Iceland

The island of Iceland is one of the stepping-stones of land between the North American and European continents. It is located just south of the Arctic Circle about 180 miles southeast of Greenland, 620 miles west of Norway, and 500 miles northwest of Scotland. Over 80 percent of the island is unpopulated because the land is covered either with permanent snow and ice fields (glaciers) or has a volcanic surface, which has poor soils that are not suited to crop growing, sheep grazing, or other agricultural activities. It is one of the world's smaller nations with a population of about 318,000. Most of the people live in or near the capital city of Reykjavk in the extreme southwestern portion of the island. It is located on major shipping and air lanes of the North Atlantic Ocean, and it occupies a unique position in the world as one of the first independent, democratic republics.

Waterfall flowing above the village of Vik Mrdal, Ice.

Reykjavik

The Alps- Part I From the French-Italian border region near the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps curve north and northeast as far as Vienna, Austria, forming a giant mountain spine that divides the central part of Western Europe into northern and southern portions. This division has done much to shape the nations, languages, and ways of life of Europe. Occupying roughly 68,000 square miles the Alps fill most of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and extend into France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. The Austrian and Italian portions are commonly called the Tyrol.

The Matterhorn

From prehistoric times, the Alps have been the site of human habitation. German cultures generally developed in the eastern Alps, while Roman culture influenced the West. The main language groups that survive today are German, French, Italian, and Slovene. Romansh, an ancient Latin language, is spoken in a region of eastern Switzerland.

Some Alpine folk traditions are still preserved and often displayed as part of the tourist and entertainment industry. Alpine music, poetry, dance, wood carving, and embroidery are quite distinctive. Yodeling, a kind of singing, is marked by rapid switching of the voice to and from falsetto. The alpenhorn, used for signaling between valleys, is a trumpet like wooden instrument 5 to 14 feet.

The Alps- part II

Mt. Blanc

During the first five centuries of the Christian era, Rome dominated the Alps. The Romans built roads through the passes to the north and west to promote trade and link their Mediterranean and northern provinces. Economic activity of the period included wine grape culture, iron-ore mining, and pottery manufacture.

Alpine valleys and many mountainsides were cleared of forests during the Middle Ages. Farmers settled the land, planted crops, and developed trans- humance, an Alpine practice by which cattle are stall- fed in villages during winter and led to high mountain meadows for summer grazing. While the animals are gone, the farm family tends hay, grain, and other forage crops for use in winter. Milk produced in summer usually is made into cheese; in winter it is sold to dairies. Forestry is practiced in the Alps, and forest conservation programs have been developed.

During the 19th century, hydroelectricity was developed and railroads were constructed, opening up the area. The electric power made by damming Alpine rivers encouraged manufacturing. The region has no coal or oil. Industrial growth caused many people to abandon agriculture for factory jobs. Lighter types of manufacture, including watches and precision machinery, have thrived in the Alps.

Village of Hallstatt in the northern Alps, Austria

Tourism became a major Alpine industry during the 20th century as Europe prospered and air, auto, and rail transportation to the Alps improved. One of the world's longest auto tunnels, passing through Mont Blanc, was opened in 1965. Railroads follow paths through traditional routes such as the Simplon, St. Gotthard, and Brenner passes. Winter sports gained mass popularity as a result of the accessibility of the Alpine region. Today entire villages lodge, feed, and entertain tourists. Resorts such as Innsbruck, Grenoble, and St. Moritzall of which have hosted the Olympic Gamesare world famous.

Meadows and woodlands at the foot of the Alps, Tirol, Austria.

Meseta The heart of Spain is the vast, high, central plateau region known as the Meseta. Framed by the Cantabrian Mountains on the north and the Sierra Morena ranges on the south, the Meseta occupies about half of Spain's land area. It is punctuated by several smaller mountain ranges that accentuate the Meseta's overall elevation and stark, windswept spaciousness.

