Europe



Europe is one of the seven traditional s of the. and, Europe is the westernmost of , west of. Europe is bounded to the north by the, to the west by the , to the south by the , to the southeast by the and the  and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is generally divided from Asia by the of the, the , and by the.

Europe is the world's continent in terms of, 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. It is the third most populous continent (after and ) with a population of 710,000,000 or about 11% of the world's population. However, the term continent can refer to a distinction or a  one, leading to various perspectives about Europe's precise borders, area and population. Of Europe's 48, is its largest  by area and population, while the  is the smallest.

All European countries except, and the  are members of the , an  founded in 1949 and recognised by the , that sets uniform standards for human rights in member countries and operates the.

A separate organisation, the (EU), emerged in 1957 from various agreements on customs and tariffs between countries in Western Europe, and attained its current form in 1993. The EU is an economic, social, and political union which makes laws that are implemented in every member state with the primary purpose of enforcing the free movement of goods and people between its twenty-seven.

Etymology
In ancient,  was a n princess who was abducted by in bull form and taken to the island of , where she gave birth to ,  and. For, Europe (: ; see also ) was this mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for, 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 (opsis)—broad having been an of  itself in the reconstructed ; see  (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek is really based on a  word such as the  erebu meaning "to go down, set",  to Phoenician  'ereb "evening; west" and Arabic, Hebrew ma'ariv. (see also ).

The majority of major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent—e.g. Chinese uses the word ' (歐洲), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name ' (歐羅巴洲). However, for centuries, the used the term Frengistan (land of the ) in referring to Europe.

History
The origins of Western and   are often attributed to : these Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Another major influence on Europe came from the which left its mark on,  and. It also saw the after three centuries of imperial.

After the, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known in America as the. That period has been known as the "" to thinkers. Isolated monastic communities in, and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously, but much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period was lost from European popular currency until reintroduced from Arab sources during the.

During the Dark Ages, the western part of the Roman Empire was 'reborn' as the, later called. The eastern part of the Roman Empire became known in the west as the. The 'Byzantines' themselves still called themselves Basileia tōn Romaiōn—the Empire of the Romans. In 1453, when the conquered the Byzantine capital, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, with a small hold out state of  which lasted until 1461.

The and the  marked the start of an, a period of exploration, invention, and scientific development which had its roots in. In the 15th century, opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by. They were later joined by, the and  in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in , , and.

After the age of discovery, the ideas of took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in during the period known as the. 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 because of competition within the. The most famous of these conflicts happened when rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new, which soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble.

The started in  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. From the end of through the end of the, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks:  nations in  and  countries in ,  and. Disintegration of the and  accelerated in 1989 with the fall of the, culminating in the formal dissolution of the  in 1991.



has been a theme in European politics since the end of the first World War, and has accelerated since the end of the. Following the devastation of Europe in the second World War, the idea of European integration led to the creation of the in Strasbourg in 1949, which produced in 1950 the  with its  in Strasbourg. After the fall of the, former communist countries in central and eastern Europe were able to accede to the Council of Europe, which now comprises all 47 states in Europe with the exception of Belarus because of its non-democratic government. In 1951, a few European states agreed to confer powers over their steel and coal production to the in Luxembourg. This transfer of national powers to a "Community" to be exercised by its Commission was paralled under the 1957 Treaties of Rome establishing the and the  in Brussels. The present, the successor to the , 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. Human rights and democracy remain the domain of the Council of Europe, thus extending these standards to the whole of Europe.

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

Geography and extent


, Europe is the northwestern constituent of the larger landmass known as, or : occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass and all share a common. Europe's eastern frontier is now commonly delineated by the in. The first century AD geographer, took the to be the boundary, as did early  sources. The southeast boundary with Asia is not universally defined. Most commonly the or, alternatively, the  serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues to the, the crest of the or, alternatively, the  in the , and on to the ; the , the , and the  conclude the Asian boundary. The to the south separates Europe from. The western boundary is the ;, though nearer to  than mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the is. For detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe see .

Because of 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 generally include the Urals in Europe while including Caucasia in Asia. Similarly, numerous geographers consider 's and 's southern border with and 's southern and eastern border with,  and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural reasons. In the same way, despite being close to Asia and Africa, the Mediterranean islands of and  are considered part of Europe.

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, and , through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the, and at its heart lies the. An arc of uplands also exists along the north-western seaboard, which begins in the western parts of and, and then continues along the mountainous, -cut, spine of.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as the and the  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, 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


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 and northern, few areas of untouched wilderness are currently found in Europe, except for various national parks.

The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is mixed. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the and  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 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. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of, Europe still has over one quarter of its land area as forest, such as the of Scandinavia and Russia, mixed s of the Caucasus and the  forests in the western Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been slowed and many trees have been planted. However, in many cases monoculture s of 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 (2%), while the most forested country is Finland(72%).

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

Glaciation during the most recent and the presence of man affected the distribution of. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top species have been hunted to extinction. The was extinct before the end of the  period. Today (s) and  (s) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the 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, s may be found on, a archipelago far north of Scandinavia. The, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in and in the Balkans, with a handful of packs in pockets of  (Scandinavia, Spain, etc.).

Other important European carnivores are, European , es (especially the ), and different species of s, s, different species of  snakes (s, …), different  (s, s and other ).

Important European s are s, e,, different birds, and s, like s,  and , s, and living in the mountains, s, ,  among others.

Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly. Important animals that live in European seas are, s, s, different s, s and , fish, s, and.

Biodiversity is protected in Europe through the , which has also been signed by the  as well as non-European states.

