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Europe

Europe

:This article is about the continent. For other meanings, see Europe (disambiguation). Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula or subcontinent, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. It is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe. :See also Continent, Bicontinental country, and Table of European territories and regions. Table of European territories and regions Table of European territories and regions Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 2.1% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 700,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

Africa.]] In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north. The Greek term Europe has been derived from Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) -- broad having been an epitheton of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from the Akkadian word asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Mesopotamian perspective.

History

Europe has a long history of cultural and economic achievement, starting as far back as the Palaeolithic, although this is true for the rest of the Old World as well. The recent discovery at Monte Poggiolo, Italy, of thousands of hand-shaped stones, tentatively carbon-dated to 800,000 years ago, may prove to be of particular importance. The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts like egalitarianism and universality of law. The Roman Empire divided the continent along the Rhine and Danube for several centuries. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. During this time, isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously. The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tensions within Europe on top of the tensions already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts was when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French empire that soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble. The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and capitalist countries in Western Europe. Around 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern bloc disintegrated.

Geography and extent

Eastern bloc Geographically Europe is a part of the larger landmass known as Eurasia. The continent begins at the Ural Mountains in Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with Asia. The southeast boundary with Asia isn't universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba river can serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues with the Caspian Sea, and then the Araxes river in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, but Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of Africa and Asia, is also often included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. At times "Europe" is defined with greater regard to political, economic, and other cultural considerations. This has led to there being several different Europes that are not always identical in size, including or excluding countries according to the definition of Europe used. Almost all European countries are members of the Council of Europe, the exceptions being Belarus, and the Holy See (Vatican City). The idea of the European continent is not held across all cultures. Some non-European geographical texts refer to the continent of Eurasia, or to the European peninsula, given that Europe is not surrounded by sea. In the past concepts such as Christendom were deemed more important. In another usage, Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 25 member states. A number of other European countries are negotiating for membership, and several more are expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union).

Physical features

In terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas. The two largest of these are "mainland" Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas (Iberia, Italy and the Balkans) emerge from the southern margin of the mainland into the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains. Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway. This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off. Due to the few generalisations that can be made about the relief of Europe, it is less than surprising that its many separate regions provided homes for many separate nations throughout history.

Biodiversity

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural peoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are today to be found in Europe, except for different natural parks. The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems. Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of colonisation, Europe still has over one quarter of the world's forests - spruce forests of Scandinavia, vast pine forests in Russia, chestnut rainforests of the Caucasus and the cork oak forests in the Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been stopped and many trees were planted. However, in many cases conifers have been preferred over original deciduous trees, because these grow quicker. The plantations and monocultures now cover vast areas of land and this offers very poor habitats for European forest dwelling species. The amount of original forests in Western Europe is just two to three per cent (in the European part of Russia five to ten per cent). The country with the smallest forest-covered area is Ireland (eight per cent), while the most forested country is Finland (72 per cent). In "mainland" Europe, deciduous forest prevails. The most important species are beech, birch and oak. In the north, where taiga grows, a very common tree species is the birch tree. In the Mediterranean, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate. Another common species in Southern Europe is the cypress. Coniferous forests prevail at higher altitudes up to the forest boundary and as one moves north within Russia and Scandinavia, giving way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian grassland—the steppe—extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north. Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of European fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth and aurochs were extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, in the North and in Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these areas brown bear populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In the far North of Europe, polar bears can also be found. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. Other important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx, European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey) Important European herbivores are snails, amphibians, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deers and roe deers, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamoises among others. Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crayfish, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales. Some animals live in caves, for example proteus and bats.

Demographics

Almost all of Europe was possibly settled before or during the last ice age ca. 10,000 years ago. Neanderthal man and modern man coexisted during at least some of this time. Roman road building helped with the interbreeding of the native Europeans' genetics. In contemporary times Europe has one of the lowest inbreeding rates in the world because of an extensive transport network paired with open borders. Europe passed well over 600 million people before the turn of the 20th century, but now is entering a period of population decline, for a variety of social factors.

Territories and divisions

Political divisions

Independent states

interbreeding on this map.]] :See also: Table of European territories and regions The following independent states have territory in Europe: 2 Azerbaijan and Georgia lie partly in Europe according to the usual definition which consider the crest of the Caucasus as the boundary with Asia.
3 Kazakhstan's European territory consists of a portion west of the Ural and Emba Rivers.
4 The name of this state is a matter of international dispute. See Republic of Macedonia for details.
5 Those territories of Russia lying west of the Ural Mountains are considered as part of Europe.
6 State union of Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.
7 European Turkey comprises territory to the west and north of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits.
2, 3, 5, 7 See Countries in both Europe and Asia for details.

Dependent territories

The European territories listed below are recognised as being culturally and geographically defined. Most have a degree of autonomy. In the list below, each territory is followed by its legal status.
- Faroe Islands (autonomous region of Denmark)
- Gibraltar (UK overseas territory)
- Guernsey (British crown dependency)
- Jersey (British crown dependency)
- Man, Isle of (British crown dependency)
- Svalbard (autonomous region of Norway) Note that this is not a list of all dependencies of all European countries. Dependencies located on other continents are not listed.

