The Western World Daily Readings on Geography Chapter 51 Europe Physical Geography I

CHAPTER 51 Europe Physical Geography I Predominance of Coastline Cleaned by from Noun Europe has the most amazing amount of coastline in the world . So , what creates coastline ?

For one thing , islands do . By definition , islands are surrounded by water and thus 100 ofan island border is coastline . According to the Telegraph , there are many thousands of islands in Europe , including British Isles 6806 islands Norway more than fifty thousand islands Finland almost 180 thousand islands Sweden over 267 thousand How large are these islands ?

Wikipedia lists about 500 islands in Europe of at least 50 square kilometers in area . This is quite a difference in total numbers of islands in Europe . Apparently , very many European islands are quite small . How big does a bit of land surrounded by water have to be in order to count as an island ?

This is an intriguing geographic question . Sometimes , Bishop Rock of the British Isles is considered the world smallest island , because it has a lighthouse . The rock is less than 750 square meters in area . Its perimeter is approximately 125 meters . Clearly , this rock with a lighthouse adds only a smidgen and of coastline to Europe 249

250 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL According to , an island should meet these have an area of at least one . be at least one kilometre from the continent have a permanent resident population of at least 50 people have no permanent link with the continent not house an EU capital . When considering the islands of Europe , also did not include far distant colonial islands , such as French . Doing the count in 2003 , thus including the United Kingdom , numbered 286 island territories in the European Union . So , it is complicated , but by whatever means of counting , Europe does have a lot of islands , including some very prominent islands like Great Britain . What else creates coastline ?

A peninsula is a piece of land the juts out into a body of water , so that the peninsula is mostly surrounded by that water , except for its connection to a large landmass . A peninsula can be a variety of irregular shapes , but could be approximated by a rectangle where one short side connects with the mainland . In fact , let do some geometry . The geometric shape that produces the least amount of coastline for a given area is the circle . Ironically , this means that many islands , being roughly circular , do not efficiently produce coastline length given their area , while automatically having coastline given their identities as islands . If a rectangle is used to approximate a peninsula , what shape of the rectangle yields the largest or smallest coastline ?

Comparing a square to a rectangle of the same area , the rectangle always will have more perimeter or in our perspective , geographically more coastline . Look at for an interesting mathematical explanation of Can you see this in the shapes above ?

Shown here , the square and the rectangle have the same area . The perimeter of the square equals the sum of the lengths of the two widths of the rectangle . Given that the rectangle also has the measure of its height on both sides , the rectangle has a longer perimeter .

EUROPE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY I 251 In fact , if maintaining the same area , then the longer the length and the shorter the width of the rectangle , the great its perimeter will become . As the length of the rectangle approaches infinity and the corresponding width of the rectangle approaches zero , the perimeter is maximized . Thus , for a peninsula to maximize its coastline , it should maximize length and minimize width especially the width that connects to the mainland . Europe has numerous . Some ofthese are very large . The Iberian Peninsula encompasses Spain and Portugal . Most of Italy is a peninsula . Norway and Sweden combine as a peninsula . Denmark is a smaller mix of peninsula and islands . The Balkan peninsula includes continental Greece and a bit of neighboring lands . More modest in area , but noteworthy include Brittany in France , North Holland in the Netherlands , and the Peninsula of . Trace your finger around the borders of European countries and you will outline numerous islands and . So , how well does Europe stack up globally on the coastline measure . It turns out that Europe is on this measure . How so ?

Well , it seems that the logical way of measuring the magnitude of coastline is to compare coastline to area . Remember that circles provide the lowest coastline to area ratio and that among rectangles , squares similarly have the lowest coastline to area ratio . This ought to be intuitive as well , for we can visually note that compact shapes like circles and squares favor area over coastline . So , our measure for ranking by coastline is the ratio of miles to square miles ( or kilometers to square kilometers ) of area miles ( or ) Probably the easiest numbers to examine are expressed as meters of coastline per square kilometer of area . Using tabular data from , I have compiled and calculated these ratios . It turns out that Europe is among world regions in this measure , as shown in the table below . By the way , Southeast Asia , ranked , also is replete with islands and . COASTLINE IN METERS PER SQUARE METER Region Europe Southeast Asia North America Pacific Realm East Asia North Africa and the Middle East Russian Domain South Asia Su Africa Central Asia Not counting countries that are only made up of islands , Denmark is the country with the highest coastline area ratio at 172 , while Norway ( including the islands of ) is second at 167 is third at 112 . What are the consequences of having so much coastline ?

Undoubtedly , there are many benefits and some costs , but certainly there are at least advantages to trade and transportation ( many ports ) fishing ( access to the sea ) exploration ( Europe led the world ) and tourism ( beaches and scenic views ) People seeks these advantages .

252 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL Not surprisingly , in 2017 the United Nations reported that 40 of the world population lived within 100 of ocean coastline . Did You Know ?

Note in the table above that the ratio for Central Asia is zero . Every country of Central Asia is landlocked that is , every country has no ocean or sea coastline . Further note that three Central Asian countries border the Caspian Sea nevertheless , this does not count , for the Caspian Sea actually is a lake , not connecting to the ocean at all . CITED AND ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Smith , Oliver . 2018 . The Countries with the Most Islands ( and the Idyllic Ones You Must Visit ) The Telegraph . August . 2013 . Bishop Rock The Smallest Island in the World . Amusing Planet . Analysis of the Island Regions and Outermost Regions of the European Union Part I The Island Regions and Territories . Europe . Accessed March 2003 . If the Area of a Rectangle and Square Are Equal , Then Which Will Have a Greater Perimeter ?

2018 . May 24 , Wikipedia Contributors . 2019 . List of Countries by Length of Coastline . Wikipedia . Foundation . October 15 ,