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			{{Short description|Continent}}
	{{otheruses}}
			{{About|the continent}}
	{{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}
			{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
			{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
			{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
			{{CS1 config|mode=cs1}}
			{{Infobox continent
	{|class="infobox" style="background:#f0f6fa; border:1px solid #ccd2d9; table-layout:auto; border-collapse:collapse; padding:0.5em 1em; font-size:0.86em; width:230px; line-height:normal;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
			| title = Europe
	| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| <big>'''Europe'''</big>
			| image = {{Switcher|]|Show national borders|]|Hide national borders|default=1}}
	|-
			| area = {{Convert|10,186,000|km2}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/largest-countries-in-europe|title=Largest Countries In Europe 2020|website=worldpopulationreview.com|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=8 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708182613/https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/largest-countries-in-europe|url-status=live}}</ref> (]){{ref label|footnote_a|a}}
	| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ]
			| population = {{UN_Population|Europe}} ({{UN_Population|Year}}; ]){{UN_Population|ref}}
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			| density = 72.9/km<sup>2</sup> (188/sq mi) (2nd)
	! Area
			| GDP_PPP = {{nowrap|$33.62 trillion (2022 est; ])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|title=GDP PPP, current prices|publisher=International Monetary Fund|date=2022|access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122001107/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
	| 10,180,000&nbsp;km² (3,930,000&nbsp;]){{Cref|o}}
			| GDP_nominal = $24.02 trillion (2022 est; ])<ref>{{cite web|title=GDP Nominal, current prices|url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|publisher=International Monetary Fund|date=2022|access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=25 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225211431/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|url-status=live}}</ref>
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			| GDP_per_capita = $34,230 (2022 est; ]){{ref label|footnote_c|c}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|title=Nominal GDP per capita|publisher=International Monetary Fund|date=2022|access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111084550/https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD|url-status=live}}</ref>
	! Population
			| HDI = {{increase}} 0.845<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/|title=Reports |website=Human Development Reports |access-date=21 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709095716/http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/|archive-date=9 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
	| 731,000,000{{Cref|o}}
			| religions = {{unbulleted list
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			| ] (76.2%)<ref name="Survey"/>
	! Density
			| ] (18.3%)<ref name="Survey"/>
	| 70/km² (181/sq&nbsp;mi)
			| ] (4.9%)<ref name="Survey"/>
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			| ] (0.6%)<ref name="Survey"/>
	! Countries
			}}
	| ca. 50
			| demonym = ]
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			| countries = ] (])<!-- Note: The smaller figure denotes the number of European countries as defined by the United Nations geoscheme. The greater figure indicates the inclusion of several transcontinental countries and European countries in political and/or cultural geography. --><br />] (])<!-- Note: The greater figure indicates the inclusion of European de facto states in political and/or cultural geography. -->
	! Demonym
			| dependencies = ] (])<!-- Note: External territories are country-like dependencies. The greater figure indicates the inclusion of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. --><br />] (])<!-- Note: Internal territories are areas of special sovereignty which form a constituent part of their sovereign state. -->
	| European
			| languages = ]: {{hlist
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			<!-- Note: according to ], ordered by number of L1 speakers. -->
	! Language families
			|]
	| ]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]
			|]
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			|]
	! Largest Cities
			|]
	| ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]
			|]
	|- style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9;"
			|]
	! Time Zones
			|]
	| ] (]) to ] (], ])
			|]
	|}
			|]
	</div><!-- --> </div>
			|]
	'''Europe''' ({{pron-en|ˈjɜrəp}}, {{IPA|/ˈjʊərəp/}}) is by convention one of the world's seven ]s. It is only part of a larger landmass called ]; however, Eurasia is historically divided into two continents - Europe and Asia - because of differences between the populations in terms of historical, political, cultural and legal and philosophical traditions. The term ''continent'' can refer to a ] distinction or be based on ] classifications. Consequently, the borders for Europe — a concept dating back to ] — are somewhat arbitrary.
			|]
			}}
			| time = ]<!--Azores--> to ]<!--Russia-->
			| cities = ]:{{hlist
			<!-- Note: 10 largest urban areas only, ranked by the total population of the conurbation. Please do not modify the list per your own original research. The list must be sourced from a single cited aggregate source. -->
			<!--1-->|]<!--17.9 million-->
			<!--2-->|]<!--14.4.million-->{{ref label|footnote_b|b}}
			<!--3-->|]<!--11.1 million-->
			<!--4-->|]<!--10.8 million-->
			<!--5-->|]<!--6.8 million-->
			<!--6-->|]-]<!--6.8 million-->
			<!--7-->|]<!--5.7 million-->
			<!--8-->|]<!--4.5 million-->
			<!--9-->|]<!--4.3 million-->
			<!--10-->|]<!--4.3 million--><ref name="Urban">{{cite web|url=http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|title=Demographia World Urban Areas|publisher=Demographia|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=3 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503021711/http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
			}}
			| m49 = <code>150</code> – Europe<br /><code>001</code> – ]
			| footnotes = {{unbulleted list|style=font-size:90%;
			|a. {{note|footnote_a}} Figures include only European portions of transcontinental countries.{{cref2|n|1}}
			|b. {{note|footnote_b}} Includes Asian population. Istanbul is a transcontinental city which straddles both Asia and Europe.
			|c. {{note|footnote_c}} "Europe" as defined by the International Monetary Fund}}
			}}
			'''Europe''' is a ]{{cref2|t}} located entirely in the ] and mostly in the ]. It is bordered by the ] to the north, the ] to the west, the ] to the south, and ] to the east. Europe shares the ] of ] with Asia, and of ] with both ] and Asia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe|title=Europe|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330175836/https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Europe: Human Geography {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/europe-human-geography/ |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org}}</ref> Europe is commonly considered to be ] by the ] of the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], and the waterway of the ].<ref name="NatlGeoAtlas">{{Cite book|title=National Geographic Atlas of the World|edition=7th|year=1999|location=Washington, DC|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-7922-7528-2}} "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles."</ref>
	Geographically, Europe is often said to extend to the ] of the ], the ], the ], and to the southeast, beyond the ].<ref name="Encarta">{{cite web|last=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007|title="Europe"|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570768/Europe.html|accessdate=2007-12-27}}</ref> Europe is washed upon to the north by the ], to the west by the ], to the south by the ], and to the southeast by the ] and the waterways connecting it to the Mediterranean.
			Europe covers approx. {{Convert|10,186,000|km2}}, or 2% of ] (6.8% of Earth's land area), making it the second-smallest continent (using the ]). Politically, Europe is divided into about ], of which ] is the ] and ], spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a ] of about {{#expr:{{formatnum:{{UN_Population|Europe}}|R}}/1e6 round 0}} million (about 10% of the ]) in {{UN_Population|Year}}; the ] after Asia and Africa.{{UN_Population|ref}} The ] is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the ], which produce a ], tempering winters and summers, on much of the continent. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable producing more ]s.
	Using this definition, Europe is the world's ] continent by surface ], covering about 10,180,000&nbsp;square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area. Of Europe's approximately 50 states, ] is the largest by both area and population, while the ] is the smallest. Europe is the third most populous continent after Asia and ], with a ] of 731 million or about 11% of the ]; however, according to the ] (medium estimate), Europe's share may fall to about 7% in 2050.<ref name="UNPP 2006"/>
			The ] consists of a range of national and regional cultures, which form the central roots of the wider ], and together commonly reference ] and ], particularly through ], as crucial and shared roots.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Wigen|1997|page=226}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Kim|last=Covert|title=Ancient Greece: Birthplace of Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVMYJNvUiYkC&pg=PP5|year=2011|publisher=Capstone|isbn=978-1-4296-6831-6|page=5|quote=Ancient Greece is often called the cradle of western civilization. ... Ideas from literature and science also have their roots in ancient Greece.|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=27 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727133725/https://books.google.com/books?id=KVMYJNvUiYkC&pg=PP5|url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning with the ] in 476 CE, ] of Europe in the wake of the ] marked the European ] ]. The ] spread in the continent a ] interest in ] and ] which led to the ]. Since the ], led by ] and ], Europe played a predominant role in global affairs with multiple explorations and conquests around the world. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, ] at various times the ], almost all of Africa and ], and the majority of Asia.
	Modern ] is the birthplace of ]. European (particularly Western European) nations played a predominant role in global affairs from the 16th century onwards, especially after the beginning of ]. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, European nations controlled at various times ], ], ] and large portions of ]. Demographic changes and the two ]s led to a decline in European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the ] and ] took prominence. During the ] Europe was divided along the ] between ] in the West and the ] in the East. ] led to the formation of the ] and the ] in ], both of which have been expanding eastward since the ] in 1991.
			The ], the ], and the ] shaped the continent culturally, politically, and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The ], which began in ] at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic, cultural, and social change in ] and eventually the wider world. Both ]s began and were fought to a great extent in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the ] and the ] took prominence and competed over dominance in Europe and globally.<ref name="natgeo 534">National Geographic, 534.</ref> The resulting ] divided Europe along the ], with ] in the ] and the ] in the ]. This divide ended with the ], the ], and the ], which allowed ] to advance significantly.
			European integration has been advanced institutionally since 1948 with the founding of the ], and significantly through the realisation of the ] (EU), which represents today the majority of Europe.<ref name="europaeu 1945-59">{{Cite web |title=History of the European Union 1945–59 |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu/1945-59_en |access-date=16 April 2022 |website=european-union.europa.eu |language=en |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423212328/https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu/1945-59_en |url-status=live }}</ref> The European Union is a ] political entity that lies between a ] and a ] and is based on a system of ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ies.ee/iesp/No11/articles/03_Gabriel_Hazak.pdf|title=The European union—a federation or a confederation?|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=19 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319194121/https://www.ies.ee/iesp/No11/articles/03_Gabriel_Hazak.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The EU originated in ] but has been ] since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A majority of its members have adopted a common currency, the ], and participate in the ] and a ]. A large bloc of countries, the ], have also abolished internal border and immigration controls. ] take place every five years within the EU; they are considered to be the second-largest democratic elections in the world after ]. The EU is the third-largest economy in the world.
			{{TOC limit|3}}
			==Name==
			{{Anchor|Etymology}}
			{{Further|Europa (consort of Zeus)}}
			] made by ] of the 6th century BCE, dividing the known world into three large landmasses, one of which was named Europe]]
			The place name Evros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Evros (today's ]) – flows through the fertile valleys of ],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dr_qrakh-thraciae-veteris-typus-ex-conatibus-geographicis-abrah-ortelij-cu-10001403 | title=Qrakh. Thraciae Veteris Typus. Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrah. Ortelij. Cum Imp. Et Belgico privilegio decennali. 1585. | date=15 February 1585 }}</ref> which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent.<ref name="BBC News 2013 o022">{{cite web | title=Greek goddess Europa adorns new five-euro note | website=BBC News | date=2013-01-10 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20970684 | access-date=2024-03-21}}</ref>
			In classical ], ] ({{langx|grc|Εὐρώπη}}, {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}}) was a ]n princess. One view is that her name derives from the ] elements {{lang|grc|εὐρύς}} ({{transliteration|grc|eurús}}) 'wide, broad', and {{lang|grc|ὤψ}} ({{transliteration|grc|ōps}}, ] {{lang|grc|ὠπός}}, {{transliteration|grc|ōpós}}) 'eye, face, countenance', hence their composite {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} would mean 'wide-gazing' or 'broad of aspect'.<ref name="WestWest2007">{{cite book|author1=M. L. West|first2=Morris|last2=West|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC|date= 2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9|page=185|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122123919/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="FitzRoy2015">{{cite book|first=Charles|last=FitzRoy|title=The Rape of Europa: The Intriguing History of Titian's Masterpiece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhF0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT52|date=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4081-9211-5|pages=52–|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320035838/https://books.google.com/books?id=zhF0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT52|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Astour1967">{{cite book|first=Michael C.|last=Astour|title=Hellenosemitica: An Ethnic and Cultural Study in West Semitic Impact on Mycenaean Greece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128|year=1967|publisher=Brill Archive|page=128|id=GGKEY:G19ZZ3TSL38|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320014449/https://books.google.com/books?id=NMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=etymonline>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe|title=Europe – Origin and meaning of the name Europe by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=17 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917144349/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Europe|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Broad'' has been an ] of Earth herself in the reconstructed ] and the poetry devoted to it.<ref name="WestWest2007"/> An alternative view is that of ], who has argued in favour of a pre-Indo-European origin for the name, explaining that a derivation from {{transliteration|grc|eurus}} would yield a different ] than Europa. Beekes has located toponyms related to that of Europa in the territory of ancient Greece, and localities such as that of ] in ].<ref name="Beekes">{{cite journal |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert |title=Kadmos and Europa, and the Phoenicians |journal=Kadmos |date=2004 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=168–69 |doi=10.1515/kadm.43.1.167 |s2cid=162196643 |url=https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101121039/https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |url-status=live |issn=0022-7498 }}</ref>
			There have been attempts to connect {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} to a Semitic term for ''west'', this being either ] {{transliteration|akk|erebu}} meaning 'to go down, set' (said of the sun) or ] {{transliteration|phn|'ereb}} 'evening, west',<ref name=etymonline/> which is at the origin of ] {{transliteration|ar|maghreb}} and ] {{transliteration|he|ma'arav}}. ] stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor",<ref>{{Cite book |author=M. L. West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp0RYIjazQC&pg=PA451 |title=The east face of Helicon: west Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-815221-7 |location=Oxford |page=451}}.</ref> while Beekes considers a connection to Semitic languages improbable.<ref name="Beekes"/>
			Most major world languages use words derived from {{transliteration|grc|Eurṓpē}} or ''Europa'' to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|Ōuzhōu}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|歐洲}}/{{lang|zh-Hans|欧洲}}), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|Ōuluóbā zhōu}} ({{lang|zh|歐羅巴洲}}) ({{transliteration|zh|pinyin|zhōu}} means "continent"); a similar Chinese-derived term {{nihongo||欧州|Ōshū}} is also sometimes used in Japanese such as in the Japanese name of the European Union, {{nihongo||欧州連合|Ōshū Rengō}}, despite the ] {{nihongo||ヨーロッパ|Yōroppa}} being more commonly used. In some Turkic languages, the originally Persian name {{transliteration|fa|]}} ("land of the ]") is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as {{transliteration|fa|Avrupa}} or {{transliteration|fa|Evropa}}.<ref name="davison">{{Cite journal|author=Davidson, Roderic H. |s2cid=157454140|title=Where is the Middle East?|jstor=20029452 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=38|issue=4 |pages=665–675 |year=1960|doi=10.2307/20029452 }}</ref>
	==Definition==		==Definition==
			{{Further|Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe}}
	Today, the term "Europe" is used to refer to the region's ], ] or cultural limits:
			{{See also|List of transcontinental countries}}
	*Geographically, Europe is the westernmost ] of the ] of ]; its limits are well-defined by ] to the North, South and West. The ] are usually taken as the eastern limit of Europe, along with the ], and the ]. Europe can be considered bounded to the southeast by the ], the ] and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Europe's eastern and southeastern extent are ].<ref name="Encarta">{{cite web|last=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007|title="Europe"|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570768/Europe.html|accessdate=2007-12-27}}</ref> The people living in areas such as ], ], ] and the ] and ] islands, may routinely refer to ] simply as Europe or "the Continent".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=europe|title=Europe&nbsp;— Noun|publisher=Princeton University|accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref>
	*Politically, Europe comprises the member states of the ] as well as the European parts of the former USSR, the Balkan peninsula, and a large part of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, including part of Turkey. Often the word 'Europe' is used in a geopolitically-limiting way<ref>See, e.g., Merje Kuus, ''Progress in Human Geography'', Vol. 28, No. 4, 472-489 (2004), József Böröcz, , ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', 110-36, 2006, or , Budapest: Central European University Press, 2006. </ref> to refer only to the European Union or, even more exclusively, a culturally-defined core. On the other hand, the ] has 47 member countries, and only 27 member states are in the EU.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/T/e/Com/about_coe/|title=About the Council of Europe|publisher=Council of Europe|accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref>
			===Contemporary definition===
	Although there are many interpretations of Europe's boundaries, the following map shows one interpretation:<ref></ref><ref name="EU">{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries|publisher=]|title=Countries|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref>
			<div class="center">
			<div class="thumbinner overflowbugx" style="overflow:auto;">
			<small>Clickable map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly used ]{{cref2|u}} <br />'''Key:''' <span style="color:blue">'''blue'''</span>: ];
			<span style="color:green">'''green'''</span>: countries not geographically in Europe, but closely associated with the continent
			</small>
			</div>
			{{Europe and seas labelled map}}
			</div>
			The prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century.
	<div style="text-align:left;">{{Europe and Sea}}</div>
			Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water to the north, west and south; Europe's limits to the east and north-east are usually taken to be the ], the ], and the ]; to the south-east, the ], the ], and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the ].<ref name="Encarta">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopaedia 2007 |title=Europe |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopaedia_761570768/Europe.html |access-date=27 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028013857/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570768/Europe.html |archive-date=28 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
			]
			] printed by ] in 1472, showing the three continents as domains of the sons of ] – Asia to Sem (]), Europe to Iafeth (]) and Africa to Cham (])]]
	==Etymology==
	{{wiktionary|Europe}}
	In ancient ], ] was a ]n princess whom ] abducted after assuming the form of a dazzling white bull. He took her to the island of ] where she gave birth to ], ] and ]. For ], Europe (]: {{polytonic|Εὐρώπη}}, ''{{Unicode|Eurṓpē}}''; see also ]) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later, ''Europa'' stood for ], and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to the lands to the north.
			Islands are generally grouped with the nearest continental landmass, hence ] is considered to be part of Europe, while the nearby island of Greenland is usually assigned to ], although politically belonging to Denmark. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions based on sociopolitical and cultural differences. Cyprus is closest to ] (or Asia Minor), but is considered part of Europe politically<ref>{{Citation |title=Cyprus |date=2024-08-07 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cyprus/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> and it is a member state of the EU. Malta was considered an island of ] for centuries, but now it is considered to be part of Europe as well.<ref>Falconer, William; Falconer, Thomas. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327020614/https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Q29kWRdtgC&pg=PA50 |date=2017 }}, BiblioLife (BiblioBazaar), 1872. (1817.), p. 50, {{ISBN|1-113-68809-2}} ''These islands Pliny, as well as Strabo and Ptolemy, included in the African sea''</ref> "Europe", as used specifically in ], may also refer to ] exclusively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=europe|title=Europe&nbsp;– Noun|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715121246/http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=europe|url-status=live}}</ref>
	The name "Europe" is of uncertain etymology.<ref>Minor theories, such as the (probably folk-etymological) one deriving Europa from ''ευρως'' "mould" aren't discussed in the section</ref> One theory suggests that it is derived from the ] meaning broad (''eur-'') and eye (''op-'', ''opt-''), hence ''{{Unicode|Eurṓpē}}'', "wide-gazing", "broad of aspect" (compare with ] or ]). ''Broad'' has been an ] of ] itself in the reconstructed ].<ref>{{cite book |author=M. L. West |title=Indo-European poetry and myth |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2007 |pages=178–179 |isbn=0-19-928075-4 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> Another theory suggests that it is actually based on a ] word such as the ] ''erebu'' meaning "to go down, set" (cf. ]),<ref name="Etymonline: European">{{cite web| url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=European| title=Etymonline: European| accessdate=2006-09-10}}</ref> ] to Phoenician '' 'ereb'' "evening; west" and Arabic ], Hebrew ''ma'ariv'' (see also '']'', ] ''*h<sub>1</sub>reg<sup>w</sup>os'', "darkness"). However, M. L. West states that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor".<ref>{{cite book |author=M. L. West |title=The east face of Helicon: west Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |year=1997 |pages=451 |isbn=0-19-815221-3 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> This latter theory is supported by the fact that for {{Unicode|Eurṓpē}}, eur+ope appears to be a false etymology, since the base of the first part is "euru", with a hard -u stem that does not merge with following omega: euru+ope. "Euruope" has been attested, with the meaning "broad-faced", "broad-eyed", with no connection with "europe".
			The term "continent" usually implies the ] of a large land mass completely or almost completely surrounded by water at its borders. Prior to the adoption of the current convention that includes mountain divides, the border between Europe and Asia had been redefined several times since its first conception in ], but always as a series of rivers, seas and straits that were believed to extend an unknown distance east and north from the Mediterranean Sea without the inclusion of any mountain ranges. Cartographer ] suggested in 1715 Europe was bounded by a series of partly-joined waterways directed towards the Turkish straits, and the ] draining into the upper part of the ] and the ]. In contrast, the present eastern boundary of Europe partially adheres to the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, which is somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent compared to any clear-cut definition of the term "continent".