Unilaterally seceded territories

Following are breakaway regions of independent states. These regions have declared and de facto achieved independence, but this is not recognised de jure by their home state or by the other independent states.
- Abkhazia (from Georgia)
- Nagorno-Karabakh (disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan)
- South Ossetia (from Georgia)
- Transnistria (from Moldova)

Territories under United Nations administration


- Kosovo and Metohia (province of Serbia)

Table of European territories and regions

Notes:
1 Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 2-6, 8, 9) may be in one or both of Europe and Asia.
2 Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Western Asia (as per UN categorisations/map).
3 Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
4Cyprus is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for de jure Greek-administered portion only.
5Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
6Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe.
7Netherlands population for July 2004; Amsterdam is the de facto capital, while The Hague is the country's administrative seat.
8Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and Asia; population and area figures are for European portion only.
9Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only, including all of Istanbul.

Linguistic and cultural regions

The sub-division in several linguistic and cultural regions is much less subjective than the geographical sub-division, since they correspond to people's cultural connections. There are three main groups:

Germanic Europe

Germanic Europe, where Germanic languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to north-western Europe and some parts of central Europe. The main religion of the region is Protestantism, even if there are also some countries with Catholic majority (particularly Austria). This region consists of: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands, German-speaking Switzerland, the Flemish part of Belgium, the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, and the South Tyrol part of Italy.

Latin Europe

Latin Europe, where the Romance languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to south-western Europe, with the exception of Romania and Moldova which are situated in Eastern Europe. The major religion is Catholicism, except in Romania and Moldova. This area consists of: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Moldova, French-speaking Belgium and French speaking Switzerland, and Italian and Romansh speaking Switzerland as well.

Slavic Europe

Slavic Europe, where Slavic languages are spoken. This area corresponds, more or less, to Central and Eastern Europe. The main religions are Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism, with large Muslim populations in some parts formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire. This area consists of: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Others

Outside of these three main groups we can find:
- The Celtic nations: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall (within the United Kingdom); the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency); the Republic of Ireland; Brittany (within France). These are all nations where a Celtic language is spoken, or was spoken into modern times, and there is a degree of shared culture (see Pan Celticism). Also considered Celtic nations, by some, are both Galicia (Spain) and Asturias, (within Spain), whose own Celtic language died out several hundred years ago.
- Greece, the only country of "Hellenic Europe".In Hellenic Europe we can consider also the Greek Cypriot community It is sometimes associated with the Latin countries, due to the geographical and cultural ties to the Mediterranean Sea, and sometimes to the Slavic-Orthodox part of Europe due to the importance or Orthodoxy in Greece.
- Armenia has a language that constitutes a separate branch of Indo-European family of languages. The Armenian language is spoken in Armenia and other European countries with Armenian communities (such as France, Greece, Belgium, Russia, Germany etc.).
- Ibero-Caucasian, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region (both North and South). Ibero-Caucasian languages are not linked to the Indo-European languages. This group includes Georgians, Abkhaz, Chechens, Balkars, and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the Caucasus.
- Turkey, having an Altaic language not of Indo-European origin, and mainly a Muslim country, unlike the main regions' different versions of Christianity.
- Hungary, having a language related to Finnish and Estonian. Due to its location Hungary is normally grouped with Central or Eastern European countries.
- Finland and Estonia, whose languages are related to Hungarian. Despite this connection (not a close one), Finland and Estonia are normally associated with northern European countries (of an even farther connection).

See also


- Eurasia
- Culture of Europe
- Economy of Europe
- Geography of Europe
- History of Europe
- Politics of Europe
- Transport in Europe
- Eurozone
- European Union
- Euroregion
- Europium

Lists and tables


- General
  - Table of European territories and regions
- Demographics
  - Area and population of European countries
  - European Union Statistics
  - The most populous metropolitan areas in Europe
  - The most populous urban areas of the European Union
- Economy
  - Economy of the European Union
  - Financial and social rankings of European countries
  - GDP of European Countries
- Political
  - Alternative names of European cities
  - Date of independence of European countries
  - International Organisations in Europe (table of membership)
- Other
  - List of Europe-related topics

External links


-
- [http://www.democracyineurope.com Democracy in Europe]
- [http://www.holidayhomeseuro.com European holiday homes]
- [http://phoenicia.org/europa.html Europa, the Phoenician Princess] - overwhelmed Zeus with love
- [http://www.europestartpage.com EUROPEstartpage.com, travel and city guide to Europe]
- [http://www.limitlesseurope.com LimitlessEurope.com : information guide to Europe]
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=13266 Europe at Night] at NASA Earth Observatory
- [http://www.geog.tamu.edu/~prout/GVmidtermTwo.html Regions of Europe]
- [http://p086.ezboard.com/balbanau Evropa / Europa / Europe]
- [http://www.eufpc.org EUFPC European Foreign Policy Council]
- [http://www.itmaps.com/?modul=map Map of Europe]
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/index.html Physical Map of Europe]
- [http://www.parks.it/europa/Eindex.html Parks in Europe] - National parks, nature parks, reserves and other protected areas. Category:Continents als:Europa roa-rup:Evropa zh-min-nan:Europa ko:유럽 ms:Eropah ja:ヨーロッパ simple:Europe th:ทวีปยุโรป

Europe (disambiguation)

Europe may refer to:
- Europe - the peninsula in western Eurasia.
- The European Union - a supranational entity comprising 25 of the 49 European nations.
- Continental Europe - the mainland of Europe that excludes the British Isles and other European islands.
- Europe (band) - a group of musicians (famous for The Final Countdown).
- Europe (dinghy) - a one-person dinghy. See also Europa.

