Europe

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World map showing the location of Europe.

A satellite composite image of Europe

General

Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is generally divided from Asia by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and by the Caspian Sea.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface. The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia. It is the third most populous continent (after Asia and Africa) with a population of 710,000,000 or about 11% of the world's population. Europe's overall population density is one of the highest in the world. However, the term continent can refer to a cultural and political distinction or a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europe's precise borders, area, and population. Russia is Europe's largest country by area and population; the Vatican is the smallest. Europe is the birthplace of the European Union, a union founded in 1993 (but the roots of which date back to the 1950s) to enhance political, economic, and social co-operation and integration; currently, it comprises twenty-seven independent states.

Subregions

Subregions of Europe as delineated by the United Nations

The countries in this table are categorised following to the United Nations Geoscheme. However, According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of Central Europe, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations

Northern Europe

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Southern Europe

Etymology

Template:Wiktionary In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For Homer, Europe (Greek: Template:Polytonic Template:Unicode; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was this mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north.

In etymology one theory suggests the name Europe is derived from the Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) – broad having been an epithet of Earth itself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset",<ref name="Etymonline: European">Template:Cite web</ref> cognate to Arabic Maghreb, Hebrew ma'ariv. (see also Erebus).

The majority of major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent – e.g. Chinese uses the word Template:Unicode (歐洲), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name Template:Unicode (歐羅巴洲). However, for centuries, the Turks used the term Frengistan (land of the Franks) in referring to Europe.<ref name="davison">Template:Cite journal</ref>

History

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The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts such as egalitarianism and universality of law.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. Isolated monastic communities in Ireland, Scotland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously.

During this time, the western part of the Roman Empire was 'reborn' as the Holy Roman Empire, later called Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The eastern part of the Roman Empire became known in the west as the Byzantine Empire. The 'Byzantines' themselves still called themselves Template:Polytonic Basileia tōn Romaiōn - the Empire of the Romans. In 1453, when the Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine capital Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, with a small hold out state of Trebizond which lasted until 1461.

The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century, Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and England in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia.

After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tension within Europe on top of the tension already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts happened when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French Empire, which soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble.

The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and Capitalist countries in Southern Europe, Northern Europe and Western Europe. Disintegration of the Iron Curtain and Eastern Block accelerated in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, culminating in the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

European integration has been a theme in European relations since the end of the second World War, and has accelerated since the end of the Cold War. The European Union, the successor to the European Community, has enlarged from 6 original founding members to 27 today. The European Union has developed from a trade-oriented organisation into one resembling a confederation in a number of respects. The European Union, or EU, describes itself as a family of democratic European countries, committed to working together for peace and prosperity. The organisation oversees co-operation among its members in diverse areas, including trade, the environment, transport, security, science, education and employment.

European membership of NATO has also increased since the end of the Cold War, with the admission of a number of Eastern European countries.

Geography and extent

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Political map (neighbouring countries in Asia and Africa also shown)

Physiographically, Europe is the northwestern constituent of the larger landmass known as Eurasia, or Africa-Eurasia: Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass and all share a common continental shelf. Europe's eastern frontier is now commonly delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia (Strabo, Geography 11.1, took the Tanais River to be the boundary, as did early Judaic sources). The southeast boundary with Asia is not universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba River serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland, though nearer to Greenland (North America) than mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. For detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe see transcontinental nation.

Due to sociopolitical and cultural differences, there are various descriptions of Europe's boundary; in some sources, some territories are not included in Europe, while other sources include them. For instance, geographers from Russia and other post-Soviet states generally include the Urals in Europe while including Caucasia in Asia. Similarly, numerous geographers consider Azerbaijan's and Armenia's southern border with Iran and Turkey's southern and eastern border with Syria, Iraq and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural reasons. Also, despite being very close to Asia, Cyprus Island is often included in Europe due the same considerations.

In another usage, Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 27 member states and the candidate countries negotiating for membership, and several other countries expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union). This definition, however, excludes non-members such as Switzerland, Norway and Russia.

Physical geography

Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the north-western seaboard, which begins in the western parts of Britain and Ireland, and then continues along the mountainous, fjord-cut, spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as the Iberian Peninsula and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Central Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Sub-regions like Iceland, Britain and Ireland are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off.

Biodiversity

biogeographic regions of Europe

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural peoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are currently found in Europe, except for various national parks.

The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems.

Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of deforestation, Europe still has over one quarter of its land area as forest, such as the taiga of Scandinavia and Russia, mixed rainforests of the Caucasus and the Cork oak forests in the western Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been slowed and many trees have been planted. However, in many cases monoculture plantations of conifers have replaced the original mixed natural forest, because these grow quicker. The plantations now cover vast areas of land, but offer poorer habitats for many European forest dwelling species which require a mixture of tree species and diverse forest structure. The amount of natural forest in Western Europe is just 2–3% or less, in European Russia 5–10%. The country with the smallest percentage of forested area (excluding the micronations) is Iceland (2%), while the most forested country is Finland(72%).