	Most major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word ''{{Unicode|Ōuzhōu}}'' (歐洲), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name ''{{Unicode|Ōuluóbā zhōu}}'' (歐羅巴洲); however, the ] used the term ''Frengistan'' (land of the ]) in referring to much of Europe.<ref name="davison">{{cite journal |author=Davidson, Roderic H. |title=Where is the Middle East? |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=38 |pages=665–675 |year=1960}}</ref>
			The current division of Eurasia into two continents now reflects ] cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border between Europe and Asia does not follow any state boundaries and now only follows a few bodies of water. Turkey is generally considered a ] divided entirely by water, while ] and ] are only partly divided by waterways. France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain<!--but not the United Kingdom: British Overseas Territories are not part of the UK--> are also transcontinental (or more properly, intercontinental, when oceans or large seas are involved) in that their main land areas are in Europe while pockets of their territories are located on other ] separated from Europe by large bodies of water. Spain, for example, has territories south of the ]—namely, ] and ]—which are parts of ] and share a border with Morocco. According to the current convention, Georgia and Azerbaijan are transcontinental countries where waterways have been completely replaced by mountains as the divide between continents.
			===History of the concept===
			{{see also|Boundary between Europe and Asia}}
			====Early history====
			]'' ('Queen Europe') in 1582|alt=|270x270px]]
			The first recorded usage of ''Eurṓpē'' as a geographic term is in the ] to ], in reference to the western shore of the ]. As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BCE by ] and ]. Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern ] on the territory of ]) in the Caucasus, a convention still followed by ] in the 5th century BCE.<ref>'']'' 4.38. C.f. James Rennell, ''The geographical system of Herodotus examined and explained'', Volume 1, Rivington 1830, </ref> Herodotus mentioned that the world had been divided by unknown persons into three parts—Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa)—with the ] and the Phasis forming their boundaries—though he also states that some considered the ], rather than the Phasis, as the boundary between Europe and Asia.<ref>Herodotus, 4:45</ref> Europe's eastern frontier was defined in the 1st century by geographer ] at the River Don.<ref>Strabo ''Geography 11.1''</ref> The '']'' described the continents as the lands given by ] to his three sons; Europe was defined as stretching from the ] at the ], separating it from ], to the Don, separating it from Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Genesis and the Jewish antiquities of Flavius Josephus|first= Thomas W.|last= Franxman|publisher=Pontificium Institutum Biblicum|year= 1979|isbn=978-88-7653-335-8|pages=101–102}}</ref>
			The convention received by the ] and surviving into modern usage is that of the ] used by Roman-era authors such as ],<ref>W. Theiler, ''Posidonios. Die Fragmente'', vol. 1. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982, fragm. 47a.</ref> ],<ref>I. G. Kidd (ed.), ''Posidonius: The commentary'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-521-60443-7}}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801115807/https://books.google.com/books?id=_iXs1aCr1ckC&pg=PA738 |date=1 August 2020 }}.</ref> and ],<ref>'']'' 7.5.6 (ed. Nobbe 1845, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524011208/https://books.google.com/books?id=vHMCAAAAQAAJ |date=24 May 2020 }}, p. 178) {{lang|grc|Καὶ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ δὲ συνάπτει διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ αὐχένος τῆς τε Μαιώτιδος λίμνης καὶ τοῦ Σαρματικοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς διαβάσεως τοῦ Τανάϊδος ποταμοῦ. }} "And is connected to Europe by the land-strait between Lake Maiotis and the Sarmatian Ocean where the river Tanais crosses through."</ref> who took the Tanais (the modern Don River) as the boundary.
			The Roman Empire did not attach a strong identity to the concept of continental divisions. However, following the fall of the ], the ], linked to Latin and the Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of "Europe".<ref name="Pocock2002">{{cite book |author1=J. G. A. Pocock |author1-link=J. G. A. Pocock |editor1-last=Pagden |editor1-first=Anthony |title=The Idea of Europe From Antiquity to the European Union |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0511496813 |chapter=Some Europes in Their History |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/idea-of-europe/some-europes-in-their-history/261CF37C1E49E93280878F816D4483F1 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511496813.003 |pages=57–61 |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323132907/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/idea-of-europe/some-europes-in-their-history/261CF37C1E49E93280878F816D4483F1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The term "Europe" is first used for a cultural sphere in the ] of the 9th century. From that time, the term designated the sphere of influence of the ], as opposed to both the ] churches and to the ].
			A cultural definition of Europe as the lands of ] coalesced in the 8th century, signifying the new cultural condominium created through the confluence of Germanic traditions and Christian-Latin culture, defined partly in contrast with ] and ], and limited to northern ], the British Isles, France, Christianised western Germany, the Alpine regions and northern and central Italy.<ref>], ''The Civilization of the Middle Ages'', 1993, ""Culture and Society in the First Europe", pp185ff.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Dawson|first1=Christopher|title=Crisis in Western Education|year=1961|isbn=978-0-8132-1683-6|edition=reprint|first2=Glenn|last2=Olsen|page=108|publisher=CUA Press }}</ref> The concept is one of the lasting legacies of the ]: ''Europa'' often{{dubious|date=October 2016}}<!--inflated from "once or twice"--> figures in the letters of Charlemagne's court scholar, ].<ref>Noted by Cantor, 1993:181.</ref> The transition of Europe to being a cultural term as well as a geographic one led to the borders of Europe being affected by cultural considerations in the East, especially relating to areas under Byzantine, Ottoman, and Russian influence. Such questions were affected by the positive connotations associated with the term Europe by its users. Such cultural considerations were not applied to the Americas, despite their conquest and settlement by European states. Instead, the concept of "Western civilisation" emerged as a way of grouping together Europe and these colonies.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unaoc.org/repository/9334Western%20Historiography%20and%20Problem%20of%20Western%20History%20-%20JGA%20Pocock.doc.pdf |title=Western historiography and the problem of "Western" history |author=J. G. A. Pocock |author-link=J. G. A. Pocock |publisher=United Nations |pages=5–6 |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613222622/https://www.unaoc.org/repository/9334Western%20Historiography%20and%20Problem%20of%20Western%20History%20-%20JGA%20Pocock.doc.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
			====Modern definitions====
			{{further|Regions of Europe|Continental Europe}}
			]
			]
			The question of defining a precise eastern boundary of Europe arises in the Early Modern period, as the eastern extension of ] began to include ]. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the 18th century, the traditional division of the landmass of ] into two continents, Europe and Asia, followed Ptolemy, with the boundary following the ], the ], the ], the ] and the ] (ancient ]). But maps produced during the 16th to 18th centuries tended to differ in how to continue the boundary beyond the Don bend at ] (where it is closest to the Volga, now joined with it by the ]), into territory not described in any detail by the ancient geographers.
			Around 1715, ] produced a map showing the northern part of the ] and the ], a major tributary of the Ob, as components of a series of partly-joined waterways taking the boundary between Europe and Asia from the Turkish Straits, and the Don River all the way to the Arctic Ocean. In 1721, he produced a more up to date map that was easier to read. However, his proposal to adhere to major rivers as the line of demarcation was never taken up by other geographers who were beginning to move away from the idea of water boundaries as the only legitimate divides between Europe and Asia.
			Four years later, in 1725, ] was the first to depart from the classical Don boundary. He drew a new line along the ], following the Volga north until the ], along ] (the ] between the Volga and ]s), then north and east along the latter waterway to its source in the ]. At this point he proposed that mountain ranges could be included as boundaries between continents as alternatives to nearby waterways. Accordingly, he drew the new boundary north along ] rather than the nearby and parallel running Ob and Irtysh rivers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Das Nord-und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia|author=Philipp Johann von Strahlenberg|year=1730|language=de|page=106}}</ref> This was endorsed by the Russian Empire and introduced the convention that would eventually become commonly accepted. However, this did not come without criticism. ], writing in 1760 about ]'s efforts to make Russia more European, ignored the whole boundary question with his claim that neither Russia, Scandinavia, northern Germany, nor Poland were fully part of Europe.<ref name="Pocock2002"/> Since then, many modern analytical geographers like ] have declared that they see little validity in the Ural Mountains as a boundary between continents.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrVW9W9eiYMC&pg=PA8|title=Europe: A History|page=8|access-date=23 August 2010|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7|date=1996|last1=Davies|first1=Norman|publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801123242/https://books.google.com/books?id=jrVW9W9eiYMC&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref>
			The mapmakers continued to differ on the boundary between the lower Don and Samara well into the 19th century. The ] published by the ] has the boundary follow the Don beyond Kalach as far as ] before cutting north towards ], while other 18th- to 19th-century mapmakers such as ] followed Strahlenberg's prescription. To the south, the ] was identified {{Circa|1773}} by a German naturalist, ], as a valley that once connected the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea,<ref name="oren-icn.ru">{{cite web|url=http://oren-icn.ru/index.php/discussmenu/retrospectiva/685-eagraniza |title=Boundary of Europe and Asia along Urals |language=ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108153922/http://oren-icn.ru/index.php/discussmenu/retrospectiva/685-eagraniza |archive-date=8 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>Peter Simon Pallas, ''Journey through various provinces of the Russian Empire'', vol. 3 (1773)</ref> and subsequently was proposed as a natural boundary between continents.
			By the mid-19th century, there were three main conventions, one following the Don, the ] and the Volga, the other following the Kuma–Manych Depression to the Caspian and then the Ural River, and the third abandoning the Don altogether, following the ] to the Caspian. The question was still treated as a "controversy" in geographical literature of the 1860s, with ] advocating the Caucasus crest boundary as the "best possible", citing support from various "modern geographers".<ref>Douglas W. Freshfield, " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801113249/https://books.google.com/books?id=ips8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 |date=2020-08-01 }}", ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society'', Volumes 13–14, 1869.
			Cited as de facto convention by Baron von Haxthausen, ''Transcaucasia'' (1854); review </ref>
			In ] and the ], the boundary along the Kuma–Manych Depression was the most commonly used as early as 1906.<ref>{{dead link|date=August 2016}}, '']'', 1906</ref> In 1958, the Soviet Geographical Society formally recommended that the boundary between the Europe and Asia be drawn in textbooks from ], on the ], along the eastern foot of Ural Mountains, then following the ] until the ], and then the ]; and Kuma–Manych Depression,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velikijporog.narod.ru/st_evraz_gran.htm|title=Do we live in Europe or in Asia?|language=ru|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=18 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218073322/http://velikijporog.narod.ru/st_evraz_gran.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> thus placing the Caucasus entirely in Asia and the Urals entirely in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.i-u.ru/biblio/archive/orlenok_fisicheskaja/06.aspx |title=Physical Geography |year=1998 |author=Orlenok V. |language=ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016212930/http://www.i-u.ru/biblio/archive/orlenok_fisicheskaja/06.aspx |archive-date=16 October 2011 }}</ref> The '']'' adopted a boundary along the ] and ] rivers, so southwards from the Kuma and the Manych, but still with the Caucasus entirely in Asia.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tutin |first1=T.G. |title=Flora Europaea, Volume 1: Lycopodiaceae to Platanaceae |last2=Heywood |first2=V.H. |last3=Burges |first3=N.A. |last4=Valentine |first4=D.H. |last5=Walters |first5=S.M. |last6=Webb |first6=D.A. |date=1964 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-06661-7 |location=Cambridge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tutin |first=Thomas Gaskell |title=Flora Europaea, Volume 1: Psilotaceae to Platanaceae |date=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-41007-6 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge New York Melbourne }}</ref> However, most geographers in the Soviet Union favoured the boundary along the Caucasus crest,<ref>E.M. Moores, R.W. Fairbridge, ''Encyclopedia of European and Asian regional geology'', Springer, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-412-74040-4}}, p. 34: "most Soviet geographers took the watershed of the Main Range of the Greater Caucasus as the boundary between Europe and Asia."</ref> and this became the common convention in the later 20th century, although the Kuma–Manych boundary remained in use in some 20th-century maps.
			Some view the separation of ] into Asia and Europe as a residue of ]: "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, ] and ] are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. ."{{sfnp|Lewis|Wigen|1997|p=?}}
	==History==		==History==
	{{main|History of Europe}}		{{Main|History of Europe}}
	===Prehistory===		===Prehistory===
			{{Main|Prehistoric Europe}}
	{{main|Prehistory}}
			], c. 20,000 years ago<br />
	]]]
			{{legend|#c54b00|] culture}}
	'']'', which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in ], is the earliest ] to have been discovered in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal | author = A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, G. P. Rightmire, J. Agusti, R. Ferring, G. Maisuradze, et al. | year = 2002 | title = A new skull of early ''Homo'' from Dmanisi, Georgia | journal = Science | volume = 297 | pages = 85–9 | doi = 10.1126/science.1072953 | pmid = 12098694}}</ref> Other hominid remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in ], ].<ref>], ], found in June 2007]</ref> ] (named for the ] in ]) first migrated to Europe 150,000 years ago and disappeared from the fossil record about 30,000 years ago. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans (]), who appeared around 40,000 years ago.<ref name="natgeo 21">National Geographic, 21.</ref>
			{{legend|#ca00b0|] culture<ref name="Nature-2023"/>}}
			]]
			] in ] ({{c.}} 15,000 BCE)]]
			] in the ] (Late Neolithic from 3000 to 2000 BCE)]]
			During the 2.5 million years of the ], numerous cold phases called ] (]), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America, occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter ]s which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of the ] ended about 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary|title=Quaternary Period|magazine=National Geographic|date=6 January 2017|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129042714/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary, called the ].<ref>{{cite news |title=How long can we expect the present Interglacial period to last? |url=https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-long-can-we-expect-present-interglacial-period-last |work=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726044340/http://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-long-can-we-expect-present-interglacial-period-last |url-status=live }}</ref>
			'']'', which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in ], is the earliest ] to have been discovered in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=A. Vekua |author2=D. Lordkipanidze |author3=G.P. Rightmire |author4=J. Agusti |author5=R. Ferring |author6=G. Maisuradze |s2cid=32726786 | year = 2002 | title = A new skull of early ''Homo'' from Dmanisi, Georgia | journal = Science | volume = 297 | pages = 85–89 | doi = 10.1126/science.1072953 | pmid = 12098694 | issue = 5578 |display-authors=etal|bibcode=2002Sci...297...85V }}</ref> ] hominin remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in ], ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922200046/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6256356.stm |date=22 September 2021 }} ], ], found in June 2007</ref> ] (named after the ] in ]) appeared in Europe 150,000 years ago (115,000 years ago it is found already in the territory of present-day ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/neanderthal-child-eaten-by-giant-bird/index.html|title=Bones reveal Neanderthal child was eaten by a giant bird|first=Ashley|last=Strickland|website=CNN|date=10 October 2018|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=7 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707235740/https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/neanderthal-child-eaten-by-giant-bird/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>) and disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite news |title=Neanderthals Died Out 10,000 Years Earlier Than Thought, With Help From Modern Humans |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140820-neanderthal-dating-bones-archaeology-science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218071546/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140820-neanderthal-dating-bones-archaeology-science |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 2021 |work=National Geographic |date=21 August 2014}}</ref> with their final refuge being the Iberian Peninsula. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans (]), who seem to have appeared in Europe around 43,000 to 40,000 years ago.<ref name="natgeo 21">National Geographic, 21.</ref> However, there is also evidence that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 54,000 years ago, some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/d41586-022-01593-3 | title=My work digging up the shelters of our ancestors | year=2022 | last1=Fleming | first1=Nic | journal=Nature | volume=606 | issue=7916 | page=1035 | pmid=35676354 | bibcode=2022Natur.606.1035F | s2cid=249520231 | doi-access=free }}</ref> The earliest sites in Europe dated 48,000 years ago are ] (Italy), ] (Germany) and ] (France).<ref name=range>{{cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Qiaomei |display-authors=etal|title=The genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia |journal=Nature |volume=514 |issue=7523 |pages=445–449 |date=23 October 2014 |doi=10.1038/nature13810|pmid=25341783 |pmc=4753769 |bibcode=2014Natur.514..445F |hdl=10550/42071 }}</ref><ref>42.7–41.5 ka (]).
	During ], a period of ] construction took place, with many megalithic monuments such as ]<ref>], R J C, ''Stonehenge'' (Penguin Books, 1956)</ref> and the ] being constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe.<ref>{{citation|title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|first=Peter Neal|last= Peregrine|fisrt2= Melvin|last2= Ember|publisher=Springer|year= 2001
			{{cite journal | last1 = Douka | first1 = Katerina | display-authors = etal | year = 2012| title = A new chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy) | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 62 | issue = 2| pages = 286–299 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009 | pmid = 22189428 | bibcode = 2012JHumE..62..286D }}</ref>
	|id=ISBN 0306462583|pages=157-184}}, European Megalithic</ref> The ] cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the ]. The ] began in the late 3rd millennium BC with the ].
			The ] period—marked by the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock, increased numbers of settlements and the widespread use of pottery—began around 7000 BCE in ] and the ], probably influenced by earlier farming practices in ] and the ].<ref name="Borza">{{Citation | last = Borza | first = E.N. | title = In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon | page = 58 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58 | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-691-00880-6 | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 1 August 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801114047/https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58 | url-status = live }}</ref> It spread from the Balkans along the valleys of the ] and the ] (]), and along the ] (]). Between 4500 and 3000 BCE, these central European neolithic cultures developed further to the west and the north, transmitting newly acquired skills in producing copper artifacts. In Western Europe the Neolithic period was characterised not by large agricultural settlements but by field monuments, such as ]s, ]s and ]s.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Chris|last=Scarre|author-link=Chris Scarre|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|editor-first=Brian M.|editor-last= Fagan|publisher= ]|year=1996|pages=215–216|isbn=978-0-19-507618-9|editor-link=Brian M. Fagan}}</ref> The ] cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the ]. During this period giant ] monuments, such as the ] and ], were constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe.<ref>], ''Stonehenge'' (], 1956)</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|title=European Megalithic|volume=4 |editor1-first=Peter Neal|editor1-last=Peregrine|editor1-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor2-first=Melvin|editor2-last=Ember|editor2-link=Melvin Ember|publisher=Springer|year= 2001
	The ] began around 800 BC, with the ]. Iron Age colonisation by the ] gave rise to early ] cities. Early Iron Age ] and ] from around the 8th century BC gradually gave rise to historical ].
			|isbn=978-0-306-46258-0|pages=157–184}}</ref>
			The modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages:<ref name="Indo-European"/> Mesolithic ]s, descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic ] culture;<ref name="Nature-2023">{{cite journal |last1=Posth|last2= Yu|last3=Ghalichi|title=Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers |journal=] |date=2023 |volume=615 |issue=2 March 2023 |pages=117–126 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 |pmid=36859578 |pmc=9977688 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..117P }}</ref> Neolithic ] who migrated from Anatolia during the ] 9,000 years ago;<ref>{{cite news |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020}}</ref> and ] ] who expanded into Europe from the ] of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of ] 5,000 years ago.<ref name="Indo-European">{{Cite journal|last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |date=11 June 2015 |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=] |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5048219 |pmid=25731166 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H |arxiv=1502.02783}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Thousands of horsemen may have swept into Bronze Age Europe, transforming the local population |journal=Science |date=21 February 2017 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population}}</ref> The ] began c. 3200 BCE in Greece with the ] on ], the first advanced civilisation in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/ancient_greece.aspx |publisher=British Museum |title=Ancient Greece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615141437/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/ancient_greece.aspx |archive-date=15 June 2012 }}</ref> The Minoans were followed by the ], who collapsed suddenly around 1200 BCE, ushering the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/classical-archaeology-periods.html|title=Periods – School of Archaeology|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119063421/http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/classical-archaeology-periods.html|archive-date=19 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Iron Age colonisation by the ] and ] gave rise to early ] cities. Early ] and ] from around the 8th century BCE gradually gave rise to historical Classical antiquity, whose beginning is sometimes dated to 776 BCE, the year of the first ].<ref>{{Citation | first = John R. | last = Short | title = An Introduction to Urban Geography | page = 10 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA10 | publisher = Routledge | year = 1987 | isbn = 978-0-7102-0372-4 | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 20 March 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220320034104/https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA10 | url-status = live }}</ref>
	===Classical antiquity===		===Classical antiquity===
	{{main|Classical Antiquity}}		{{Main|Classical antiquity}}
	{{seealso|Ancient Greece|Ancient Rome}}		{{See also|Ancient Greece|Ancient Rome}}
	], ]]]		] in ] (432 BCE)]]
	] had a profound impact on Western civilisation. Western ] and ] ] are often attributed to Ancient Greece.<ref name="natgeo 76">National Geographic, 76.</ref> The Greeks invented the ], or city-state, which played a fundamental role in their concept of identity.<ref name="natgeo 82">National Geographic, 82.</ref> These Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece also generated many cultural contributions: in ], ] and ] under ], ], and ]; in ] with ] and ]; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with the epic poems of ];<ref name="natgeo 76"/> and in ] with ], ], and ].<ref>{{Harvard reference| first=Thomas Little | last=Heath| authorlink= T. L. Heath| title=A History of Greek Mathematics, Volume I| publisher=Dover publications| year=1981| isbn=0486240738}}</ref><ref>{{Harvard reference| first=Thomas Little| last=Heath| authorlink= T. L. Heath| title=A History of Greek Mathematics, Volume II| publisher=Dover publications| year=1981| isbn=0486240746}}</ref><ref>Pedersen, Olaf. ''Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction''. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. </ref>
			Ancient Greece was the founding culture of Western civilisation. Western ] and ] are often attributed to Ancient Greece.<ref name="Daly2013">{{cite book|first=Jonathan|last=Daly|title=The Rise of Western Power: A Comparative History of Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9aZPAQAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-1851-6|pages=7–9|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=28 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428191428/https://books.google.com/books?id=9aZPAQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Greek city-state, the ], was the fundamental political unit of classical Greece.<ref name="Daly2013"/> In 508 BCE, ] instituted the world's first ] system of government in ].<ref name="BKDunn1992">{{Citation | first = John | last = Dunn | title = Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BCE&nbsp;– 1993 CE | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-19-827934-1}}</ref> The Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece also generated many cultural contributions: in ], ] and ] under ], ] and ]; in ] with ] and ]; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with the epic poems of ];<ref name="natgeo 76">National Geographic, 76.</ref> in drama with ] and ]; in medicine with ] and ]; and in science with ], ], and ].<ref name="Heath">{{Cite book| first=Thomas Little | last=Heath| author-link= T. L. Heath| title=A History of Greek Mathematics, Volume I| publisher=]| year=1981| isbn=978-0-486-24073-2}}</ref><ref name="Heath_Vol_2">{{Cite book| first=Thomas Little| last=Heath| author-link= T. L. Heath| title=A History of Greek Mathematics, Volume II| publisher=Dover publications| year=1981| isbn=978-0-486-24074-9}}</ref><ref>Pedersen, Olaf. ''Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction''. 2nd edition. Cambridge: ], 1993.</ref> In the course of the 5th century BCE, several of the Greek ] would ultimately check the ] advance in Europe through the ], considered a pivotal moment in world history,<ref name="Strauss2005">{{cite book|first=Barry|last=Strauss|title=The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|year=2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-7453-1|pages=1–11|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=23 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623162126/https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|url-status=live}}</ref> as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as ], the seminal period of ancient Greece that laid many of the foundations of Western civilisation.
