EUROPE. 



~D EFERRING the reader for all that apper- 

 Xv. tains to the general constitution of the 

 jlobe to the article on PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

 No. 4), we purpose, in this and several following 

 sheets, to direct attention to the special features of 

 the respective continents describing the terri- 

 tories of the several states, their natural products, 

 their commercial industry, population, laws, re- 

 ligion, and other topics usually comprehended 

 under the title of POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Constituting but a fragment of the Old or 

 Eastern World, Europe, strictly speaking, is not 

 entitled to be called an independent con- 

 tinent. But though the smallest of the quarters 

 into which geographers have divided the globe, 

 t is by far the most important its inhabitants 

 iving now, as they have long done, the tone and 

 character to human progress. Its limits are 

 usually comprehended within the 36th and 7 1st 

 degrees of north latitude, and the loth degree of 

 west and 68th of east longitude ; thus placing it 

 .Imost wholly within the northern temperate zone, 

 ncluding the islands, which contain about 317,000 

 square miles, the land superficies of Europe is 

 estimated at rather more than 3,720,000 square 

 miles ; its population at nearly 328,000,000. If 

 e count the German Empire as one state only, 

 :here are in Europe upwards of 20 states in all. 

 he leading states, usually styled ' the Five Great 

 Powers of Europe,' are Great Britain, Russia, 

 Prussia (representing Germany), France, and 

 ustria ; but the vast changes that have taken 

 jlace on the continent since the close of the 

 Crimean war, have entirely altered their relative 

 importance. Italy also might fairly claim, since 

 its unification, a place among the leading states. 

 Those of a secondary rank are Spain, Sweden, 

 Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, the Swiss 

 Confederation, and Turkey. It is no longer 

 necessary to assign any rank to the minor states 

 of the German Empire, since, even where not 

 absorbed by Prussia, they have no military inde- 

 pendence, and, therefore, no place in European 

 politics. It is to the continental or foreign states 

 that we now confine our description, reserving the 

 component parts of the United Kingdom Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Ireland for treatment in the 

 three subsequent numbers. 



FRANCE. 



France, one of the largest and most important 

 of the European states, is situated between lat. 

 42 20' and 51 5' north, and long 8 15' east and 

 4 54' west. It is bounded on the north by the 

 English Channel, Strait of Dover, Belgium, the 

 grand duchy of Luxemburg, and the Rhenish pro- 

 vinces of Prussia ; on the east, by the German 

 territory of Alsace-Lorraine (annexed in 1871 at 

 the close of the war with France), by Switzerland, 

 and Italy ; on the south, by the Mediterranean 

 and by Spain, from which it is separated by the 

 66 



Pyrenees ; and on the west, by the Atlantic. The 

 greatest length of the country from north to south 

 is 676 miles, and its greatest breadth from east 

 to west is 494 ; its area, including Corsica, is a 

 little over 204,000 square miles. 



Superficially, France may be described as a flat 

 country, the greater portion consisting of valley- 

 like tracts or open plateaux, with low hilly ranges 

 or swelling eminences between. The principal 

 ranges which diversify the surface are I. The 

 Vosges, on the north-east, presenting rounded 

 outlines, with gentle slopes, and affording much 

 open pasture ; the highest point over 7000 feet. 

 2. The Jura Mountains, lying south of the Vosges, 

 and forming part of the boundary between France 

 and Switzerland, the extreme height of which is 

 about 6000 feet. 3. The Cevennes, and other 

 portions of the long range which forms, as it were, 

 the western brim of the valley of the Saone and 

 Rhone : the highest points do not exceed 5800 

 feet. This range may be said to form the great 

 water-shed of France, from which all the large 

 rivers flow in a north-west direction to the Atlantic. 

 4. The clustering hills of Auvergne, or Central 

 France, remarkable for their crateriform tops and 

 recent volcanic origin, the highest of which reaches 

 an elevation of 6200 feet. The largest and best 

 defined river-basins or valleys are those of the 

 Saone and Rhone on the east, which may be 

 regarded as one ; those of the Adour, Garonne, 

 Lot, and Dordogne on the south and south-west ; 

 those of the Loire and Seine in the centre ; and 

 those of the Somme and Meuse on the north. 

 The soil of most of these valleys is a fine deep 

 alluvium, with a greater or less admixture of sand. 

 There are large tracts of heath in Bretagne, Anjou, 

 and Maine ; and the Atlantic sea-board presents 

 in many places, as in the tract called the Landes, 

 wide expanses covered with sand-dunes. 



The great rivers exclusively French have all a 

 westerly flow towards the Atlantic ; those flowing 

 northward the Scheldt, Sambre, and Meuse have 

 only the upper portions of their courses in France ; 

 and the Rhone, the sole large river running south- 

 ward, has also a great portion of its course in 

 another country. Of those flowing westward, the 

 most important are the Seine, the Loire, and the 

 Garonne. 



' Geologically} says one authority, ' the whole of 

 France may be considered as one extensive basin, 

 the circumference and centre of which consist of 

 primitive formations, the intermediate space being 

 filled with those of a secondary and tertiary kind.' 

 Taking this statement as a mere proximate outline, 

 we find primary rocks in the Ardennes on the 

 north ; in the Vosges, Jura, and Alpine ridges on 

 the east ; in the Pyrenees on the south ; in 

 Bretagne, Maine, and Normandy on the west ; 

 and, centrally, in the hilly ranges of Auvergne. 

 Lying upon these in many places, without fche 

 intervention of the transition and older second- 

 ary strata, occur the coal-measures, the oolite 



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