1. Physical Features
- Analysis of Physical-Human Patterns: The presence of water features, especially rivers, bays, and coasts, are a major pull factor for human settlement. For example the capital of France, Paris flourished around the Seine River. The Bay of Biscay allowed port cities like Nantes and Bordeaux to grow due to the rich fishing and trading industries to grow along with tourism, forming notable resorts such La Baule. A major oceanic feature is the North Sea which separates the West Europe sub-region from Northern Europe. Another prominent physical feature of Western Europe is its mountains, a natural boundary. The Pyrenees is a perfect example because it separates the Iberian Peninsula from Western Europe, causing the culture of the two regions to be iconically different. For example numerous countries north of the Pyrenees such as France, Belgium, and Switzerland speak French whereas Spain and Portugal have languages that sound similar to one another but different from French especially in pronunciation.
- Click Here for Brief List of Physical Features by Country
2. Political Features
Current Political Map of Western Europe
Author: Justin H.
Date: 11/20/2016
Author: Justin H.
Date: 11/20/2016
- Historical-Modern Border Analysis: A few countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and Great Britain have not had major changes to their political borders between present day and 1800. A large difference can be seen with the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia. These territories/countries extended over a vast area of land that now contains Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. The Holy Roman Empire consisted of many much smaller countries such as Saxony, Hanover-United Kingdom, and Small States. These eventually all disappeared or dissolved into the much large and more established countries that we know of today due to war, conflict, weak governments, different religious practices and beliefs, etc. Many of the capitals are still the same, as many of the relocation efforts of past capitals have already occurred before 1800 and very little change in capitals has been made since then.