seems to have been originally a moon deity and a patroness of hunting. EUROPA, Rape of. See TITIAN; VERONESE, PAUL. EUROPE, the smallest of the great continents but the most important, distinguished above the others by the character of its population, the superior cultivation of the soil, and the flourishing condition of arts, sciences, industry and commerce. Topography.- Europe forms a huge peninsula projecting from Asia, and is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caucasus Range; on the east by the Caspian Sea, the Ural River and the Ural Mountains. The most northerly point on the mainland is Cape Nordkyn, in Lapland, in lat. 71° 6' N.; the most southerly points are Punta da Tarifa, lat. 36° N., and the Strait of Gibraltar, and Cape Matapan, lat. 36° 17', which terminates Greece. The most westerly point is Cape Roca in Portugal, in long. 9° 28′ W., while Ekaterinburg is in long. 60° 36 E. From Cape Matapan to North Cape is a direct distance of 2,400 miles, from Cape Saint Vincent to Ekaterinburg, northeast by east, 3,400 miles; area of the continent, about 3,800,000 square miles. Great Britain and Ireland, Iceland, Nova Zembla, Corsica, Sardonia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, the Ionian and the Balearic Islands are the chief islands of Europe. The shores are very much indented, giving Europe an immense length of coast line (estimated at nearly 50,000 miles). The chief seas or arms of the sea are the White Sea on the north; the North Sea, or the German Ocean, on the west, from which branches off the great gulf or inland sea known as the Baltic; the English Channel, between England and France; the Mediterranean, communicating with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar (at one point only 19 miles wide); the Adriatic and the Egean seas, branching off from the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, connected with the Egean Sea through the Hellespont, Sea of Marmora and Bosporus. The mountains form several distinct groups or systems of very different geological dates, the loftiest mountain masses being in the south central region. The Scandinavian mountains in the northwest, to which the great northern peninsula owes its form, extend above 900 miles from the Polar Sea to the southern point of Norway. The highest summits are about 8,000 feet. The Alps, the highest mountains in Europe (unless Mount Elbruz in the Caucasus is claimed as European), extend from the Mediterranean first in a northerly and then in an easterly direction, and attain their greatest elevation in Mont Blanc (15,781 feet), Monte Rosa and other summits. Branching off from the Alps, though not geologically connected with them, are the Apennines, which run southeast, through Italy, constituting the central ridge of the peninsula. The highest summit is Monte Corno (9,541 feet). Mount Vesuvius, the celebrated volcano in the south of the peninsula, is quite distinct from the Apennines. By southeastern extensions the Alps are connected with the Balkan and the Despoto-Dagh of the southeastern peninsula of Europe. Among the moun tains of southwestern Europe are several massive chains, the loftiest summits being in the Pyrenees, and in the Sierra Nevada in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. The highest point in the former, La Maladetta or Mont Maudit, has an elevation of 11,165 feet; Mulahaven, in the latter, is 11,703 feet, and capped by perpetual snow. West and northwest of the Alps are the Cévennes, Jura and Vosges; north and northeast, the Harz, the Thüringerwald Mountains the Fichtelgebirge, the Erzgebirge and Böhmerwaldgebirge. Farther to the east the Carpathian chain encloses the great plain of Hungary, attaining an elevation of 8,000_or 8,500 feet. The Ural Mountains between Europe and Asia reach the height of 5,540 feet. Besides Vesuvius two other volcanoes are Etna in Sicily, and Hecla in Iceland. A great part of northern and eastern Europe is level. The "great plain" of North Europe occupies part of France, western and northern Belgium, Holland the northern provinces of Germany, and the greater part of Russia. A large portion of this plain, extending through Holland and North Germany, is a low sandy level not infrequently protected from inroads of the sea only by means of strong dykes. The other great plains of Europe are the plain of Lombardy (the most fertile district in Europe) and the plain of Hungary. Part of southern and southeastern Russia consists of steppes. Rivers and Lakes. The main European watershed runs in a winding direction from southwest to northeast, at its northeastern extremity being of very slight elevation. From the Alps descend some of the largest of the European rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone and the Po, while the Danube, a still greater stream, rises in the Black Forest north of the Alps. The Volga, which enters the Caspian Sea, an inland sheet without outlet, is the longest of European rivers, having a direct length of nearly 1,700 miles, including windings of 2,400 miles. Into the Mediterranean flow the Ebro, the Rhône and the Po; into the Black Sea, the Danube, Dnieper Dniester and Don (through the Sea of Azov); into the Atlantic, the Guadilquivir, the Guadiana, the Tagus and Loire; into the English Channel, the Seine; into the North Sea, the Rhine, Elbe; into the Baltic, the Oder, the Vistula and the Duna; into the Arctic Ocean, the Dwina. The lakes of Europe may be divided into two groups, the southern and the northern. The former run along both sides of the Alps, and among them, on the north side, are the lakes of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Thun, Lucerne, Zürich and Constance; on the south side, Lago Maggiore, and the lakes of Como, Lugano, Iseo and Garda. The northern lakes extend across Sweden from west to east, and on the east side of the Baltic a number of lakes, stretching in the same direction across Finland on the borders of Russia, mark the continuation of the line of depression. It is in Russia that the largest European lakes are found-Lakes Ladoga and Onega. Geology. The geological features of Europe are exceedingly varied. The older formations prevail in the northern part as compared with the southern half and the middle region. North of the latitude of Edin、 burgh and Moscow there is very little of the surface of more recent origin than the strata 582 of the upper Jura