Civilizations of Eastern Europe

Essential Question

How might trade have changed the way eastern European society developed?

Lesson 1 The Geography of Eastern Europe

Lesson 2 The Byzantine Empire

Lesson 3 Early Russia

​Physical Features

Main Idea 1

The geography of eastern Europe heavily impacted the history of the region’s people.

•Most modern geographers set the boundary between Asia and eastern Europe at the Ural Mountains, in western Russia.

•The cold Baltic and Barents seas lie to the north of the region.

•The warmer beaches of the Adriatic and Black seas lie to the south.

•The region has a variety of landforms, water features, and climates.

Water Features

•The Adriatic Sea in the southwest, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north provide important routes for transportation and trade.

•Important rivers for transportation and trade include the Danube, which begins in Germany and flows east across the Great Hungarian Plain, the the Volga, which flows south through western Russia to the Caspian Sea.

•The Volga is Europe’s longest river and has long formed the core of Russia’s river network.

Landforms

•In the north of eastern Europe is the Northern European Plain.

•South of the Northern Plain is a low mountain range called the Carpathians, which extend from the Alps to the Black Sea.

•East of the Black sea lie the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea—the largest inland sea in the world.

•South and west of the Carpathians is the Great Hungarian Plain.

•The Dinaric and the Balkan Mountains make up most of the Balkan Peninsula, one of the largest peninsulas in Europe.

Physical Features

​L1 Climate and Vegetation

Main Idea 2

The climate and vegetation of eastern Europe also vary greatly from place to place.

•Winters along the Baltic Sea are long, cold, and harsh, and the region receives less rain and heavier fog than other regions.

-Huge forests grow in this region.

•Winters are very cold but summers are mild in the interior plains. The western parts receive more rain than the far eastern areas.

-Many types of vegetation are found in this region.

•Winters are dark and cold in Russia’s tundra.

-Only small plants such as mosses grow.

•The taiga, a vast forest of evergreen trees, covers half of Russia.

•Flat grassland called the steppe contains rich soil and a warmer climate; it is Russia’s most important farming area.

•The Balkan coastal region has a Mediterranean climate.

-Shrubs and hardy trees that do not need much water grow there.

The Slavs

•They settled in eastern Europe parts of what is now Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and western Russia.

•They traded with other groups and developed towns.

•They founded small kingdoms and eventually began to separate into different classes.

The Balts

•This group settled around the Baltic Sea in ancient times.

•They farmed and raised cattle.

•They used amber to barter for other goods.

•People from Germany conquered some Balts.

•Other Balts were assimilated by another group called the Slavs.

Eastern European Peoples

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