	] at its greatest extent]]
	Another major influence on Europe came from the ] which left its mark on ], ], ], ], and ].<ref name="natgeo 77">National Geographic, 76–77.</ref> During the '']'', the Roman Empire expanded to encompass the entire ] and much of Europe.<ref name = "mieawl">{{citation|last=McEvedy|first=Colin|title=The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1961}}</ref> ] influenced emperors such as ], ], and ], who all spent time on the Empire's northern border fighting ], ] and ] tribes.<ref name="natgeo 123">National Geographic, 123.</ref><ref> Foster, Sally M., ''Picts, Gaels, and Scots: Early Historic Scotland.'' Batsford, London, 2004. ISBN 0-7134-8874-3</ref> ] was eventually ] by ] after three centuries of ].
			] (years CE)]]
			Greece was followed by ], which left its mark on ], ], ], ], ], ], and many more key aspects in western civilisation.<ref name="Daly2013"/> By 200 BCE, Rome had conquered ] and over the following two centuries it conquered ], ] (] and ]), the ]n coast, much of the ], ] (] and ]), and ] (] and ]).
			Expanding from their base in central Italy beginning in the third century BCE, the Romans gradually expanded to eventually rule the entire Mediterranean basin and Western Europe by the turn of the millennium. The ] ended in 27 BCE, when ] proclaimed the ]. The two centuries that followed are known as the '']'', a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity and political stability in most of Europe.<ref name="mieawl">{{Cite book|last=McEvedy|first=Colin|title=The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1961}}</ref> The empire continued to expand under emperors such as ] and ], who spent time on the Empire's northern border fighting ], ] and ] tribes.<ref name="natgeo 123">National Geographic, 123.</ref><ref>Foster, Sally M., ''Picts, Gaels, and Scots: Early Historic Scotland''. Batsford, London, 2004. {{ISBN|0-7134-8874-3}}</ref> ] was ] by ] in 313 CE after three centuries of ]. Constantine also permanently moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the city of ] (modern-day ]) which was renamed ] in his honour in 330 CE. Christianity became the sole official religion of the empire in 380 CE, and in 391–392 CE the emperor ] outlawed pagan religions.<ref name="FriellWilliams2005">{{cite book|first1=Stephen|last1=Williams|first2=Gerard|last2=Friell|title=Theodosius: The Empire at Bay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8KRAgAAQBAJ|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-78262-7|page=105|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220530232720/https://books.google.com/books?id=I8KRAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> This is sometimes considered to mark the end of antiquity; alternatively antiquity is considered to end with the ] in 476 CE; the closure of the pagan ] in 529 CE;<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Greek Literature |last=Hadas |first=Moses |year=1950 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-01767-1 |pages=273, 327 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOht3609JOMC&pg=PA273 |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521051042/https://books.google.com/books?id=dOht3609JOMC&pg=PA273 |url-status=live }}</ref> or the rise of Islam in the early 7th century CE. During most of its existence, the ] was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe.<ref>{{Harvnb|Laiou|Morisson|2007|pp=130–131}}; {{Harvnb|Pounds|1979|p=124}}.</ref>
	===Early Middle Ages===		===Early Middle Ages===
	{{main|Late Antiquity|Early Middle Ages}}		{{Main|Late Antiquity|Early Middle Ages}}
	{{seealso|Dark Ages|Age of Migrations}}		{{See also|Dark Ages (historiography){{!}}Dark Ages|Age of Migrations}}
			{{Multiple image
	] pledges ] to ], ].]]
			| align = left
	During the ], Europe entered a long period of change arising from what historians call the "]". There were numerous invasions and migrations amongst the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and, later still, the ] and ].<ref name = "mieawl"/> Renaissance thinkers such as ] would later refer to this as the "]".<ref>, ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 4, No. 1. (Jan., 1943), pp. 69–74. </ref> Isolated monastic communities were the only places to safeguard and compile written knowledge accumulated previously; apart from this very few written records survive and much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period disappeared from Europe.<ref>], ''The Medieval World 300 to 1300''.</ref>
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			| image1 = Europe around 650.jpg
			| caption1 = Europe c. 650
			| image2 = Frankish Empire 481 to 814-en.svg
			| footer = ] in 814: {{Legend0|#3CB371|Francia}}, {{Legend0|#FAEBD7|Tributaries}}
			}}
			During the ], Europe entered a long period of change arising from what historians call the "]". There were numerous invasions and migrations amongst the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].<ref name="mieawl"/> ] thinkers such as ] would later refer to this as the "Dark Ages".<ref>''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 4, No. 1. (January 1943), pp. 69–74.</ref>
	During the Dark Ages, the ] fell under the control of Celtic, Slavic and Germanic tribes. The Celtic tribes established their kingdoms in ], the predecessor to the Frankish kingdoms that eventually became ].<ref name="natgeo 140">National Geographic, 140</ref> The Germanic and Slav tribes established their domains over Central and Eastern Europe respectively.<ref name="natgeo 143">National Geographic, 143–145.</ref> Eventually the ] were united under ].<ref name="natgeo 162">National Geographic, 162.</ref> ], a Frankish king of the ] dynasty who had conquered most of Western Europe, was anointed "Holy Roman Emperor" by the Pope in 800. This led to the founding of the ], which eventually became centred in the German principalities of central Europe.<ref name="natgeo 166">National Geographic, 166.</ref>
			Isolated monastic communities were the only places to safeguard and compile written knowledge accumulated previously; apart from this, very few written records survive. Much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period disappeared from Western Europe, though they were preserved in the east, in the Byzantine Empire.<ref>], ''The Medieval World 300 to 1300''.</ref>
	The ] became known in the west as the ]. Based in ], they viewed themselves as the natural successors to the Roman Empire.<ref name="natgeo 210">National Geographic, 210.</ref> Emperor ] presided over Constantinople's first golden age: he established a ], funded the construction of the ] and brought the Christian church under state control.<ref name="natgeo 135">National Geographic, 135.</ref> Fatally weakened by the sack of Constantinople during the ], the Byzantines fell in 1453 when they were conquered by the ].<ref name="natgeo 211">National Geographic, 211.</ref>
			While the Roman empire in the west continued to decline, Roman traditions and the Roman state remained strong in the predominantly Greek-speaking ], also known as the ]. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Emperor ] presided over Constantinople's first golden age: he established a ] that forms the basis of many modern legal systems, funded the construction of the ] and brought the Christian church under state control.<ref name="natgeo 135">National Geographic, 135.</ref>
	===Middle Ages===
	{{main|High Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages|Middle Ages}}
			From the 7th century onwards, as the Byzantines and neighbouring ] were severely weakened due to the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent ], the Muslim Arabs began to make inroads into historically Roman territory, taking the Levant and North Africa and making inroads into ]. In the mid-7th century, following the ], Islam penetrated into the ] region.<ref>{{cite book |quote=(..) It is difficult to establish exactly when Islam first appeared in Russia because the lands that Islam penetrated early in its expansion were not part of Russia at the time, but were later incorporated into the expanding Russian Empire. Islam reached the Caucasus region in the middle of the seventh century as part of the Arab ] of the Iranian Sassanian Empire.|title=Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security|first=Shireen |last= Hunter | publisher= M.E. Sharpe | date = 2004 |page=3 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Over the next centuries Muslim forces took ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>Kennedy, Hugh (1995). "The Muslims in Europe". In McKitterick, Rosamund, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500 – c. 700'', pp. 249–272. Cambridge University Press. 052136292X.</ref> Between 711 and 720, most of the lands of the ] of ] were brought under ] rule—save for small areas in the northwest (]) and largely ] regions in the ]. This territory, under the Arabic name ], became part of the expanding ]. The unsuccessful ] (717) weakened the ] and reduced their prestige. The Umayyads were then defeated by the ] leader ] at the ] in 732, which ended their northward advance. In the remote regions of north-western Iberia and the middle ] the power of the Muslims in the south was scarcely felt. It was here that the foundations of the Christian kingdoms of ], ], and ] were laid and from where the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula would start. However, no coordinated attempt would be made to drive the ] out. The Christian kingdoms were mainly focused on their own internal power struggles. As a result, the ] took the greater part of eight hundred years, in which period a long list of Alfonsos, Sanchos, Ordoños, Ramiros, Fernandos, and Bermudos would be fighting their Christian rivals as much as the Muslim invaders.
			] raids and division of the Frankish Empire at the ] in 843]]
			During the Dark Ages, the ] fell under the control of various tribes. The Germanic and Slav tribes established their domains over Western and Eastern Europe, respectively.<ref name="natgeo 143">National Geographic, 143–145.</ref> Eventually the Frankish tribes were united under ].<ref name="natgeo 162">National Geographic, 162.</ref> ], a Frankish king of the ] dynasty who had conquered most of Western Europe, was anointed "]" by the Pope in 800. This led in 962 to the founding of the ], which eventually became centred in the German principalities of central Europe.<ref name="natgeo 166">National Geographic, 166.</ref>
			] saw the creation of the first Slavic states and the adoption of ] ({{nowrap|{{c.}} 1000 CE)}}. The powerful ] state of ] spread its territory all the way south to the Balkans, reaching its largest territorial extent under ] and causing a series of armed conflicts with ]. Further south, the first ] emerged in the late 7th and 8th century and adopted ]: the ], the ] (later ] and ]), and the ] (later ]). To the east, ] expanded from its capital in ] to become the largest state in Europe by the 10th century. In 988, ] adopted ] as the religion of state.{{sfn|Bulliet|Crossley|Headrick|Hirsch|2011|page=250}}{{sfn|Brown|Anatolios|Palmer|2009|page=66}} Further east, ] became an Islamic state in the 10th century, but was eventually absorbed into Russia several centuries later.<ref>Gerald Mako, "The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered", Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 18, 2011, 199–223.</ref>
			===High and Late Middle Ages===
			{{Main|High Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages|Middle Ages}}
	{{See also|Medieval demography}}		{{See also|Medieval demography}}
			] of medieval ] reestablished contacts between Europe, Asia and Africa with extensive trade networks and colonies across the Mediterranean, and had an essential role in the ].<ref>Marc'Antonio Bragadin, ''Storia delle Repubbliche marinare'', Odoya, Bologna 2010, 240 pp., {{ISBN|978-88-6288-082-4}}</ref><ref>G. Benvenuti, ''Le Repubbliche Marinare. Amalfi, Pisa, Genova, Venezia'', Newton & Compton editori, Roma 1989</ref>]]
	] and ], during the ]]]
	The Middle Ages were dominated by the two upper echelons of the social structure: the nobility and the clergy. Feudalism developed in ] in the ] and soon spread throughout Europe.<ref name="natgeo 158">National Geographic, 158.</ref> The struggle between the nobility and the monarchy in England led to the writing of the ] and the establishment of a ].<ref name="natgeo 186">National Geographic, 186.</ref> The primary source of culture in this period came from the ]. Through monasteries and cathedral schools, the Church was responsible for education in much of Europe.<ref name="natgeo 158"/>
			The period between the year 1000 and 1250 is known as the ], followed by the ] until c. 1500.
			During the High Middle Ages the population of Europe experienced significant growth, culminating in the ]. Economic growth, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, made possible the development of major commercial routes along the coast of the ] and ]s. The growing wealth and independence acquired by some coastal cities gave the ] a leading role in the European scene.
			The Middle Ages on the mainland were dominated by the two upper echelons of the social structure: the nobility and the clergy. ] developed in ] in the Early Middle Ages, and soon spread throughout Europe.<ref name="natgeo 158">National Geographic, 158.</ref> A struggle for influence between the ] and the ] in England led to the writing of ] and the establishment of a ].<ref name="natgeo 186">National Geographic, 186.</ref> The primary source of culture in this period came from the ]. Through monasteries and ]s, the Church was responsible for education in much of Europe.<ref name="natgeo 158"/>
			] and ], during the ] (1189–1192)]]
			The ] reached the height of its power during the High Middle Ages. An ] in 1054 split the former Roman Empire religiously, with the ] in the ] and the Roman Catholic Church in the former Western Roman Empire. In 1095 ] called for a ] against ] occupying ] and the ].<ref name="natgeo 192">National Geographic, 192.</ref> In Europe itself, the Church organised the ] against heretics. In the ], the ] concluded with the ], ending over seven centuries of Islamic rule in the south-western peninsula.<ref name="natgeo 199">National Geographic, 199.</ref>
			In the east, a resurgent Byzantine Empire recaptured Crete and Cyprus from the Muslims, and reconquered the Balkans. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th to the 12th centuries, with a population of approximately 400,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Laiou|Morisson|2007|pp=130–131}}; {{harvnb|Pounds|1979|p=124}}.</ref> The Empire was weakened following the defeat at ], and was weakened considerably by the ], during the ].<ref name="DuikerSpielvogel2010">{{cite book|first1=William J.|last1=Duiker|first2=Jackson J.|last2=Spielvogel|title=The Essential World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJpI18JaEL0C&pg=PA330|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-90227-0|page=330|quote=The Byzantine Empire also interacted with the world of Islam to its east and the new European civilization of the west. Both interactions proved costly and ultimately fatal.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511203023/http://books.google.com/books?id=UJpI18JaEL0C&pg=PA330|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Findlay2006">{{cite book|first=Ronald|last=Findlay|title=Eli Heckscher, International Trade, And Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOE-sRivB6kC&pg=PA179|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2006|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-06251-0|pages=178–179|quote=These Christian allies did not accept the authority of Byzantium, and the Fourth Crusade that sacked Constantinople and established the so-called Latin Empire that lasted until 1261 was a fatal wound from which the empire never recovered until its fall at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1453 (Queller and Madden 1997).|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511210105/http://books.google.com/books?id=VOE-sRivB6kC&pg=PA179|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Browning1992">{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Browning|title=The Byzantine Empire|url=https://archive.org/details/byzantineempire0000brow|url-access=registration|access-date=20 January 2013|year=1992|publisher=CUA Press|isbn=978-0-8132-0754-4|page=|quote=And though the final blow was struck by the Ottoman Turks, it can plausibly be argued that the fatal injury was inflicted by the Latin crusaders in 1204.|edition=Revised}}</ref><ref name="Byfield2008">{{cite book|first=Ted|last=Byfield|title=A Glorious Disaster: A.D. 1100 to 1300: The Crusades: Blood, Valor, Iniquity, Reason, Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8hJgj5q5IEC&pg=PA136|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2008|publisher=Christian History Project|isbn=978-0-9689873-7-7|page=136|quote=continue to stand for another 250 before ultimately falling to the Muslim Turks, but it had been irrevocably weakened by the Fourth Crusade.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511204709/http://books.google.com/books?id=o8hJgj5q5IEC&pg=PA136|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Golna2004">{{cite book|first=Cornelia|last=Golna|title=City of Man's Desire: A Novel of Constantinople|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHXGa8HSQIQC&pg=PA424|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2004|publisher=Go-Bos Press|isbn=978-90-804114-4-9|page=424|quote=1204 The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, destroying and pillaging many of its treasures, fatally weakening the empire both economically and militarily|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511214428/http://books.google.com/books?id=xHXGa8HSQIQC&pg=PA424|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Powell2001">{{cite book|first=John|last=Powell|title=Magill's Guide to Military History: A-Cor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lBYZAQAAIAAJ|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2001|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-0-89356-015-7|quote=However, the fifty-seven years of plunder that followed made the Byzantine Empire, even when it retook the capital in 1261, genuinely weak. Beginning in 1222, the empire was further weakened by a civil war that lasted until 1355.&nbsp;... When the Ottomans overran their lands and besieged Constantinople in 1453, sheer poverty and weakness were the causes of the capital city's final fall.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511212456/http://books.google.com/books?id=lBYZAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Irvin2002">{{cite book|first=Dale T.|last=Irvin|title=History of the World Christian Movement: Volume 1: Earliest Christianity To 1453|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2akvQfa-QMC&pg=PA405|access-date=20 January 2013|date= 2002|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-567-08866-6|page=405|quote=Not only did the fourth crusade further harden the resentments Greek-speaking Christians felt toward the Latin West, but it further weakened the empire of Constantinople, many say fatally so. After the restoration of Greek imperial rule the city survived as the capital of Byzantium for another two centuries, but it never fully recovered.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511205749/http://books.google.com/books?id=C2akvQfa-QMC&pg=PA405|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Frucht2004">{{cite book|first=Richard C.|last=Frucht|title=Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C&pg=PA856|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-800-6|page=856|quote=Although the empire was revived, the events of 1204 had so weakened Byzantium that it was no longer a great power.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511213734/http://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C&pg=PA856|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="DuikerSpielvogel2010v2">{{cite book|first1=William J.|last1=Duiker|first2=Jackson J.|last2=Spielvogel|title=The Essential World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJpI18JaEL0C&pg=PA386|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-90227-0|page=386|quote=Later they established themselves in the Anatolian peninsula at the expense of the Byzantine Empire.&nbsp;... The Byzantines, however, had been severely weakened by the sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade (in 1204) and the Western occupation of much of the empire for the next half century.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511220210/http://books.google.com/books?id=UJpI18JaEL0C&pg=PA386|url-status=live}}</ref> Although it would recover Constantinople in 1261, ] ] when ] by the ].<ref name="natgeo 211">National Geographic, 211.</ref><ref name="Peters2006">{{cite book|first=Ralph|last=Peters|title=New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy|url=https://archive.org/details/newgloryexpandin00pete|url-access=registration|access-date=20 January 2013|date=2006|publisher=Sentinel|isbn=978-1-59523-030-0|quote=Western Christians, not Muslims, fatally crippled Byzantine power and opened Islam's path into the West.}}</ref><ref name="Chronicles">{{cite book|title=Chronicles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ay0RAQAAMAAJ|access-date=20 January 2013|year=2005|publisher=Rockford Institute|quote=two-and-a-half centuries to recover from the Fourth Crusade before the Ottomans finally took Constantinople in 1453,&nbsp;... They fatally wounded Byzantium, which was the main cause of its weakened condition when the Muslim onslaught came. Even on the eve of its final collapse, the precondition for any Western help was submission in Florence.|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511220240/http://books.google.com/books?id=Ay0RAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
			] by ] in 1238, during the ] (1220s–1240s)]]
			In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic ] tribes, such as the ] and the ], caused a massive migration of ] populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, and temporarily halted the expansion of the Rus' state to the south and east.<ref name="Klyuch1">{{Cite book|last=Klyuchevsky|first=Vasily|title=The course of the Russian history|url=http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm|isbn=978-5-244-00072-6|year=1987|publisher="Myslʹ|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2007-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024124216/http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Like many other parts of ], these territories were ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110427075859/https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 April 2011 |title=The Destruction of Kyiv|publisher=University of Toronto|access-date=10 June 2008}}</ref> The invaders, who became known as ], were mostly Turkic-speaking peoples under Mongol suzerainty. They established the state of the ] with headquarters in Crimea, which later adopted Islam as a religion, and ruled over modern-day southern and central Russia for more than three centuries.<ref>" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529001039/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037242/Golden-Horde |date=29 May 2008 }}", in '']'', 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/states3.html |title=Khanate of the Golden Horde (Kipchak) |publisher=Alamo Community Colleges |access-date=10 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607055652/http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/states3.html |archive-date=7 June 2008 }}</ref> After the collapse of Mongol dominions, the first Romanian states (principalities) emerged in the 14th century: ] and ]. Previously, these territories were under the successive control of Pechenegs and Cumans.<ref>Spinei, Victor. The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2009, {{ISBN|978-90-04-17536-5}}</ref> From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the ] grew from a small principality under Mongol rule to the largest state in Europe, overthrowing the Mongols in 1480, and eventually becoming the ]. The state was consolidated under ] and ], steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries.
