentious balkan peninsula of SE europe. this denotes the recurrent division and fragmentation of a region
norway's economic life
it has been changed from the fishing industry, fish farms and merchant marine and has now been transformed by the bounty of oil and natural gas discovered in its sector of the north sea
singapore of the baltic
copenhagen has been called this because it has long been a port that collects, stores, and transships large quantities of goods
break of bulk
copenhagen is an example... it is a location along a transport route where goods must be transferred from one carrier to another. in a port, the cargoes of ships are unloaded, and put on trains, trucks or perhaps smaller river boats for inland distributio
entrepot
a place, usually a port city, where goods are stored, imported and transhipped. aka a break of bulk point. an example is copenhagen
kalaallit nunaat
this is greenland. it had been a colony of denmark, then a province (1953), and in 1979 the 60,000 inhabitants were given home rule with an inuit name, _____________. they exercised their rights by withdrawing from the EU of which they had become a part o
europe's stateless nation
the roma gypsies are a stateless nation. their origins are uncertain and they have remained mobile, living in poverty. they face discrimination, resentment, unemployment, and poor health conditions. mobile lifestyle means low education
ethnic magyar remnants
these are hungarians who moved into the danube basin ~1000 years ago from an asian source. they converted fertile lowlands into a thriving nation-state. remnants can be found in romania, serbia, slovakia, and the government in budapest has a history of ir
irredentism
a government's support for ethnic of cultural cohorts in neighboring or more distant countries. it comes from an 1800's italian campaign to annex the italian-speaking portion of austria (aka "italia irredenta" - unredeemed italy). a policy of cultural ext