Physical geography

Physical geography or physiogeography is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. It aims to understand the physical layout of the Earth, its weather and global flora and fauna patterns. Many areas of physical geography make use of geology, particularly in the study of weathering and erosion. The geology of other planets is discussed at Geological features of the Solar System.

Fields of physical geography

See also


- Climate
- Continent
- Desert
- Earth's atmosphere
- Ecology
- Environmental science
- Environmental studies
- Geostatistics
- Human geography
- Island
- Landform
- Ocean
- Oceanography
- River
- Sea
- Soil
- Timeline of geography, paleontology
- Weathering Category:Geography
- ko:자연지리학

Subcontinent

A subcontinent is a large part of a continent. There is no agreement on what constitutes a subcontinent. Generally, however, a subcontinent is split from the rest of a continent by something like a mountain range or by tectonic plates. The phrase the Subcontinent, used on its own in English, commonly means the Indian subcontinent.

Geological/geographical subcontinents

In plate tectonics, a small continental plate connected to a larger continental plate can be called a subcontinent. In this sense, the Indian subcontinent on the India Plate and the Arabian subcontinent on the Arabian Plate are recognized. The latter is not commonly called a subcontinent geographically because of lack of a geographical border and a variety in climate. Europe is just a peninsula since it is on the Eurasian Plate. In geography, Europe is occasionally described as a subcontinent of Eurasia for its vast area. Likewise, the smallest continent Australia and the largest island Greenland are sometimes called subcontinents. North America and South America are thought to be the two subcontinents of the continent of the Americas in some cases, because they are connected by an isthmus. Africa and Eurasia are sometimes considered to form the continent of Africa-Eurasia for the same reason. However, the Americas and Africa-Eurasia are usually called supercontinents, composed of continents.

Cultural subcontinents

The term the Indian subcontinent is used also culturally and politically. It includes India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and usually other South Asian countries too. The region has wide geographical variations like desert, plateau, rainforest, mountains and a myriad of languages, races and religions. Sometimes subregions of continents are dubbed subcontinents because their culture is so different from the rest of the continent, such as Central America and the Middle East.
- Category:Plate tectonics Category:Landforms ja:亜大陸

Eurasia

] Eurasia is the landmass composed of the continents of Europe and Asia. It can be considered a supercontinent, part of a supercontinent of Africa-Eurasia, or simply a continent. In plate tectonics, the Eurasian Plate includes Europe and most of Asia, but not the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Cherskiy Range in Sakha. Eurasia is also used in international politics as a neutral way to refer to organizations of or affairs concerning the post-Soviet states. An analogous term to Eurasia as used to mean a "twin (or double) continent" is the use of America or (the) America(s). Europeans traditionally considered Europe and Asia to be separate continents, with the dividing line placed along the Aegean Sea, Dardanelles, Bosphorus, Black Sea, Caucasus Mountains, Caspian Sea, Ural River, and Ural Mountains, and this terminology has spread to the rest of the world, even though Asia contains multiple regions and cultures as large and populous as Europe, and as different and geographically separated from each other as they are from Europe. Jared Diamond, in his book Guns, Germs and Steel, credits Eurasia's dominance in world history to the east-west extent of Eurasia and its climate zones, and the availability of Eurasian animals and plants suitable for domestication. The Silk Road symbolizes trade and cultural exchange linking Eurasian cultures through history and has been an increasingly popular topic. Recent decades have brought forth a view toward a greater Eurasian history, establishing genetic, cultural, and linguistic relationships between European and Asian cultures of antiquity, which had long been thought of as distinct.

Other uses

Eurasia was also a fictional country comprising approximately the same land area in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, excluding the British Isles (controlled by Oceania) and Eastasia, the latter of which was formed, as the novel says, by an alliance of the states of the region, being the most important couple China and Japan after a 'decade of confused fighting'. India was a contested border zone between Eurasia and Oceania.
In the game universe of the Earth series (Earth 2140,2150,2160), one of the major factions was the Eurasian Dynasty.

See also


- Palearctic
- Laurasia, a theoretical supercontinent joining Eurasia and North America.
- Eurasian Economic Community
- Neo-Eurasianism

External links


- [http://www.eurasianet.org EurasiaNet provides information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.] Category:Continents Category:Eurasia als:Eurasien ko:유라시아 ja:ユーラシア大陸 simple:Eurasia th:ทวีปยูเรเชีย

Continent

shows land mass with minimal distortion as only one continuous continent]] A continent (Latin continere, "to hold together") is a large continuous land mass. There are several conceptions of what a continent is, geographic, geologic, and tectonic.

