Hey explorers, it's Brian here. Am I in Europe? Am I in Asia? You may find yourself with me here in
St.Petersburg, Russia, asking yourself that same question. Due to the fact that Europe and Asia are
cultural constructs, and not physically separate continents, countries on the landmass of Eurasia,
that is the landmass that contains Europe and Asia, could really be both European and Asian. And
speaking of landmasses, well today our learning objective is to be able to identify the countries
of Eastern Europe and their land characteristics, bodies of water, and climate. Now Eastern Europe
is not only in the middle of Eurasia, it also straddles the cultural border of Asia and Europe,
making the designation of countries in this region as murky as a Latvian peat bog. Let's try to
bridge the gap for you a bit as well as tell you more about this fascinating and vast area of land.
Location. Eastern Europe consists of Russia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Now some may point out that Russia, Georgia,
Azerbaijan, and Armenia could be classified as Asian countries. And others will argue that Poland
belongs in central Europe. For the purpose of our lesson, we will group these countries
together in Eastern Europe. Historically, Russia has dominated Eastern Europe, particularly for the
last century. I mean look at it, it's just so big. Russia and the Soviet Union as you learned in an
earlier lesson, exerted considerable political and cultural influence over other countries in this
area. Not too long ago the land we're looking at today would have consisted of just 2 countries
instead of 10, just Poland and the Soviet Union; which absorbed the 8 other countries among others.
When this massive conglomeration of lands was finally dissolved in 1991, sovereignty
was returned to the independent republics that you see on the map. Nowadays however,
emphasizing these countries' ties to communist Russia is becoming more and more outdated. Many
of these smaller countries have successfully removed themselves from the towering shadow
of the biggest house on the Eastern European bloc and revived the vibrant culture which has existed
among their people for thousands of years. But, we'll learn more about culture in another lesson.
For now, let's break down the physical characteristics of Eastern Europe.
The land. Eastern Europe's natural borders include the Ural Mountains,
the Caucasus mountains, the Baltic Sea, the Barents Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea.
Now if you decide to walk across this region, well good luck, it's huge! You'll definitely reach your
10,000 step goal every day. However, your fitness tracker most likely wouldn't register too many
floors climbed because this land is flat. You may remember learning about the East European Plain,
this long flat land mass occupies most of Eastern Europe, covering about 2 million
square miles. It's the main reason why Europe has the lowest average elevation of any continent.
If you look at a world map the first country you're likely to notice is Russia. Russia is big,
and yes, it spans two continents. The Ural Mountains are a north-to-south mountain range
that is considered the border of European Russia and Asian Russia. We'll pay particular attention
to the European part of Russia today. As we mentioned, Russia is a massive country. It covers
one-tenth of all land on earth; nearly 6.6 million square miles. If you combine Canada, the world's
second-biggest country, and the US, those two countries are barely bigger than Russia by itself.
The European portion of Russia, at 1.5 million square miles, occupies about 40% of European land.
And if you travel across Russia, be prepared for some serious jet lag. It stretches over 11 time
zones! By comparison, Hawaii and New York are just five hours apart, or six during daylight
savings time. Russia has coastline on 12 seas and 3 oceans; the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic by way
of the Baltic Sea. It has over 100,000 rivers including the Volga, the longest in Europe,
and it also features many enormous lakes including Europe's two largest the Ladoga and the Onega.
While much of Russia lies on the East European Plain,
areas near the Ural and Caucasus can of course be quite mountainous. So just to recap,
if you're going to sum up Russia in one word it would probably be, big! Oh yeah,
we left some things out. It has Eurasia's largest active volcano, a swamp bigger than Switzerland,
the deepest lake in the world, we could go on all day here but we can't bear to have Russia
overshadow its neighbors. Oh yeah, Russia also has bears that weigh as much as a small car.
But, we have another 9 countries to explore. The only countries in this region outside the East
European Plain are the Transcaucasia countries. Transcaucasia is a region that lies on the south
side of the Caucasus Mountains and contains Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. These countries
are on the south side of the Caucasus Mountains, which is a mountain range at the border of Europe
and Asia, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The sub-region occupies about 186,000 square
miles and is quite mountainous. Transcaucasia is more susceptible to earthquakes and they feature
a higher altitude than the rest of Eastern Europe. Much of the land there is at least one mile above
sea level. The Caucasus Mountains feature the 2 tallest mountains of Europe: Mount Elbrus, which
lies on the Russian side, reaches 18,510 feet. George's Shkhara, at 17,037 feet is considered a
serious mountaineering challenge. Now, if that's not your thing, you can still see the towering
peak from the picturesque village of Ushguli, now that's a view! We climbed the mountains so
let's descend now to the flatter countries west of Russia; Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. Belarus
is landlocked, although it does contain 11,000 lakes within its borders. Ukraine borders the
Black Sea to its south. Poland borders the Baltic Sea to its north and the Vistula River splits the
country right down the middle, flowing through the major cities of Warsaw, Krakow, and Gdansk.
And the Carpathian Mountains break up the flat plains with some spectacular panoramic vistas.
Moving north, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are known as the Baltic States because they all
border the Baltic Sea. The Baltic States cover about 68,000 square miles. They feature long
coastlines and small islands off the shore. There are over 7,000 lakes in the region,
along with many swamps and the aforementioned peat bogs. Dense forest covers half of the land.
Climate. Eastern Europe largely has a continental climate, which is characterized by mild summers
and cold snowy winters. Typically, there is more rainfall in the warmer summer months.
Tundra covers the northernmost lands and gives way to Taiga as we move south,
which consists of copious evergreen trees. This progresses into deciduous forests dotting the
East European Plain and eventually becomes mostly semi-aired grassland.
As we move further and further east toward Asia, the warm Gulf Stream Air coming off the Atlantic
has a diminished influence on the climate making summer highs and winter lows far more extreme.
As a result, Eastern Europe is much snowier than Western Europe.
Have you ever tried to plant a seed in the snow? It's not easy to get it to grow, is it? As you can
guess, these extremes can lead to challenges for farming. In colder parts of Eastern Europe, the
ground freezes in winter and then thaws in spring creating flooding, a farming and transportation
nightmare. Speaking of the cold, you might think of Russia and immediately want to put on a warm
coat and a ushanka. Yes, Russia can be quite cold, especially in its Siberian Region in the far
north. However, you may be surprised to find out that parts of Russia that border the Black Sea,
such as Sochi, can be quite mild and feature popular beach resorts. Due to the proximity to
their own sea, the Baltic States experience milder temperatures than inland zones at
similar latitudes. These countries experience higher humidity and frequent cloud cover.
Well, that about does it for the physical features of Eastern Europe,
or Western Asia, or Central Eurasia. Nah, let's just stick with Eastern Europe.
You get the point. We hope you enjoyed our trek across the landscape of this part of the world.
It sure was quicker than walking and quite a bit warmer! Until next time, keep exploring!