Central and Eastern Europe

The most important natural district of the small region of Central Europe is the Alps–Carpathians. They are Europe’s highest and youngest mountains, raised in the Alpine folding. The Alps stretch in an arc about 1 200 km from west to east; the highest peak is Mont Blanc in the west (about 4 806 m; the book says 4 807 m, and measurements change slightly from year to year). The climate is temperate: mild winters, cool summers, and 2 000–3 000 mm of rain a year. There is permanent snow and ice high up, feeding the Rhine, Rhône, Adige and Drava; but because of global warming Alpine glaciers are shrinking fast. The slopes are covered with beech and oak forest, and above them are coniferous forests and alpine meadows. The Carpathians form an arc about 1 500 km long, with an average height of 800–1 200 m and the highest peak Gerlach (2 655 m) in the High Tatras. They divide into the Western, Eastern and Southern Carpathians. They hold oil, gas, coal, iron and manganese ores and rock salt. The climate is more continental than in the Alps: January –3…–5 °C, summer +17…+20 °C at the foot, rainfall 800–1 000 mm. The Carpathians’ greatest wealth is mountain forest, so they are called the “wooded Carpathians”. High pastures are called planinas; the steppes on the lowlands are called puszta. Animals: brown bear, wild boar, lynx, squirrel.