	The ] reached the height of its power during the High Middle Ages. The ] in 1054 split the former Roman Empire religiously, with the ] in the ] and the ] in the former Western Roman Empire. In 1095 ] called for a ] against ] occupying ] and the ].<ref name="natgeo 192">National Geographic, 192.</ref> In Europe itself, the Church organised the ] against heretics. In ], the ] concluded with the fall of ] in 1492, ending over seven centuries of Muslim rule in the ].<ref name="natgeo 199">National Geographic, 199.</ref>
	] in 1346, from a manuscript of ]'s ]; the battle established England as a military power.]]
	In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic ] tribes, such as the ] and the ], caused a massive migration of ] populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north.<ref name="Klyuch1">{{cite book|last=Klyuchevsky|first=Vasily|title=The course of the Russian history|location=v.1|url=http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm|isbn=5-244-00072-1|year=1987|publisher="Myslʹ}}</ref> Like many other parts of ], these territories were ].<ref>{{citeweb|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html |title=The Destruction of Kiev|publisher=University of Toronto|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> The invaders, later known as ], formed the state of the ], which ruled the southern and central expanses of ] for over three centuries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/states3.html|title=Khanate of the Golden Horde (Kipchak)|publisher=Alamo Community Colleges|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref>
	The ] was the first ] that would strike Europe in the late Middle Ages. The period between 1348 and 1420 witnessed the heaviest loss. The population of ] was reduced by 2/3.<ref>Don O'Reilly. "". ''TheHistoryNet.com''.</ref> Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines,<ref>. By James Bartholomew. Telegraph. August 7. 2004.</ref> and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period.<ref>. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref>		The ] was the first ] that would strike Europe in the late Middle Ages.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102090226/http://www.oglethorpe.edu/faculty/~b_smith/ou/bs_foundations_chapter9.htm |date=2 November 2015 }}. Oglethorpe University.</ref> The period between 1348 and 1420 witnessed the heaviest loss. The population of ] was reduced by half.<ref>Baumgartner, Frederic J. ''France in the Sixteenth Century.'' London: ], 1995. {{ISBN|0-333-62088-7}}.</ref><ref>Don O'Reilly. "". ''TheHistoryNet.com''. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109043743/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/military_history/3031536.html |date=9 November 2006 }}</ref> Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines,<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. By James Bartholomew. Telegraph. 7 August. 2004.</ref> and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507160730/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/201392/famine |date=7 May 2015 }}. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> Europe was devastated in the mid-14th century by the ], one of the most deadly ]s in human history which killed an estimated 25&nbsp;million people in Europe alone—a third of the ] at the time.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article.html|title=Plague: The Black Death|magazine=National Geographic|access-date=1 April 2012|archive-date=16 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216182517/http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
	Europe was devastated in the mid-14th century by the ], one of the most deadly ]s in human history which killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe alone&nbsp;— a third of the ] at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article.html |title=Plague, Plague Information, Black Death Facts, News, Photos{{–}} National Geographic |publisher=Science.nationalgeographic.com |date= |accessdate=2008-11-03}}</ref> This had a devastating effect on Europe's social structure; it induced people to live for the moment as illustrated by ] in '']'' (1353). It was a serious blow to the ] and led to increased ], foreigners, ] and ]s.<ref name="natgeo 223">National Geographic, 223.</ref> The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying ] and mortalities until the 1700s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/cig/dangerous-diseases-epidemics/bubonic-plague.html |title=Epidemics of the Past: Bubonic Plague&nbsp;&mdash; Infoplease.com |publisher=Infoplease.com |date= |accessdate=2008-11-03}}</ref> During this period, more than 100 plague ] swept across Europe.<ref name="Revill">{{cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/16/health.books |title=Black Death blamed on man, not rats &#124; UK news &#124; The Observer |publisher=The Observer |author=Jo Revill |date= |accessdate=2008-11-03}}</ref>		The plague had a devastating effect on Europe's social structure; it induced people to live for the moment as illustrated by ] in '']'' (1353). It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church and led to increased ], ] and ]s.<ref name="natgeo 223">National Geographic, 223.</ref> The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying ] and mortalities until the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/cig/dangerous-diseases-epidemics/bubonic-plague.html |title=Epidemics of the Past: Bubonic Plague&nbsp;– Infoplease.com |publisher=Infoplease.com |access-date=3 November 2008 |archive-date=21 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021133412/http://www.infoplease.com/cig/dangerous-diseases-epidemics/bubonic-plague.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During this period, more than 100 plague ] swept across Europe.<ref name="Revill">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/16/health.books |title=Black Death blamed on man, not rats &#124; UK news &#124; The Observer |newspaper=The Observer |first=Jo |last=Revill |date=16 May 2004 |access-date=3 November 2008 |location=London |archive-date=12 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212100811/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/16/health.books |url-status=live }}</ref>
	===Early modern period===		===Early modern period===
	{{main|Early modern period}}		{{Main|Early modern period}}
	{{seealso|Renaissance|Protestant Reformation|Scientific Revolution|Age of Discovery}}		{{See also|Renaissance|Reformation|Scientific Revolution|Age of Discovery}}
	] by ]: Contemporaries such as ] and ] (centre) are portrayed as classical scholars]]		]'' (1511) by ]: Contemporaries, such as ] and ] (centre), are portrayed as classical scholars of the ].]]
	The ] was a period of cultural change originating in Italy in the fourteenth century. The rise of a ] was accompanied by the recovery of forgotten ] from monastic libraries and the Islamic world.<ref name="natgeo 159">National Geographic, 159.</ref><ref>] (1969) ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity'', ISBN 1-597-40150-1</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=]|origyear=1878|url=http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/burckhardt.html|title=The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy|edition=translation by S.G.C Middlemore|year=1990|isbn=0-14-044534-X|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London, England}}</ref> The Renaissance spread across Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries: it saw the flowering of art, philosophy, music, and the sciences, under the joint patronage of royalty, the nobility, the Roman Catholic Church, and an emerging merchant class.<ref name="natgeo 254">National Geographic, 254.</ref><ref>Jensen, De Lamar (1992), ''Renaissance Europe'', ISBN 0-395-88947-2</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Levey|first=Michael|title=Early Renaissance|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1967}}</ref> Patrons in Italy, including the ] family of ] bankers and the ]s in ], funded prolific ] and ] artists such as ], ], and ].<ref name="natgeo 292">National Geographic, 292.</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Levey|first=Michael|title=High Renaissance|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1971}}</ref>
			The Renaissance was a period of cultural change originating in ], and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The rise of a ] was accompanied by the recovery of forgotten ] and Arabic knowledge from ] libraries, often translated from Arabic into ].<ref name="Barrett"/><ref>] (1969) ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity'', {{ISBN|1-59740-150-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Jacob|last=Burckhardt|orig-year=1878|url=https://archive.org/details/civilizationofre00burc_0|title=The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy|translator-first=S. G. C. |translator-last=Middlemore|year=1990|isbn=978-0-14-044534-3|publisher=Penguin|location=London|author-link=Jacob Burckhardt}}</ref> The Renaissance spread across Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries: it saw the flowering of ], ], ], and ], under the joint patronage of ], the nobility, the ] and an emerging merchant class.<ref name="natgeo 254">National Geographic, 254.</ref><ref>Jensen, De Lamar (1992), ''Renaissance Europe'', {{ISBN|0-395-88947-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Levey|first=Michael|title=Early Renaissance|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1967}}</ref> Patrons in Italy, including the ] family of Florentine bankers and the ]s in ], funded prolific ] and ] artists such as ], ] and ].<ref name="natgeo 292">National Geographic, 292.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Levey|first=Michael|title=High Renaissance|publisher=Penguin|year=1971}}</ref>
	Political intrigue within the Church in the mid-14th century caused the ]. During this forty-year period, two popes—one in ] and one in ]—claimed rulership over the Church. Although the schism was eventually healed in 1417, the papacy's spiritual authority had suffered greatly.<ref name="natgeo 193">National Geographic, 193.</ref> The Church's power was further weakened by the ] of ], a result of the lack of reform within the Church. The Reformation also damaged the Holy Roman Empire's power, as German princes became divided between Protestant and Roman Catholic faiths.<ref name="natgeo 256">National Geographic, 256–257.</ref> This eventually led to the ] (1618–1648), which crippled the Holy Roman Empire and devastated much of Germany. In the aftermath of the ], ] rose to predominance within Europe.<ref name="natgeo 269">National Geographic, 269.</ref>
	] on 12 September 1683, broke the advance of the ] into Europe]]
	The Renaissance and the ] marked the start of an ], a period of exploration, invention, and scientific development. In the 15th century, ] and ], two of the greatest naval powers of the time, took the lead in exploring the world.<ref>{{citation|last=John Morris Roberts|title=Penguin History of Europe|year=1997|publisher=Penguin Books|id=ISBN 0140265619}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 296">National Geographic, 296.</ref> ] reached the ] in 1492, and soon after the Spanish and Portuguese began establishing colonial empires in the Americas.<ref name="natgeo 338">National Geographic, 338.</ref> ], the ] and ] soon followed in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in ], ], and ].		Political intrigue within the Church in the mid-14th century caused the ]. During this 40-year period, two popes—one in ] and one in Rome—claimed rulership over the Church. Although the schism was eventually healed in 1417, the papacy's spiritual authority had suffered greatly.<ref name="natgeo 193">National Geographic, 193.</ref> In the 15th century, Europe started to extend itself beyond its geographic frontiers. Spain and Portugal, the greatest naval powers of the time, took the lead in exploring the world.<ref>{{Cite book|first=John Morris |last=Roberts|title=Penguin History of Europe|year=1997|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-026561-3|url=https://archive.org/details/penguinhistoryof00robe_1}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 296">National Geographic, 296.</ref> Exploration reached the ] in the Atlantic and the southern tip of Africa. ] reached the ] in 1492, and ] opened the ocean route to the East, linking the Atlantic and ]s in 1498. The Portuguese-born explorer ] reached Asia westward across the Atlantic and the ]s in a Spanish expedition, resulting in the first ], completed by the Spaniard ] (1519–1522). Soon after, the Spanish and Portuguese began establishing large global empires in the ], Asia, Africa and Oceania.<ref name="natgeo 338">National Geographic, 338.</ref> France, the ] and England soon followed in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas and Asia. In 1588, the ] failed to invade England. A year later, ], allowing ] to maintain his dominant war capacity in Europe. This English disaster also allowed the Spanish fleet to retain its capability to wage war for the next decades. However, two more Spanish armadas failed to invade England (] and ]).<ref>Elliott p. 333</ref><ref>Morris, Terence Alan (1998). ''Europe and England in the sixteenth century''. Routledge, p. 335. {{ISBN|0-415-15041-8}}</ref><ref>Rowse, A. L. (1969). ''Tudor Cornwall: portrait of a society''. C. Scribner, p. 400</ref><ref>"One decisive action might have forced Philip II to the negotiating table and avoided fourteen years of continuing warfare. Instead the King was able to use the brief respite to rebuild his naval forces and by the end of 1589 Spain once again had an Atlantic fleet strong enough to escort the American treasure ships home." ''The Mariner's Mirror'', Volumes 76–77. Society for Nautical Research., 1990</ref>
			] in the centuries following their partition by ]. The principal military base of Philip II in Europe was the Spanish road stretching from the Netherlands to the ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kamen |first1=Henry |title=Spain's Road to Empire: The Making of a World Power, 1492–1763 |page=221}}</ref>]]
			The Church's power was further weakened by the ], which began in 1517 when German theologian ] nailed his '']'' criticising the selling of indulgences to the church door. He was subsequently excommunicated in the papal bull '']'' in 1520 and his followers were condemned in the 1521 ], which divided German princes between ] and Catholic faiths.<ref name="natgeo 256">National Geographic, 256–257.</ref> ] spread with Protestantism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikibooks.org/European_History/Religious_Wars_in_Europe|title=European History/Religious Wars in Europe – Wikibooks, open books for an open world|website=en.wikibooks.org|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=31 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531224323/https://en.wikibooks.org/European_History/Religious_Wars_in_Europe|url-status=live}}</ref> The plunder of the empires of the Americas allowed Spain to finance ] in Europe for over a century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Kenneth |title=Jesus Never Existed: An Introduction to the Ultimate Heresy}}</ref> The ] (1618–1648) crippled the Holy Roman Empire and devastated much of Germany, killing between 25 and 40 percent of its population.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101023616/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58335/Demographics |date=1 January 2015 }}. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> In the aftermath of the ], France rose to predominance within Europe.<ref name="natgeo 269">National Geographic, 269.</ref> The defeat of the ] at the ] in 1683 marked the historic end of ].<ref>Virginia Aksan, Ottoman Wars, 1700–1860: An Empire Besieged, (Pearson Education Limited, 2007), 28.</ref>
			In much of Central and Eastern Europe, the 17th century was ];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm|title=The Seventeenth-Century Decline|access-date=13 August 2008|publisher=The Library of Iberian resources online|archive-date=27 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327015606/http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> the region experienced more than 150 famines in a 200-year period between 1501 and 1700.<ref>"'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417115352/https://books.google.com/books?id=juvbIDu9ARIC&pg=PA51 |date=2022-04-17 }}''". Seshadri Kannan (2009). APH Publishing. p. 51. {{ISBN|81-313-0356-X}}</ref> From the ] (1385) east-central Europe was dominated by the ] and the ]. The hegemony of the vast ] had ended with the devastation brought by the ] (]) and subsequent conflicts;<ref>{{cite book |last=Frost |first=Robert I. |author-link=Robert I. Frost |year=2004 |title=After the Deluge; Poland-Lithuania and the Second Northern War, 1655–1660 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfIbP8sfC0wC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521544023 |access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> the state itself was ] and ceased to exist at the end of the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lukowski |first=Jerzy |author-link=Jerzy Lukowski |year=2014 |title=The Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm3XAwAAQBAJ |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317886945 |access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref>
			From the 15th to 18th centuries, when the disintegrating khanates of the ] were conquered by Russia, ] from the ] frequently ] Eastern Slavic lands to ].<ref>W. G. Clarence-Smith (2006). "'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429200313/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nQbylEdqJKkC&f=false |date=2016-04-29 }}''". Oxford University Press. p. 13. {{ISBN|0-19-522151-6}}&nbsp;– "Lands to the north of the Black Sea probably yielded the most slaves to the Ottomans from 1450. A compilation of estimates indicates that Crimean Tartars seized about 1,750,000 Ukrainians, Poles, and Russians from 1468 to 1694."</ref> Further east, the ] and ] frequently raided the Slavic-speaking areas of contemporary Russia and Ukraine for hundreds of years, until the Russian expansion and conquest of most of northern Eurasia (i.e. Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia).
			The Renaissance and the ] marked the start of an Age of Discovery, a period of exploration, invention and scientific development.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Shelby D.|title=Controversy in marketing theory: for reason, realism, truth, and objectivity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07lchJbdWGgC&pg=PA18|publisher=M. E. Sharpe|year=2003|page=18|isbn=978-0-7656-0932-8|access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> Important figures of the ] during the 16th and 17th centuries included ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.clas.ufl.edu//ufhatch/pages/03-Sci-Rev/SCI-REV-Home/05-sr-lng-timeline.htm |title=Scientific Revolution: Chronological Timeline: Copernicus to Newton |last=Hatch |first=Robert A. |access-date=24 March 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723195302/http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/ufhatch/pages/03-Sci-Rev/SCI-REV-Home/05-sr-lng-timeline.htm |archive-date=23 July 2013}}</ref> According to Peter Barrett, "It is widely accepted that 'modern science' arose in the Europe of the 17th century (towards the end of the Renaissance), introducing a new understanding of the natural world."<ref name="Barrett">Peter Barrett (2004), '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422182250/https://books.google.com/books?id=fwxViwX6KuMC&pg=PA14 |date=22 April 2022 }}'', pp. 14–18, Continuum, {{ISBN|0-567-08969-X}}</ref>
	===18th and 19th centuries===		===18th and 19th centuries===
	{{main|Modern history}}		{{Main|Modern history}}
	{{seealso|Industrial Revolution|French Revolution|Age of Enlightenment}}		{{See also|Industrial Revolution|French Revolution|Age of Enlightenment}}
			]]]
	The ] was a powerful intellectual movement of the eighteenth century in which scientific and reason-based thought predominated.<ref>{{citation|last=Goldie|first=Mark|last2= Wokler|first2=Robert |title=The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|id=ISBN 0521374227}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Cassirer|first=Ernst |title=The Philosophy of the Enlightenment|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1979|id=ISBN 0691019630}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 255">National Geographic, 255.</ref> Discontent with the aristocracy and clergy's monopoly on political power in France resulted in the ] and the establishment of the ]: the monarchy and many of the nobility perished during the initial ].<ref>{{citation|last=Schama|first=Simon|publisher=Knopf|title=Citizens: a chronicle of the French revolution|year=1989|id=ISBN 0394559487}}</ref> ] rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution and established the ] that, during the ], grew to encompass large parts of Europe before collapsing in 1815 with the ].<ref name="natgeo 360">National Geographic, 360.</ref><ref>{{citation|last=McEvedy|first=Colin|title=The Penguin Atlas of Modern History|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1972|id=ISBN 0140511539}}</ref>
			The ] brought to an end the ]. Consequently, when the ] turned into a global war between 1778 and 1783, Britain found itself opposed by a strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2144276 |title=The American Revolution as an Aftermath of the Great War for the Empire, 1754–1763 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=86–104 |last1=Gipson |first1=Lawrence Henry |year=1950 |doi=10.2307/2144276}}</ref>
	] started in ]]]
	] resulted in the further dissemination of the ideals of the French Revolution, including that of ], as well as the widespread adoption of the French model for ], ] and ].<ref>{{citation|last=Lyons|first=Martyn|publisher= St. Martin's Press|year= 1994|isbn=0312121237|title=Napoleon Bonaparte and the legacy of the French Revolution}} </ref><ref>{{citation|last=Grab|first=Alexander|title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe (European History in Perspective) |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2003|id=ISBN-0-33-68275-0}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 350">National Geographic, 350.</ref> The ] was convened after Napoleon's downfall. It established a new balance of power in Europe centred on the five "]s": the ], ], ], ] and ].<ref name="natgeo 367">National Geographic, 367.</ref> This balance would remain in place until the ], during which liberal uprisings affected all of Europe except for Russia and Great Britain. The revolutions were eventually put down by more conservative elements and few reforms resulted.<ref name="natgeo 371">National Geographic, 371–373.</ref> In 1867 the ] was ]; and 1871 saw the unifications of both ] and ] as ] from smaller principalities.<ref>{{citation|last=Davies|first=Norman|title=Europe: A History|publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1996|id=ISBN 0198201710}}
	</ref>
			The Age of Enlightenment was a powerful intellectual movement during the 18th century promoting scientific and reason-based thoughts.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldie |first1=Mark |title=The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought |last2=Wokler |first2=Robert |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-37422-4 |author-link2=Robert Wokler}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassirer |first=Ernst |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyofenli0000cass_u2f3 |title=The Philosophy of the Enlightenment |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-691-01963-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 255">National Geographic, 255.</ref> Discontent with the aristocracy and clergy's monopoly on political power in France resulted in the French Revolution, and the establishment of the ] as a result of which the monarchy and many of the nobility perished during the initial ].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schama|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Schama|publisher=]|title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution|year=1989|isbn=978-0-394-55948-3|title-link=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution}}</ref> ] rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and established the ] that, during the ], grew to encompass large parts of Europe before collapsing in 1815 with the ].<ref name="natgeo 360">National Geographic, 360.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=McEvedy|first=Colin|title=The Penguin Atlas of Modern History|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1972|isbn=978-0-14-051153-6}}</ref> ] resulted in the further dissemination of the ideals of the French Revolution, including that of the ], as well as the widespread adoption of the French models of ], ] and ].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyons|first=Martyn|publisher= ]|year= 1994|isbn=978-0-312-12123-5|title=Napoleon Bonaparte and the legacy of the French Revolution}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Grab|first=Alexander|title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe (European History in Perspective) |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2003|isbn=978-0-333-68275-3}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 350">National Geographic, 350.</ref> The ], convened after Napoleon's downfall, established a new ] in Europe centred on the five "]s": the UK, France, ], ], and Russia.<ref name="natgeo 367">National Geographic, 367.</ref> This balance would remain in place until the ], during which liberal uprisings affected all of Europe except for Russia and the UK. These revolutions were eventually put down by conservative elements and few reforms resulted.<ref name="natgeo 371">National Geographic, 371–373.</ref> The year 1859 saw the unification of Romania, as a nation state, from smaller principalities. In 1867, the ] was ]; 1871 saw the unifications of both ] and ] as nation-states from smaller principalities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Norman|title=Europe: A History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0}}</ref>
	The ] started in ] in the last part of the 18th century and spread throughout Europe. The invention and implementation of new technology resulted in rapid urban growth, mass employment and the rise of a new working class.<ref>{{citation|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=A shortened history of Engand|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1988|id=ISBN 0-14-010241-8}}</ref> Reforms in social and economic spheres followed, including the ] on ], the legalisation of ]s<ref>{{citation|last= Beatrice|first= Webb | title=History of Trade Unionism | publisher= AMS Press | year=1976 | isbn=0404068855}}</ref> and the ].<ref>, ''Historical survey > Ways of ending slavery'', Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> In ] the ] was passed, which significantly improved living conditions in many British cities.<ref>{{citation|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=English Social History|publisher=Longmans, Green|year=1942}}</ref> ] doubled during the 18th century, from roughly 100 million to almost 200 million, and doubled again during the 19th century.<ref>. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> In the 19th century 70 million people left Europe.<ref>. ''Migration News''. December 1996.</ref>
			In parallel, the ] grew more complex ever since the Ottoman defeat in the ]. As the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire seemed imminent, the ]s struggled to safeguard their strategic and commercial interests in the Ottoman domains. The ] stood to benefit from the decline, whereas the ] and ] perceived the preservation of the Ottoman Empire to be in their best interests. Meanwhile, the ] (1804) and ] (1821) marked the beginning of the end of Ottoman rule in the ], which ended with the ] in 1912–1913.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126020326/http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=3044&HistoryID=ac79|date=26 January 2022}}, ''Ottoman Empire – 19th century'', Historyworld</ref> Formal recognition of the ''de facto'' independent principalities of ], ] and ] ensued at the ] in 1878.
