The Physical Geography of Europe

Ingrid Gero6th Grade World Studies

Does location matter?

• Look at the location of the United Kingdom vs. Russia. Which country is going to have more access to trade?

• Compare the locations of Germany and Italy. Which body of water does Italy have to go through to trade? On which body of water does Germany do most of its shipping?

Europe’ s Climate• How does the western coast of Europe differ

from the more landlocked regions of Europe?• How does the climate in the United Kingdom

compare to the climate of Russia?• How does the climate of Germany differ from

Italy?• Where would you like to live if you like the cold

most of the year?• Where would you like to live if you would like it

to be warm most of the year?

Mediterranean Forests

Cool Temperate

Forest

The winters are cold and long; summers are relatively short and cool. With snowmelt and low temperatures, there is little evaporation in the summer, so the ground is usually very moist during the growing season. Add to the availability of water the fact that the short summer has extremely long day length at the northerly latitudes and you have a situation for explosive plant growth in the summer. Still the growing season is short, usually less than 3 months.

The Boreal Forest or

Taiga

http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/boreal.htm

The Tundra

The Russian Steppe

What looks most appealing?

• Which biome do you think is going to have the highest amount of population?

• Where would you choose to live?• Which biome is going to have the least

amount of population?

Germany natural resources

Italy’s Land Use

United Kingdom Land Use Map

Population Density of Europe

• Overall, does the population density look high or low?

• What does the blue color indicate on the 2nd map?

• Which countries in Europe seem to have the highest population pockets?

• Why does Russia seem less dense than the rest of Western Europe?

• Why do you think there is little population in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland?

Where to live?

• Based on the climate map and the population density map of Russia, why do we see most of Russia’s population density on the western side of the country?

• Why do you think we see much higher pockets of population density in the UK than we do in Russia?