Geographic continents

Because geography is defined by local convention, there are several conceptions as to which landmasses qualify as continents. There are names for six, but America is often divided, and Europe is often united with Asia. Ignoring cases where Antarctica is omitted, there are half a dozen lists. tectonic The 7-continent model is usually taught in Western Europe, the United States, Australia, and much of Asia. In Canada, the government-approved [http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/international/world/referencemap_image_view Atlas of Canada] names 7 continents and teaches Oceania instead of Australia. The 6-continent combined-America model is taught in Iran, and Latin America. The 6-continent Eurasia model is preferred by the scientific community, and as such is commonly found in all parts of the world, but is especially used in Russia and other countries of Eastern Europe, and in Japan. Historians may use the 5-continent model in which North Africa is separated from Sub-Saharan Africa and attached to Eurasia (Jared Diamond) or the 4-continent Afro-Eurasian model (Andre Gunder Frank). In its original sense, "continent" meant (and still means) mainland. In the Greco-Roman world, there was but one known, the Continent, which we today call the Old World. In the mid 1600s Peter Heylin wrote in his Cosmographie that "A Continent is a great quantity of Land, not separated by any Sea from the rest of the World, as the whole Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa." As late as 1727 Ephraim Chambers wrote in his Cyclopædia, "The world is ordinarily divided into two grand continents: the old and the new." However, since Classical times this Continent was divided into "peninsulas" which also came to be called continents, since they were great land masses themselves. Through the Middle Ages, there were three such continents in the Western conception: Europe, Africa, and Asia. The European discovery of America in 1492 made four; and Australia in 1606 would make five, though not right away: as late as 1813 geographers wrote of Australia as "New Holland, an immense Island, which some geographers dignify with the appellation of another continent". However, dividing America in two was commonplace by this time, and would also produce a fifth continent. The idea of the Five Continents is still strong in Europe and Asia, and is represented by the five rings on the Olympic flag. Antarctica was sighted in 1820, for the sixth and last continent to be given a separate name, though a great "antarctic" (antipodean) landmass had been anticipated for millennia. Dividing the Americas now made seven continents, nicely symmetrical with the magical number of the Seven Seas, Seven Heavens, and the seven heavenly bodies that gave their names to the seven days of the week. However, this division never appealed to Latin America, which saw itself spanning America as a single landmass, and there the conception of six continents remains, as it does in scattered other countries such as Japan. From a modern perspective, the continent with the least reason for separate recognition is Europe, and in scientific circles people generally prefer to subsume Europe and Asia into Eurasia. This appealed to Russia, which spans Eurasia, and in Russia and (at least formerly) in Eastern Europe, Eurasia is or was taught as being one of six continents. Geographers and historians often find it useful to define larger land masses connected by land bridges: # Africa-Eurasia (also called Eurafrasia): the combined land mass of Africa and Eurasia; # America (or the Americas): the combined land mass of North America and South America; # Laurasia: the combined land mass of Eurasia and North America, which were connected by Beringia during the Ice Age; # Sahul: the combined land mass of Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania during the Ice Age. That is, during the last Ice Age, there were three large landmasses: Africa-Eurasia + America (which has no name), Sahul, and Antarctica. These larger land masses are usually considered supercontinents rather than continents, however. In the last century it has also become conventional to subdivide Eurasia into the regions of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. America is often divided into the regions of North America, Central America, and South America. Continents are also sometimes subdivided into subcontinents that are isolated by geological features. The prototype of this is the Indian subcontinent. Islands are usually considered to belong geographically to the continent they are closest to. The Coral Sea and South Pacific islands may be associated with Australia/Australasia to form the "continent" of Oceania (though the Pacific islands without Australia are also called Oceania). The British Isles have always been considered part of Europe, and Greenland is considered part of North America. When the Continent is referred to without clarification by a speaker of British English, it is usually presumed to mean Continental Europe, that is Europe, explicitly excluding Great Britain and Ireland. The Continental United States excludes Hawaii. Contiguous or Co(n)terminous United States means the United States without Alaska or Hawaii (the "Lower 48"), but it is very common for people to say continental for contiguous. See also List of countries by continent, Satellite Images of Continents.

Geologic continents

Geologically, the surface of Earth consists of many tectonic plates, consisting of rigid lithospheric mantle and crust moving together over the much less viscous asthenosphere. Continental crust is primarily granitic in composition, overlain by sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Much of the continental crust extends above sea level as dry land. Oceanic crust is basaltic in composition, and much thinner than continental crust, thus generally lying below sea level. Although from a human perspective shallow inland seas such as the Bering Sea appear to divide up land masses into continents, such ephemeral features do not define continents geologically. For instance, many times over the past few million years, the continents of Eurasia and America were connected by dry land. A geologic continent, therefore, is a continuous piece of continental crust, whether wet or dry at a particular time. As such, Laurasia and Africa-Arabia are one continent, which for the past three million years has also been linked to South America. This world-spanning land mass has no name except for the Classical meaning of "The Continent". The other large geologic continents are Sahul and Antarctica, but there are many so-called microcontinents as well: Madagascar, the Seychelles (the northern Mascarene Plateau), New Zealand, New Caledonia, etc., which are splinters of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Note that volcanic Iceland is an exposed bit of oceanic crust at the mid-ocean ridge, and therefore not a microcontinent. Likewise, the British Isles, Sri Lanka, Borneo, and Newfoundland are integral parts of the Laurasian continent which happen to be separated by shallow (and temporary) inland seas flooding its margins.

