Although not listed on this map, the Ural mountains to the east in Russia have largely kept Europe and Asia separate. The fertile, once-forested lands of the North European Plain have largely been cleared away to make way for farming and population. The Oder River provides water to the area and has historically served as a trade route. Settlements exist along its banks and on the land in between it and the Elbe River. Many settlements exist on the fertile foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, but settlements only exist as high up as crops are able to grow.
Major Landforms by Country
Belarus
Belarus
- Pripyat marshes
- Dzerzhinsky Hill (1,135 ft.)
- Dnieper River
- Balkan Mountains
- Musala (9,594 ft.)
- Danube River
- Black Sea
- Mt. Snezka (5,259 ft.)
- Elba River
- Bohemian Plateau
- Great Hungarian Plain
- Mt. Kekes (3,330 ft.)
- Lake Balaton
- Baltic Sea
- Rysy (8,187 ft.)
- Tatra Mountains
- Balanetsi Hill (1,411 ft.)
- Moldovan Plateau
- Prut River
- Transylvanian Alps
- Mt. Moldoveanu (8,346 ft.)
- Romanian Plain
- Arges River
- Ural Mountains
- Volga River
- Siberian tundra
- Lake Baikal
- Ore Mountains
- Gerlach Peak (8,743 ft.)
- Hron River
- Geyser of Herľany
- Mt. Hoverla (2,061 ft.)
- Crimean Mountains
- Sea of Azov
- Desna River
The borders of Europe have been change mostly due to the fall of communism. In the 1960s, much of Eastern Europe was under the rule of communist government. A large number of modern eastern European nations was ruled under the Soviet Union, which eventually collapsed in 1991, but the Czech Republic and Slovakia were under the communist government of Czechoslovakia which collapsed in 1989.