Now in an updated, full-color edition, this leading textbook has been thoroughly revised to reflect the sweeping economic, social, political, and environmental changes facing Europe. Inclusive, rich in ideas, lively, interesting, and humanistic, The European Culture Area remains the text of choice for courses on the geography of Europe.

Now in a completely updated, full-color edition, this leading textbook has been thoroughly revised to reflect the sweeping economic, social, and political changes the past decade has brought to Europe and to incorporate new research and teaching approaches in regional geography. The authors have especially expanded their discussion of climate change and other environmental challenges facing Europe; migration and the rise of right-wing populist movements; and Brexit and other issues facing the EU. They employ a cultural-historical approach that is ideally suited to facilitate understanding of Europe’s complex geographical character. Their topical organization—including environment, ethnicity, religion, language, demography, politics, industry, and urban and rural life—offers students a holistic understanding of the diverse cultural area that is Europe. Inclusive, rich in ideas, lively, interesting, and humanistic, The European Culture Area remains the text of choice for courses on the geography of Europe.

List of Illustrations

Preface

A Note about Place Names

1 What and Where Is Europe?

Europe as a Physical Entity

Europe as a Human Entity

Socioeconomic Characteristics

Europe and the Wider World

This Book’s Approach

Why Study Europe?

Sources and Suggested Readings

2 The Physical Environment

Europe’s Geomorphology and Hydrogeography

Mountains

Hills

Plains

Hydrogeography

Europe’s Climate

Marine West Coast

Mediterranean

Humid Continental

Minor Climate Types

Vegetation and Soils

Forests

Treeless Areas

Soils

Human Alteration of the Environment

Human Modification of Lands and Waters

The Special Case of the Netherlands

Human Modification of the Atmosphere

Human Impacts on Forests

Environmentalism

Sources and Suggested Readings

3 Demography

Geogenetics

Population Distribution and Density

Population Growth Rates

Natural Increase

Migration

Major Influences on Population Geography

Environmental Influences

Socioeconomic and Political Influences

Land-use and Population Policies

Scale Differences

Sources and Suggested Readings

4 The Pattern of Languages

Languages and Language Families

The Diffusion of Indo-European

Tongues into Europe

The Three Major Subfamilies of Indo-European

Romance Languages

Germanic Languages

The Special Case of English

Slavic Languages

Other Indo-European

Languages

Non-Indo-

European

Languages

Linguistic Decline and Revival

Multilingualism

The Disconnect Between Linguistic and Political Boundaries

Sources and Suggested Readings

5 The Geography of Religion

Pre-Christian

Europe

Diffusion of Christianity

Christian Fragmentation

The Roman Catholic Realm

Pilgrimages

Winds of Change

The Protestant Realm

The Eastern Orthodox Realm

The East–West Divide

Uniate and Armenian Churches

Dechristianization

Sects and Cults

Non-Christian

Minorities

Islam

Judaism

Conclusion

Sources and Suggested Readings

6 The European State System

The Pattern of States

The Emergence of the European State Pattern

The Twentieth-Century

European State

Case Studies

France: The Quintessential Unitary State

Germany: Federalism in the European Core

The United Kingdom: Core–Periphery Tensions

Italy: Roman Legacy

Spain: A Multiethnic State

Switzerland and Belgium: Astride a Language Divide

Fragmentation in the Balkans: Yugoslavia and Its Successor States

Russia and the Former Soviet Union

Ukraine: From Border Province to Independent State

Challenges to the Territorial State

The Rise of the European Union

Other Supranational Engagements

Sources and Suggested Readings

7 Land and Life in the Rural Sector

Traditional Agriculture

Mediterranean Agriculture

Three-Field

Farming

Hardscrabble Herder-Farmers

Shifting Cultivation in the North

Nomadic Herding

Traditional Land Divisions and Settlement Characteristics

New Crop Introductions

Modern Agricultural Systems

Market Gardening

Dairying

Cattle and Hog Raising

Sheep Raising

Cash Grain Farming

Reindeer Ranching

Fishing and Fish Farming

Land Tenure in the Modern Era

Production Patterns in the Modern Era

Rural Depopulation

Preserving Rural Landscapes

Sources and Suggested Readings

8 Manufacturing and Industry

Historical Overview (Pre–Eighteenth Century)

Traditional Manufacturing Systems

The Industrial Revolution

Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution

Diffusion beyond the Coalfields

Impacts of Industrialization

Social Impacts

Environmental Impacts

Transportation Innovations and Their Significance

Roads

Railroads

Waterways

Pipelines

Air Transport

Deindustrialization

Industrial Rejuvenation

Contemporary Patterns

Sources and Suggested Readings

9 The Postindustrial Economy and the Quest for European Integration

The Nature of Europe’s Service and Information Economy

Communications

Energy Production

Tourism

Retailing and Governmental/Social Services

The Quaternary Sector

The Trajectory of European Integration

Economic Impacts of Integration

Sources and Suggested Readings

10 The European City

The Rise of the European City

The Medieval City

City Sites

City Attributes

Medieval Urban Morphology

Renaissance–Baroque Urban Development (1500–1800)

The Industrial City

Characteristics of the Mid-Twentieth-

Century

European City

The Late/Postindustrial European City

The Preindustrial Core

The Preindustrial Periphery

The Industrial Suburbs

The Postindustrial Suburbs

Regional Variations

The Modern Urban Pattern

Sources and Suggested Readings

11 Europe’s Changing Social and Ethnic Geography

Patterns of Social Well-Being

Health

Employment

Education

The Role of Women

Ethno-Cultural

Issues

Recent Migration Streams

The Traditional Social Contract in Transition

Macroeconomic Challenges

The Demographic Challenge

The Immigration Challenge

Sources and Suggested Readings

12 European Integration: Retrospect and Prospect

Impetuses for Integration

Globalization

Geopolitics

External Relations

Cross-border

Interaction

The Economy

The “Irrationality” of the Pattern of States

Impetuses for Fragmentation

Globalization

Geopolitics

Nationalism

Bureaucratization

Differences over Widening and Deepening

Ethno-regionalism

Where from Here?

Sources and Suggested Readings

Glossary

Index

About the Authors