Hey everyone, Bryan here. Today we're going to be using a particular word a whole heck of a lot.
Given the title, I'm pretty sure you can guess that word, which is, peninsula. Europe:
a peninsula of peninsulas. Europe is a continent-sized peninsula and it has many
many other smaller peninsulas as a part of its landmass. But how did that happen? Well,
today we're going to figure that out by answering these important questions. Number 1:
How do you get a continent-sized peninsula? Number 2, What are the other major peninsulas which are
part of the European landmass? and Number 3: What makes each of these peninsulas unique?
How do you get a continent-sized peninsula? Tectonic plates pushing on one another is how
we get these majestic Alps Mountain views, but there's another factor at play here;
and that's our old culprit, glaciation, which plays a huge part in the answer to this question.
Glaciation, or the effect on landforms of glaciers moving over time,
caused the deep valleys, narrow channels, and sharp features of the European Peninsula.
After the melting of these massive continent-sized pieces of ice, many of the glaciers filled up the
jagged spaces in between. The waters rose and presto, European Peninsula.
What other peninsulas are part of the European landmass? While we're answering this question,
let's also throw in what makes each of these peninsulas unique, shall we? Scandinavian
Peninsula. Starting with the largest and the most northern, the Scandinavian Peninsula is
roughly 1,150 miles long and between 200 to 500 miles wide, or about 289,000 square miles. And
with the Barents Sea to the north, the Norwegian and North Sea to the west and south, and Finland,
the Baltic Sea, and Russia to the east, you can assume that it's probably a pretty cold place.
And you'd be right! About 25% of the peninsula is above the Arctic Circle and the largest glacier on
the continent, Jostedalsbreen, which is 188 square miles in size, lies in southwestern
Norway. The climate is mostly arctic tundra to the north, with a cool maritime climate to the
south. Coincidentally, that's also where 94% of the 21 million inhabitants of the peninsula live.
Jutland peninsula. Slightly further south, in between the North Sea to the west,
the Baltic Sea to the east, and separated from Sweden and Norway by the Skagerrak Strait,
the Jutland peninsula is comprised primarily of the country of Denmark.
With the German state of Schleswig-Holstein making up the southern third.
Jutland is a study in glaciated geography as it's mostly flat and frequently sandy
filled with peat bogs, marshes, and eastern lakes left behind by our frequently mentioned glaciers.
Though industrialization overtook agrarian output in 1950, prior to the end of World War 2,
most of the peninsula was farmland; known then and still today for its extremely high output.
Iberian Peninsula. In terms of naming things practically, you really can't beat the Romans,
Iberian means land beyond the Iberos River, today the Ebro's River. Making up the extreme
western edge of Eurasia, the Iberian Peninsula is bordered on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean,
and the south by the Gulf of Cadiz, and the Mediterranean Sea. At 225,000 square miles,
it's somewhat smaller than the Scandinavian Peninsula; but, with 58 million people living on
it, far more populated. And with a tropical to dry Mediterranean climate, you can probably guess why.
Italian Peninsula. Also called the Italic or Apennine Peninsula due to the Apennine mountains
running its entire length, the Italian Peninsula is the one most people recognize because of its lo
Stivale, or boot shape. In fact, Italians have leaned into this description and labeled other
features of lo Stivale, such as; the southwest toe, or Calabria, the East Peninsula is Salento,
the heel, and halfway up the eastern side is Gargano, the spur. At 50,000 square miles and
with a little over 26 million people, the Italian Peninsula juts out into the Mediterranean which
is called the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the west Ionian Sea to the south, and Adriatic Sea to the east.
Balkan Peninsula. As with most of our study of Europe thus far, the Balkan Peninsula defies
easy description looking at its shape you can see that it isn't nearly as neat as our other major
peninsulas and many geographers no longer call it a peninsula or split Greece off into its own
peninsula and label the rest as the Balkans. As it defies easy description, the size also varies
greatly depending upon which measurement is used. The common measurement being around 181,000 square
miles or somewhat smaller than the Iberian but taking in much more of the territory to the north,
and stretching through the Black Sea, which makes it difficult to be called a peninsula.
The area is connected through shared geography with the Balkan Mountains
running east to west from Serbia to the Black Sea, and the region's karst, or deeply water-carved
cave and sinkhole-filled limestone topography, near the Adriatic Sea. In fact, the karst region
of the Balkans is what gives this geologic feature its name. The Balkans also have a shared history
of political upheaval; especially after the breakup of the Soviet country of Yugoslavia,
meaning South Slavs, and meant to hold the region together under one government.
To understand how well that went, do you remember the term Balkanization? Throughout the 1980s,
multiple ethnic groups battled each other for control of land and resources.
Conclusion. With all of this extreme topography you'd think Europe's peninsulas would be as varied
as it gets, but oh no, in other lessons coming up we'll be talking about islands,
mountains, and rivers. So grab your kayak and your crampons, and keep exploring!