Tectonic plates

During the 20th century, it became accepted by geologists that continents move location on the face of the planet over the geologic timescale, a process known as continental drift, explained by the theory of plate tectonics. It is the tectonic plates that have drifted, broken apart and joined together over time to give rise to the continents we now recognize. Consequently, in the geological past and prior to the present continents, other continents existed - see :Category:Historical continents. Occasionally there are calls for the continents to be defined by the tectonic plates that carry them. However, not only would this make Arabia on the Arabian plate and India on the Indian plate continents, but also Central America on the Caribbean plate and California on the Pacific plate, and this definition has never been widely accepted.

See also


- continental shelf
- earth science
- geography
- geology
- plate tectonics
- landform
- subregion
- Category:Plate tectonics Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tāi-lio̍k ko:대륙 ms:Benua ja:大陸 simple:Continent th:ทวีป

Cultural geography

Cultural Geography is the study of natural and man-made representations on our society. This is a very terse description and by no means complete. To attend a greater feel of the subject the following terms and brief definitions are provided below.
- Political Theory of Culture (p 14): understanding culture in a manner seeing politics, economics, and society as concerned with the material relations of society and culture with the symbolic - looking at the total way of life.
- Culture (p 14): a way of life encompassing ideas, attitudes, languages, practices, institutions, and structures of power and whole range of cultural practices (art, canons, commodities); opposite of nature; sets people apart from one another (I am an American); hierarchical order.
- Cultural Hegemony (p 51): Antonio Gramsci's idea; looks at how and why people consent to being dominated, when and under what conditions do subordinates consent to rule by the dominate group, and "consent" v "coercion".
- Cultural Differentiation (notes): differences of patterns across cultural groups; a way of life.
- Social Reproduction (p 54): everyday perpetuation of the social institutions and relations that make possible the material conditions of life; looks at what is produced and consumed.
- Cultural Resistance (p 62): explores the contours of cultural control and challenges; looks the conditions under which resistance occurs.
- Cultural Representation (p 66): people who act collectively can produce reality, represent beliefs, and lifestyles (eg: punk rock and Sex Pistols).
- Neo-Lamarckism (p 17): part of environmental determinism; belief that an organism can pass on acquired characteristics to its offspring / is part of genetic make-up; environmental conditions cause and create certain habits and get passed on to future generations; nature causes cultural differences.
- Lebensraum (p 18): means living space and like an organic thing it needs to grow; to Nazis meant "blood and soil"; was used to justify Nazi imperial order.
- Social Darwinism (notes): survival of the fittest; explains why some cultures are "fitter"; facilitated "civilized" argument.
- Carl O. Sauer (p 27): father of Cultural Geography; concerned with material aspects of culture (artifacts, tangible things); concerned with cultural landscape: (derived from man, not nature, the effect of man on his environment); written as a reaction to the errors of environmental determinism.
- Archaeological culture (p 44): concentrates on material conditions of society.
- Cultural Relativism (p 25): cultures can only be understood in their own terms and heirarchial scale is impossible.
- Cultural Area (p 25): geographical regions sharign particular distributions of cultural traits; is a means to an end (understanding culture process/historical events).
- Cultural Particularism (Sauer): vanquish ethnocentrism from geography by replacing it with a developed empathy for people and places of the world.
- Superorganism (p 30): Wilbur Zelinsky; belief in force larger than -- and independent of -- human lives; culture is a real, exisiting force independent of human will / interaction.
- Mass Culture (p 48): "popular culture" or expression of popular tastes; large network of practices.
- Antonio Gramsci: cultural hegemony; asked how and why subordinates consent to rule by dominate group, why the subordinates go against what looks good for them objectively, when and under what conditions do people consnet to being dominated, looks at the relationship between powerful and not powerful.
- Cultural Materialism (p 60): looks at the material conditions of society; believes in the indossolubility of culture, politics, and economy.
- Wilbur Zelinsky: superorganism; culture is a force independent of human will and interaction; the force is larger than and independent of human lives.
- Enviromental Determinism (p 17): the environment or nature caused cultural differences by providing varying conditions under which cultures developed and were transmitted form one generation to another; enviromental control over human society; Neo-Lamarckism; environment causes culture (eg: Lebensraum).
- New' Cultural Geography: looks at the differences in cultural areas, not hegemony; looks at power and class (Williams); attacks mass culture(Hoggart); focuses on concept identity (Hall); looks at material conditions of society.
- Johann Gottfried Herder: recognition of multiple cultures; how individuals are bound to culture; looks at cultural relativism (cultures are equally valid); justified cultural traditions of Folk Germany.
- Franz Boas (p 24 - 25): pioneer of modern Anthropology; one must loose his/her own culture to truly understand another culture; attacked Darwinism; looks at how natural and social environments both conditioned and were conditioned by cultural interaction.

Physical geography

Physical geography or physiogeography is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. It aims to understand the physical layout of the Earth, its weather and global flora and fauna patterns. Many areas of physical geography make use of geology, particularly in the study of weathering and erosion. The geology of other planets is discussed at Geological features of the Solar System.

