Southern Europe

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The geographic and ethno-cultural borders of southern Europe are the Pyrenees, Alps and Balkan

Mountains to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.

Southern Europe is the southern subregion of Europe.[1] Definitions of Southern

Europe, also known as Mediterranean Europe, include countries and regions such
as: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco
, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, San
Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Southern France (and
especially Corsica), Spain, Turkey (East Thrace) and Vatican City.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Southern Europe is focused on the three peninsulas located in the extreme south of the
European continent. These are the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Peninsula, and
the Balkan Peninsula. These three peninsulas are separated from the rest of Europe by
towering mountain ranges. The location of these peninsulas in the heart of the
Mediterranean Sea, as well as their mountainous reliefs, provide them with very
different types of climates (mainly subtropical Mediterranean) from the rest of the
continent. So, the Sirocco hot wind that originates in the heart of the Sahara blows
over Italy, going up to the interior of the Alpine arc (Po Valley). The Alps prevent the
Sirocco from spreading to the rest of Europe. And, conversely, the Alps and
the Pyrenees protect the Italian and Iberian peninsulas from the rains and icy winds
from the south of France such as the Mistral and the Tramontane. When the Mistral and
the Tramontane are blowing, this provokes an "upwelling" phenomenon on the French
coast. They push the surface waters out to sea and bring deeper, cooler waters up to
the seaside. Consequently, the temperature of the waters of the French coasts are
therefore very cool even in summer, and not representative of the rest of the
Mediterranean.[8][9][10] This same kind of phenomenon takes place between the two slopes
of the Balkan mountain range. These mountain ranges have, moreover, been a serious
handicap to population displacement, focusing southern Europe mainly on the
Mediterranean world. The climate and cultures are therefore very specific.
Different methods can be used to define Southern Europe, including
its political, economic, historical and cultural attributes. Southern Europe can also be
defined by its natural features — its geography, climate, and flora. Politically, seven of
the Southern European states form the EU Med Group.

Contents

 1Geography
 2Climate
 3Flora
 4History
o 4.1Early history
o 4.2Post-Middle Ages
o 4.320th century
 5Languages
o 5.1Romance languages
o 5.2Other languages
 6Religion
 7Other classifications
o 7.1CIA World Factbook
o 7.2EuroVoc
o 7.3European Travel Commission classification
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References

Geography[edit]
See also: Italian Peninsula, Iberian Peninsula, and Balkan Peninsula
Geographically, Southern Europe is the southern portion of the European continent.
This definition is relative, although largely based on history, culture, climate, and flora,
which is shared across the region. Southern Europe can be subdivided into
three subregions:

 South Central Europe: the Italian Peninsula (Italy and the microstates of San

Marino, Monaco and Vatican City) with Malta and currently French territory in
the Italian geographic area (Corsica and Alpes-Maritimes).

 Southeastern Europe: Romania and the Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Bosnia

and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, as well as East Thrace).[11][12]

 Southwestern Europe: the Iberian Peninsula (Andorra, Portugal, and Spain,

as well as Gibraltar, a British overseas territory), and currently French
territory of Pyrénées-Orientales.
The major islands in Southern Europe include the Balearic
Islands, Corsica, Crete, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as the island country of Malta.
 

Map representing the geography of Europe, with the mountain ranges separating Southern
Europe.
 

Satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula.

 

Satellite image of the Italian Peninsula.

 

Satellite image of the Balkan Peninsula.

Climate[edit]
European climate. The Köppen-Geiger climates map is presented by the Climatic Research Unit of the
University of East Anglia and the Global Precipitation Climatology Center of the Deutscher Wetterdienst.

Southern Europe's most emblematic climate is the Mediterranean climate, influenced by

the large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure found, not in
the Mediterranean itself, but in the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores High. The Mediterranean
climate covers Portugal, Spain, Italy, the southern coast of France, coastal Croatia,
coastal Slovenia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece,
as well as the Mediterranean islands. Those areas of Mediterranean climate present
similar vegetations and landscapes throughout, including dry hills, small
plains, pine forests and olive trees.
Cooler climates can be found in certain parts of Southern European countries, for
example within the mountain ranges of Spain and Italy. Additionally, the north coast of
Spain experiences a wetter Atlantic climate.
Some parts of Southern Europe have humid subtropical climates with warm and wet
summers, unlike typical Mediterranean climates. This climate is mainly found in Italy
and Croatia around the Adriatic Sea in cities such as Venice and Trieste.

Satellite map showing the Sirocco blowing over Italy, Albania and Greece. The heat and the

sand of the Sahara are transported to the south of Europe.
 

Tabernas Desert in Spain.

 
 

Accona Desert in Italy.

 

Lemnos Desert in Greece.

