Climatic map of Europe

Climatic map of Europe, according to this map, most of the Early Slav development took part in the same climatic zone. 

Click to enlarge

The Morphology

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Eurasia, morphology (Wikicommons)

This map gives a good overview of the morphology of the terrain under discussion  (click to enlarge or download from link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Two-point-equidistant-asia.jpg). The North European Plain looks 'lumpier' than it actually should be, but the contrast between the various mountain and lowland regions is clear.

The second map shows the mountains and main rivers (click to enlarge or download from link: http://www.euratlas.net/geography/europe/mountains/index.html)

 Adapted from: http://www.euratlas.net/geography/europe/mountains/index.html

Of some importance for the later discussion are the Carpathians and the various ranges in the Balkans. A satellite photo of the former can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Carpathians-satellite.jpg

 

Satellite view of the Balkan Mountains.

Credit: NASA/JPL