Fields of physical geography

See also


- Climate
- Continent
- Desert
- Earth's atmosphere
- Ecology
- Environmental science
- Environmental studies
- Geostatistics
- Human geography
- Island
- Landform
- Ocean
- Oceanography
- River
- Sea
- Soil
- Timeline of geography, paleontology
- Weathering Category:Geography
- ko:자연지리학

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is Earth's second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. The ocean's name, derived from Greek mythology, means the "Sea of Atlas". This ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending in a north-south direction and is divided into the North Atlantic and South Atlantic by equatorial counter currents at about 8° north latitude. Bounded by the Americas on the west and Europe and Africa on the east, the Atlantic is linked to the Pacific Ocean by the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Drake Passage on the south. An artificial connection between the Atlantic and Pacific is also provided by the Panama Canal. On the east, the dividing line between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean is the 20° east meridian. The Atlantic is separated from the Arctic Ocean by a line from Greenland to northwestern Iceland and then from northeastern Iceland to southernmost tip of Spitsbergen and then to North Cape in northern Norway. Norway on a fair day.]] Covering approximately 20% of Earth's surface, the Atlantic Ocean is second only to the Pacific in size. With its adjacent seas it occupies an area of about 106,400,000 km² (41,100,000 square miles); without them, it has an area of 82,400,000 km² (31,800,000 mi²). The land area that drains into the Atlantic is four times that of either the Pacific or Indian oceans. The volume of the Atlantic Ocean with its adjacent seas is 354,700,000 km³ (85,100,000 mi³) and without them 323,600,000 km³ (77,640,000 mi³). The average depth of the Atlantic, with its adjacent seas, is 3,332 m (10,932 ft); without them it is 3,926 m (12,881 ft). The greatest depth, 8,605 m (28,232 ft), is in the Puerto Rico Trench. The width of the Atlantic varies from 2,848 km (1,770 miles) between Brazil and Liberia to about 4,830 km (3,000 miles) between the United States and northern Africa. The Atlantic Ocean has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. These include the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, North Sea, Labrador Sea, Baltic Sea, and Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Islands in the Atlantic Ocean include Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Rockall, Great Britain, Ireland, Fernando de Noronha, the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands,Sao Tome e Principe, Newfoundland, Bermuda, the West Indies, Ascension, St. Helena, Trindade, Martin Vaz, Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia Island. South Georgia Island

Ocean bottom

The principal feature of the bottom topography of the Atlantic Ocean is a great submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It extends from Iceland in the north to approximately 58° south latitude, reaching a maximum width of about 1,600 km (1,000 miles). A great rift valley also extends along the ridge over most of its length. The depth of water over the ridge is less than 2,700 m (8,900 ft) in most places, and several mountain peaks rise above the water, forming islands. The South Atlantic Ocean has an additional submarine ridge, the Walvis Ridge. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge separates the Atlantic Ocean into two large troughs with depths averaging between 3,700 and 5,500 m (12,000 and 18,000 ft). Transverse ridges running between the continents and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge divide the ocean floor into numerous basins. Some of the larger basins are the Guiana, North American, Cape Verde, and Canaries basins in the North Atlantic. The largest South Atlantic basins are the Angola, Cape, Argentina, and Brazil basins. The deep ocean floor is thought to be fairly flat, although numerous seamounts and some guyots exist. Several deeps or trenches are also found on the ocean floor. The Puerto Rico Trench, in the North Atlantic, is the deepest. The Laurentian Abyss is found off the eastern coast of Canada. In the south Atlantic, the South Sandwich Trench reaches a depth of 8,428 m (27,651 ft). A third major trench, the Romanche Trench, is located near the equator and reaches a depth of about 7,454 m (24,455 ft). The shelves along the margins of the continents constitute about 11% of the bottom topography. In addition, a number of deep channels cut across the continental rise. Ocean sediments are composed of terrigenous, pelagic, and authigenic material. Terrigenous deposits consist of sand, mud, and rock particles formed by erosion, weathering, and volcanic activity on land and then washed to sea. These materials are largely found on the continental shelves and are thickest off the mouths of large rivers or off desert coasts. Pelagic deposits, which contain the remains of organisms that sink to the ocean floor, include red clays and Globigerina, pteropod, and siliceous oozes. Covering most of the ocean floor and ranging in thickness from 60 m to 3,300 m (200 ft to 11,000 ft), they are thickest in the convergence belts and in the zones of upwelling. Authigenic deposits consist of such materials as manganese nodules. They occur where sedimentation proceeds slowly or where currents sort the deposits.

Water characteristics

sediment The salinity of the surface waters in the open ocean ranges from 33 to 37 parts per thousand by mass and varies with latitude and season. Although the minimum salinity values are found just north of the equator, in general the lowest values are in the high latitudes and along coasts where large rivers flow into the ocean. Maximum salinity values occur at about 25° north latitude. Surface salinity values are influenced by evaporation, precipitation, river inflow, and melting of sea ice. Surface water temperatures, which vary with latitude, current systems, and season and reflect the latitudinal distribution of solar energy, range from less than −2 °C to 29 °C (28 °F to 84 °F). Maximum temperatures occur north of the equator, and minimum values are found in the polar regions. In the middle latitudes, the area of maximum temperature variations, values may vary by 7 °C to 8 °C (13 °F to 15 °F). The Atlantic Ocean consists of four major water masses. The North and South Atlantic central waters constitute the surface waters. The sub-Antarctic intermediate water extends to depths of 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The North Atlantic deep water reaches depths of as much as 4,000 m (13,200 ft). The Antarctic bottom water occupies ocean basins at depths greater than 4,000 m (13,200 ft). Within the North Atlantic, ocean currents isolate a large elongated body of water known as the Sargasso Sea, in which the salinity is noticeably higher than average. The Sargasso Sea contains large amounts of seaweed, and is also the spawning ground for the European eel. Due to the Coriolis effect, water in the North Atlantic circulates in a clockwise direction, whereas water circulation in the South Atlantic is counter clockwise. The South tides in the Atlantic Ocean are semi-diurnal; that is, two high tides occur during each 24 lunar hours. The tides are a general wave that moves from south to north. In latitudes above 40° north some east-west oscillation occurs.

