Summary: Population Patterns

The people

Most Europeans are ethnically Slavic. Slavs are descended from Indo-European peoples who migrated from Asia and Settled in the region (Eastern Europe). They are divided in to three groups East, West, and South Slavs. The East Slavs include Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians. West Slavs include Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks. The final group, South Slavs includes Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians.  The countries Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina once made one large country in central Europe called Yugoslavia. The people that live here are mostly Southern Slavs.  The easternmost portion of Europe can trace roots Russian and Ukrainian origin. The largest ethnic group of Europe is the Russians can trace roots to ancient Slavic groups living near the black sea. The Ukrainian peoples can trace roots to these same people. One minority group that can be found in Eastern Europe is the Roma people or once referred to as gypsies. The eastern European countries of Estonia Latvia and Lithuania can be found near the Baltic Sea.

Density and Distribution

In Eastern Europe population, in some areas depends on geographic factors like fertile soil and water sources. Ukraine is the most populous nation in the sub region with 46 million residents with 206 people per square mile. Hard economic times and political circumstances have cause large-scale migration in this region for a very long time. An example is the mass migration after WWII. Industrialization in the 1900’s has led to urbanization in this sub region; and most cities are have a “rebirth” of sorts after freeing themselves of soviet union control.

Questions

What are the three groups of Slavs?

What did the countries of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina belong to?

What was the common name for the Roma People?

Sources:

Boehm, Richard G., and Dinah Zike. “The Elements of Geography.” Glencoe World Geography and Cultures. New York: McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2012. 17-20. Print.

Geology.com. Geology.com. Web. 23 Jan. 12. <http://geology.com/world/europe-map.gif&gt;.

24 Jan This entry was written by jstepka14ecspress and published on January 24, 2012 at 2:42 am. It’s filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.