Flora[edit]

Mediterranean agriculture' in coastal and peri-coastal regions

Southern Europe's flora is mainly characterized by Mediterranean forests, woodlands,

and scrub, but also temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. The Mediterranean and
Submediterranean climate regions in Europe are found in much of Southern Europe,
mainly Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Albania, Greece, Cyprus and all the mediterranean
islands, but also in southeast France, the Balkan Mediterranean coast and part of
Macedonia.[13][14]
 

Beech forest in the Aurunci Mountains, Italy

 

Stone pines in Doñana National Park, Spain

 

Oak savanna of Alentejo, Portugal (Q. suber and Q. rotundifolia)

 

Aleppo pine forest, Croatia

 

Temperate pine forests of Monte Cimone, Italy

 
 

Dry olive groove, Crete

History[edit]
Early history[edit]

Roman Empire. In yellow the south-west of Europe, and in violet the south-east.

Eastern Roman Empire mainly focused on southern Europe.

The Phoenicians originally expanded from Canaan ports, dominating trade in

the Mediterranean by the 8th century BC. Carthage was founded in 814 BC, and the
Carthaginians by 700 BC had firmly established strongholds in Sicily and Sardinia (both
regions in present day Italy), which created conflicts of interest with Etruria. Its colonies
later reached the Western Mediterranean, such as Cádiz in Spain and most
notably Carthage in North Africa, and even the Atlantic Ocean. The civilisation spread
across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC. [15]
The period known as classical antiquity began with the rise of the city-states of Ancient
Greece. Greek influence reached its zenith under the expansive empire of Alexander
the Great, spreading throughout Asia. The Roman Empire came to dominate the
entire Mediterranean Basin in a vast empire based on Roman law and Roman legions.
It promoted trade, tolerance, and Greek culture. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was
divided into the Western Roman Empire based in Rome, and the Eastern Roman
Empire based in Constantinople. The attacks of the Goths led to the fall of the Western
Roman Empire in 476 AD, a date which traditionally marks the end of the classical
period and the start of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the Eastern Roman
Empire survived, though modern historians refer to this state as the Byzantine Empire.
In Western Europe, Germanic peoples moved into positions of power in the remnants of
the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms and empires of their own.
The period known as the Crusades, a series of religiously motivated military expeditions
originally intended to bring the Levant back into Christian rule, began. Several Crusader
states were founded in the eastern Mediterranean. These were all short-lived. The
Crusaders would have a profound impact on many parts of Europe. Their sack of
Constantinople in 1204 brought an abrupt end to the Byzantine Empire. Though it would
later be re-established, it would never recover its former glory. The Crusaders would
establish trade routes that would develop into the Silk Road and open the way for the
merchant republics of Genoa and Venice to become major economic powers.
The Reconquista, a related movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom.
The late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe. The epidemic known
as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in
Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept
many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period. In the Balkans, the Ottoman
Empire, a Turkish state originating in Anatolia, encroached steadily on former Byzantine
lands, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Post-Middle Ages[edit]
See also: Holy League (1571)

The areas of the world that were at one time part of the Portuguese and Spanish empires

Beginning roughly in the 12th century in Florence, and later spreading through Europe
with the development of the printing press, a Renaissance of knowledge challenged
traditional doctrines in science and theology, with the Arabic texts and thought[16] bringing
about rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman knowledge. The Catholic reconquest
of Portugal and Spain led to a series of oceanic explorations resulting in the Age of
Discovery that established direct links with Africa, the Americas, and Asia. During this
period, Iberian forces engaged in a worldwide struggle with Islamic societies; the
battlefronts in this Ibero-Islamic World War stretched from the Mediterranean into
the Indian Ocean, finally involving the islands of Southeast Asia.[17] Eventually this
ecumenical conflict ended when new players—England, Holland and France—replaced
Spain and Portugal as the main agents of European imperialism in the mid-17th
century.
European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires, producing
the Columbian Exchange.[18] The combination of resource inflows from the New World
and the Industrial Revolution of Great Britain, allowed a new economy based on
manufacturing instead of subsistence agriculture. [19] The period between 1815 and 1871
saw a large number of revolutionary attempts and independence wars. Balkan nations
began to regain independence from the Ottoman Empire. Italy unified into a nation
state. The capture of Rome in 1870 ended the Papal temporal power.
20th century[edit]
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 was precipitated by the rise of nationalism in
Southeastern Europe as the Great Powers took up sides. The Allies defeated
the Central Powers in 1918. During the Paris Peace Conference the Big Four imposed
their terms in a series of treaties, especially the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazi regime
under Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and along with Mussolini's Italy sought to gain
control of the continent by the Second World War. Following the Allied victory in the
Second World War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. The countries in
Southeastern Europe were dominated by the Soviet Union and became communist
states. The major non-communist Southern European countries joined a US-led military
alliance (NATO) and formed the European Economic Community amongst themselves.
The countries in the Soviet sphere of influence joined the military alliance known as
the Warsaw Pact and the economic bloc called Comecon. Yugoslavia was neutral. The
common attribute of the eastern countries is that all of them have experiences
about socialism, but nevertheless, the beginning of the 1990s was just roughly the
same. For some of them becoming independent was the major challenge, while others
needed to face with poverty and deep dictatorship also Economically, parallel with the
political changes, and the democratic transition, – as a rule of law states – the previous
command economies were transformed via the legislation into market economies, and
set up or renewed the major macroeconomic factors: budgetary rules, national audit,
national currency, central bank. Generally, they shortly encountered the following
problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth and high
government debt. By 2000 these economies were stabilized, and sooner or later
between 2004 and 2013 some of them joined the European Union, and Slovenia
introduced the euro.[20]
Italy became a major industrialized country again, due to its post-war economic miracle.
The European Union (EU) involved the division of powers, with taxation, health, and
education handled by the nation states, while the EU had charge of market rules,
competition, legal standards and environmentalism. The Soviet economic and political
system collapsed, leading to the end of communism in the satellite countries in 1989,
and the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. European Union expanded to
subsequently include many of the formerly communist European countries
– Romania and Bulgaria (2007) and Croatia (2013).[21]