The Meseta is one of the bleakest, least hospitable regions in Europe. To a large extent this is the result of the climate. Thanks to its large size, elevation, and surrounding mountain barriers, it tends to be continental in character. In winter, high atmospheric pressure develops over the cold elevated land. The resulting out flowing winds are dry and cold. In summer, wind directions change, but the in blowing winds bring little if any moisture, so drought conditions continue through the yearly cycle. An old Spanish proverb captures the essence of the Meseta's climate by describing Madrid as having six months of winter and six months of hell to round out the year.

The fierce summer heat and drought of the Meseta are broken only by occasional thunderstorms, so most crops require irrigation. Without irrigation the landscape is semidesert and good only for grazing. Browns and grays are the prevailing colors, and dust coats the countryside. A haze known as the calina often cuts visibility and adds to summer discomfort on the Meseta. It should come as no surprise that the Meseta is one of Europe's most sparsely populated regions. Only around the metropolis of Madrid is population density high. Over most of the Meseta the density is less than a third that of Spain as a whole.

The Pyrenees Mountains

Aneto Peak in the Pyrenees.

A mountain chain of southwestern Europe, the Pyrenees stretch 270 miles from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Bay of Biscay on the west. With an average height of about 5,300 feet they form a high wall between France and Spain.

In the words of the U.S. historian Will Durant, Spain's mountains, particularly the Pyrenees, were her protection and tragedy: they gave her comparative security from external attack, but hindered her economic advance, her political unity, and her participation in European thought.

The Pyrenees have functioned most effectively as a barrier to human movement. Unlike the Alps, the Pyrenees have no low foothills or hospitable valleys to ease access into and through their heights. Rather, the Pyrenees rise abruptly from the flanking plains of France and Spain with only steep gorges and steep-walled natural amphitheaters that lead to almost impassable lofty summits. The French peasant's adage, Africa begins with the Pyrenees, is not without a large measure of truth in emphasizing the historic significance of the Pyrenees as a barrier in the development of Spain.

The Pyrenees are generally formed of slate, limestone, sandstone, and granite. The central Pyrenees are about 9,000 feet high and are permanently snowcapped; they include the highest point, Pico de Aneto, at 11,168 feet on the Spanish border.

The western Pyrenees are more industrialized than the eastern section. The inhabitants of both regions are largely farmers and livestock raisers who pasture cattle, sheep, and goats on high meadows. Seasonal grazing of beef cattle is the chief occupation in the valleys. Corn, potatoes, fruits, and forage crops are grown in the western valleys while olives, grapes, and cereals are produced in the eastern valleys. Cobalt, silver, coal, zinc, lead, iron, and magnesium are mined, and marble is quarried. Mining, however, is scattered and of little economic significance. Roads go through tunnels in the central Pyrenees, and the principal railroads follow seacoasts around the eastern and western ends of the range.

Tourism is a growing industry. A large number of visitors are attracted by hot springs, winter sports, hunting, sight-seeing, and fishing facilities. There are several resort towns. The region's hydroelectric potential, timber resources, and winter and nature park facilities have not yet been fully utilized.

Andorra

One of the smallest nations in the world, Andorra has been independent for more than 1,000 years and was an autonomous co-principality for more than seven centuries. Despite the transformations that neighboring European countries have undergone over the centuries, Andorra has managed to preserve its mountain tranquility and medieval traditions as well as a stable political system.

Andorra's 181 square miles comprise an alpine landscape of high peaks and deep valleys on the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, bounded on the south and west by Spain and on the north and east by France. The physical setting prohibits air transportation. No railway system exists, but good roads link Andorra with France and Spain and permit access by car to the most secluded spots.

The climate is generally dry, with heavy rainfall in spring and autumn and abundant snow that remains for several months in the highlands. Temperature varies greatly, depending on altitude. In the highlands are typical small Andorran villages, with their houses of granite, wood, and slate. In the valleys are the larger villages, where economic growth has brought modern buildings that contrast sharply with the traditional architecture.