	===20th century to present===
	{{main|Modern era|History of Europe}}
	{{seealso|World War I|Great Depression|World War II|Cold War|History of the European Union}}
	] purplish-red, ] grey and neutral countries yellow]]
	Two World Wars and an economic depression dominated the first half of the 20th century. ] was fought between 1914 and 1918. It started when ] was assassinated by the ] ].<ref name="natgeo 407">National Geographic, 407.</ref> Most European nations were drawn into the war, which was fought between the ] (], ], ], ], ], the ], and later ], ], ], and the ]) and the ] (], ], ], and the ]). The War left around 40 million civilians and military dead.<ref name="natgeo 440">National Geographic, 440.</ref> Over 60 million European soldiers were mobilised from 1914–1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/versaillestreaty.html|title=The Treaty of Versailles and its Consequences|accessdate=2008-06-10|publisher=James Atkinson}}</ref> Partly as a result of its defeat Russia was plunged into the ], which threw down the ] and replaced it with the ] ].<ref name="natgeo 480">National Geographic, 480.</ref> ] and the ] collapsed and broke up into separate nations, and many other nations had their borders redrawn. The ], which officially ended ] in 1919, was harsh towards ], upon whom it placed full responsibility for the war and imposed heavy sanctions.<ref name="natgeo 443">National Geographic, 443.</ref>
			] (1840); the ] started in ].]]
	Economic instability, caused in part by debts incurred in the First World War and 'loans' to Germany played havoc in Europe in the late 1920s and 1930s. This and the ] brought about the worldwide ]. Helped by the economic crisis ] developed throughout Europe placing ] of ], ] of ] and ] of ] in power.<ref> {{citation|last=Hobsbawm|first=Eric|publisher=Vintage|year=1995|id=ISBN-978--0-73005-7|unused_data=|The Age of Extremes: A history of the world, 1914–1991}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 438">National Geographic, 438.</ref>
			The ] started in ] in the last part of the 18th century and spread throughout Europe. The invention and implementation of new technologies resulted in rapid urban growth, mass employment and the rise of a new working class.<ref>{{Cite book|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=A shortened history of England|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1988|isbn=978-0-14-010241-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/shortenedhistory00geor}}</ref> Reforms in social and economic spheres followed, including the ] on ], the legalisation of ]s,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Webb|first=Sidney | title=History of Trade Unionism | publisher= AMS Press | year=1976 | isbn=978-0-404-06885-1}}</ref> and the ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016025606/http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24160 |date=16 October 2014 }}, ''Historical survey – Ways of ending slavery'', Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> In Britain, the ] was passed, which significantly improved living conditions in many British cities.<ref>{{Cite book|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=English Social History|publisher=Longmans, Green|year=1942}}</ref> Europe's population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million by 1900.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730041936/https://www.britannica.com/topic/modernization |date=30 July 2022 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> The last major famine recorded in Western Europe, the ], caused death and mass emigration of millions of Irish people.<ref>" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109095015/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml |date=2019-11-09 }}". BBC – History.</ref> In the 19th century, 70&nbsp;million people left Europe in migrations to various European colonies abroad and to the United States.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704173521/http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1118_0_5_0 |date=4 July 2010 }}. ''Migration News''. December 1996.</ref> The industrial revolution also led to large population growth, and the {{not typo|]}} reached a peak of slightly above 25% around the year 1913.<ref name="ggdc.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf|title=Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820|author=Maddison|website=]|date=27 July 2016|access-date=12 June 2024|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212183845/http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="World Population Growth, 1950–2050">. Population Reference Bureau. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722202806/http://www.prb.org/Educators/TeachersGuides/HumanPopulation/PopulationGrowth.aspx?p=1 |date=22 July 2013 }}</ref>
	]" at the ] in 1945; seated (from the left): ], ], and ]]]
	Driven by his ideals of war and power, Hitler started expanding Germany steadily after coming to authority in 1933. The ] was incorporated in 1935 and ] with the so-called ] in 1938. Later in 1938 the ] was annexed in a move that was highly contested by the other powers, but ultimately permitted in hopes of ] Hitler. In early 1939, the remainder of ] was split into the ], incorporated in Nazi Germany, and the ]. The German ] on 1 September 1939, prompted France and the United Kingdom to declare war to Germany on 3 September.<ref name="natgeo 465">National Geographic, 465.</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Taylor|first=A.J.P.|title= The Origins of the Second World War|date=1996|publisher=Simon & Schuster| id=ISBN 0684829479}}</ref> The ] and the ] started on 17 September.
	After occupying the ], ] and ] ], Germany forced French capitulation in June 1940. However, the subsequent ] determined the first failure to Germany's bellicose operations.<ref name="natgeo 510">National Geographic, 510.</ref> In 1941 Germany turned on their former Soviet allies with an ultimately unsuccessful ].<ref name="natgeo 532">National Geographic, 532.</ref> On 7 December 1941 ] surprise ] drew the United States into the conflict as allies of the ] and other ] forces.<ref name="natgeo 511">National Geographic, 511.</ref><ref name="natgeo 519">National Geographic, 519.</ref> After the staggering ] in 1943, the German offensive on Soviet territory turned into a continual fallback. In 1944 British and American forces invaded France in the ] landings opening a second front on Germany. ] finally fell in 1945, ending World War II in Europe. The war was the largest and most destructive in human history, with 60 million dead across the world,<ref name="natgeo 439">National Geographic, 439.</ref> including between 9 and 11 million people who perished during ].<ref name="natgeo 520">National Geographic, 520.</ref>
	] used by the ] and ]]]
	World War I and especially World War II diminished the eminence of Western Europe in world affairs. After World War II the map of Europe was redrawn at the ] and divided into two blocs, the Western countries and the ] Eastern bloc, separated by what was later called by ] an "]". The United States and Western Europe
	established the ] alliance and later the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe established the ].<ref name="natgeo 530">National Geographic, 530.</ref> The two new ]s, the ] and the ], became locked in a fifty-year long ], centred on ]. At the same time ], which had already started after World War I, gradually resulted in the independence of most of the European colonies in ] and ].<ref name="natgeo 534">National Geographic, 534.</ref>
	In the 1980s the ] of ] and the ] movement in Poland accelerated the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the end of the Cold War. Germany was reunited, after the symbolic ] in 1989, and the maps of Eastern Europe were redrawn once more.<ref> {{citation|last=Hobsbawm|first=Eric|publisher=Vintage|year=1995| isbn=9780730057|unused_data=|The Age of Extremes: A history of the world, 1914–1991}}</ref>
			===20th century to the present===
	] also grew in the post-World War II years. The ] in 1957 established the ] between six Western European states with the goal of a unified economic policy and common market.<ref name="natgeo 536">National Geographic, 536.</ref> In 1967 the EEC, ] and ] formed the ], which in 1993 became the ]. The EU established a ], ] and ] and introduced the ] as a unified currency.<ref name="natgeo 537">National Geographic, 537.</ref> Beginning in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, Eastern European countries began joining, expanding the EU to its current size of 27 European nations, and once more making Europe a major economical and political centre of power.<ref name="natgeo 535">National Geographic, 535.</ref>
			{{Main|Modern era|History of Europe}}
			{{See also|World War I|Great Depression|Interwar period|Second World War|Cold War|History of the European Union}}
			]s throughout the world in 1914]]
			Two world wars and an economic depression dominated the first half of the 20th century. The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918. It started when ] was assassinated by the ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://praguepost.com/world-news/39837-assassin-gavrilo-princip-gets-a-statue-in-sarajevo|title=Assassin Gavrilo Princip gets a statue in Sarajevo|access-date=11 July 2014|publisher=Prague Post|date=28 June 2014|archive-date=10 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710215557/http://praguepost.com/world-news/39837-assassin-gavrilo-princip-gets-a-statue-in-sarajevo|url-status=live}}</ref> ].<ref name="natgeo 407">National Geographic, 407.</ref> Most European nations were drawn into the war, which was fought between the ] (], ], ], Portugal, ], the ], and later ], ], ], and the United States) and the ] (], ], ], and the ]). The war left more than 16&nbsp;million civilians and military dead.<ref name="natgeo 440">''National Geographic'', 440.</ref> Over 60&nbsp;million European soldiers were mobilised from 1914 to 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/versaillestreaty.html |title=The Treaty of Versailles and its Consequences |access-date=10 June 2008 |publisher=James Atkinson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512224100/http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/versaillestreaty.html |archive-date=12 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
	==Geography and extent==
	{{main|Geography of Europe}}
	{{see|List of countries spanning more than one continent}}
	], ] (l.) and ] (r.)]]
	], 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 ].<ref name="Encarta"/> The first century AD geographer ], took the ] "''Tanais''" to be the boundary to the ]<ref>Strabo ''Geography 11.1''</ref>, 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 ], 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.
			] in 1914–1918]]
	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{{Who|date=December 2008}} consider ]'s and ]'s southern borders with ] and ]'s southern and eastern borders with ], ] and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural reasons.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} In the same way, despite being close to Asia and Africa, the Mediterranean islands of ] and ] are considered part of Europe and currently form part of the ].
			Russia was plunged into the ], which threw down the ] and replaced it with the ] ],<ref name="natgeo 480">National Geographic, 480.</ref> leading also to the independence of many former ], such as ], ], ] and ], as new European countries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Heinrich August Winkler|title=The Age of Catastrophe|chapter=The Struggle for Independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland|page=110|year=2015|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300204896}}</ref> ] and the Ottoman Empire collapsed and broke up into separate nations, and many other nations had their borders redrawn. The ], which officially ended the First World War in 1919, was harsh towards Germany, upon whom it placed full responsibility for the war and imposed heavy sanctions.<ref name="natgeo 443">''National Geographic'', 443.</ref> Excess deaths in Russia over the course of the First World War and the ] (including the postwar ]) amounted to a combined total of 18 million.<ref>{{cite book| first = Mark| last = Harrison| title = Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167| date = 2002| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-89424-1| page = 167| access-date = 30 July 2022| archive-date = 17 June 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200617211223/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167| url-status = live}}</ref> In 1932–1933, under ]'s leadership, confiscations of grain by the Soviet authorities contributed to the ] which caused millions of deaths;<ref>" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061127110530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6179818.stm |date=2006-11-27 }}". BBC News. 24 November 2006.</ref> surviving ]s were persecuted and many sent to ]s to do ]. Stalin was also responsible for the ] of 1937–38 in which the ] executed 681,692 people;<ref>{{cite book| first = Abbott| last = Gleason| title = A companion to Russian history| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373| year = 2009| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell| isbn = 978-1-4051-3560-3| page = 373| access-date = 30 July 2022| archive-date = 5 September 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175409/https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373| url-status = live}}</ref> millions of people were ] to remote areas of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book | first = Geoffrey A.| last = Hosking| title = Russia and the Russians: a history| url = https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk| url-access = registration| year = 2001| publisher = Harvard University Press| isbn = 978-0-674-00473-3| page = }}</ref>
			] (1914–1918) cost the country one quarter of its population.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116535884/fourth-of-serbias-population-dead/ |title=Fourth of Serbia's Population Dead |first=Pierre |last=Loti |newspaper=] |page=49 |date=1918-06-30 |access-date=2023-01-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/05/102687236.pdf|title=Asserts Serbians Face Extinction; Their Plight in Occupied Districts Worse Than Belgians', Says Labor Envoy |newspaper=] |location=Washington |page=13 |access-date=2023-01-15|archive-date=15 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315165925/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/05/102687236.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/11/05/98273895.pdf|title=Serbia Restored|access-date=19 January 2017|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916183845/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/11/05/98273895.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/28/102728073.pdf| work=New York Times| title=Serbia and Austria| date=28 July 1918| access-date=30 July 2022| archive-date=22 April 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422071451/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/28/102728073.pdf| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/27/102727338.pdf| work=New York Times| title=Appeals to Americans to pray for Serbians| date=27 July 1918| access-date=30 July 2022| archive-date=16 September 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916183729/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/27/102727338.pdf| url-status=live}}</ref>]]
	Dr. Krishna Ram stated: "But for the fact that a civilization which for five centuries dominated, colonised and subjugated the rest of the world originated there, no one would have considered Europe a separate continent. There is no objective physical reason why Europe should be a full-fledged "continent" while the Indian sub continent is that, a "sub-continent". If it had been India which had given birth to the world-dominating culture, probably it would have been India which also arrogated to itself the distinction of being an entire "continent" all in itself. The Himalayas, after all, are a bit higher than the Urals"<ref>Dr. Krishna Ram, "Geography, History, Culture and Brute Force", Mumbai, 2001 (Introduction to Part II)</ref>.
			] began the devastating Second World War in Europe by its leader, ]. Here Hitler, on the right, with his closest ally, the Italian dictator ], in 1940.]]
			The ]s sweeping through Russia also affected other European nations following ]: in 1919, with the ] in Germany and the ]; in 1922, with ]'s one-party ] government in the ] and in ]'s ], adopting the Western alphabet and state ].
	===Physical geography===
			Economic instability, caused in part by debts incurred in the First World War and 'loans' to Germany played havoc in Europe in the late 1920s and 1930s. This, and the ], brought about the worldwide ]. Helped by the economic crisis, social instability and the threat of communism, ] developed throughout Europe placing ] in power of what became ].<ref name="hobsbawn">{{Cite book|last=Hobsbawm|first=Eric|publisher=Vintage|year=1995|isbn=978-0-679-73005-7|title=The Age of Extremes: A history of the world, 1914–1991|url=https://archive.org/details/ageofextremeshis00hobs_0}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 438">''National Geographic'', 438.</ref>
	]
	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 the islands of ] and ], and then continues along the mountainous, ]-cut, spine of ].
			In 1933, Hitler became the leader of Germany and began to work towards his goal of building Greater Germany. Germany re-expanded and took back the ] and ] in 1935 and 1936. In 1938, ] became a part of Germany following the ]. Following the ] signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, later in 1938 Germany annexed the ], which was a part of ] inhabited by ethnic Germans. In early 1939, the remainder of Czechoslovakia was split into the ], controlled by Germany and the ]. At the time, the United Kingdom and France preferred a policy 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.
			With tensions mounting between Germany and ] over the future of ], the Germans turned to the Soviets and signed the ], which allowed the Soviets to invade the Baltic states and parts of Poland and Romania. Germany ] on 1 September 1939, prompting France and the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany on 3 September, opening the ].<ref name="reich">{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/adolf-hitler-1|title=Adolf Hitler: Rise of Power, Impact & Death|website=History.com|access-date=26 July 2020|archive-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003111423/https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/adolf-hitler-1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 465">National Geographic, 465.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=A. J. P.|title= The Origins of the Second World War|year=1996|publisher=Simon & Schuster| isbn=978-0-684-82947-0}}</ref> The ] started on 17 September and Poland fell soon thereafter. On 24 September, the Soviet Union attacked the ] and, on 30 November, Finland, the latter of which was followed by the devastating ] for the Red Army.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/winter-war-finland.html|title=The Winter War – When the Finns Humiliated the Russians|first=Ivano|last=Massari|publisher=War History Online|date=18 August 2015|access-date=19 December 2021|archive-date=19 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219185618/https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/winter-war-finland.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The British hoped to land at ] and send troops to aid Finland, but their primary objective in the landing was to encircle Germany and cut the Germans off from Scandinavian resources. Around the same time, Germany moved troops into Denmark. The ] continued.