Demographics
Since the Renaissance and the, Europe has had a major 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, , , a declining and an. In some countries, such as the and, access to  is currently limited; in the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Furthermore, three European countries (, and ) have allowed a limited form of  for some terminally ill people.

In 2005 the population of Europe was estimated to be 728 million according to the, which is slightly more than one-ninth of the 's population. A century ago Europe had nearly a quarter of the. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular and ) the population has grown far more quickly. According to UN population projection (medium variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050, numbering 653 million. Within this context, significant disparities exist between religions in relation to. The average number of of child bearing age is 1.52. According to some sources, this rate is higher among Muslims. In 2005 the had an overall net gain from  of 1.8 million people, despite having one of the highest  in the world. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total.

Territories and regions
The countries in this table are categorised according to the used by the, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.

According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations.

Economy


As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth. The, 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. 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.

Languages and cultures

 * See also: 

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.

Multiligualism and the protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Europe today. The  and the 's  set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe.

Romance languages
are spoken more or less in south-western Europe, as well as and  which are situated in. This area consists of:, , , (excluding parts of  and ), , , , French-speaking  (, partly ), -speaking Switzerland , -speaking Switzerland, -speaking Croatia (part of ), and -speaking Switzerland. All Romance languages are principally derived from the Roman language,, as designated.

Germanic languages
are spoken more or less in north-western Europe and some parts of. This region consists of:, , , the , the , , the , Dutch-speaking (, partly  and the German-speaking areas east of ), ,  ,  (former ""),  , , 68-74% of , , the , ,  (areas in ), , ,  (-, and ), the  , and the  in.

Celtic languages
The once stretched across  and  and into, but today they are largely limited to the western fringe of the : , , the , , , and. The, including and , died out by the sixth century; only the —the   and the  —have survived into modern times.

Slavic languages
are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. This area consists of:, , , , the , regions of   and  in  , the , , , , , , , , regions of  (including the territory of ), and.

Uralic languages
The are divided into three main groups, two of which have representatives in Europe. The are spoken in, , and parts of , , , and European  while the  are spoken in  and parts of , , , , and Siberian Russia. These two groups comprise the branch of the Uralic language family.

Turkic languages
are spoken as the main language in and  and as a minority language in parts of,  , , , , , , , the , and in  communities in several other European countries (most notably , , , , and the ).

Baltic languages
are spoken in and. 's national language is part of the family even though it is a  geographically.

Other languages
Outside of these seven main linguistic groups one can find:
 * The, one of the oldest European languages spoken in , , and parts of , , , and , and in  communities in several other European countries (most notably ).
 * The, an spoken in  and  (or , a region on the slopes of the  on the borders of  and ).
 * The, an is spoken in  and around  with a variety of dialects.
 * The, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the region (both North and South). North Caucasian languages are divided into two main branches:  and . This group includes , , , , and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the.
 * The, or Kartvelian languages, a group that includes the.
 * The, a heavily , descended from , is spoken in . Unlike other Semitic languages, Maltese is written in the.
 * The is spoken in the, i.e. parts of southern France and northern Spain.
 * The, 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 live in Kosovo , the , , , , and southern.
 * The branch of the Altaic phylum is represented in Europe by the, which is spoken by the  in , a constituent republic of the.

Religions


The most prevalent religions of Europe are the following: Other religions are practiced by smaller groups in Europe, including:
 * : Countries or areas with significant Catholic populations are, , west , , , , the , , south and west , , , , region in , , , , , , south , , , , , , , , , central and south , and . There are also large Catholic minorities in : , ,  and most European countries.
 *  also known as "", is found in western, , , , , , the , , and , southern  ( and ) and ,.
 * : The countries with significant Orthodox populations are, , , , the , , , , , , , , , , easternmost , a small minority in Southern , , sizable minorities in , and , small minority in ,.
 * : Countries with significant Protestant populations include, , , north and east , , , the , , ; east, north and west ; and the . There are significant minorities in , , the , , and , and a small minority in.
 * : Countries with significant Muslim population are, , , , , , , several republics of , , , in , and, from ,.
 * : Countries with significant Muslim population are, , , , , , , several republics of , , , in , and, from ,.


 *  primarily in, , the , . At one time Judaism was practiced widely throughout the European continent, though it has dwindled in numbers since the expulsion, extermination, and exodus of during the later portion of the second millennium.
 *  mainly among n immigrants in the . In 1998 there were an estimated 1,382,000 Hindu adherents in Europe alone.
 *  thinly spread throughout Europe.
 * Indigenous European  traditions and beliefs, many countries (a fast-growing neopagan movement in, , and United Kingdom is noted), and one neopagan faith  recognized as a minority religion in  (since 1973),  and.
 * , communities in the, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere.
 * ' and ', small membership rolls, both mainly among Indian immigrants in the.
 * , mainly among  and n immigrants in the  and.
 *  (including ), mainly in the and.
 * Other religions with few (or under a million) adherents in Europe:, , , , , , , ,  or , , , theological , , , , , , and.

Millions of Europeans profess no religion or are, or. The largest non-confessional populations (as a percentage) are found in the, , , , the , , and the former  countries of , ,  and , although most former  countries have significant non-confessional populations.

Official religions
A number of countries in Europe have, including , , , the (Catholic),  (Eastern Orthodox), , , and  (Lutheran). In, some 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.

has no established church, but the enjoys de facto privileged status. In, both the and the  are official. , a part of the, has as its official religion. , another part of the UK, has as its, but it is no longer "official", and in , the national church is , but it is also no longer "official". ,, , , ,  and  are officially "secular".

Lists and tables

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