PENNSVALLEY
42
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Southern Europe
Lesson 23:
Political Features of Southern Europe
Southern Europe ismade up of 17 countries. In number of countries, it is Europe’s largest region.
Traveling fromwest to east, Southern Europe begins with Spain and Portugal which form the
Iberian
Peninsula
. It stretches along the
Mediterranean
coastline, to
Greece
and the
Aegean Sea
. The
AegeanSea separatesGreece andTurkey. It also separates the continents of Europe andAsia.
Aswith some regions inAsia, not all geographers andmapmakers agree onwhat countriesmake
up Southern Europe.We have labeled Southern Europe as those countries that closely follow the
southern border of Europe and the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. Only two do not border on
the Mediterranean.
Portugal
faces the Atlantic Ocean, and
Macedonia
is an inland country to the
north of Greece.
Because of the number of countries, we will study Southern Europe as four separate land areas.
The land areas are organized below. Aswe locate each area, follow along in your classroom atlas.
• IberianPeninsula
• France andMonaco
• ItalianPeninsula andMalta
• SoutheasternEurope andGreece
Iberian Peninsula
The countries of
1) Spain
and
2) Portugal
occupy the largest portion of the southwestern corner
of Europe known as the
3) IberianPeninsula
.
4) Andorra
is a small country that sits in thePyrenees
Mountains that form the border of Spain and France. Near the most southern point of the Iberian
Peninsula is
5)Gibraltar
, a territory, or dependency, that belongs to theUnitedKingdom.Thecontinent
of
6) Africa
begins about 5miles south of themost southern point of the IberianPeninsula.
France andMonaco
7) France
connects the Iberian Peninsula tomainland Europe. France is Europe’s second largest
country and one of the world’s leading nations in agriculture and industry. Also part of France is
8)Corsica,
aMediterranean island lyingoff its southeast coast.Restingnear theborder of Franceand
Italy is the tiny nation of
9) Monaco
. The country is less than one square mile in size. Monaco has
been ruled by the same family for more than 800 years.
Italian Peninsula andMalta
A boot-shaped peninsula forms the country of
10) Italy
. It is the thirdmajor land area of Southern
Europe. Italy also includes two Mediterranean islands,
11) Sicily
and
12) Sardinia
. South of Sicily,
seven islands form the country of
13) Malta
. The mainland of Italy includes two of the smallest
countries in the world,
14) Vatican City
and
15) San Marino
. Vatican City is located within the city
limits of Rome. It is the capital of theCatholicChurch and the official residence of thePope.
Southeastern Europe and Greece
In the early 1990s ethnic tensions and war forced the division of Yugoslavia into five separate
nations.Thenations included
16) Serbia
and
17)Montenegro
,
18) Slovenia
,
19) Croatia
,
20) Bosnia
and Herzegovina
, and
21) Macedonia
. At the time this book was being completed, the country of
Serbia and Montenegro split into independent countries. On June 3, 2006, Montenegro declared
its independence and on June 6, 2006, Serbia followed with a declaration of its independence.
SoutheasternEurope also includes the countries of
22) Albania
and
23) Greece
.Albania lies south of
Serbia andMontenegro and borders the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.Most of Greece is part of mainland
Europe, but it hasmore than 2,000 islands that stretch into theAegean andMediterraneanSeas.