In temperate Europe, mixed forest with both broadleaf and coniferous trees dominate. The most important species in central and western Europe are beech and oak. In the north, the taiga is a mixed spruce-pine-birch forest; further north within Russia and extreme northern Scandinavia, the taiga gives way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. In the Mediterranean, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate; Mediterranean Cypress is also widely planted in southern Europe. The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian grassland (the steppe) extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.

Main article: Fauna of Europe

Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of European fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth was extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, Scandinavia, and Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these areas brown bear populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In addition, polar bears may be found on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago far north of Scandinavia. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, with a handful of packs in Spain and Scandinavia.

Other important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx, European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of reptiles snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey).

Important European herbivores are snails, amphibian larvae, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deer and roe deer, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamois among others.

Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crustaceans, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales.

Demographics

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The population growth/decline of European countries

Since the 13th Century, Europe has had a totally dominating influence in culture, economics and social movements in the world. European demographics are important not only historically, but also in understanding current international relations and population issues.

Some current and past issues in European demographics have included religious emigration, race relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an aging population. In some countries, such as the Republic of Ireland and Poland, access to abortion is currently limited; in the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Furthermore, three European countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland) have allowed a limited form of voluntary euthanasia for some terminally ill people.

In 2005, the population of Europe was estimated to be 728 million according to the United Nations, which is slightly more than one-ninth of the world's population. A century ago, Europe had nearly a quarter of the world's population. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.<ref name="UNPP 2004">UNPP, 2004 Revision World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision Population Database. United Nations Population Division, 2005. Last accessed October 25, 2006.</ref> According to UN population projection (medium variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050, numbering 653 million.<ref>http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp</ref> Within this context, significant disparities exist between religions in relation to fertility rates. The average number of children per female of child bearing age is 1.38. However, this figure increases to 3.5 for Muslim women. In 2005, EU had an overall net gain from international migration of +1.8 million people, although the Europe's population density is one of the highest in the world. This accounts for almost 85% of Europe’s total population growth.<ref>Europe: Population and Migration in 2005</ref>

Political geography

Economy

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European nations by GDP per capita in 2002

As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth. The European Union, or EU, an intergovernmental body composed of most of the European states, is one of the two largest in the world. Of the member states in the EU, Germany has the largest national economy. Thirteen EU countries share a common unit of currency, the euro. Major economic sectors in Europe include agriculture, manufacturing, and investment. The majority of the EU's trade is with the United States, China, India, Russia and non-member European states. Template:-

Languages and cultures

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Map showing the approximate current distribution of languages in Europe

See also: Eurolinguistics

There are several linguistic groups widely recognised in Europe. These sometimes (but not always) coincide with cultural and historical connections between the various nations, though in other cases religion is considered a more significant distinguishing factor.

Romance languages

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Romance languages are spoken more or less in south-western Europe, as well as Romania and Moldova which are situated in Eastern Europe. This area consists of: Andorra, Italy, Portugal, France, Spain, Romania, Moldova, French-speaking Belgium (Wallonia, partly Brussels), French-speaking Switzerland (Romandy), Romansh-speaking Switzerland, and Italian-speaking Switzerland. All Romance languages are derived from the Roman language, Latin.

Germanic languages

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Germanic languages are spoken more or less in north-western Europe and some parts of central Europe. This region consists of: Norway, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Dutch-speaking Belgium (Flanders, partly Brussels and the German-speaking areas of Wallonia), Austria, Liechtenstein, most of Switzerland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-Bozen in Italy.

Slavic languages

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Slavic languages are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. This area consists of: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, regions of Saxony and Brandenburg in Germany (Sorbs), the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the disputed territory of Transnistria, and Ukraine.

Uralic languages

The Uralic languages are divided into three main groups, two of which have representatives in Europe. The Finno-Permic languages are spoken in Finland, Estonia, and parts of Sweden, Norway, Latvia, and European Russia while the Ugric languages are spoken in Hungary and parts of Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Siberian Russia. These two groups comprise the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family.

Turkic languages

Turkic languages are spoken in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, in parts of Cyprus, Romania, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus, and in Turkish diaspora communities in several other European countries (most notably Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands).

Baltic languages

Baltic languages are spoken in Lithuania and Latvia. Estonia's national language is part of the Finno-Ugric family even though it is a Baltic state geographically.

Celtic languages

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"Celtic language" was originally used only to describe the Scottish and Irish Gaelic language; however, the term now extends to the other Gaelic and Brythonic languages. Celtic Europe comprises those countries and regions where Celtic languages are spoken. The Celtic nations are: Scotland and Ireland, Wales, Cornwall (UK County), the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency) and Brittany (a region in France). These are all nations where a Celtic language is spoken and share in Celtic organisations (see Pan Celticism).

Considered Celtic nations are Galicia and Asturias (both autonomous communities of Spain), as well as northwest Portugal. Scotland, Ireland and Wales and Some regions of England (in addition to Cornwall) have retained a degree of Celtic influence in their regional dialects (see Cumbric, Highland English and Hiberno-English), although England's Celtic languages died out as recently as the 18th century in Devon and Cornwall.

