Encyclopedia
Europe is one of the seven traditional
continents of the
Earth. The term continent here refers to a
cultural and political distinction rather than a
physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europe's precise borders. Physically and
geologically, Europe is a
subcontinent or large
peninsula, the westernmost part of
Eurasia.
Europe is bounded to the north by the
Arctic Ocean, to the west by the
Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the
Mediterranean Sea, and – according to the traditional geographic definition – to the south-east by the waterways adjoining the Mediterranean to and including the
Black Sea and the
Caucasus Mountains . Europe's eastern frontier is vague, but has traditionally been given as the
divide of the
Ural Mountains and the
Caspian Sea to the south-east. The Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe.
Europe is the world's second-smallest of the seven traditional continents in terms of
area, covering about 10 400 000 square kilometres or 2.0% of the
Earth's surface. The only continent smaller than Europe is
Australia. In terms of
population, it is the third-largest continent with a population of some 710,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.
The
European Union, comprising 25 member states, is the largest political and economic entity covering the European continent, with the
Russian Federation being the second .
Etymology
In
Greek mythology, Europa was a
Phoenician princess who was abducted and raped by
Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of
Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For
Homer,
Europe was a 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.
The Greek term
Europe is derived from Greek words meaning broad and face –
broad having been an epithet of
Earth herself in the reconstructed
Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi . A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a
Semitic word such as the
Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" . From the
Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise,
Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from a Semitic word such as the Akkadian
asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Middle Eastern perspective.
The majority of major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent – e.g. Chinese uses the word
, which is abbreviation of the transliterated name
.
History
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 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 Basileia ton Romaion - 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 the
United Kingdom 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 the
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. About 1990, with the fall of the
Berlin Wall, the wider
Iron Curtain, and the
Soviet Union the
Eastern Block disintegrated.
European integration has been a theme in European relations since the end of the second World War and has spread to Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The
European Union, the successor to the
European Community, has enlarged from 6 original founding members to 25 today. It has developed from a peace-keeping and economic orientated organisation into an entity resembling a confederation.
NATO has also enlarged since the end of the Cold War, with a number of Eastern European countries joining.
Geography and extent
Geographically, Europe is a subcontinent in the western portion of the larger continent known as
Eurasia. The continent begins at the
Ural Mountains in
Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with
Asia. The south-east 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, but
Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of
Africa, is also often 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 here.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.
In another usage,
Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the
European Union and its members, currently consisting of 25 member states and the candidate countries negotiating for membership, and several other countries expected to begin negotiations in the future . This definition, however, excludes non-members such as
Switzerland and
Norway.
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, beginning in the western
British Isles and continuing along the mountainous,
fjord-cut spine of
Norway.
This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend.
Iceland and the
British Isles 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
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 today to be found in Europe, except for different natural 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 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 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 is the
Republic of Ireland , while the most forested country is
Finland .
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 extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.
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 and
aurochs were extinct before the end of the
Neolithic period. Today
