Europe: the political and economic situation

Lecture # 3

(Геополитическая и экономическая характеристика Европы)

Content of the lecture:

1. Introduction

2. General characteristics

- Territory, borders, position

- Natural Resources

- Population

3. Western and Eastern Europe

4. European Union

Europe has an area of ​​5.1 million km2 with a population of 500 million people (1995). Here are 40 sovereign states, linked by the common historical destiny, close political, economic and cultural relations. Foreign Europe - one of the centers of world civilization, the birthplace of the great geographical discoveries of the industrial revolution, the urban agglomerations of international economic integration.

And although, as you already know, the era of " Eurocentrism " a thing of the past, this region and today occupies a very important place in world politics and economics.

General characteristics of foreign Europe

Territory, borders, position

Europe overseas territory stretches from north to south to 5 thousand miles, and from east to west for more than three thousand kilometers. Among European countries, there is a more or less large, but most are relatively small. Economic and geographical situation of the countries of Europe overseas is determined by two main features.

First is the position of the neighboring countries. With a relatively small size of the territory, its small "depth" and good transport "cross" these countries either directly border or are separated by small distances. Besides their borders are mainly on such natural boundaries that do not create significant obstacles for transport links. Second, the position of the vast majority of coastal countries, many of which are located in the vicinity of the busiest shipping lines.

In the western part of the region there is no place that is remote from the sea more than 480 km in the east - 600 km. The whole life of the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece since ancient times, is closely linked to the sea, "the daughter of the sea" - so you can say about each of them. The political map of the region during the XX century has undergone great changes three times, after the first and second world wars, and in recent years (the unification of Germany, the acquisition of independence, the Baltic countries, the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, the change of the social system in Eastern Europe).

In Europe, the foreign presented as the republic and monarchy as unitary and federal states.

Natural Resources

Natural conditions for the industry of foreign Europe have developed greatly influenced by the location of minerals. However, their composition in the north (the platform) and southern (folded) parts of the region varies considerably. In the northern part of the common ore minerals as related to the Baltic shield and zone Hercynian folding and fuel, " tied " to the first platform sedimentary cover and its edge deflections.

Among the coalfields particularly stand out Ruhr in Germany and Upper Silesia in Poland, including oil and gas - North Sea, including iron ore - Lorraine in France and Koruna in Sweden. The southern part is dominated by a magmatic ore deposits and sedimentary (bauxite) origin, but the reserves of fuel resources are much smaller. In this tectonic structure of the area is largely due to "incompleteness" set of minerals in individual countries.

Hydropower resources of Europe overseas are quite large, but are found mainly in areas of the Alps, Scandinavia and the Dinaric Mountains. Natural conditions for agriculture in the region relatively good and are widely used for many centuries. As a result, reserves for the expansion of cultivated land has practically exhausted, and the " burden " on them increases. Therefore, small coastal countries, especially the Netherlands, continue to attack on the coastal areas of the seas.

In the Netherlands, for many centuries, with the help of dams on the sea conquered almost one third over the country. No wonder there is a saying: "God created the earth, and the Dutch - Holland". Finished draining of the lake I Jsselmeer, the former earlier, the sea and the implementation of the so -called "Delta Plan", providing full protection of the coast. Agro-climatic resources of the region defined by its position in the moderate, and in the south - a sub-tropical zones. In the Mediterranean, sustainable agriculture requires irrigation. Most of the irrigated land in Italy and Spain.

The largest natural prerequisites for forest management have Sweden and Finland, dominated by typical forest landscapes: forests cover the lowlands and uplands, river banks and lakes, come close to human settlements. No wonder people say: "Finland without the forest, the bear without hair." Europe also has an abundance of natural and recreational resources.

Population: reproduction, migration, ethnic composition, urbanization. Recently, the foreign population of Europe began to grow very slowly. As you already know, this is due to the fact that for the reproduction of the population of the region has a complex demographic situation. In some countries there is even a natural decline in population. At the same time changes and the age structure of the population, an increasing proportion of older people.

All this has led to a dramatic change in the region's share in the global system of external migrations. Former since the Age of Discovery principal seat of emigration, overseas in Europe has become a major world center of labor immigration. Now there are 12 - 13 million foreign workers, most of which is in the position of non-citizens, and guest - workers (in German " guest workers ").

The national composition of the foreign population in Europe is relatively uniform: the vast majority of the 62 nations of the region belong to the Indo-European family of languages. In this case, related languages ​​of the Slavic, Romance and Germanic groups have significant similarities. The same is also characteristic of the Uralic languages​​. Nevertheless, ethnic map of the region, formed over thousands of years, is not so simple.

Along with mononational, there are many countries with a complex ethnic composition, in which there has been a worsening of international relations, an example of this kind can serve as Yugoslavia. In all the countries of Europe overseas dominant religion - Christianity. In Southern Europe, sharply Catholicism predominates in North - Protestantism, but on average they are in different ratios. In Rome, is the world center of Catholicism - Vatican.

Europe - one of the most densely populated regions of the world. In this case, distribution of the population it is primarily determined by the geography of cities. The level of urbanization is one of the highest in the world: on average, live in urban areas 73%, and in some countries more than 80 % and even 90 % of the total population. The total number of cities is measured by many thousands, and their network is very dense. Gradually, over the millennia, has developed West European type city, whose roots date back to Roman times and the Middle Ages.

A characteristic feature of the urbanization of Europe overseas - a very high concentration of population in large cities and urban areas, of which there are more than the U.S. and Japan combined. The largest of them - the London, Paris and the Rhine-Ruhr. In the 70-s. after a period of rapid growth of cities and agglomerations began exodus from their centers is first in the near and distant suburbs, and then in the more remote small towns and in the countryside (the "green wave"). As a result, the number of residents in the central areas of London, Paris, Hamburg, Vienna, Milan and many other cities either stabilized or even started to decline. This process of suburbanization in the name of science.According to forecasts of the level of urbanization in the region by the end of the XX century can increase to 85%.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11