Other languages

Outside of these seven main linguistic groups one can find:

The Greek language, one of the oldest European languages spoken in Greece, Cyprus, and parts of Turkey, Albania, Georgia, Armenia and Italy, and in Greek diaspora communities in several other European countries (most notably Germany).
The Ossetic language, an Iranian language spoken in North Ossetia-Alania and South Ossetia (or Ossetia, a region on the slopes of the Caucasus mountains on the borders of Russia and Georgia).
The Armenian language, an Indo-European language is spoken in Armenia and around Eastern Europe with a variety of dialects.

[1].

The North Caucasian, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region (both North and South). North Caucasian languages are divided into two main branches: Northeast Caucasian and Northwest Caucasian. This group includes Abkhaz, Chechens, Ingush, Bats, and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the Caucasus.
The South Caucasian, or Kartvelian languages, a group that includes the Georgian language.
The Maltese language, a heavily Romanticised Semitic language, is spoken in Malta. Unlike other Semitic languages, Maltese is written in the Roman alphabet.
The Basque language is spoken in the Basque Country, i.e. parts of southern France and northern Spain.
The Albanian language, which, like the Greek language, forms its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family with no close living relatives. Major Albanian-speaking communities outside Albania live in Kosovo (Serbia), the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy.
The Mongolic branch of the Altaic phylum is represented in Europe by the Kalmyk language, which is spoken by the Kalmyk people in Kalmykia, a constituent republic of the Russian Federation.

Religions

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Predominant religions in Europe Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

The most prevalent religions of Europe are the following:

Christianity
- Roman Catholicism: Countries or areas with significant Catholic populations are Andorra, Austria, west Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, south and west Germany, Hungary, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latgale region in Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, south Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, central and south Switzerland, and Vatican City. There are also large Catholic minorities in Great Britain: England, Scotland, Wales and most European countries.
- Eastern-Rite Catholicism also known as "Uniatism", is found in western Ukraine, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Armenia, Hungary, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia, southern Italy (Sardinia and Sicily) and Corsica, France.
- Orthodox Christianity: The countries with significant Orthodox populations are Greece, Russia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Armenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, easternmost Hungary, a small minority in Southern Italy, Kazakhstan, sizable minorities in Albania, Latvia and Lithuania, small minority in Poland, Finland (Karelia), A relatively small minority in Turkey belong to the Greek Orthodox Church [2].
- Protestantism: Countries with significant Protestant populations include Denmark, Estonia, Finland, north and east Germany, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden; east, north and west Switzerland; and the United Kingdom. There are significant minorities in France, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the Republic of Ireland. Smaller Protestant churches and their missionary work are found in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine.Template:Fact
Islam: Countries with significant Muslim population are Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, several republics of Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Crimea in Ukraine. As of 2005, about 5%Template:Fact of EU residents identify themselves as Muslims.

Other religions are practised by smaller groups in Europe, including:

Judaism primarily in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and Turkey. At one time Judaism was practiced widely through out the European continent, though it has dwindled in numbers since the expulsion, extermination, and exodus of Jews during the later portion of the second millennium.
Hinduism mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom. In 1998 there were an estimated 1,382,000 Hindu adherents in Europe alone [3].
Buddhism thinly spread throughout Europe, and in Kalmykia, Russia by the Kalmuks of Asiatic origin. Template:Fact
Indigenous European pagan traditions and beliefs, many countries (a fast-growing neopagan movement in France, Germany, Ireland and United Kingdom is noted), and one neopagan faith Asatru recognized as a minority religion in Iceland (since 1973), Norway and Sweden.
Rastafari, communities in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere.
Sikhism and Jainism, small membership rolls, both mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom.
Voodoo, mainly among black Caribbean and West African immigrants in the United Kingdom and France.
Traditional African Religions (including Muti), mainly in the United Kingdom and France.
Other religions with few (or under a million) adherents in Europe: Animism, Christian Scientists, Cosmotheism, Deitism, Eco-religion, Gnosticism, Heathen Paganism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mennonites, Moravian church, Mormonism or Latter-day Saints, Pantheism, Polytheism, theological relativism, Scientology, Seventh-day Adventists, Universal Life Church, Unitarians, Wiccan/magic sorcery, and Zoroastrianism [4].

Millions of Europeans profess no religion or are atheist, agnostic or humanist. The largest non-confessional populations (as a percentage) are found in the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the former soviet countries of Belarus, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine, although most former communist countries have significant non-confessional populations.

Official religions

A number of countries in Europe have official religions, including Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, the Vatican City (Catholic), Greece (Eastern Orthodox); Denmark, Iceland, and Norway (Lutheran). In Switzerland, some cantons are officially Catholic, others Reformed Protestant. Some Swiss villages even have their religion as well as the village name written on the signs at their entrances.

Georgia has no established church, but the Georgian Orthodox Church enjoys de facto privileged status. In Finland, both the Finnish Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church are official. England, a part of the UK, has Anglicanism as its official religion. Scotland, another part of the UK, has Presbyterianism as its national church, but it's no longer "official", and in Sweden, the national church is Lutheranism, but it's also no longer "official". Azerbaijan, France, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain and Turkey are officially "secular".