Exam 2 - Peoples and Cultures

t/f

Where Europe end in the East

It ends in the Ural Mountains where the continental plates meet

Where Europe end in the East

It ends wherever people ‘stop’ exhibiting sociocultural traits that are considered to define Europe

Eurasia

The large, contiguous landmass comprised of Europe and Asia together

Boot of Italy

Part of Europe with the same latitude as Maryville, MO

Mild midlatitude and continental midlatitude climates

Two major climate types of Europe

Mild midlatitude climates

Wetter kinds of midlatitude climates found in the west and south

Continental midlatitude climates

drier types of midlatitude climates found in the east and north

Westerly winds

Explains the climate patterns in Europe

Low

Total Fertility Rate in Europe

4-2-1 problem

When there are four grandparents, two parents, and one child

Importance of mountains in Europe

They are barriers to travel, provide national defense, and affect agriculture

Slope aspect

The direction that mountain slopes face makes some drier and some wetter

Importance of rivers in Europe

Many major settlements and major cities are found along them and provide cities with natural defense

True

T/F - City names in Europe often reflect the physical geography of the site they occupy

Indo-European language

Language Europeans typically speak

Christianity

Religion most prominent in Europe

Christendom

Nickname for European region reflecting the prominence of Christianity

Indo-European language family

The most spoken language family on Earth. It includes languages of Europe and northern India.

False

T/F - Europeans are not multilingual out of necessity

Uralic language family

A small language family consisting of Hungarian and other languages spoken mostly in northern Europe and Russia

Roman Catholicism

Largest religion in Europe today

Thirty years war

A result of the protestant reformation where alliances fought over rights of religious freedom

Peace of Westphalia

Brought an end to the thirty years war

Westphalian Sovereignty

One government rules over a geographically-defined territory

The Moorish Empire

Spread Islam into the Iberian Peninsula

Reconquista

The conquering of Spain by Christian European forces

Ottoman Turkish Empire

Occupied most of southeastern Europe until its decline in the late 1800s

Modern Immigration from SW Asia and N Africa

Many people from Syria, Afghanistan, and other conflict areas migrated to Europe

Antisemitism

Hostility or prejudice against Jews

Holocaust

Caused the Jewish population to be decimated

Roman Empire

One of the first large political entities to control a good portion of Europe

Migrational Period

Europe entered a long period of political fragmentation and population migrations due to the empire falling

Holy Roman Empire

A decentralized Germanic empire with an elected “Emperor”

Feudalism

A society structured around relationships between different groups of people related to land use and the service/obligations to be given in return

Renaissance of the 12th Century

Gave rise to urbanization, architecture, the first Universities, standardized languages, etc

True

T/F - The Thirty Years War resulted in a geopolitical system, the Westphalian System

Territorial State

A geographically bounded piece of territory controlled by a single, valid and recognized government.

Westphalian Sovereignty

The legal right of equality given to territorial states

Nationalism

A movement to promote the interests of a particular nation of people. Usually involves the pursuit of sovereignty over a homeland

Nation

A group of people who imagine themselves as the same on the basis of some shared characteristics

Nation State

A territorial state controlled and largely populated by a single nation of people. Usually this means a single ethnic group

Unification nationalism

An ethnically related group of people unify politically, usually spurred by the common experience of conflict against another group

Anti-Empire nationalism

An ethnic group feels oppressed within an empire and so a movement grows to rise up and break away from an empire’s territory

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Empire containing numerous ethnic groups that wanted to gain nation states

The Casus Belli for World War I

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist

Casus Belli

The case for war

Geopolitical result of WWI

Large empires disintegrated

Geopolitical result of WWI

Small nation states were created, especially from the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Geopolitical result of WWI

Several multiethnic states were created by combining small, related ethnic groups

Geopolitical result of WWI

Many ethnic minorities become trapped in other groups’ nation states

Revanchism

A movement to reclaim territory lost from a previous war, ‘revenge’

Irredentism

Annexing territories on the basis of shared ethnicity with the people there

Anschluss

The annexation of Austria that finally unified Germanic peoples and resolved the Prussian/Austrian rivalry

Invasion of Poland and Sudetenland

Germans lived there in large numbers and were brought back into a German state

Geopolitical Result of WWII

Germany, Hungary, and Italy defeated and their territorial gains lost

Geopolitical Result of WWII

Jews and Roma killed in large numbers in the Holocaust

Geopolitical Result of WWII

Many Ethnic cleansings occur

Geopolitical Result of WWII

European Union is formed

Geopolitical Result of WWII

Cold War begins

Geopolitical Result of WWII

Germany is divided into two countries and four occupation zones

The Cold War

War started from the rivalry between Russia and the USA

Iron Curtain

The militarized border separating the Russian and American spheres of influence in Europe

The Berlin Wall

The militarized border dividing the city of Berlin into west and east. The east was controlled by communists

Reason for the European Union

Acts as a ‘third voice’ in geopolitics, besides the USA and Soviet Union

Reason for the European Union

Meant to integrate the economics of France and Germany so they wouldn’t fight any more

Reason for the European Union

Allowed small post-colonial European countries to collectively negotiate economics and integrate their economics more fully

European Union

Confederation of sovereign nation states in Europe to create economic cooperation

The Four Freedoms

Free movement of goods, capital, services, and labor

Schengen Area

The border-free territory of the European Union

Major Controversy of the EU

Widening (adding new members) and deepening (increasing control over things)

Major Controversy of the EU

Immigration

Major Controversy of the EU

Protectionism (countries still want to protect national industries and food specialties)

Roma

Distinct ethnic group that originated in India

Gypsies

What the Roma are widely known as and can be considered an ethnic slur

Cigans

What the Roma are called today

Romanipen

The cultural and social things that Roma contrasts between themselves and the Europeans/outsiders

False

T/F - Roma are not a primary target of racism in Europe

Porajmos

‘The devouring’ of the Roma. Name for their WWII genocide

Ghetto

An ethnically segregated portion of a town or city, where Roma typically live today

True

T/F - The region of the Former Soviet Union is defined by its political geography

Continental Midlatitude climates

Climate of the former Soviet Union is located

Dry climates

Climate behind the Himalayan Mountains

Steppe

A region term used in Asia to describe what Americans would call “prairie”

Siberia

A huge natural region east of the Urals mainly made up of boreal forest

The Russian Far East

A natural region border in China, Mongolia, and North Korea that is made up of boreal forest and tundra

False

T/F - Russia doesn’t suffer from a resource curse

Resource Curse

A country with an overabundance of natural resources. It either makes them a target for colonialism or they become reliant on selling them.

Arable land

Land that can be farmed

True

T/F - The former Soviet Union lacked arable land

Virgin Lands Campaign

A movement to till up the steppe of Central Asia

The Aral Sea

Once the 4th largest lake in the world, it dried up after the Soviets diverted its water for irrigation

Chernobyl

A Soviet nuclear power plant built close to the Ukrainian/Belarussian border that melted down in 1986, causing massive radioactive contamination

Dirty explosion

A conventional explosion that spreads nuclear contamination, the nuclear material itself did not cause the explosion

May Day

An international communist holiday celebrating workers

Pripyat

A city alongside Chernobyl that was completely abandoned due to the explosion

The Russian Woodpecker

A huge over-the-horizon radar that was built too detect incoming nuclear missiles from the USA. It interfered with global air traffic control made a ‘woodpecker’ sound

Slavs, Turkic, and Paleo-Siberian peoples

Three ethnic groups of the former Soviet Union

Slavs

Russians, Belarussians, and Ukrainians

Turkic peoples

Groups speaking Turkic language who mainly live in Central Asia