The oceanic effect is intensified by the North Sea and Baltic arm of the ocean extending eastward about 1200 from the open ocean and the Mediterranean and Black Sea arm about 2500 miles. The effect of these conditions, joined with the comparative absence of mountains along the coast of western Europe, is evident in the following comparison of Petrograd with Chippewyan which lies in nearly the same latitude on Lake Athabasca in northern Canada. iL Both places are about 800 miles from the open ocean. The slightly more northern latitude of Petrograd almost compensates for its slightly lower altitude. Yet in midwinter the temperature of Petrograd averages F. higher than at Chippewyan; at Petrograd the ground thaws in April and is not frozen again till November; at the ground does not become soft till May, while early October sees frozen once more. Moreover, Petrograd, with 20 inches of rain, has about half as much again as Chippewyan.
Such conditions of relative warmth and abundant rain prevail over most of Europe, but diminish toward the east and south. Hence, most of Europe has relatively mild winters which do not have an unduly depressing effect upon either health or.agriculture. The northern posi tion of the continent gives it fairly cool invigorative summers, while thell long days in such high latitudes give sunshine and warmth enough fori agriculture. Only in southern Europe is there anything to compare with the steady heat which makes the city of Washington, for example, a place which many people dread in summer. Even in southern Europe the presence of the Mediterranean sea lowers the summer temperature) somewhat and helps to prevent Italy and Greece from being deserts.
The advantage of transportation which Europe derives from the sea arises from the way in which two great oceanic arms and many' minor bays and gulfs penetrate inland. The only other regions which compare with Europe in this respect are (1) the Caribbean region, including the West Indies and the lands around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and (2) the far eastern region, including the East Indies, the Japanese Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and the coasts of Indo-China, China, Chosen, eastern Siberia, and northern Australia. If water transportation alone gave preeminence in business, these two regions might rival or surpass Europe. As it is, Europe's facilities for transportation by water confirm the advantage given her by climate. No part of Europe outside Russia is more than 400 miles from the sea, and most parts are within 200 miles. So valuable are the oceans as
waterways that goods from all parts of Germany except the immediate Danube valley can be shipped to Bulgaria and the other Balkan states more cheaply by sea than by rail or even by the Danube waterway. Such conditions help to account for the extraordinary development of Europe's coastwise traffic. They give her cheaper transportation than the United States without the enormous expense of such a dense railway net.
(3) flow the Relief of Europe Favors physical map of Europe shows (1) a northwestern highland embracing chiefly Scotland and Scandinavia, (2) a great central plain whose western outliers are in Ireland, southern England and western France, and which extends eastward through Belgium where it is narrowest, to Germany, southern Scandinavia, Poland, and especially Russia where it broadens to great size; (3) a central system of mountains beginning with the Pyrenees, continued in the Alps and Carpathians, and ending in the Balkans and the Caucasus; and (4) three southern peninsulas one of which has a southwestern trend, while the other two trend southeast.
In comparison with the other continents this system of relief is highly favorable. Lines of transportation, as we saw in Chapter VIII, tend to converge on the greatest centers of activity and population. Although railroads try to avoid mountains, many great trunk lines run athwart them in order to connect active centers like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, or Argentina and Chile. But in Europe many natural routes lead toward a single center. That center is the southern part of the North Sea in the midst of the world's largest area of healthful stimulating climate, a place where three races meet and blend, as we shall shortly see. Within 300 miles of this center the number of great cities is many times as large as in any equal area in any other part of the world. From eastern Europe, the Russian plain narrows westward so that the traffic is concentrated between the Baltic Sea and the mountains of southern Germany, and tends to reach the ocean on the shores of the North Sea. Farther north, the two branches of the Baltic direct the trade of their coast toward the North Sea, and the Kiel Canal gives a direct water route to the Straits of Dover. Another great stream of traffic comes eastward across the Atlantic or northward along the coast of Africa.