Ecological Regions of Olympia

Our fable land of Olympia stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Volga River and from the Gulf of Finland to the Gulf of Sidra.

Northern and West Central Olympia: forest

Northern Olympia is dominated by the North and Baltic seas. Plains border their northern and southern coasts. Farther south come the lowlands, highlands, and mountains of central Olympia. Both northern and central Olympia have a temperate climate: to the northwest, oceanic; to the northeast, terrestrial; the dividing line, in the middle of Germania. But whether northern or central, plains or mountains, the temperate climate north of the Mediterranean Coast, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, nurtures the growth of forests: broadleaf, needleleaf, and mixed. More water means more trees. Less water reduces forests to woodlands, scrublands, grasslands, and finally deserts.

Olympian Climate

We will use three criteria for classifying climate:
     temperature (cold, cool, warm, hot)
     humidity (humid, semihumid, semiarid, arid)
     precipitation (frequency and quantity)
          frequency: seasonal or year-round,
          quantity: wet, semiwet, semidry, dry

Our fabled land of Olympia has five climates. Of those five, most Olympian provinces have a temperate climate either oceanic or terrestrial. Around the Mediterranean, hot dry summers and warm winters are common. A semi-arid climate is found in southeastern Olympia. Only Egypt is wholly arid. In more detail:

What Difference Does It Make? (Kierkegaard)

“‘Whatever difference there may be between two persons, even if humanly speaking it were most extreme, God has it in his power to say, “When I am present, certainly no one will presume to be conscious of this difference, because that would be standing and talking to each other in my presence as if I were not present”’” (Soren Kierkegaard, quoted by Vernard Eller in Towering Babble [1983]).

On Responding Creatively to Challenging Times (Blumhardt)

“The kingdom of God must be the desire of our hearts; then solutions will come. You can be useful when you are willing to bear the greatest misery for God’s sake…It cannot be in vain, bearing what God wills us to bear, when we are following the one who bore the cross” (Johann Blumhardt [or son Christoph], quoted by Vernard Eller in Towering Babble: God’s People Without God’s Word [1983]).

Olympian Geography: Land and Water

Our fabled land of Olympia stretches west to east 2263 mi (3641 km) from Galway, Hibernia (Ireland), on the Atlantic Ocean to Kazan, Slavia (Russia), on the Volga River and north to south 2077 mi (3342 km) from Gävle, Götaland (southern Sweden) on the Gulf of Bothnia to Al Uqaylah on the Gulf of Sidra in Numidia (Libya).

We may note that variations in seas and landforms divide Olympia into roughly three different horizontal bands: (1) a northern band of seas and plains; (2) a central band of highlands, plateaus, and mountains; and (3) a southern band of seas and plains.

Caucasia

All or parts of Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey lie within the geocultural province of Caucasia.

Boundaries

North: Kuban River from the city of Cherkessk in the Caucasian Mountains flowing north then west to the Azov Sea near the Kerch Strait, Kuma River from point nearest city of Cherkessk flowing north than east to Caspian Sea.

To the north: Slavia.

Scandia

Scandinavia is a geographical term which generally includes Norway and Sweden as well as some combination of Iceland, Denmark, and Finland. We will be using the ancient literary term Scandia to refer to Denmark as a whole but only the southern lands of Norway, Sweden, and especially Finland. We will also include, for geographical and cultural reasons, Estonia and Latvia. Beyond Scandia, one more geocultural province in our fabled land of Olympia, lies the rest of Scandinavia which will remain part of Incognito.