Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/312

* EUROPE. 278 EUROPE. All the prominent forms of flat and steep coasts are represented on the shores of Europe. The fiord coasts of Norway and western Scotland, the deep and comparatively wide indentations of the West coasts of England and Ireland. Brittany, and northwest Spain provide a great number of excellent natural harbors, which promoted the sea trade of the Middle Ages, and has stimulated the immense development of ocean commerce in modern times. The most unfavorable harbor conditions are found along the Hat. sandy coasts of the lowlands of the Netherlands and Belgium, northwest Germany, the west side of Jutland, and the French coast on the Bay of Biscay. Here, as also for the most part on the east side of Great Britain, only river-mouths offer good harbors. The importance of the sea trade here depends upon flood tides and favorable conditions at the river-mouths, the largest vessels being able to navigate the rivers only at high tide. A large number of the Atlantic cities are river ports, Hull and London, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Am- sterdam. Hamburg and Bremen. Havre and Bor- deaux, Oporto and Lisbon. River ports are also must numerous on the Baltic, though shipping there does not have tidal advantages. A peculiar- ity of the German Baltic coast is the sand-dunes parallel with the shore which afford complete protection from waves. The conditions are very different on the Medi- terranean shores, where high, steep coasts are the prevalent feature, flat coasts and delta forma- tions being exceptional. The How and ebb of the tide are insignificant, the little rivers are un- important for commerce, and there are no note- worthy river ports, which reappear only on the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Many important ports on the Mediterranean have developed without the advantages afforded by navigable rivers. Europe owes its commercial supremacy to the remarkable development of its coast-line, length- ened as it is by many islands, channels, and the deep penetration of the sea into the land. The three most conspicuous topographic forms of the continental mass are the highland belt in the south, tin- secondary mountains north of it, and the lowlands. The highland belt is (the western member of the. great, mountain zone that extends through the Old World from the upper courses of the Yang-tse and Hoang rivers to the Atlantic. This high zone i- extended into Kurope by the Caucasus Mountains (Elbruz, about 18,- 500 feet), and the mountains of the Crimea. It is then interrupted by the depressions of the Black anil .Egean seas, beyond which lies the Alpine system. The Alpine system consists o| :i -eric, of long and connected mountain chains of which the Alp- are the heart, the high- est and mosl prominent features. The Apen- nines, tlie Balkan Mountains, and the Carpa- thians, sweeping around the hasiri of the Danube to the Balkans, are directly connected with the Alps. The high mountains of the Pyrenees have no superficial connection with the Alps; neither (except ms the return chain of the Apennine system) has the Sierra Nevada of southern Spain, which is regarded as the frontal rangi ol the Ltlas Mountains of Africa. The highland bell west of the Black Sea reaches its culmination in the Alps (Mont Blanc, 15,780 E« i ' ■•■ h ii h an at once the highest and mosl passahh- of ill these mountains. No other high mountains of equal extent, except the Rockj" mountains in the United States, have so many passes that are easy to cross; the Alps, therefore, despite their vast snow-fields and numerous glaciers, oiler little or no impediment to com- merce, while the Pyrenees are practically im- passable except around their extreme ends. The mountains to the north of the highland belt are of a very different character. While they include mountain ranges, they are much shorter than in the highland belt. Mountain chains, groups of mountains, isolated mountains, and plateaus are intermingled in great variety. With the exception of the Scandinavian Moun- tains, they are all comparatively low, and the Germans have, therefore, designated them as the Mittelgebirge, intermediate or secondary moun- tains. The groups of the northern mountains are the mountains of southern Poland, the moun- tains of southern and central Germany and France (Jura. Yosges, Bohemian Forest. Erzege- birge, Riesengebirge. Thuringian Forest, Harz, Black Forest, etc. ), the British mountains, and the Scandinavian-Finnish mountains. The highest are the mountains of Scandinavia, which cover most of Norway, and slope steeply to the sea, but gradually into Sweden. Far to the east and isolated from all other mountains of Europe are the Urals, the longest mountain chain of the continent, rising steeply from Asia, but sloping very gradually to the plain on the European side. The continent of Europe has but a single ac- tive- volcano within its borders — Vesuvius. Etna is on the island of Sicily. Other insular vol canoes are Stromboli, the active parts of San- torin, and Skaptar-Jiikull in Iceland. Among the ancient volcanic regions may be mentioned the Alban Mountains of Italy, the Tokay District of northern Hungary, Auvergne in France, the Eifel region of Germany, and the northwest of the British Isles (with the Giant's Causeway, Fin- gal's Cave, etc. i . Two-thirds of the continental mass is lowland. The vast low plain of North Asia, interrupted only by the Urals, is continued through Russia, the northern half of Germany, and through France to the Pyrenees. Smaller plains, both high and low, are also found within the mountain lands. The most important of these high plains are those of Switzerland (between the Jura the Alps), where most of the people live, the plain being as densely populated as Germany or France; the plains of South Germany along the northern edge of the Alps; and the two high plains of Castile in Spain. The most important of the mountain-inclosed lowlands are those of the Alpine streams; the great, rich plain of the Po Basin; the plains of the Upper Rhine; and the four great lowland- of the Danube Basin, includ- ing a large region around Vienna, the upper an' lower plains of Hungary, a region of wheat and grazing, ami the Wallachian Plain, one of the granaries of Europe. Generalizing these facts as to the topographic forms of (hi' continent, it may he saiil that Europe i- divided into two parts, the eastern part Kus sia. and tin' western part the remainder of (In- continent. The eastern part is an unbroken low- land, mountains rising only on its eastern and southern edges. The western part has with its plains also the two forms of mountain lands above mentioned. The eastern part is broad, massive, little articulated: or. in other words, it