The largest villages are Andorra la Vella, the capital, and Escaldes, which has a hydroelectric station and sulfur, springs. The Andorrans, mostly of Spanish origin, are predominantly Roman Catholic. Catalan is the official language.

Midnight Sun and Northern Lights

Exposures made in August at half-hour intervals

Midnight sun is a term referring to the sun seen in the far north or far south of Earth in summer, when the sun is very high in the sky; results from tilt of Earth's axis in relation to its orbital plane, thus sun hardly goes below horizon; produces at its height days of nearly 24-hour length, while making almost total darkness at opposite pole.

An example of Midnight sun in Norway results in 24 hours of daylight for Troms and all of northern Norway every day between roughly mid-May through mid-July. In the winter, the opposite effect occursbecause of the tilt of the Earth, the sun never rises above the horizon in the far north. The same area is shrouded in darkness between mid-November and mid-January in what is called the polar night. During the winter months, the northern skies are periodically graced by the spectacular light display known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights.

The Rhine River Physically and culturally, the Rhine River has played a major role in shaping European history. It is also the busiest waterway in Europe. From its source high in the Swiss Alps, the Rhine is about 765 miles long. The Rhine runs through the most populated part of Europe, and its steamers and barges carry a steady flow of cargoes.

Northern lights illuminating the sky near Kautokeino, Norway

Canals link the Rhine with the Rhne, the Marne, the Danube, the Ems, and other navigable rivers. These canals provide transportation and an extensive river trade to ports in Germany, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Many barges sail from various North Sea ports to Basel, the head of navigation on the Rhine. Barges carry raw materials that the Swiss use in manufacturing as well as coal, iron ore, petroleum, and grain from the Ruhr valley. Some barges can sail up the Rhine as far as Cologne.

Magnificent falls near Schaffhausen, Switzerland, generate electricity that powers a large aluminum plant. The Rhine has carved a beautiful 90-mile gorge from Bingen to Bonn. Many legends, such as The Lorelei' and Song of the Nibelungs', were inspired by the river's wooded banks. Splendid castles on the rocky heights draw many visitors.

From earliest times the Rhine has been a path of conquest and trade. Prehistoric peoples were thought to have followed its course, and it later became the frontier of the Roman Empire and then the gateway for the onrushing Germanic tribes. In the Middle Ages the Rhine was the route for the profitable overland trade between Central Europe, Italy, and the Far East. The river served as a major line of German defense during World War II.

The Rhine River flowing through Germany

The Danube River

The most important river of central and southeastern Europe is the Danube. Rising in the Black Forest Mountains of southwestern Germany near the little city of Donaueschingen, it flows about 1,770 miles to the Black Sea. The second longest river in Europe after the Volga, the Danube flows through nine countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. The river gathers the waters of more than 300 tributaries and drains one twelfth of the continent.

Since early history the Danube has been a great water highway. It was once a Roman frontier. Down through the centuries it has been the highway of westward-moving Huns, Slavs, and Magyars. The river has been a barrier and a goal for Russian, Austrian, German, Bulgarian, Turkish, and Romanian armies. It has also been the channel of eastward- and southward-flowing German culture and influence.

The Danube drains a basin of some 315,000 square miles. The river picks up great volume along its middle course, especially after it joins its main tributaries, the Sava, Drava, and Tisza. A canal joins the Danube to the Main River and thus to the Rhine River and North Sea Floods can be especially damaging because of the number of cities and towns along the Danube's banks. Parts of the river freeze in winter. During the spring thaw, major flooding may result if floating blocks of ice jam the river's flow. Heavy rains also may cause flooding, as they did in August 2002 throughout much of the Danube's basin.

The Danube has been harnessed to produce hydroelectricity, especially on its upper course. The Danube also serves as a channel for local trade among the nations along its banks. Its waters are used for industry and transportation and, though polluted, for irrigation, drinking water, and fishing.

The Volga River

Europe's longest river and the principal waterway of Russia, the Volga arises in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows southeastward for 2,325 miles to empty into the Caspian Sea. Known as Mother Volga, it is a symbol of Russia and a central theme in songs and stories.