Climate

diurnal The climate of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent land areas is influenced by the temperatures of the surface waters and water currents as well as the winds blowing across the waters. Because of the oceans' great capacity for retaining heat, maritime climates are moderate and free of extreme seasonal variations. Precipitation can be approximated from coastal weather data and air temperature from the water temperatures. The oceans are the major source of the atmospheric moisture that is obtained through evaporation. Climatic zones vary with latitude; the warmest climatic zones stretch across the Atlantic north of the equator. The coldest zones are in the high latitudes, with the coldest regions corresponding to the areas covered by sea ice. Ocean currents contribute to climatic control by transporting warm and cold waters to other regions. Adjacent land areas are affected by the winds that are cooled or warmed when blowing over these currents. The Gulf Stream, for example, warms the atmosphere of the British Isles and northwestern Europe, and the cold water currents contribute to heavy fog off the coast of northeastern Canada (the Grand Banks area) and the northwestern coast of Africa. In general, winds tend to transport moisture and warm or cool air over land areas. Hurricanes develop in the southern part of the North Atlantic Ocean.

History and economy

The Atlantic Ocean appears to be the second youngest of the world's oceans, after the Southern Ocean. Evidence indicates that it did not exist prior to 180 million years ago, when the continents that formed from the breakup of the ancestral supercontinent, Pangaea, were being rafted apart by the process of seafloor spreading. The Atlantic has been extensively explored since the earliest settlements were established along its shores. The Vikings, Portuguese, and Christopher Columbus were the most famous among its early explorers. After Columbus, European exploration rapidly accelerated, and many new trade routes were established. As a result, the Atlantic became and remains the major artery between Europe and the Americas (known as transatlantic trade). Numerous scientific explorations have been undertaken, including those by the German Meteor expedition, Columbia University's Lamont Geological Observatory, and the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. The ocean has also contributed significantly to the development and economy of the countries around it. Besides its major "transatlantic" transportation and communication routes, the Atlantic offers abundant petroleum deposits in the sedimentary rocks of the continental shelves and the world's richest fishing resources, especially in the waters covering the shelves. The major species of fish caught are cod, haddock, hake, herring, and mackerel. The most productive areas include the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the shelf area off Nova Scotia, Georges Bank off Cape Cod, the Bahama Banks, the waters around Iceland, the Irish Sea, the Dogger Bank of the North Sea, and the Falkland Banks. Eel, lobster, and whales have also been taken in great quantities. All these factors, taken together, tremendously enhance the Atlantic's great commercial value. Because of the threats to the ocean environment presented by oil spills, marine debris, and the incineration of toxic wastes at sea, various international treaties exist to reduce some forms of pollution.
- In 1858, the first Transatlantic telegraph cable was laid by Cyrus Field.
- In 1919, the American NC-4 became the first airplane to cross the Atlantic (though it made a couple of landings on islands along the way).
- Later in 1919, a British airplane piloted by Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland.
- In 1921, the British were the first to cross the North Atlantic in an airship.
- In 1922, the Portuguese were the first to cross the South Atlantic in an airship.
- The first transatlantic telephone call was made on January 7, 1927.
- In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight in an airplane (between New York City and Paris).
- After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 miles, on December 3, 1999 Tori Murden became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reached Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands. Location: body of water between Africa, Europe, the Southern Ocean, and the Americas Geographic coordinates: Map references: World Area:
- total: 76.762 million km²
- note: includes the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Labrador Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, almost all of the Scotia Sea, and other tributary water bodies Area - comparative: slightly less than 6.5 times the size of the US Coastline: 111,866 km Climate: Tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop anywhere from off the coast of Africa near Cape Verde to the Windward Islands and move westward into the Caribbean Sea or up the east coast of North America; hurricanes can occur from May to December, but are most frequent from late July to early November. Storms are common in the North Atlantic during northern winters, making ocean crossings more difficult and dangerous.

Terrain

The surface is usually covered with sea ice in the Labrador Sea, Denmark Strait, and Baltic Sea from October to June. There is a clockwise warm-water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the northern Atlantic, and a counter-clockwise warm-water gyre in the southern Atlantic. The ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south centerline for the entire Atlantic basin, first discovered by the Challenger Expedition.

Elevation extremes


- lowest point: Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench -8,605 m
- highest point: sea level 0 m

Natural resources

Petroleum and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, precious stones

Natural hazards

Icebergs are common in the Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean from February to August and have been spotted as far south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands. Ships are subject to superstructure icing in extreme northern Atlantic from October to May. Persistent fog can be a maritime hazard from May to September. So can hurricanes north of the equator (May to December). The Bermuda Triangle is popularly believed to be the site of numerous aviation and shipping incidents, due to unexplained and supposedly mysterious causes, but coastguard records do not support this belief.

