Notice that the most of Europe is a great, low plain that reaches from the Pyrenees Mountains through northern France, and on eastward to the Ural Mountains. What bodies of water let ships reach the shores of this plain? In South Europe are three big peninsulas, around which ships can sail with ease. This is fortunate, for these peninsulas are shut off from the rest of Europe by high mountains on their northern borders.
For a long time there was no railroad over the Alps and it was a long crooked climb by wagon road over the top. Much hard work has been done in building roads, railroads, and tunnels through these moun tains, so that men and goods can cross the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Balkans. There are three long tunnels under the Alps. One of them, the Simplon tunnel, connecting Italy with Germany, is over twelve miles long.
There are also mountain ranges in these southern countries, Italy, Greece, and Spain, and in the Scandinavian Peninsula.
407. People.—You remember how the white men in North America settled in the east and then moved west until they took possession of all the land from sea to sea. The same thing has happened many times in Europe. In ancient times, several different peoples, traveling with flocks and herds, moved into Europe from Asia and worked their way across to the Atlantic.
There is not room in a small book like this to tell how all the peoples of Europe came to be there, but you can easily see how the mountains, small valleys, islands, and peninsulas separated the people. As they could not get together, there came to be many different kinds of people speaking many languages.
408. Trade.—Now that men can use ships easily, it is easier to carry on trade in Europe than in any other continent. Look at the map and you will see why.
See how many peninsulas there are, and how far ships and boats can go inland. If our Gulf of Mexico went as far into North America as the Black Sea goes into Europe, we could run steamboats up the Mississippi to the wheat fields of Kansas and Dakota. If ocean steamers could go into our Great Lakes, they would be as useful as the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. You remem ber that steamers bring iron ore, grain, and lumber from the shores of Lake Superior to the Lower Lakes. In the same way, steamers in the Baltic Sea carry iron ores and lumber from Sweden and northern Russia, and grain from west ern Russia.
Even the White Sea is of more use to Europe than Hudson Bay is to North America, for ships regularly make trips in summer through the Arctic Ocean to Archangel, a busy port which ships grain and lum ber to the cities of western Europe.
Europe does not have as many railroads as the United States, because freight can be carried in the ships that sail into all these bays, gulfs, and seas, and in boats on the canals. This is one of the reasons why the people of Europe own most of the ships in the world. Another reason why they have ships is that there are so many people living in western Europe that there is not room enough to grow all the food they need. Therefore, ships must be sent away to other countries to bring back food.
Most of the trade of the United States and Canada is with Europe. Millions and millions of dollars' worth of wheat, corn, oats, and flour, meat, cotton, lumber, leather, oil, and copper go from America to Europe each year. In return Europe sends clothing, silk, jewelry and jewels, toys, and many other manufactured goods. Europe and North America between them control nearly all the foreign trade of the world.