The river flows slowly. Considering the Volga's length, it falls only slightly from its source at 748 feet above sea level to its mouth at 99 feet below sea level. Melting snow accounts for 60 percent of the river's drainage. Reservoirs control the flooding.

Navigable for most of its length, the Volga is an economically prominent river. The Volga and its tributaries, aided by canal connections, provide transportation, electric power, and irrigation for a region extending almost from St. Petersburg in the north to the Caspian Sea in the south, and from Moscow in the west to Perm' in the east. The network carried about two thirds of the freight and more than half of the passenger traffic within the Soviet waterway system. The Volga basin covers more than one third of the European section of Russia, and a large proportion of the country's population lives in the basin.

The Volga is joined by about 200 tributaries. Eleven large piers and ports are located along its route, and ten dams capture its waters for hydroelectric and irrigation service.

Timber accounts for about 25 percent of the total freight carried by the Volga network. Other cargo consists of petroleum and petroleum products, coal, grain, fish, vegetables, salt, watermelons, agricultural machinery, automobiles, chemical apparatus, and fertilizers.

Ice Hotel

An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up of snow, sculpted blocks of ice, and some steel framing. They are promoted by their sponsors and have special features for travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments, and thus are in the class of destination hotels. Their lobbies are often filled with ice sculptures, and food and beverages are specially chosen for the circumstances.

All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-freezing temperatures during construction and operation. The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice, and are held together using a substance known as snice. It refers to a type of frozen water whose physical characteristics make it an intermediate between snow and ice: snow-ice. Snice takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.

The Ice Hotel In Sweden

Existing each year between December and April, the Icehotel in the village of Jukkasjrvi, about 17km from Kiruna, Sweden was the world's first ice hotel. In 1989, Japanese ice artists visited the area and created an exhibition of ice art. In Spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area. One night there were no rooms available in the town, so some of the visitors asked for permission to spend the night in the exhibition hall. They slept in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skin - the first guests of the "hotel".

The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice blocks taken from the Torne River - even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. Each spring, around March, Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 10,000 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, for ice sculpting classes, events and product launches all over the world while the snow is used for building a strong structure for the building. About 1,000 tons of what is left is used in the construction of the next Icehotel.

Aegean Sea

The sparkling blue Aegean Sea lies between the peninsula of Greece on the west and Turkey on the east. Named after Aegeus, a legendary Athenian king, the Aegean Sea was the cradle of two of the great early civilizations, Crete and Greece.

An arm of the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean contains numerous islands known as the Grecian archipelago. It is connected to the Black Sea through the straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus strait. The southern boundary of the sea is the island of Crete. Its shoreline is quite irregular, broken with bays, harbors, and other inlets. Because of the need for frequent docking, such inlets made it easier for early seamen to make extensive voyages.

Kalamaki beach, along the Aegean Sea, in Skathos, Northern Sporades, Greece.

The total area of the Aegean is about 83,000 square miles. It is about 380 miles long and 185 miles wide. Its maximum depth, which occurs near Crete, is 11,627 feet although its average depth is 1,188 feet.

There is little marine life in the Aegean because of its low nutrient content. However, many fishes, mainly from the Black Sea, enter the Aegean for breeding purposes because the water is warm.

Other than its fishes the sea provides few resources. Research has revealed the possibility of oil deposits beneath the seabed, plus mineral and chemical deposits on the seafloor, which is composed mainly of limestone.

Adriatic Sea

Italy is separated from Eastern Europe by a baylike arm of the Mediterranean Seathe Adriatic Sea. It was named for Adria, which was a flourishing port during Roman times. About 500 miles long, the Adriatic Sea has an average width of about 100 miles. Its maximum depth is 4,100 feet.