	==Climate==
	]s of Europe and surrounding regions:
			In May 1940, Germany ] through the Low Countries. France capitulated in June 1940. By August, Germany had begun a ] but failed to convince the Britons to give up.<ref name="natgeo 510">''National Geographic'', 510.</ref> In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in ].<ref name="natgeo 532">''National Geographic'', 532.</ref> On 7 December 1941 ]'s ] drew the United States into the conflict as allies of the ], and other ] forces.<ref name="natgeo 511">''National Geographic'', 511.</ref><ref name="natgeo 519">''National Geographic'', 519.</ref>
	<br/>
			]" at the ] in 1945; seated (from the left): ], ] and ]]]
			After the staggering ] in 1943, the German offensive in the Soviet Union turned into a continual fallback. The ], which involved the largest ] in history, was the last major German offensive on the ]. In June 1944, British and American forces invaded France in the ], opening a new front against Germany. Berlin finally ], ending the Second World War in Europe. The war was the largest and most destructive in human history, with ].<ref name="natgeo 439">''National Geographic'', 439.</ref> More than 40&nbsp;million people in Europe had died as a result of the Second World War,<ref>" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316120653/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4526351.stm |date=2018-03-16 }}". ''BBC News''. 9 May 2005.</ref> including between 11 and 17&nbsp;million people who perished during ].<ref>Niewyk, Donald L. and Nicosia, Francis R. '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521005722/https://books.google.com/books?id=lpDTIUklB2MC&pg=PP1#PPA45,M1 |date=21 May 2022 }}'', ], 2000, pp. 45–52.</ref> The Soviet Union ] (mostly civilians) during the war, about half of all Second World War casualties.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4530565.stm | title=Leaders mourn Soviet wartime dead | work=BBC News | date=9 May 2005 | access-date=4 January 2010 | archive-date=22 December 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222043852/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4530565.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of the Second World War, Europe had more than 40&nbsp;million ]s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9ba80.html |title=The State of The World's Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |pages=13 |language=en |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423195513/https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9ba80.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bundy |first=Colin |date=2016 |title=Migrants, refugees, history and precedents {{!}} Forced Migration Review |url=https://www.fmreview.org/destination-europe/bundy |access-date=9 March 2022 |website=www.fmreview.org |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308162932/https://www.fmreview.org/destination-europe/bundy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"". ''Time''. 9 July 1979.</ref> Several ] in Central and Eastern Europe displaced a total of about 20&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schechtman|first=Joseph B.|date=1953|title=Postwar Population Transfers in Europe: A Survey|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=15|issue=2|pages=151–178|jstor=1405220|doi=10.1017/s0034670500008081|s2cid=144307581 }}</ref>
			The First World War, and especially the Second World War, diminished the eminence of Western Europe in world affairs. After the Second World War the map of Europe was redrawn at the ] and divided into two blocs, the Western countries and the communist Eastern bloc, separated by what was later called by ] an "]". The United States and Western Europe established the ] alliance and, later, the Soviet Union and Central Europe established the ].<ref name="natgeo 530">National Geographic, 530.</ref> Particular hot spots after the Second World War were ] and ], whereby the ], founded in 1947 with the UN, was dissolved in 1954 and 1975, respectively. The ] in 1948 and 1949 and the construction of the ] in 1961 were one of the great international crises of the ].<ref>Jessica Caus "Am Checkpoint Charlie lebt der Kalte Krieg" In: Die Welt 4 August 2015.</ref><ref>Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler "Togliatti, Tito and the Shadow of Moscow 1944/45–1948: Post-War Territorial Disputes and the Communist World", In: Journal of European Integration History, (2/2014).</ref><ref>Christian Jennings "Flashpoint Trieste: The First Battle of the Cold War", (2017), pp 244.</ref>
			The two new ]s, the United States and the Soviet Union, became locked in a fifty-year-long Cold War, centred on ]. At the same time ], which had already started after the First World War, gradually resulted in the independence of most of the European colonies in Asia and Africa.<ref name="natgeo 534"/>
			], adopted by the ] in 1955 as the flag for the whole of Europe<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114105640/https://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/the-european-flag |date=14 January 2022 }}, Council of Europe. Retrieved 27 October 2016.</ref>]]
			In the 1980s the ] of ] and the ] movement in Poland weakened the previously rigid communist system. The opening of the ] at the ] then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which the ], the ] and other ], and the Cold War ended.<ref>Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) In: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – August 19, 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), In: FAZ 19 August 2009.</ref><ref>Michael Frank: Paneuropäisches Picknick – Mit dem Picknickkorb in die Freiheit (German: Pan-European picnic – With the picnic basket to freedom), in: Süddeutsche Zeitung 17 May 2010.</ref> Germany was reunited, after the symbolic ] in 1989 and the maps of Central and Eastern Europe were redrawn once more.<ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref> This made old previously interrupted cultural and economic relationships possible, and previously isolated cities such as ], ], ], ] and ] were now again in the centre of Europe.<ref name="hobsbawn"/><ref>Padraic Kenney "A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989" (2002) pp 109.</ref><ref>Michael Gehler "Der alte und der neue Kalte Krieg in Europa" In: Die Presse 19.11.2015.</ref><ref>Robert Stradling "Teaching 20th-century European history" (2003), pp 61.</ref>
			] also grew after the Second World War. In 1949 the ] was founded, following a speech by Sir ], with the idea of unifying Europe<ref name="europaeu 1945-59"/> to achieve common goals. It includes all European states except for ], ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/10/russia-quits-europes-rule-of-law-body-sparking-questions-over-death-penalty-a76854|title=Russia Quits Europe's Rule of Law Body, Sparking Questions Over Death Penalty|work=]|date=10 March 2022|access-date=12 March 2022|archive-date=12 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312015058/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/10/russia-quits-europes-rule-of-law-body-sparking-questions-over-death-penalty-a76854|url-status=live}}</ref> and ]. The ] in 1957 established the ] between six Western European states with the goal of a unified economic policy and common market.<ref name="natgeo 536">National Geographic, 536.</ref> In 1967 the EEC, ], and ] formed the ], which in 1993 became the ]. The EU established a ], ] and ], and introduced the ] as a unified currency.<ref name="natgeo 537">National Geographic, 537.</ref> Between 2004 and 2013, more Central European countries began joining, ] to 28 European countries and once more making Europe a major economical and political centre of power.<ref name="natgeo 535">National Geographic, 535.</ref> However, the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020, as a result of a ].<ref>{{cite news |title=UK leaves the European Union |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51333314 |access-date=16 July 2020 |work=BBC News |date=1 February 2020 |archive-date=14 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314050137/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51333314 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ], which has been ongoing since 2014, steeply escalated when Russia launched a ] of ] on 24 February 2022, marking the largest humanitarian and refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War<ref>{{cite news |title=Ukrainian exodus could be Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II |newspaper=] |date=3 March 2022 |url=https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-03-03/ukrainian-exodus-could-be-europes-biggest-refugee-crisis-since-world-war-ii.html |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405100721/https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-03-03/ukrainian-exodus-could-be-europes-biggest-refugee-crisis-since-world-war-ii.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Protecting Ukrainian refugees: What can we learn from the response to Kosovo in the 90s? |date=7 March 2022 |access-date=29 March 2022 |website=] |url=https://www.britishfuture.org/protecting-ukrainian-refugees-what-can-we-learn-from-kosovo/ |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307205755/https://www.britishfuture.org/protecting-ukrainian-refugees-what-can-we-learn-from-kosovo/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
			==Geography==
			{{Main|Geography of Europe}}
			]
			Europe makes up the western fifth of the ]n landmass.<ref name="Encarta"/> It has a higher ratio of coast to landmass than any other continent or subcontinent.<ref>{{cite news |last = Cuper |first = Simon |date = 23 May 2014 |title = Why Europe works |url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/51dd9432-db03-11e3-8273-00144feabdc0.html |newspaper = ] |access-date = 28 May 2014 |archive-date = 22 August 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160822231728/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/51dd9432-db03-11e3-8273-00144feabdc0.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Its maritime borders consist of the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas to the south.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503113529/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195686/Europe |date=3 May 2015 }}. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref>
			Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions 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 the islands of Britain and Ireland, and then continues along the mountainous, ]-cut spine of Norway.
			This description is simplified. Subregions 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 that is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until ] cut them off.
			===Climate===
			{{Main|Climate of Europe}}
			]s of Europe and surrounding regions:
			<br />
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	{{legend0|#3c9798|]}} <br/>		{{legend0|#3c9798|]}} <br />
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	]]		]]
	] is orange and yellow in this thermal image of the ].]]
	Europe lies mainly in the ] climate zones, being subjected to ].
	The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the ].<ref name=climate>{{cite web||url=http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/climates/european_climate|title=European Climate|work=World Book|accessdate=2008-06-16|publisher=World Book, Inc}}</ref> The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream not only carries warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.		Europe lies mainly in the ] climate zone of the northern hemisphere, where the ]. The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the ], an ocean current which carries warm water from the ] across the ] to Europe.<ref name="climate">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/climates/european_climate |title=European Climate |website=World Book |access-date=16 June 2008 |publisher=World Book, Inc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109230709/http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight%2Fclimates%2Feuropean_climate |archive-date=9 November 2006 }}</ref> The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream not only carries warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.
	Therefore the average temperature throughout the year of Naples is 16&nbsp;°C (60.8&nbsp;°F), while it is only 12&nbsp;°C (53.6&nbsp;°F) in New York City which is almost on the same latitude. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in the Asian part of Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around 8&nbsp;°C (15&nbsp;°F) higher than those in Calgary, and they are almost 22&nbsp;°C (40&nbsp;°F) higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk.<ref name=climate/>		Therefore, the average temperature throughout the year of ] is {{cvt|16|C}}, while it is only {{cvt|13|C}} in ] which is almost on the same latitude, bordering the same ocean. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in far south-eastern Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around {{cvt|8|C-change}} higher than those in Calgary and they are almost {{cvt|22|C-change}} higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk.<ref name="climate"/>
			The large water masses of the ], which equalise the temperatures on an annual and daily average, are also of particular importance. The water of the Mediterranean extends from the ] to the Alpine arc in its northernmost part of the ] near ].<ref>Josef Wasmayer "Wetter- und Meereskunde der Adria" (1976), pp 5.</ref>
	==Geology==
	{{main|Geology of Europe}}
	The Geology of Europe is hugely varied and complex, and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent, from the ] to the rolling ]s of ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg/eurogy.jpg|title=Geology map of Europe|year=1967|publisher=University of Southampton|accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref>
			In general, Europe is not just colder towards the north compared to the south, but it also gets colder from the west towards the east. The climate is more oceanic in the west and less so in the east. This can be illustrated by the following table of average temperatures at locations roughly following the 64th, 60th, 55th, 50th, 45th and 40th ]. None of them is located at high altitude; most of them are close to the sea.
	Europe's most significant feature is the dichotomy between highland and mountainous ] and a vast, partially underwater, northern plain ranging from ] in the west to the ] in the east. These two halves are separated by the mountain chains of the ] and ]/]. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the ] and the mountainous parts of the ]. Major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the ], the ], the ] complex and ].
			] map for Europe<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Hylke E. |last2=Zimmermann |first2=Niklaus E. |last3=McVicar |first3=Tim R. |last4=Vergopolan |first4=Noemi |last5=Berg |first5=Alexis |last6=Wood |first6=Eric F. |author6-link=Eric Franklin Wood|title=Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution |journal=Scientific Data |date=30 October 2018 |volume=5 |pages=180214 |doi=10.1038/sdata.2018.214|pmid=30375988 |pmc=6207062 |bibcode=2018NatSD...580214B }}</ref>]]
	The northern plain contains the old geological continent of ], and so may be regarded geologically as the "main continent", while peripheral highlands and mountainous regions in the south and west constitute fragments from various other geological continents. Most of the older geology of ] existed as part of the ancient ] ].
			{| class="wikitable"
	===Geological history===
			|+Temperatures in °C
	The geological history of Europe traces back to the formation of the ] (Fennoscandia) and the ], both around 2.25 billion years ago, followed by the ] shield, the three together leading to the ] (≈ ]) which became a part of the ] ]. Around 1.1 billion years ago, Baltica and Arctica (as part of the ] block) became joined to ], later resplitting around 550 million years ago to reform as Baltica. Around 440 million years ago ] was formed from Baltica and Laurentia; a further joining with ] then leading to the formation of ]. Around 190 million years ago, Gondwana and ] split apart due to the widening of the ]. Finally, and very soon afterwards, Laurasia itself split up again, into Laurentia (]) and the Eurasian continent. The land connection between the two persisted for a considerable time, via ], leading to interchange of animal species. From around 50 million years ago, rising and falling sea levels have determined the actual shape of Europe, and its connections with continents such as ]. Europe's present shape dates to the late ] about five million years ago.<ref name="encyclopedia britannica">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106055|title=Europe|publisher=]|year=2007|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref>
			|-
			! Location !! Latitude !! Longitude !!Coldest<br>month!!Hottest<br>month!!Annual<br>average
			|-
			| ] || 64 N || 22 W || 0.1 || 11.2 || 4.7
			|-
			| ] || 64 N || 20 E || −6.2 || 16.0 || 3.9
			|-
			| ] || 65 N || 25.5 E || −9.6 || 16.5 || 2.7
			|-
			| ] || 64.5 N || 40.5 E || −12.7 || 16.3 || 1.3
			|-bgcolor="000000"
			|colspan=6|
			|-
			| ] || 60 N || 1 W || 3.5 || 12.4 || 7.4
			|-
			| ] || 59.5 N || 19 E || −1.7 || 18.4 || 7.4
			|-
			| ] || 60 N || 25 E || −4.7 || 17.8 || 5.9
			|-
			| ] || 60 N || 30 E || −5.8 || 18.8 || 5.8
			|-bgcolor="000000"
			|colspan=6|
			|-
			| ] || 55.5 N || 3 W || 4.2 || 15.3 || 9.3
			|-
			| ] || 55.5 N || 12 E || 1.4 || 18.1 || 9.1
			|-
			| ] || 55.5 N || 21 E || −1.3 || 17.9 || 8.0
			|-
			| ] || 55.5 N || 30 E || −6.5 || 19.2 || 5.8
			|-bgcolor="000000"
			|colspan=6|
			|-
			| ] || 50 N || 6 W || 7.9 || 16.9 || 11.8
			|-
			| ] || 50.5 N || 4 E || 3.3 || 18.4 || 10.5
			|-
			| ] || 50 N || 20 E || −2.0 || 19.2 || 8.7
			|-
			| ] || 50.5 N || 30 E || −3.5 || 20.5 || 8.4
			|-bgcolor="000000"
			|colspan=6|
			|-
			| ] || 45 N || 0 || 6.6 || 21.4 || 13.8
			|-
			| ] || 45.5 N || 12 E || 3.3 || 23.0 || 13.0
			|-
			| ] || 45 N || 20 E || 1.4 || 23.0 || 12.5
			|-
			| ] || 46 N || 48 E || −3.7 || 25.6 || 10.5
			|-bgcolor="000000"
			|colspan=6|
			|-
			| ] || 40 N || 8 W || 9.9 || 21.9 || 16.0
			|-
			| ] || 39.5 N || 0 || 11.9 || 26.1 || 18.3
			|-
			| ] || 40.5 N || 14 E || 8.7 || 24.9 || 15.9
			|-
			| ] || 41 N || 29 E || 5.5 || 23.4 || 13.9
			|-
			|}
			<ref>Climate tables of the articles, where the precise sources can be found</ref>
			It is notable how the average temperatures for the coldest month, as well as the annual average temperatures, drop from the west to the east. For instance, Edinburgh is warmer than Belgrade during the coldest month of the year, although Belgrade is around 10° of latitude farther south.
			===Climate change===
	==Biodiversity==
	{{seealso|Fauna of Europe}}		{{excerpt|Climate change in Europe|paragraphs=1-2}}
	] of Europe and bordering regions]]
	]
			===Geology===
	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 ]s.
			{{Main|Geology of Europe|Geological history of Europe}}
			]
			The geological history of Europe traces back to the formation of the ] (Fennoscandia) and the ], both around 2.25&nbsp;billion years ago, followed by the ] shield, the three together leading to the ] (≈ ]) which became a part of the ] ]. Around 1.1&nbsp;billion years ago, Baltica and Arctica (as part of the ] block) became joined to ], later resplitting around 550&nbsp;million years ago to reform as Baltica. Around 440&nbsp;million years ago ] was formed from Baltica and Laurentia; a further joining with ] then leading to the formation of ]. Around 190&nbsp;million years ago, Gondwana and ] split apart due to the widening of the Atlantic Ocean. Finally and very soon afterwards, Laurasia itself split up again, into Laurentia (North America) and the Eurasian continent. The land connection between the two persisted for a considerable time, via ], leading to interchange of animal species. From around 50&nbsp;million years ago, rising and falling sea levels have determined the actual shape of Europe and its connections with continents such as Asia. Europe's present shape dates to the ] period about five million years ago.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106055 |title=Europe |encyclopedia=] |year=2007 |access-date=10 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204015044/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106055 |archive-date=4 December 2007 }}</ref>
			The geology of Europe is hugely varied and complex and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent, from the ] to the rolling ]s of Hungary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg/eurogy.jpg|title=Geology map of Europe|year=1967|publisher=University of Southampton|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-date=11 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811131707/http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg/eurogy.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref> Europe's most significant feature is the dichotomy between highland and mountainous ] and a vast, partially underwater, northern plain ranging from Ireland in the west to the ] in the east. These two halves are separated by the mountain chains of the ] and ]/]. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the ] and the mountainous parts of the British Isles. Major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the ], the ], the ] complex and ].
	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.
			The northern plain contains the old geological continent of ] and so may be regarded geologically as the "main continent", while peripheral highlands and mountainous regions in the south and west constitute fragments from various other geological continents. Most of the older geology of western Europe existed as part of the ancient ] ].
	Probably eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saveamericasforests.org/europages/history&geography.htm|title=History and geography|publisher=Save America's Forest Funds|accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref> 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 ]) is ] (1%), while the most forested country is ] (77%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mcpfe.net/system/files/u1/publications/pdf/state_of_europes_forests_2007.pdf|title=State of Europe's Forests 2007: The MCPFE report on sustainable forest management in Europe|publisher=EFI Euroforest Portal|pages=p. 182|accessdate=2008-06-09|format=PDF}}</ref>
			===Flora===
	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 ] is a mixed ]-]-] forest; further north within ] and extreme northern ], the ] 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 ] and southern ] and ends in ] and traverses into ] 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 and hunting 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 ], ], and ]; 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 ] (], ], etc.).
			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 humans. With the exception of ] and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are currently found in Europe, except for various ]s.
	Other important European carnivores are ], European ], ]es (especially the ]), ] and different species of ]s, ]s, different species of ] (like ] as (] and ]s) and ], different ] (]s, ]s and other ]).
			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 has a warm but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these, such as the ] and the ], 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 the 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 preagricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems.
	Important European ]s are ]s, ]e, ], different birds, and ], like ]s, ] and ], ]s, and living in the mountains, ]s, ], ] among others.
			]
			Possibly 80 to 90 percent of Europe was once covered by forest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saveamericasforests.org/europages/history&geography.htm|title=History and geography|publisher=Save America's Forest Funds|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-date=6 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006131242/http://www.saveamericasforests.org/europages/history%26geography.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Although 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 ] forests, ] 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, while in its Western Russia its 5–10%. The European country with the ] is ] (1%), while the most forested country is Finland (77%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mcpfe.net/system/files/u1/publications/pdf/state_of_europes_forests_2007.pdf |title=State of Europe's Forests 2007: The MCPFE report on sustainable forest management in Europe |publisher=EFI Euroforest Portal |page=182 |access-date=9 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624190612/http://www.mcpfe.net/system/files/u1/publications/pdf/state_of_europes_forests_2007.pdf |archive-date=24 June 2008 }}</ref>
			In temperate Europe, mixed forest with both ] and coniferous 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 westwards from ] and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.
	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 ].
			===Fauna===
	Biodiversity is protected in Europe through the ]'s ], which has also been signed by the ] as well as non-European states.
			{{main|Fauna of Europe}}
			] of Europe and bordering regions]]
			Glaciation during the ] and the presence of humans 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 (]s) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation and hunting 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 ] lives primarily in the ], 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 Norwegian 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.).
	==Demographics==
	{{main|Demographics of Europe|Ethnic groups in Europe|Immigration to Europe|Aging of Europe}}
	] and decline in and around Europe]]
	Since the ], Europe has had a major influence in culture, economics and social movements in the world. The most significant ]s had their origins in
	the Western world, primarily Europe and the United States.<ref>, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> European demographics are important not only historically, but also in understanding current international relations and population issues.
			] now live in nature preserves in ], on the border between ] and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimateungulate.com/artiodactyla/bison_bonasus.html|title=European bison, Wisent|access-date=19 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226095419/http://www.ultimateungulate.com/artiodactyla/bison_bonasus.html|archive-date=26 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8182000/8182104.stm | work=BBC News | first=Matt | last=Walker | title=European bison on 'genetic brink' | date=4 August 2009 | access-date=30 July 2022 | archive-date=6 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706045354/http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8182000/8182104.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>]]
	Some current and past issues in European demographics have included ], ], ], a declining ] and an ]. In some countries, such as ] and ], access to ] is currently limited; in the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Abortion remains illegal on the island of ] where ] is the state religion. Furthermore, three European countries (], ] and ]) and the ] of ] (Spain)<ref>, ''20 Minutos''. 31 May 2008</ref><ref>, Catholic News Agency. 26 Jun 2008</ref> have allowed a limited form of ] for some terminally ill people.
			Other carnivores include the ], ] and ], the ], different species of ]s, the ], different species of reptiles (like snakes such as vipers and grass snakes) and amphibians, as well as different birds (]s, ]s and other birds of prey).