Languages[edit]
See also: Languages of Europe
Romance languages[edit]
The most widely spoken family of languages in Southern Europe are the Romance
languages, the heirs of Latin, which have spread from the Italian peninsula, and are
emblematic of Southwestern Europe. (See the Latin Arch.) By far the most common
Romance languages in Southern Europe are Italian (spoken by over 50 million people in
Italy, Malta, San Marino, and the Vatican) and Spanish, which is spoken by over 40
million people in Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar. Other common Romance languages
include Portuguese (spoken in Portugal and Andorra), French (spoken in southern
France, Monaco, and the Aosta Valley in Italy), Catalan (spoken in eastern Spain,
Andorra, Southwestern France, and the Sardinian town of Alghero in
Italy), Galician (spoken in northwestern Spain), Mirandese (spoken in northeast
Portugal), and Occitan, which is spoken in the Val d'Aran in Catalonia, in the Occitan
Valleys in Italy and in southern France.[citation needed]
Other languages[edit]
The Hellenic languages or Greek language are widely spoken in Greece and Cyprus.
Additionally, other varieties of Greek are spoken in small communities in parts of other
European countries.[citation needed]
English is used as a second language in parts of Southern Europe. As a primary
language, however, English has only a small presence in Southern Europe, only in
Gibraltar (alongside Spanish) and Malta (secondary to Maltese). English is also widely
spoken in Cyprus.[citation needed]
There are other language groupings in Southern Europe. Albanian is spoken in Albania,
Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Italy (particularly by
the Arbëreshë people in Southern Italy), and Serbo-Croatian is spoken in Kosovo,
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Italy
(in Molise). Slovenian is spoken in Slovenia, Italy (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and Croatia
(in Istria) and Macedonian is spoken in North Macedonia. Maltese is a Semitic
language that is the official language of Malta, descended from Siculo-Arabic, but
written in the Latin script with heavy Latin and Italian influences. The Basque
language is spoken in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain and
southwestern France. Turkish is a Turkic language that is spoken in Turkey, Cyprus,
Kosovo, Greece, North Macedonia and Bosnia, and German is spoken in Italy,
particularly in South Tyrol.[citation needed]
The religious distribution in 1054[22]

Religion[edit]
The predominant religion in Southern Europe is Christianity. Christianity spread
throughout Southern Europe during the Roman Empire, and Christianity was adopted
as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the year 380 AD. Due to the historical
break of the Church into the western half based in Rome and the eastern half based in
Constantinople, different denominations of Christianity are prominent in different parts of
Europe. Christians in the western half of Southern Europe — e.g., Portugal, Spain, Italy
— are generally Roman Catholic. Christians in the eastern half of Southern Europe —
e.g., Greece, Serbia and North Macedonia — are generally Eastern Orthodox. Islam is
widely practiced in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Muslims
are a significant minority in several countries of Southern Europe- e.g., Greece, Italy,
Spain.[23] Judaism was practiced widely throughout the European continent within the
Roman Empire from the 2nd century.

Other classifications[edit]
CIA World Factbook[edit]
Regions of Europe based on CIA World Factbook:
  Northern Europe

  Western Europe

  Central Europe

  Southwest Europe

  Southern Europe

  Southeast Europe

  Eastern Europe

In the CIA World Factbook, the description of each country includes information about
"Location" under the heading "Geography", where the country is classified into a region.
The following countries are included in their classification "Southern Europe": [24]

 Greece
 Holy See (Vatican City)
 Italy
 Malta
 San Marino
In addition, Andorra, Gibraltar. Portugal and Spain are classified as "Southwestern
Europe", while Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey (the part west of the Bosporus) are described
as located in "Southeastern Europe".
EuroVoc[edit]

European sub-regions according to EuroVoc:

  Northern Europe

  Western Europe

  Southern Europe

  Central and Eastern Europe

EuroVoc is a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the

European Union, giving definitions of terms for official use. In the definition of "Southern
Europe", the following countries are included: [25]
  Cyprus
 Greece
 Holy See
 Italy
 Malta
 Portugal
 San Marino
 Spain
 Turkey
European Travel Commission classification[edit]
European Travel Commission divides the European region on the basis of Tourism
Decision Metrics (TDM) model. Countries which belong to the Southern/Mediterranean
Europe in this classification are:[26]
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, East Thrace.

See also[edit]

 Geography portal

 Europe portal

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Southern
Europe.

 Eastern Europe
 EU Med Group
 Eurovoc#Southern Europe
 Mediterranean Basin
 Northern Europe
 Southeast Europe
 Western Europe