Current environmental issues

Endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales. Drift net fishing is killing dolphins, albatrosses and other seabirds (petrels, auks), hastening the decline of fish stocks and contributing to international disputes. There is municipal sludge pollution off eastern US, southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina, oil pollution in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea, and industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea.

Notes on geography

Major chokepoints include the Strait of Gibraltar and the Panama Canal; strategic straits include the Strait of Dover, Straits of Florida, Mona Passage, The Sound (Oresund), and Windward Passage; the Equator divides the Atlantic Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean (previously known as the Ethiopic Ocean). During the Cold War the so called Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) Gap was a major strategic concern, the seabed in that area was laid with extensive hydrophone systems to track Soviet submarines.

Ports and harbours


- A Coruña (Spain)
- Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Accra (Ghana)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Bahia Blanca (Argentina)
- Baltimore (US)
- Banjul (The Gambia)
- Belfast (Northern Ireland)
- Bergen (Norway)
- Bissau (Guinea-Bissau)
- Bodø (Norway)
- Bordeaux (France)
- Boston (US)
- Bremen (Germany)
- Brest (France)
- Bristol (England)
- Cadiz (Spain)
- Cape Town (South Africa)
- Casablanca (Morocco)
- Cayenne (French Guiana)
- Charleston (US)
- Cherbourg (France)
- Conakry (Guinea)
- Cork (Republic of Ireland)
- Cotonou (Benin)
- Dakar (Senegal)
- Douala (Cameroon)
- Dublin (Republic of Ireland)
- Dunkirk (France)
- Edinburgh (Scotland)
- Fortaleza (Brazil)
- Georgetown (Guyana)
- Glasgow (Scotland)
- Gothenburg(Sweden)
- Hamburg (Germany)
- Halifax (Canada)
- Jacksonville (US)
- Lagos (Nigeria)
- Las Palmas (Spain)
- Le Havre (France)
- Libreville (Gabon)
- Lisbon (Portugal)
- Liverpool (England)
- Lomé (Togo)
- London (England)
- Luanda (Angola)
- Maceió (Brazil)
- Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
- Miami (US)
- Monrovia (Liberia)
- Montréal (Canada)
- Morehead City (US)
- Nantes (France)
- Nantucket (US)
- Narvik (Norway)
- New Haven (US)
- New London (US)
- New York (US)
- Newcastle upon Tyne (England)
- Newport News (US)
- Norfolk (US)
- Nouakchott (Mauritania)
- Oslo (Norway)
- Ostend (Belgium)
- Paramaribo (Suriname)
- Philadelphia (US)
- Port Harcourt (Nigeria)
- Portland (US)
- Porto (Portugal)
- Porto-Novo (Benin)
- Portsmouth (England)
- Portsmouth (US)
- Providence (US)
- Puerto Cortes (Honduras)
- Québec (Canada)
- Rabat (Morocco)
- Recife (Brazil)
- Reykjavík (Iceland)
- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
- Rotterdam (Netherlands)
- Salvador (Brazil)
- Saint-Nazaire (France)
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain)
- Santander (Spain)
- Santos (Brazil)
- Savannah (US)
- Seville (Spain)
- Saint John (Canada)
- St. John's (Canada)
- Southampton (England)
- Stavanger (Norway)
- Tangier (Morocco)
- Tromsø (Norway)
- Trondheim (Norway)
- Vigo (Spain)
- Vitória (Brazil)
- Walvis Bay (Namibia)
- Wilmington (US)
- Yarmouth (Canada)
- Ålesund (Norway)

Note on transportation

The Saint Lawrence Seaway is an important waterway.

References


- Much of this article comes from the public domain site http://oceanographer.navy.mil/atlantic.html (dead link). It is now accessible from the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/20020221215514/http%3a//oceanographer.navy.mil/atlantic.html.
  - Disclaimers for this website, including its status as a public domain resource, are recorded on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/20020212021049/http%3a//oceanographer.navy.mil/warning.html.

External links


- [http://dapper.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/ NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer] Plot and download ocean observations
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/zh.html CIA – The World Factbook – Atlantic Ocean] Category:Atlantic Ocean Category:Oceans als:Atlantik zh-min-nan:Tāi-se-iûⁿ ko:대서양 ja:大西洋 simple:Atlantic Ocean th:มหาสมุทรแอตแลนติก

Mediterranean

The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km² (965 000 mi²). It is also called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea in oceanography to distinguish it from other mediterranean seas in the world. It was a superhighway of transport in ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region — Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and the Middle-East (Arab/Persian/Semitic) cultures. The history of the Mediterranean is important in understanding the origin and development of Western Civilization.

Name

The term Mediterranean derives from the Latin mediterraneus, 'inland' (medius, 'middle' + terra, 'land, earth'), in Greek "mesogeios". The Mediterranean Sea has been known by a number of alternative names throughout human history. It was, for example, commonly called Mare Nostrum (Latin, Our Sea) by the Romans. In the Bible, it is referred to as the Great Sea or the Western Sea. In modern Hebrew, it is called "ha-Yam ha-Tichon" (הים התיכון), "the middle sea", a literal adaptation of the German equivalent Mittelmeer. In Turkish, it is Akdeniz, "the white sea". In Arabic, it is Al-Bakhr Al-Abiad Al-Muttawasit, "the middle white sea". Currently, "The Med" is a common English language contraction for the Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding regions when employed in informal speech.

Geography

Turkish The