	In 2005 the population of Europe was estimated to be 731 million according to the ],<ref name="UNPP 2006"/> 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.<ref name="UNPP 2006">{{cite web|url=http://esa.un.org/unpp|title=World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision Population Database|publisher=UN&nbsp;— Department of Economic and Social Affairs|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> According to UN population projection, Europe's population may fall to about 7% of world population by 2050, or 653 million people (medium variant, 556 to 777 million in low and high variants, respectively).<ref name="UNPP 2006"/> Within this context, significant disparities exist between regions in relation to ]. The average number of ] of child bearing age is 1.52.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23784|title=White Europeans: An endangered species?|publisher=Yale Daily News|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> According to some sources,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/fellows/taspinar20030301.htm|title=Brookings Institute Report}} See also: {{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4385768.stm|title=Muslims in Europe: Country guide|publisher=BBC news}}</ref> this rate is higher among ].
	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 ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=402|title=Europe: Population and Migration in 2005|publisher=Migration Information Source|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> A tough new EU immigration law detaining ]s for up to 18 months before deportation has triggered outrage across ], with Venezuelan President ] threatening to cut off ] to Europe.<ref></ref>
			Important European herbivores are snails, larvae, fish, different birds and mammals, like rodents, deer and roe deer, boars and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamois among others. A number of insects, such as the ] butterfly, add to the biodiversity.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bryant | first1 = S. | last2 = Thomas | first2 = C. | last3 = Bale | first3 = J. | year = 1997 | title = Nettle-feeding nymphalid butterflies: temperature, development and distribution | journal = Ecological Entomology | volume = 22 | issue = 4| pages = 390–398 | doi = 10.1046/j.1365-2311.1997.00082.x | bibcode = 1997EcoEn..22..390B | s2cid = 84143178 }}</ref>
	Europe is home to the highest number of migrants of all global regions at 70.6 million people, the ]'s report said.<ref>, FOXNews.com, December 02, 2008</ref> The ] will open the job centres for legal migrant workers from ].<ref>, Daily Express, January 3, 2009</ref> The centres are part of an EU effort to control a big surge in ] to Europe while meeting a need for low-skilled labour.<ref>, BBC News, February 8, 2007</ref>
			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 ].
	==Political geography==
	{{main|Politics of Europe}}
	{{seealso|Demographics of Europe|List of European countries by population}}
	]
	]]]
	]
	]
	] world factbook]]
	], its candidate countries, and other European countries<ref name="EU"></ref>]]
	] nations]]
	]
			Biodiversity is protected in Europe through the Council of Europe's ], which has also been signed by the ] as well as non-European states.
	According to different definitions, the territories may be subject to ].
	The 27 ]s are highly integrated economically and politically; the ] itself forms part of the political geography of Europe. The table below shows the ] used by the ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#europe|title=United Nations Statistics Division&nbsp;— Countries of Europe|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> alongside the regional grouping published in the ]. The socio-geographical data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles.
			{{anchor|Political geography}}
	{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="references-small sortable" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;"
	|- bgcolor="#ECECEC"
			==Politics==
	! European states (with ])
			{{Main|Politics of Europe|Democracy in Europe}}
	! ]<br />(km²)
			{{See also|List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|International organisations in Europe|Regions of Europe|European integration}}
	! ]<br />(1 July 2002 est.)
			{{Supranational European Bodies|size=300px|align=right}}
	! ]<br />(per km²)
	! ]
			The political map of Europe is substantially derived from the re-organisation of Europe following the ] in 1815. The prevalent form of government in Europe is ], in most cases in the form of ]; in 1815, the prevalent form of government was still the ]. Europe's remaining eleven monarchies<ref>not counting the microstate of ]</ref> are ].
			] is the process of political, legal, economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states as it has been pursued by the powers sponsoring the ] since the end of the ]. The ] has been the focus of economic integration on the continent since its foundation in 1993. More recently, the ] has been established as a counterpart comprising former Soviet states.
			27 European states are members of the politico-economic European Union, 26 of the border-free ] and 20 of the monetary union ]. Among the smaller European organisations are the ], the ], the ], and the ].
			The least ] are ], ], and ] in 2024 according to the ].<ref name="report"></ref>
			==List of states and territories==
			{{Main|List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|Area and population of European countries}}
			This list includes all internationally recognised sovereign countries falling even partially under any ].
			{|class="sortable wikitable"
	|-		|-
			| style="background:lightcyan; border:1px solid #aaa; width:2em;" | *
	| {{flagicon|Albania}} ]
			| = Member state of the EU<ref>{{cite web|url=http://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/eu-countries_en |title=Member States of the European Union |publisher=Europa |access-date=29 June 2024}}</ref>
	| align="right" | 28,748
			|}
	| align="right" | 3,600,523
	| align="right" | 125.2
			{| class="sortable wikitable"
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
			! Name
			! ]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
			! ]<br />
			! ]<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>)
			! ]
			! ]
			|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Albania|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|ALB}}
			| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 28,748
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,876,591
			| style="text-align:right;"| 98.5
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|sq|Shqipëria|italic=no}}
	|-|		|-|
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Andorra|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Andorra}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|AND}}
	| align="right" | 468
			| ]
	| align="right" | 68,403
	| align="right" | 146.2		| style="text-align:right;"| 468
			| style="text-align:right;"| 77,281
			| style="text-align:right;"| 179.8
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|ca|Andorra|italic=no}}
	|-|
			|-
	|{{flagicon|Austria}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Armenia|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 83,858
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|ARM}}
	| align="right" | 8,169,929
			| ]{{cref2|j}}
	| align="right" | 97.4
			| style="text-align:right;"| 29,743
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,924,816
			| style="text-align:right;"| 101.5
			| ]
			| {{lang|hy|Հայաստան}} ({{transliteration|hy|Hayastan}})
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Austria|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|AUT}}
			| ]*
			| style="text-align:right;"| 83,858
			| style="text-align:right;"| 8,823,054
			| style="text-align:right;"| 104
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|de|Österreich|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Azerbaijan|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Belarus}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|AZE}}
	| align="right" | 207,600
			| ]{{cref2|k}}
	| align="right" | 10,335,382
	| align="right" | 49.8		| style="text-align:right;"| 86,600
			| style="text-align:right;"| 9,911,646
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 113
			| ]
			| {{lang|az-Latn|Azərbaycan|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Belarus|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Belgium}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|BLR}}
	| align="right" | 30,510
			| ]
	| align="right" | 10,274,595
	| align="right" | 336.8		| style="text-align:right;"| 207,560
			| style="text-align:right;"| 9,504,700
			| style="text-align:right;"| 45.8
			| ]
			| {{lang|be|Беларусь}} ({{transliteration|be|Belaruś}})
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Belgium|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|BEL}}
			| ]*
			| style="text-align:right;"| 30,528
			| style="text-align:right;"| 11,358,357
			| style="text-align:right;"| 372.06
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|nl|België|italic=no}}/{{lang|fr|Belgique|italic=no}}/{{lang|de|Belgien|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Bosnia and Herzegovina}} ]		| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Bosnia and Herzegovina|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|BIH}}
	| align="right" | 51,129
			| ]
	| align="right" | 4,448,500
	| align="right" | 77.5		| style="text-align:right;"| 51,129
			| style="text-align:right;"| 3,531,159
			| style="text-align:right;"| 68.97
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|bs|Bosna i Hercegovina|italic=no}}/{{lang|bs-Cyrl|Боснa и Херцеговина}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Bulgaria}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Bulgaria|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 110,910
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|BUL}}
	| align="right" | 7,621,337
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 68.7
			| style="text-align:right;"| 110,910
			| style="text-align:right;"| 7,101,859
			| style="text-align:right;"| 64.9
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|bg|България}} ({{transliteration|bg|Bǎlgariya}})
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|CRO}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Croatia|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 56,542
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|CRO}}
	| align="right" | 4,437,460
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 77.7
			| style="text-align:right;"| 56,594
			| style="text-align:right;"| 3,871,833
			| style="text-align:right;"| 68.4
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|hr|Hrvatska|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Czech Republic}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Cyprus|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 78,866
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|CYP}}
	| align="right" | 10,256,760
			| ]*{{cref2|d|1}}
	| align="right" | 130.1
			| style="text-align:right;"| 9,251
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,170,125
			| style="text-align:right;"| 123.4
			| ]
			| {{lang|el|Κύπρος}} ({{transliteration|el|Kýpros}})/{{lang|tr|Kıbrıs|italic=no}}
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Czech Republic|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|CZE}}
			| ]*
			| style="text-align:right;"| 78,866
			| style="text-align:right;"| 10,610,947
			| style="text-align:right;"| 134
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|cs|Česko|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Denmark}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Denmark|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 43,094
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|DEN}}
	| align="right" | 5,368,854
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 124.6
			| style="text-align:right;"| 43,094
			| style="text-align:right;"| 5,748,796
			| style="text-align:right;"| 133.9
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|da|Danmark|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Estonia}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Estonia|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 45,226
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|EST}}
	| align="right" | 1,415,681
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 31.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 45,226
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,328,439
			| style="text-align:right;"| 30.5
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|et|Eesti|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Finland}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Finland|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 336,593
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|FIN}}
	| align="right" | 5,157,537
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 15.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 338,455
			| style="text-align:right;"| 5,509,717
			| style="text-align:right;"| 16
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|fi|Suomi|italic=no}}/{{lang|sv|Finland|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|France}} ]{{Cref|h}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|France|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 547,030
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|FRA}}
	| align="right" | 59,765,983
			| ]*{{cref2|g}}
	| align="right" | 109.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 547,030
			| style="text-align:right;"| 67,348,000
			| style="text-align:right;"| 116
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|fr|France|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Georgia|text=none|link=Georgia (country)}}
	| {{flagicon|Germany}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|GEO (country)}}
	| align="right" | 357,021
			| ]{{cref2|l}}
	| align="right" | 83,251,851
	| align="right" | 233.2		| style="text-align:right;"| 69,700
			| style="text-align:right;"| 3,718,200
			| style="text-align:right;"| 53.5
			| ]
			| {{lang|ka|საქართველო}} ({{transliteration|ka|Sakartvelo}})
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Germany|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|GER}}
			| ]*
			| style="text-align:right;"| 357,168
			| style="text-align:right;"| 82,800,000
			| style="text-align:right;"| 232
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|de|Deutschland|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Greece}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Greece|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 131,940
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|GRE}}
	| align="right" | 10,645,343
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 80.7
			| style="text-align:right;"| 131,957
			| style="text-align:right;"| 10,297,760
			| style="text-align:right;"| 82
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|el|Ελλάδα}} ({{transliteration|el|Elláda}})
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Hungary}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Hungary|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 93,030
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|HUN}}
	| align="right" | 10,075,034
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 108.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 93,030
			| style="text-align:right;"| 9,797,561
			| style="text-align:right;"| 105.3
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|hu|Magyarország|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Iceland|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Iceland}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|ISL}}
	| align="right" | 103,000
			| ]
	| align="right" | 307,261
	| align="right" | 2.7		| style="text-align:right;"| 103,000
			| style="text-align:right;"| 350,710
			| style="text-align:right;"| 3.2
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|is|Ísland|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Ireland}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Ireland|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 70,280
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|IRL}}
	| align="right" | 4,234,925
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 60.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 70,280
			| style="text-align:right;"| 4,761,865
			| style="text-align:right;"| 67.7
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|ga|Éire|italic=no}}/{{lang|en|Ireland}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Italy}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Italy|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 301,230
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|ITA}}
	| align="right" | 58,751,711
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 191.6
			| style="text-align:right;"| 301,338
			| style="text-align:right;"| 58,968,501
			| style="text-align:right;"| 195.7
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|it|Italia|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Kazakhstan|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Latvia}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|KAZ}}
	| align="right" | 64,589
			| ]{{cref2|i}}
	| align="right" | 2,366,515
	| align="right" | 36.6		| style="text-align:right;"| 148,000
			| style="text-align:right;"| 20,075,271
			| style="text-align:right;"| 7
			| ]
			| {{lang|kk|Қазақстан}} ({{transliteration|kk|Qazaqstan}})
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Latvia|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|LVA}}
			| ]*
			| style="text-align:right;"| 64,589
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,862,700
			| style="text-align:right;"| 29
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|lv|Latvija|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Liechtenstein}} ]		| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Liechtenstein|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|LIE}}
	| align="right" | 160
			| ]
	| align="right" | 32,842
	| align="right" | 205.3		| style="text-align:right;"| 160
			| style="text-align:right;"| 38,111
			| style="text-align:right;"| 227
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|de|Liechtenstein|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Lithuania}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Lithuania|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 65,200
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|LTU}}
	| align="right" | 3,601,138
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 55.2
			| style="text-align:right;"| 65,300
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,800,667
			| style="text-align:right;"| 45.8
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|lt|Lietuva|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Luxembourg}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Luxembourg|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 2,586
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|LUX}}
	| align="right" | 448,569
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 173.5
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,586
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 602,005
	|-
			| style="text-align:right;"| 233.7
	| {{flagicon|Republic of Macedonia}} ]
			| ]
	| align="right" | 25,333
			| {{lang|lb|Lëtzebuerg|italic=no}}/{{lang|de|Luxemburg|italic=no}}/{{lang|fr|Luxembourg|italic=no}}
	| align="right" | 2,054,800
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| align="right" | 81.1
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Malta|text=none}}
	| ]
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|MLT}}
	|-
	| {{flagicon|Malta}} ]		| ]*
	| align="right" | 316		| style="text-align:right;"| 316
	| align="right" | 397,499		| style="text-align:right;"| 445,426
	| align="right" | 1,257.9		| style="text-align:right;"| 1,410
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|mt|Malta|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Moldova|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Moldova}} ]{{Cref|b}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|MDA}}
	| align="right" | 33,843
			| ]{{cref2|a}}
	| align="right" | 4,434,547
	| align="right" | 131.0		| style="text-align:right;"| 33,846
			| style="text-align:right;"| 3,434,547
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 101.5
			| ]
			| {{lang|ro|Moldova|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Monaco|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Monaco}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|MON}}
	| align="right" | 1.95
	| align="right" | 31,987
	| align="right" | 16,403.6
	| ]		| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2.020
			| style="text-align:right;"| 38,400
			| style="text-align:right;"| 18,713
			| ]
			| {{lang|fr|Monaco|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Montenegro}} ]		| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Montenegro|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|MNE}}
	| align="right" | 13,812
			| ]
	| align="right" | 616,258
	| align="right" | 44.6		| style="text-align:right;"| 13,812
			| style="text-align:right;"| 642,550
			| style="text-align:right;"| 45.0
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|cnr-Latn|Crna Gora|italic=no}}/{{lang|cnr-Cyrl|Црна Гора}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Netherlands}} ]{{Cref|i}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Netherlands|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 41,526
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|NED}}
	| align="right" | 16,318,199
			| ]*{{cref2|h}}
	| align="right" | 393.0
			| style="text-align:right;"| 41,543
			| style="text-align:right;"| 17,271,990
			| style="text-align:right;"| 414.9
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|nl|Nederland|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|North Macedonia|link=North Macedonia|text=none}}
	|{{flagicon|Norway}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|NMK}}
	| align="right" | 324,220
			| ]
	| align="right" | 4,525,116
	| align="right" | 14.0		| style="text-align:right;"| 25,713
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,103,721
			| style="text-align:right;"| 80.1
			| ]
			| {{lang|mk|Северна Македонија}} ({{transliteration|mk|Severna Makedonija}})
			|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Norway|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|NOR}}
			| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 385,203
			| style="text-align:right;"| 5,295,619
			| style="text-align:right;"| 15.8
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|nb|Norge|italic=no}}/{{lang|nn|Noreg|italic=no}}/{{lang|se|Norga|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Poland}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Poland|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 312,685
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|POL}}
	| align="right" | 38,625,478
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 123.5
			| style="text-align:right;"| 312,685
			| style="text-align:right;"| 38,422,346
			| style="text-align:right;"| 123.5
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|pl|Polska|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Portugal}} ]{{Cref|f}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Portugal|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 91,568
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|POR}}
	| align="right" | 10,409,995
			| ]*{{cref2|e}}
	| align="right" | 110.1
			| style="text-align:right;"| 92,212
			| style="text-align:right;"| 10,379,537
			| style="text-align:right;"| 115
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|pt|Portugal|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Romania}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Romania|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 238,391
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|ROU}}
	| align="right" | 21,698,181
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 91.0
			| style="text-align:right;"| 238,397
			| style="text-align:right;"| 18,999,642
			| style="text-align:right;"| 84.4
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|ro|România|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Russia|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|San Marino}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|RUS}}
	| align="right" | 61
			| ]{{cref2|b}}
	| align="right" | 27,730
	| align="right" | 454.6		| style="text-align:right;"| 3,969,100
			| style="text-align:right;"| 144,526,636
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 8.4
			| ]
			| {{lang|ru|Россия}} ({{transliteration|ru|Rossiya}})
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|San Marino|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Serbia}} ]<ref>http://webrzs.statserb.sr.gov.yu/axd/en/popis.htm</ref> (2002Census)
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|SMR}}
	| align="right" | 88,361
			| ]
	| align="right" | 7,495,742
	| align="right" | 89.4		| style="text-align:right;"| 61.2
			| style="text-align:right;"| 33,285
			| style="text-align:right;"| 520
			| ]
			| {{lang|it|San Marino|italic=no}}
			|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Serbia|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|SRB}}
			| ]{{cref2|f}}
			| style="text-align:right;"| 88,361
			| style="text-align:right;"| 7,040,272
			| style="text-align:right;"| 91.1
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|sr-Latn|Srbija|italic=no}}/{{lang|sr-Cyrl|Србија}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Slovakia}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Slovakia|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 48,845
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|SVK}}
	| align="right" | 5,422,366
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 111.0
			| style="text-align:right;"| 49,035
			| style="text-align:right;"| 5,435,343
			| style="text-align:right;"| 111.0
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|sk|Slovensko|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Slovenia}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Slovenia|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 20,273
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|SVN}}
	| align="right" | 1,932,917
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 95.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 20,273
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,066,880
			| style="text-align:right;"| 101.8
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|sl|Slovenija|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Spain}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Spain|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 504,851
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|ESP}}
	| align="right" | 45,061,274
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 89.3
			| style="text-align:right;"| 505,990
			| style="text-align:right;"| 48,946,035
			| style="text-align:right;"| 97
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|es|España|italic=no}}
	|-
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
	| {{flagicon|Sweden}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Sweden|text=none}}
	| align="right" | 449,964
			| style="text-align:center;"|{{flagicon|SWE}}
	| align="right" | 9,090,113
			| ]*
	| align="right" | 19.7
			| style="text-align:right;"| 450,295
			| style="text-align:right;"| 10,151,588
			| style="text-align:right;"| 22.5
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|sv|Sverige|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Switzerland}} ]		| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Switzerland|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|SUI}}
	| align="right" | 41,290
			| ]
	| align="right" | 7,507,000
	| align="right" | 176.8		| style="text-align:right;"| 41,285
			| style="text-align:right;"| 8,401,120
			| style="text-align:right;"| 202
	| ]		| ]
			| {{lang|de|Schweiz|italic=no}}/{{lang|fr|Suisse|italic=no}}/{{lang|it|Svizzera|italic=no}}/{{lang|rm|Svizra|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| <!-- The Turkish Constitution doesn't specify an official coat of arms -->
	| {{flagicon|Ukraine}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|TUR}}
	| align="right" | 603,700
			| ]{{cref2|m}}
	| align="right" | 48,396,470
	| align="right" | 80.2		| style="text-align:right;"| 23,764
			| style="text-align:right;"| 84,680,273
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 106.7
			| ]
			| {{lang|tr|Türkiye|italic=no}}
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Ukraine|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} ]
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|UKR}}
	| align="right" | 244,820
			| ]{{cref2|s}}
	| align="right" | 61,100,835
	| align="right" | 244.2		| style="text-align:right;"| 603,628
			| style="text-align:right;"| 42,418,235
			| style="text-align:right;"| 73.8
			| ]
			| {{lang|uk|Україна}} ({{transliteration|uk|Ukraina}})
			|-
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|United Kingdom|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|UK}}
			| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 244,820
			| style="text-align:right;"| 66,040,229
			| style="text-align:right;"| 270.7
	| ]		| ]
			| United Kingdom
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Vatican City}} ]		| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|Vatican City|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center;"| {{flagicon|Vatican City}}
	| align="right" | 0.44
	| align="right" | 900
	| align="right" | 2,045.5
	| ]		| ]
	|- style="font-weight:bold;"		| style="text-align:right;"| 0.44
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,000
	| Total (includes states below)
	| align="right" | 10,180,000{{Cref|o}}		| style="text-align:right;"| 2,272
			| ]
	| align="right" | 731,000,000{{Cref|o}}
			| {{lang|it|Città del Vaticano|italic=no}}/{{lang|la|Civitas Vaticana|italic=no}}
	| align="right" | 70
			|- class="sortbottom" style="font-weight:bold;"
			| colspan="2" | Total
			| style="text-align:right;"| 50
			| style="text-align:right;"| 10,180,000{{cref2|n|3}}
			| style="text-align:right;"| 743,000,000{{cref2|n|4}}
			| style="text-align:right;"| 73
			|
			|
	|}		|}
			Within the above-mentioned states are several ] independent countries with ]. None of them are members of the UN:
	There are several states with land that partially extends into Europe's geographic boundaries:
			{| class="sortable wikitable"
	{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="references-small sortable" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;"
	|- bgcolor="#ECECEC"
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
	! Name of state with land extending into Europe (with ])
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
	! ]<br />(km²)
			! Name
	! ]<br />(1 July 2002 est.)