The Adriatic extends from its northerly head, the Gulf of Venice, southeastward to the Strait of Otranto, which leads to the Ionian Sea. The Po and the Adige rivers empty into the Adriatic at its head. Its western, or Italian, coast is low and straight. The eastern coast is rocky and mountainous, with numerous inlets and offshore islands. In general, the Adriatic seabed consists of a yellowish mud and sand mixture, which contains fragments of shells, fossil mollusks, and corals. Two main winds prevail in the area of the seathe bora, a strong northeasterly wind that blows from the nearby mountains, and a southeasterly wind from the plains called the sirocco, which is calmer. The tides of the Adriatic, which follow a complicated pattern, have been studied intensively, mainly by scientific institutes in the surrounding countries.

Temperatures in the surface layers of the sea are 75 to 77 F during August. The minimum readings, some 50 F, are usually reached during January and February. In the northern Adriatic, river mouth temperatures are even lower because the waters are cooled by ice- and snowmelt.

The principal Italian ports on the Adriatic are Bari, Brindisi, Venice, and the free port of Trieste. The main ports on the eastern coast are Rijeka, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Durrs, and Vlor. The fishing catch includes lobsters, sardines, and tuna.

The port city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, occupies a promontory jutting into the Adriatic Sea.

The Mediterranean Sea The area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea has been called the cradle of civilization. The sea lies between Europe to the north and west, Africa to the south, and Asia to the east. Including the Sea of Marmara, the area of the Mediterranean is 970,000 square miles The Mediterranean connects with the Atlantic Ocean to the west by the Strait of Gibraltar; and with the Red Sea to the southeast via the Suez Canal. Its greatest depth was recorded south of Greece at 16,800 feet. Its length is about 2,400 miles and it is 1,000 miles across at its widest point.

The sea coasts are rocky, steep, and indented. The only large river deltas are created by the Rhne in France, the Po in Italy, and the Nile in Egypt. The Ebro also flows into the sea from Spain. The greatest source of the Mediterranean's water is the Atlantic Ocean, since much of the water from the incoming rivers evaporates quickly. The flow from the Atlantic is substantial; especially considering that at its narrowest point the Strait of Gibraltar is only 8 miles wide. Heavier, saltier water from the Mediterranean flows into the Atlantic near the bottom of the strait. The region has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Tides are almost completely lacking.

Tourism is a great source of income for many of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. There is a long history of small-scale fishing along the coasts, but it has never been as extensive as in other areas because of the relative scarcity of fish. Fishing yields hake, flounder, sole, turbot, sardines, tuna, and shellfish, among others. Petroleum deposits have been found off the coasts of Spain, Sicily, and Tunisia. Natural gas has been found in the Adriatic Sea. Abundant land crops include olives, citrus fruits, grapes, and cork.

Many early civilizations thrived in the Mediterranean region. By the 1st century AD, the whole area was under Roman control, and the Romans took to calling the Mediterranean Sea Mare Nostrum, which means our sea. In 476 Arabs began to move through North Africa into Spain, and Germanic groups migrated from the north. By the 11th century the Christian conquest of Spain and Sicily had begun. City-states such as Genoa, Venice, and Barcelona were developed between the 11th and 14th centuries. During the 15th century the Mediterranean area declined in significance with the discovery of a water passage around Africa. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 allowed for through traffic between Europe and Asia, and industrialization restored the sea as a vital trade route.

English Channel

A strait between southern England and northern France, the English Channel connects the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea. It is one of the world's busiest sea routes for oil tankers and ore carriers.

The English Channel is about 350 miles long. In French it is called La Manche (The Sleeve), referring to its shape, which gradually narrows from about 112 miles in the west to only 21 miles in the east. The narrow eastern part of the channel, called the Strait of Dover, separates the cities of Dover in England and Calais in France. The channel's greatest depth is 565 feet at Hurd Deep, one of a group of deep troughs in the west. The main islands are the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands.

A good climate, sandy beaches, and an attractive coast have encouraged the growth of tourism on both sides of the channel, starting with the fashionable resorts of the late 18th century. Popular resorts today include Brighton in England and Deauville in France. The fishing industry declined in the 20th century, but fishing remains important in Brittany.

