The Geography of Eastern Europe.

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Scandinavia in prehistory was mostly a carpet of northern forest interspersed by sheets of water with a climate of long winters and short summers. The nine worlds of Norse mythology however are widely diverse with lands that are hugely contrasting yet can be close to one another. This would suggest that this world was inspired by far off lands with which their distant ancestors were familiar in a place that was geographically close to the centre of the old world.

From the map above of annual rainfall averages across Europe it is noticeable that the line of Longitude 20 degrees east marks a dividing line between the wetter west and drier east of the continent.  The west has a more maritime climate while the east has a more continental one with cold dry winters and summer rainfall. To the west the only exception is southern Spain which is dry but to the east the inland seas of the Baltic and Black Sea allow more precipitation to penetrate deeper into the continent. In the case of the Black Sea this is magnified by the mountains, which surround its eastern shores especially the Caucasus, Europe’s highest range.

This geography creates a greater mix of habitats especially in the southeast of the continent where there are a series of alternating zones ranging from forest to desert.  Over the last eight thousand years the climate has been remarkably stable (Compared with a similar period preceding it.) allowing civilisation to progress to its present level. There have been regular fluctuations in the jet stream however, which have had an impact on regional climates. This would have had a greater impact further east if rain bearing westerlies failed to penetrate at times into lands which were already marginal, especially for farming. In the north this would have produced colder winters and in the south more desert.  This variation in climate and habitats would have been critical to early farmers who would have had to adapt to changing conditions so ultimately the more adaptable and mobile would be the most successful.