belonging to the Mesozoic Period, and there are vast tracts occupied either by eruptive rocks or one or other of the older sedimentary formations. Denmark and the portions of Germany adjoining belong to the Cretaceous Period, as does also a large part of Russia between the Volga and the basin of the Dnieper. Middle and eastern Germany with Poland and the valley of the Dnieper present on the surface Eocene formations of the Tertiary Period. The remainder of Europe is remarkable for the great diversity of its superficial structure, rocks and deposits belonging to all periods being found within it, and having for the most part no great superficial extent. Europe possesses abundant stores of those minerals which are of most importance to man, such as coal and iron, Great Britain being particularly favored in this respect. Coal and iron are also obtained in France, Belgium and Germany. Gold is found to an unimportant extent, and silver is widely spread in small quantities. The richest silver ores are in Norway, Spain, the Erzgebirge and the Harz Mountains. Spain is also rich in quicksilver. Copper ores are abundant in the Ural Mountains, Thuringia, Cornwall and Spain. Tin ores are found in Cornwall, the Erzgebirge and Brittany. Climate. Several circumstances concur to give Europe a climate peculiarly genial, such as its position almost wholly within the temperate zone, and the great extent of its maritime boundaries. Much benefit is also derived from the fact that its shores are exposed to the warm marine currents and warm winds from the southwest, which prevent the formation of ice on most of its northern shores. The eastern portion has a less favorable climate than the western. The extremes of temperature are greater, the summer being hotter and the winter colder, while the lines of equal mean temperature decline south as we go east. The same advantages of mild and genial temperature which western has over eastern Europe, the continent collectively has over the rest of the Old World. The diminution of mean temperature, as well as the intensity of the opposite seasons, increases as we go east. Peking, in lat. 40° N., has as severe a winter as Petrograd in lat. 60°. Botany. With respect to the vegetable kingdom Europe may be divided into four zones. The first, or most northern, is that of fir and birch. The birch reaches almost to North Cape; the fir ceases a degree farther south. The cultivation of grain extends farther north than might be supposed. Barley ripens even under the 70th parallel of north latitude; wheat ceases at 64° in Norway to lat. 62° in Sweden. Within this zone the southern limit of which extends from lat. 64° in Norway to lat. 62° Russia, agriculture has little importance, its inhabitants being chiefly occupied with the care of reindeer or cattle, and in fishing. The next zone, which may be called that of the oak and beech, and cereal produce, extends from the limit above mentioned to the 48th parallel. The Alps, though beyond the limit, by reason of their elevation belong to this zone, in the moister parts of which cattle husbandry has been brought to perfection. Next we find the zone of the chestnut and vine, occupying the space between the 48th parallel and the mountain chains of south ern Europe. Here the oak still flourishes, but the pine species become rarer. Rye, which characterizes the preceding zone on the continent, gives way to wheat, and in the southern portion of it to maize also. The fourth zone, comprehending the southern peninsula, is that of the olive and evergreen woods. The orange, lemon and olive flourish in the southern portion of it, and rice is cultivated in a few spots in Italy and Spain. Zoology. As regards animals the reindeer and polar bears are peculiar to the north. In the forests of Poland and Lithuania the urus, a species of wild ox, is still occasionally met with. Bears and wolves still inhabit the forests and mountains; but, in general, cultivation and population have expelled wild animals. The domesticated animals are nearly the same throughout. The ass and mule lose their size and beauty north of the Pyrenees and Alps. The Mediterranean Sea has many species of fish, but no great fishery; the northern seas, on the other hand, are annually filled with countless shoals of a few species, chiefly the herring, mackerel, cod and salmon. were To the Inhabitants.- Europe is occupied by several different peoples or races, in many parts now greatly intermingled. The Celts once possessed the west of Europe from the Alps to the British Islands. But the Celtic nationalities broken by the wave of Roman conquest, and the succeeding invasions of the Germanic tribes completed their political ruin. At the present day the Celtic language is spoken only in the Scotch highlands (Gaelic), in some parts of Ireland (Irish), in Wales (Cymric) and in Brittany (Armorican). Next to the Celtic comes the Teutonic race, comprehending the Germanic and Scandinavian branches. The former includes the Germans, the Dutch and the English. The Scandinavians are divided into Danes, Swedes and Norwegians. east, in general, of the Teutonic race, though sometimes mixed with it, come the Slavonians, that is, the Russians, the Poles, the Czechs or Bohemians, the Serbians, Croatians, etc. In the south and southeast of Europe are the Greek and Latin peoples, the latter comprising the Italians, French, Spanish and Portuguese. these peoples are regarded as belonging to the Indo-European or Aryan stock. To the Mongolian stock belong the Turks, Finns, Lapps and Magyars or Hungarians, all immigrants into Europe in comparatively recent times. The Basques at the western extremity of the Pyrenees are a people whose affinities have not yet The total population of been determined. Europe is about 425,000,000; nine-tenths speak the languages of the Indo-European family, the Teutonic group numbering about 108,000,000, the Slavonic and Latin over 95,000,000 each. The prevailing religion is the Christian, embracing the Roman Catholic Church, the various Protestant bodies and the Greek Church. A part of the inhabitants profess the Jewish, a part the Mohammedan religion. All Political Divisions. The states of Europe, with their respective areas and populations, are as shown below. Area and Population.- The following table shows the countries with their government, area and population according to The Statesman's Year Book (1916). |