Transcript Europe and Russia Politicalx

Europe and Russia
Human Geography
Population
- Where are most
people located
based on this map?
- Why is this?
Population
EUROPE
→ Europe has a high population density
due to small land area.The Industrial
Revolution that started in the late 1700s
transformed Europe from a rural,
agricultural society into an urban,
manufacturing society. Today about 75
percent of all Europeans live in cities.
Despite immigration, Europe’s overall
population is shrinking because of low
birthrates.
RUSSIA
→ Due to Russia’s size, the population
density is about 22 people per square
mile. About 75% of the population lives
in European Russia making the density
120 people per square mile.
→ Russia, however, is experiencing a
population crisis. Because of inadequate
health care, the number of deaths now
exceeds the number of births.
Languages
EUROPE
→ Mediterranean: Most of the places
conquered by Rome adopted their language,
Latin. Today Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian
are all romance languages.
→ Western Europe: French is a romance
language evolved from Latin. Germanic
languages such as German, Danish, and
English are also spoken there.
→ Northern Europe: Germanic languages are
also spoken there.
→ Eastern Europe: Slavic languages such as
Polish and Ukrainian are spoken in this region.
RUSSIA
→ Russia has a wide variety of
languages due to its size. Russian is the
official language, but different Slavic,
Turkic, Caucasian languages are also
spoken there.
Systems of Government
EUROPE
→ Today most European countries have
democracies in which all citizens
participate in the government on some
level. Many European countries still have
royal families, but most of these nations
are now constitutional monarchies.
→ Since the fall of the Soviet Union most
Eastern European countries have moved
away from communism.
RUSSIA
→ Russia originally had a monarchy run
by the emperor known as the Czar.
→ In 1917, power was seized by the
Bolsheviks (now known as Communists)
who remained in power until 1991.
→ Today Russia has a federal republic.
Economic Systems
EUROPE
→ Europe is one of the world’s major
manufacturing and trading regions. Many
of these countries all depend on tourism
for their economy.
→ Most Western and Northern Europeans
are involved in service industries while
more people in Southern and Eastern
Europe are involved in agriculture.
RUSSIA
→ Since Communism’s fall in 1989,
Eastern European countries and Russia
have been moving from Command
economies to Market economies.
The Mediterranean
The Mediterranean
→ A city-state was a political unit made up of a city and
surrounding areas. The city-state of Athens, in Greece,
developed the first democracy, a form of government in
which citizens hold political power. As Athens power was
declining the Roman Empire was on the rise.
→ The Roman Empire was based on the Italian Peninsula.
The Roman Empire would eventually conquer the Balkan
and Iberian Peninsulas, sharing their culture throughout
the Mediterranean region by means of cultural diffusion.
→ Renaissance began in Italian City States. It was a time of
renewed interest of learning and the arts.
Western Europe
Western Europe
→ The Crusades were launched to reclaim Christian holy lands
from the Muslims who occupied the area. This was a holy war,
meaning that religion was the driving factor for it.
→ During the Reformation, a period when many Christians
broke away from the Catholic church, France remained Catholic
while nations to its east acquired large Protestant populations.
Western Europe
→ Two world wars in the 1900s drastically changed Europe.
Monarchies collapsed following WWI, and new countries emerged.
Unresolved political problems from WWI, plus the rise to power of
Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany, led to the
outbreak of WWII in Europe. More than 6 million Jews died at the
hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. WWII left Europe ruined and
divided. Eastern Europe came under Soviet Communist control, while
western Europe backed democracy and received support from the
United States. A divided Germany became a “hot point” of the Cold
War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Northern Europe
Northern Europe
→ Northern Europe is made up of United Kingdom, Ireland, and the
Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden).
→ Reformation, which started in Germany, swept through Northern
Europe, where different Protestant churches took root, uniting most
of the region. Ireland remains predominantly Catholic.
→ The United Kingdom would eventually become a great empire. Its
status as an island helped to protect it. The British introduced
revolutionary documents like the Magna Carta and the English Bill of
Rights whose concepts were taken to model the U.S. Constitution
and Bill of Rights.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
→ Eastern Europe is a Cultural Crossroad. It is located between Asia and
the rest of Europe. Because of its location it has a variety of cultural
influences.
→ In recent history this area was under Communist Control. They were
Satellite Nations (nations dominated by another) of the Soviet Union.
Communists controlled the area from the end of WWII until the 1990’s.
→ Many of the larger countries have divided into smaller ones. The
process of breaking up this territory into smaller units is known as
Balkanization.
→ This area is less urban and less industrialized than the rest of Europe.
Folk art like pottery, woodcarvings, and traditional embroidered costumes
are produced by rural people.
Russia
Russia
→ In the late 1600s, Peter the Great was
determined to modernize Russia. Under him,
Russia enlarged its territory, built a strong
military, and developed trade with Europe.
→ Peter built a new capital city, St. Petersburg,
as a “Window to the West.” Its location
promoted European influence. As Russia
Industrialized the people would become angry
with the Czars because of low wages and poor
working conditions.
Russia
→ Many Russians wanted to establish a socialist
government that would create economic and social
equality after not being treated well for centuries
from the line of Czars. Karl Marx’s belief in a
workers’ revolution and a classless society
captured the imagination of many young, educated
Russians.
→ In 1917, the hardships of World War I and longstanding discontent made Czar Nicholas II so
unpopular that workers and soldiers forced him to
give up his throne. Nicholas and his entire family
would be assassinated.
Russia
→Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin seized power in November 1917. In 1922 the
Bolsheviks, now known as Communists, established the Soviet Union, with Moscow
as the capital. Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, set out to make the Soviet Union a
strong industrial power by taking complete control of the economy. Stalin eliminated
all forms of dissent. As a result of Stalin’s policies, millions of Russians either were
killed or died from hunger or brutal conditions in labor camps.
The European Union
The European Union
→ The European Union was formed in the 1990s in an effort to make
Europe’s economies competitive with those of the rest of the world. It
unites much of Western Europe into one trading community. Member
countries agreed to eliminate restrictions on trade and travel among
themselves. The European Union also paved the way for a common
European currency, a central bank; and a common foreign policy. The
union’s currency, the Euro, is not used by all of its members. Great
Britain still uses the Pound.