The English Channel is a major route for passenger and freight traffic. Crossings are provided by ferry, train, and air services. The chief ports are Southampton in England and Cherbourg and Le Havre in France. Smaller ports include Portsmouth and Plymouth in England and Dieppe and Calais in France.

The idea of a building a tunnel beneath the channel dates back to 1802, but it was not carried out until the late 20th century. A joint project of the United Kingdom and France, the Channel Tunnel was begun in 1987 and completed in 1994. It consists of twin single-track railway tunnels and a central service tunnel. Both freight and passenger trains use the tunnel. The terminals are located at Folkestone, England, and Calais, France.

Historically the English Channel was both a route for, and a barrier to, invaders of Britain. Early Stone Age people crossed the Strait of Dover. Later invaders crossed the western end of the channel, trading the copper, tin, and lead they found in Devon and Cornwall. When Julius Caesar invaded in 55 BC, he used the Dover route in the east. In 1066 William the Conqueror crossed from Normandy to Hastings. With Britain's later loss of Normandy to France, the channel again became a defensive line. In the 20th century it played a strategic role during the two world wars, particularly during the Allied invasion of France in 1944.Fjords Norway covers a total area of 125,004 square miles, including the many arms of the sea, known as fjords, that penetrate inland. It is 1,089 miles in length but measures only about 267 miles across at its widest point. The length of the coastline, excluding the fjords and bays, is about 1,647 miles.

Norway's major resources are the sea, water power, and petroleum and natural gas. Almost every part of Norway is close to the sea or a fjord, and many Norwegians gain their livelihood from the water as fishermen or sailors. The mountain rivers are ideal for the development of hydroelectric power, which produces almost all of the electricity in the country at low cost.

Petroleum was first extracted from the Norwegian-controlled area of the North Sea in 1966. Production is much greater than that required for domestic consumption, and most of it is exported. Because of the deep trench along the coast of Norway, it is not possible to bring oil to land by pipeline. Most of Norway's oil goes to northern Scotland. Natural gas is also found, and most of it is also exported. Some iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, magnesium, titanium, and nickel are found in small amounts, mainly in northern Norway.The Terps, Polders, and Dikes of The Netherlands

The word Netherlands means lowlands: more than a quarter of the country's land is below sea level. However, much of the land was once completely underwater. In the greatest feat of hydraulic engineering ever executed, the water was eliminated and the land made useful.

As early as 500 BC population growth led many people in the area to move into the low-lying regions in the northwest near the sea. To protect themselves from flooding, they built large mounds of sod and debris on which they built villages. These mounds, called terps, were the easiest way to keep small areas unflooded. The terps were only a defensive measure against the sea, however. There was no guarantee that the land around them would remain forever dry.

Large-scale land reclamation began in the 13th century with the construction of dikes. The earliest of these were merely embankments connecting the terps. Eventually larger areas were enclosed by dikes. Initially about 135 square miles of land was reclaimed from the sea. By the end of the 20th century the total had been increased to more than 2,500 square miles of land. These tracts of reclaimed land are called polders.

Urk, once an island of the former Zuiderzee, now part of the Northeast (Noordoost) Polder, The Netherlands.

The most massive polder-creating project began in the 1920s in the Zuiderzee, a bay formed by the North Sea. From 1927 to 1932 a barrier dam 19 miles long was built across the Zuiderzee, separating it into the outer Waddenzee, which opens into the North Sea, and the inland Ijsselmeer, a freshwater lake. Between 1930 and 1968 four polders were reclaimed from the Ijsselmeer, yielding more that 407,000 acres of new land.

Dike-controlled land reclamation has made cultivation possible in several other parts of the world. Low-lying districts in Denmark and Germany are protected against flooding by dikes, and there are large dike-controlled areas at the mouths of the Vistula River in Poland, the Po in Italy, and the Danube in Germany.

Flower cultivation in the polders of South Holland near the border with North Holland in The Netherlands.

