Peer 1 Mary Jones Discussion Question And Also Re

For
your initial post in the discussion topic, discuss how the physical
attributes of Europe and Russia vary. Do these attributes impact the
relative location of Europe and Russia with that of the rest of the
world any differently?

In response to your peers, you should make connections from the
original post to your choice of one or more of the five themes of
geography.

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.

Peer 1

Mary Jones posted Jan 21, 2020 5:48 PM

Hello Classmates,

The physical differences of Europe and Russia include variation in landscape, size, and population.

Europe is considered to be a peninsula of peninsulas, as it is
bordered by water on three sides. The Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean,
Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Mediterranean Sea surround this continent
(National Geographic Society “Europe: Physical Geography” 2012). Russia
is also surrounded by water, but only on two sides. The Arctic Ocean,
Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of
Okhetsk, and Black Sea surround this country (“Russia Physical Map
2019”).

Europe can be divided into four major physical regions – the Western
Uplands, North European Plain, Central Uplands, and the Alpine
Mountains. The Western Uplands contain marshlands, lakes, and fjords.
The North European Plain contains rivers and crops, and is the most
populated area of the country. The Central Uplands are heavily wooded
and are not home to much of the overall population. The Alpine Mountains
includes higher elevations, plateaus, and volcanoes (National
Geographic Society “Europe: Physical Geography” 2012).

The landscape of Russia includes mountains, such as the Ural
Mountains, marshes, forests, and plains. The Caucaus Mountains contain
the highest elevation in the country at 18,481 feet on Mt. Elbrus.
Russia is home to over 100,000 rivers, most of them spanning over 7
miles in length. The tundra, otherwise known as the Russian Arctic, is
another major landscape of this country. It stretches over 4300 miles
from west to east. Besides these physical attributes, most of Russia is
composed of forests. The Taiga is a region that accounts for over 60% of
Russia, where forests run from the west towards the Pacific Ocean in
the East (“Answers” 2017).

Another difference between Europe and Russia is the size of each.
Europe is 3.9 million square miles and covers approximately 2% of the
Earth’s surface. It is composed of 50 sovereign states and is the
second-smallest continent in the world (“Physical Map of Europe”).
Russia is the opposite, as it is the world’s largest country in total
area, spanning 17.1 million square kilometers (“Answers” 2017).

Population is another physical variance that we see between the two.
In 2016, the population of Europe was estimated at 741.4 million people
(“Physical Map of Europe”), whereas the population of Russia according
to the 2010 census was 142.9 million (“Russia Population 2020”). Even
though Russia is significantly larger than Europe, the population
density throughout Europe is much more than that of Russia.

Overall, the differences between Europe and Russia are quite extensive, even though they are located so closely.

References:

“Physical Map of Europe.” Europe Physical Map, www.mapsofworld.com/physical-map/europe.htm.

“Russia Physical Map.” Maps of World, www.mapsofworld.com/physical-map/russia.html.

“Answers.” World Atlas – Maps, Geography, Travel, 7 Apr. 2017, www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/russia/ruland.htm.

National Geographic Society. “Europe: Physical Geography.” National Geographic Society, 9 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/europe-physical-geography/.

Mattyasovszky, Miklos. “The Largest Countries in the World.” WorldAtlas, 10 May 2015, www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-largest-countries-in-the-world-the-biggest-nations-as-determined-by-total-land-area.html.

“Russia Population 2020.” Russia Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs), worldpopulationreview.com/countries/russia-population/.

Peer 2

One
of the first noticeable variations of Europe and Russian physical
attributes is size. Russia boasts the broadest geographic realm on
Earth, spanning from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in
the east (Nijman et al. 2017). It shares a border with Europe, Southwest
Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (Nijman et al. 2017). Europe is quite
small and makes up the western peninsula of the world’s largest landmass
Eurasia (National Geographic 2012). Even though it is the second
smallest continent, it maintains a strategic location when compared to
other areas such as Russia/Central Asia and Africa (National Geographic
2012).

The
European realm has the waters of the Atlantic, Arctic, and
Mediterranean to its west, north, and south while bordering Russia in
the east (Nijman et al. 2017). Europe has navigable rivers, fertile
soil, making it a dominant economic, social, and cultural force
(National Geographic 2012). In spite of its immense size, the
Russia/Central Asia realm severely lacks warm water access to the world
ocean (Nijman et al. 2017). Much of Russia is cold and dry; the Ural
Mountains, as seen in the picture, help create a natural barrier between
warmer subtropical air while leaving most of it open to Arctic air mass
from the north (Nijman et al. 2017). The largest population is on the
west side of the mountain, along with its major industries and farming
(Nijman et al. 2017). The lack of access to the world ocean, as seen in
the map, has hindered Russia due to the Arctic ocean is frozen most of
the year (Nijman et al. 2017).

The
location of Russia and Europe, along with their varying physical
attributes, makes for a significant impact compared to the rest of the
world. Russia’s lack of access to open water dramatically hampers their
ability to ship goods and given the rugged terrain, and extreme weather,
agriculture, and shipping products by vehicle are difficult. Europe has
a great location, and being a peninsula on the western flank of the
Eurasian landmass gives them greater access to the world ocean (Nijman
et al. 2017). Allowing them to be significant influencers on the global
market.