Part of the north dam (the Afsluitdijk) across the IJsselmeer, Neth.

Peat Bogs

A mass of decayed vegetable matter formed in swamps or bogs, peat is the first stage in the formation of. Vast peat bogs are found in Europe, North America, and northern Asia. Most are within regions that were once glaciated and frequently contain undrained depressions. Conditions favorable to the formation of peat bogs include a moist climate; a depression with a bed that prevents water from draining; and still, but not stagnant, water.

All sorts of marsh plantsmosses, reeds, sedges, shrubs, and treesenter into the composition of peat. A common plant in peat bogs is sphagnum moss, or peat moss. As the plants decay and become waterlogged, they sink to the bottom of the depression. With the increasing weight of additional deposits and water, the lower deposits are compressed and carbonized. Peat bogs may be from 5 to 30 feet deep. The Dismal Swamp in Virginia and the Bog of Allen in Ireland are two large peat bogs.

Peat is usually cut by hand in blocks, which are then spread out to dry. Drying may take as long as six weeks. Sometimes special machines are used to remove the raw peat from the bog and to stack it for air-drying. Hydraulic excavation may be used in bogs that contain roots and tree trunks.

Dried peat burns readily, gives off a dense black smoke, and leaves much ash. It has about two thirds the heating value of coal. Compressed peat briquettes yield a high-quality charcoal. The chief use of peat, however, is as a fuel in regions where coal is not readily available.

Iberian Peninsula

Occupied by both Spain and Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula lies in southwestern Europe. Its name is derived from its ancient inhabitants, whom the Greeks called Iberians. This name probably comes from the Ebro (Iberus), the peninsula's second longest river after the Tagus.

In the northeastern part of the peninsula, the Pyrenees, with the peninsula's highest peaks, form an effective land barrier from the rest of Europe. At Gibraltar, in the south, the peninsula is separated from North Africa by a narrow strait. The western and northern coasts are on the Atlantic Ocean; the eastern coast is on the Mediterranean Sea.

Jutland Peninsula

Denmark proper is made up of a long peninsula called Jutland (or Jylland in Danish), two large islands Zealand (Sjlland) and Funen (Fyn)and some 400 smaller islands that dot the entrance to the Baltic Sea. People live on about 75 of those islands.

One of the most prosperous nations of Europe, Denmark also has one of the most well-developed social-welfare systems. The country provides all its citizens with free education, health care, and other social benefits, along with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Denmark's location on the North Sea makes it easily reached by the states of Western Europe. It also has been a physical, cultural, and commercial bridge between central Europe and Scandinaviathe region comprising Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Scandinavia

The region of Northern Europe made up of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is called Scandinavia. Its people are known for their rugged pioneer spirit as well as their quest for international peace. The term Scandinavia sometimes includes Finland; Iceland; and the Faeroe Islands, which are part of Denmark, though a self-governing region.

The terrain of Scandinavia ranges from the flatlands of Denmark to the forests and rivers of Sweden to the fjords of Norway. The surrounding bodies of water include the Norwegian, North, and Baltic seas. The highest peak in the region is Glittertindenat 8,104 feet in Norway.

Despite Scandinavia's far northern latitude, most of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have a moderate climate tempered by the waters of the North Atlantic Current. Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, has an average temperature of 35 F in January and 61 F in July. Only in the most remote inland areas of Scandinavia are the winters harsh.

Leading industries include manufacturing; mining, including crude petroleum and natural gas; agriculture; and services, especially tourism. Denmarkone of Europe's richest farming countrieshas a successful system of rural cooperatives. Industrial development in Norwayparticularly the production of metals, heavy equipment, and pulp and paperrelies on the country's abundant, inexpensive hydroelectric power. Manufacturing dominates Sweden's economy, as seen in such industries as motor-vehicle production, shipbuilding, and electronics.

Scandinavians enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world. Although they pay high taxes, they are proud of their high incomes, housing and educational standards, and medical facilities.