	! ]<br />(per km²)		! ]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
			! ]<br />
			! ]<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>)
	! ]		! ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Abkhazia|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Cyprus}} ]{{Cref|e}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Abkhazia}}
	| align="right" | 9,251
			| ]{{cref2|p|1}}
	| align="right" | 788,457
	| align="right" | 85		| style="text-align:right;"| 8,660
			| style="text-align:right;"| 243,206
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 28
	|-
			| ]
	| {{flagicon|Georgia}} ] {{Cref|m}}
	| align="right" | 69,700
	| align="right" | 4,661,473
	| align="right" | 64
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Kosovo|text=none}}
	|{{flagicon|Azerbaijan}} ]{{Cref|l}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Kosovo}}
	| align="right" | 86,600
			| ]{{cref2|o}}
	| align="right" | 8,621,000
	| align="right" | 97		| style="text-align:right;"| 10,908
			| style="text-align:right;" |1,920,079
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 159
			| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Northern Cyprus|text=none}}
	|{{flagicon|Armenia}} ]{{Cref|k}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Northern Cyprus}}
	| align="right" | 29,800
			| ]{{cref2|d|2}}
	| align="right" | 3,229,900
	| align="right" | 101		| style="text-align:right;"| 3,355
			| style="text-align:right;"| 313,626
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 93
	|-|
			| ] (])
	| {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} ]{{Cref|j}}
	| align="right" | 2,724,900
	| align="right" | 15,217,711
	| align="right" | 5.6
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|South Ossetia|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Russia}} ]{{Cref|c}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|South Ossetia}}
	| align="right" | 17,075,400
			| ]{{cref2|p|2}}
	| align="right" | 142,200,000
	| align="right" | 26.8		| style="text-align:right;"| 3,900
			| style="text-align:right;"| 53,532
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 13.7
	|-
			| ]
	| {{flagicon|Turkey}} ]{{Cref|n}}
	| align="right" | 783,562
	| align="right" | 70,586,256
	| align="right" | 93
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Transnistria|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Transnistria}}
			| ]{{cref2|a|2}}
			| style="text-align:right;"| 4,163
			| style="text-align:right;"| 475,665
			| style="text-align:right;"| 114
			| ]
	|}		|}
			Several dependencies and similar territories with broad autonomy are also found within or close to Europe. This includes ] (an ] of Finland), two ] (other than Denmark proper), three ] and two ]. ] is also included due to its unique status within Norway, although it is not autonomous. Not included are the three ] with devolved powers and the two ], which despite having a unique degree of autonomy, are not largely self-governing in matters other than international affairs. Areas with little more than a unique tax status, such as the ] and ], are also not included for this reason.
	Within the above-mentioned states are several regions, enjoying broad autonomy, as well as several ] independent countries with limited international recognition. None of them are ] members:
			{|class="sortable wikitable"
	{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="references-small sortable" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;"
	|- bgcolor="#ECECEC"
	! Name of territory, with ]
	! ]<br />(km²)
	! ]<br />(1 July 2002 est.)
	! ]<br />(per km²)
	! ]
	|-		|-
			| style="background:lightcyan; border:1px solid #aaa; width:2em;" | *
	| {{flagicon|Abkhazia}} ]{{Cref|r}}
	| align="right" | 8,432		| = Part of the EU
			|}
	| align="right" | 216,000
	| align="right" | 29
			{| class="sortable wikitable"
	| ]
			|-
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
			! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | ]
			! Name
			!Sovereign<br>state
			! ]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
			! ]
			! ]<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>)
			! ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| <!-- None widely used-->
	| {{flagicon|Åland}} ] (])
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Akrotiri and Dhekelia}}
	| align="right" | 1,552
			|]
	| align="right" | 26,008
			|UK
	| align="right" | 16.8
			| style="text-align:right;"| 255
			| style="text-align:right;"| 7,700
			| style="text-align:right;"| 30.2
			|]
			|- style="background:lightcyan;"
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Åland|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Åland}}
			| ]*||Finland
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,580
			| style="text-align:right;"| 29,489
			| style="text-align:right;"| 18.36
	| ]		| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Guernsey|link=Bailiwick of Guernsey|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Faroe Islands}} ] (])
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagg|cxx|Guernsey|clink=Bailiwick of Guernsey}}
	| align="right" | 1,399
			| ]{{cref2|c|1}}||UK
	| align="right" | 46,011
	| align="right" | 32.9		| style="text-align:right;"| 78
			| style="text-align:right;"| 65,849
			| style="text-align:right;"| 844.0
			| ]
			|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Jersey|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Jersey}}
			| ]{{cref2|c|3}}||UK
			| style="text-align:right;"| 118.2
			| style="text-align:right;"| 100,080
			| style="text-align:right;"| 819
			| ]
			|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Faroe Islands|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Faroe Islands}}
			| ]||Denmark
			| style="text-align:right;"| 1,399
			| style="text-align:right;"| 50,778
			| style="text-align:right;"| 35.2
	| ]		| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Gibraltar|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Gibraltar}} ] (])
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Gibraltar}}
	| align="right" | 5.9
			| ]||UK
	| align="right" | 27,714
	| align="right" | 4,697.3		| style="text-align:right;"| 6.7
			| style="text-align:right;"| 32,194
			| style="text-align:right;"| 4,328
	| ]		| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Greenland|text=none}}
	| {{flagicon|Guernsey}} ]{{Cref|d}} (UK)
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Greenland}}
	| align="right" | 78
			| ] ||Denmark{{cref2|r|2}}
	| align="right" | 64,587
	| align="right" | 828.0		| style="text-align:right;"| 2,166,086
			| style="text-align:right;"| 55,877
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 0.028
			| ]
	|-		|-
	| {{flagicon|Isle of Man}} ]{{Cref|d}} (UK)		| style="text-align:center"| {{Coat of arms|Isle of Man|text=none}}
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Isle of Man}}
	| align="right" | 572
			| ]{{cref2|c|2}}||UK
	| align="right" | 73,873
	| align="right" | 129.1		| style="text-align:right;"| 572
			| style="text-align:right;"| 83,314
			| style="text-align:right;"| 148
	| ]		| ]
	|-		|-
			| style="text-align:center"| <!-- None widely used-->
	| {{flagicon|Jersey}} ]{{Cref|d}} (UK)
			| style="text-align:center"| {{flagicon|Svalbard}}
	| align="right" | 116
			| ] ||Norway
	| align="right" | 89,775
	| align="right" | 773.9		| style="text-align:right;"| 61,022
			| style="text-align:right;"| 2,667
	| ]
			| style="text-align:right;"| 0.044
			|]
			|}
			==Economy==
			{{Main|Economy of Europe|List of sovereign states in Europe by GDP (nominal)|List of sovereign states in Europe by GDP (PPP)}}
			]
			As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth and it is the richest region as measured by assets under management with over $32.7&nbsp;trillion compared to North America's $27.1&nbsp;trillion in 2008.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fineman |first=Josh |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/world |title=Bloomberg.com |publisher=Bloomberg.com |date=15 September 2009 |access-date=23 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128110049/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/world |archive-date=28 January 2015 }}</ref> In 2009 Europe remained the wealthiest region. Its $37.1 trillion in assets under management represented one-third of the world's wealth. It was one of several regions where wealth surpassed its precrisis year-end peak.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pr-inside.com/global-wealth-stages-a-strong-comeback-r1942019.htm |title=Global Wealth Stages a Strong Comeback |publisher=Pr-inside.com |date=10 June 2010 |access-date=23 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520174617/http://www.pr-inside.com/global-wealth-stages-a-strong-comeback-r1942019.htm |archive-date=20 May 2011 }}</ref> As with other continents, Europe has a large ] among its countries. The richer states tend to be in the ] and ] in general, followed by ], while most economies of ] and ] are still reemerging from the ] and the ].
			The model of the ] was designed as an economic geographic representation of the respective economic power of the regions, which was further developed into the ] or Blue Star. The trade between East and West, as well as towards Asia, which had been disrupted for a long time by the two world wars, new borders and the Cold War, increased sharply after 1989. In addition, there is new impetus from the Chinese ] across the ] towards Africa and Asia.<ref>Global shipping and logistic chain reshaped as China's Belt and Road dreams take off in Hellenic Shipping News, 4. December 2018; Wolf D. Hartmann, Wolfgang Maennig, Run Wang: Chinas neue Seidenstraße. (2017), p 59; Jacob Franks "The Blu Banana – the True Heart of Europe" In: Big Think Edge, 31 December 2014; Zacharias Zacharakis: Chinas Anker in Europa in: Die Zeit 8. May 2018; Harry de Wilt: Is One Belt, One Road a China crisis for North Sea main ports? in World Cargo News, 17 December 2019; Hospers, Gert-Jan "Beyond the blue banana? Structural change in Europe's geo-economy." 2002</ref>
			The European Union, a political entity composed of 27 European states, comprises the ] in the world. Nineteen EU ] share the ] as a common currency.
			Five European countries rank in the top ten of the world's largest ]. This includes (ranks according to the ]): Germany (6), Russia (7), the United Kingdom (10), France (11) and Italy (13).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html|title=The CIA World Factbook – GDP (PPP)|date=15 July 2008|access-date=19 July 2008|publisher=]|archive-date=4 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604195034/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
			Some European countries are much richer than others. The richest in terms of nominal GDP is ] with its US$185,829 per capita (2018) and the poorest is ] with its US$3,659 per capita (2019).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.pcap.cd?most_recent_value_desc=true|title=The World Bank DataBank|website=worldbank.org|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002053624/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.pcap.cd?most_recent_value_desc=true|url-status=live}}</ref>
			As a whole, Europe's GDP per capita is US$21,767 according to a 2016 International Monetary Fund assessment.<ref>Some data refers to IMF staff estimates but some are actual figures for the year 2017, made on 12 April 2017. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624143304/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2016&ey=2016&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=512%2C672%2C914%2C946%2C612%2C137%2C614%2C546%2C311%2C962%2C213%2C674%2C911%2C676%2C193%2C548%2C122%2C556%2C912%2C678%2C313%2C181%2C419%2C867%2C513%2C682%2C316%2C684%2C913%2C273%2C124%2C868%2C339%2C921%2C638%2C948%2C514%2C943%2C218%2C686%2C963%2C688%2C616%2C518%2C223%2C728%2C516%2C836%2C918%2C558%2C748%2C138%2C618%2C196%2C624%2C278%2C522%2C692%2C622%2C694%2C156%2C142%2C626%2C449%2C628%2C564%2C228%2C565%2C924%2C283%2C233%2C853%2C632%2C288%2C636%2C293%2C634%2C566%2C238%2C964%2C662%2C182%2C960%2C359%2C423%2C453%2C935%2C968%2C128%2C922%2C611%2C714%2C321%2C862%2C243%2C135%2C248%2C716%2C469%2C456%2C253%2C722%2C642%2C942%2C643%2C718%2C939%2C724%2C644%2C576%2C819%2C936%2C172%2C961%2C132%2C813%2C646%2C199%2C648%2C733%2C915%2C184%2C134%2C524%2C652%2C361%2C174%2C362%2C328%2C364%2C258%2C732%2C656%2C366%2C654%2C734%2C336%2C144%2C263%2C146%2C268%2C463%2C532%2C528%2C944%2C923%2C176%2C738%2C534%2C578%2C536%2C537%2C429%2C742%2C433%2C866%2C178%2C369%2C436%2C744%2C136%2C186%2C343%2C925%2C158%2C869%2C439%2C746%2C916%2C926%2C664%2C466%2C826%2C112%2C542%2C111%2C967%2C298%2C443%2C927%2C917%2C846%2C544%2C299%2C941%2C582%2C446%2C474%2C666%2C754%2C668%2C698&s=NGDPDPC&grp=0&a=&pr.x=50&pr.y=13 |date=24 June 2021 }}, ]. Accessed on 18 April 2017.</ref>
			{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right; float:left; border:1px solid #aaa; margin:10px"
			|- style="background:#dbdbdb;"
			! Rank
			! Country
			! ] <small>(nominal, Peak Year)</small><br /><small>millions of ]</small>
			! Peak Year
	|-		|-
			| ||align="left" |''{{nowrap|{{flag|European Union}}}}''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2019/October/weo-report|title=Report for Selected Countries and Subjects|website=IMF}}</ref>||19,403,162||2024
	| {{flagicon|Kosovo}} ]{{Cref|p}}
	| align="right" | 10,887
	| align="right" | 2,126,708
	| align="right" | 220
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| 1 ||align=left|{{flag|Germany}}||4,710,032||2024
	| {{flagicon|Nagorno-Karabakh}} ]
	| align="right" | 11,458
	| align="right" | 138,800
	| align="right" | 12
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| 2 ||align=left|{{nowrap|{{flag|United Kingdom}}}}||3,587,545||2024
	| {{flagicon|Northern Cyprus}} ]
	| align="right" | 3,355
	| align="right" | 265,100
	| align="right" | 78
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| 3 ||align=left|{{flag|France}}||3,174,099||2024
	| {{flagicon|South Ossetia}} ]{{Cref|r}}
	| align="right" | 3,900
	| align="right" | 70,000
	| align="right" | 18
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| 4 ||align=left|{{flag|Italy}}||2,417,242||2008
	| {{flagicon|Norway}} ] (])
	| align="right" | 62,049
	| align="right" | 2,868
	| align="right" | 0.046
	| ]
	|-		|-
			| 5 ||align=left|{{flag|Russia}}<ref></ref>||2,292,470||2013
	| {{flagicon|Transnistria}} ]
			|-
	| align="right" | 4,163
			| 6 ||align=left|{{flag|Spain}}||1,731,469||2024
	| align="right" | 537,000
			|-
	| align="right" | 133
			| 7 ||align=left|{{flag|Turkey}}||1,344,318||2024
	| ]
			|-
			| 8 ||align=left|{{flag|Netherlands}}||1,218,401||2024
			|-
			| 9 ||align=left|{{flag|Switzerland}}||942,265||2024
			|-
			| 10 ||align=left|{{flag|Poland}}||862,908||2024
	|}		|}
			{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right; float:left; border:1px solid #aaa; margin:10px"
			|- style="background:#dbdbdb;"
			! Rank
			! Country
			! ] <small>(PPP, Peak Year)</small><br /><small>millions of ]</small>
			! Peak Year
			|-
			| ||align="left" |''{{nowrap|{{flag|European Union}}}}''||28,044,235||2024
			|-
			| 1 ||align=left|{{flag|Russia}}||6,909,381||2024
			|-
			| 2 ||align=left|{{flag|Germany}}||6,017,222||2024
			|-
			| 3 ||align=left|{{flag|France}}||4,359,372||2024
			|-
			| 4 ||align=left|{{nowrap|{{flag|United Kingdom}}}}||4,282,173||2024
			|-
			| 5 ||align=left|{{flag|Turkey}}<ref name="WBGDPPPP">{{Cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.CD|title=Peak GDP (PPP) by the World Bank for Turkey and Romania|access-date=2024-11-10}}</ref>||3,767,230||2023
			|-
			| 6 ||align=left|{{flag|Italy}}||3,597,954||2024
			|-
			| 7 ||align=left|{{flag|Spain}}||2,665,230||2024
			|-
			| 8 ||align=left|{{flag|Poland}}||1,890,698||2024
			|-
			| 9 ||align=left|{{flag|Netherlands}}||1,460,530||2024
			|-
			| 10 ||align=left|{{flag|Romania}}<ref name="WBGDPPPP" />||912,852||2023
			|}
			{{clear}}
			===Economic history===
	==Economy==
			;Industrial growth (1760–1945)
	] (nominal) per capita in 2006]]
			Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517172857/https://www.britannica.com-archive-online.eu/EBchecked/topic/93927/capitalism |date=17 May 2014 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica.''</ref> From Britain, it gradually spread throughout Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Industrialism: A Dictionary of Sociology|author=Scott, John|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005}}</ref> The ] started in Europe, specifically the United Kingdom in the late 18th century,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture17a.html|title=The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England|publisher=The History Guide|first=Steven|last=Kreis|date=11 October 2006|access-date=1 January 2007|archive-date=2 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102090701/http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture17a.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the 19th century saw Western Europe industrialise. Economies were disrupted by the First World War, but by the beginning of the Second World War, they had recovered and were having to compete with the growing economic strength of the United States. The Second World War, again, damaged much of Europe's industries.
	]
	{{main|Economy of Europe}}
			;Cold War (1945–1991)
	As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth. As with other continents, Europe has a large variation of wealth among its countries. The richer states tend to be in the ], some of the ] economies are still emerging from the collapse of the ] and ]. The ], an intergovernmental body composed of 27 European states, comprises the ] in the world. Currently, 15 EU ] share the ] as a common currency.
			] in 1989]]
	Five European countries rank in the top ten of the worlds largest ]. This includes (ranks according to the ]): Germany (5), the UK (6), Russia (7), France (8), and Italy (10).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html|title=] - GDP (PPP)|date=2008-07-15|accessdate=2008-07-19|publisher=]}}</ref>
			] (blue colour)]]
			After the Second World War the economy of the UK was in a state of ruin,<ref>Dornbusch, Rudiger; Nölling, Wilhelm P.; Layard, Richard G. ''Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today'', p. 117</ref> and continued to suffer relative economic decline in the following decades.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rethinking International Organisation: Deregulation and Global Governance|last=Emadi-Coffin|first=Barbara|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-19540-9|page=64}}</ref> Italy was also in a poor economic condition but regained a high level of growth by the 1950s. West Germany ] and had doubled production from pre-war levels by the 1950s.<ref>Dornbusch, Rudiger; Nölling, Wilhelm P.; Layard, Richard G. ''Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today'', p. 29</ref> France also staged a remarkable comeback enjoying rapid growth and modernisation; later on Spain, under the leadership of ], also recovered and the nation recorded huge unprecedented economic growth beginning in the 1960s in what is called the ].<ref>Harrop, Martin. ''Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies'', p. 23</ref> The majority of ]an states came under the control of the ] and thus were members of the ] (COMECON).<ref name="loc-cs">"Germany (East)", Library of Congress Country Study, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501075842/http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html |date=1 May 2009 }}</ref>
			The states which retained a ] system were given a large amount of aid by the United States under the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan|title=Marshall Plan|publisher=US Department of State Office of the historian|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=14 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414153651/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan|url-status=live}}</ref> The western states moved to link their economies together, providing the basis for the EU and increasing cross border trade. This helped them to enjoy rapidly improving economies, while those states in COMECON were struggling in a large part due to the cost of the ]. Until 1990, the ] was expanded from 6 founding members to 12. The emphasis placed on resurrecting the West German economy led to it overtaking the UK as Europe's largest economy.
	===Pre–1945: Industrial growth===
	] has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism.<ref>. ''Encyclopædia Britannica.''</ref> From Britain, it gradually spread throughout Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=Industrialism: A Dictionary of Sociology|author=Scott, John|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005}}</ref> The ] started in Europe, specifically the ] in the late 18th century,<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture17a.html|title=The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England|publisher=The History Guide|author=Steven Kreis|date=11 October 2006|accessdate=2007-01-01}}</ref> and the 19th century saw Western Europe industrialise. Economies were disrupted by ] but by the beginning of ] they had recovered and were having to compete with the growing economic strength of the ]. ], again, damaged much of Europe's industries.
			;Reunification (1991–present)
	===1945–1990: The Cold War===
			]'s main economical sources is ], because it has large reserves of lead, ], silver, ], ], copper, iron and ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Kosovo: Natural resources key to the future, say experts|url=http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=1.0.1683003038|website=adnkronos.com|access-date=17 March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707084602/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=1.0.1683003038|archive-date=7 July 2011}}</ref> Miners at the ] in ], Kosovo in 2011.]]
	After World War II the economy of the UK was in a state of ruin,<ref>Dornbusch, Rudiger; Nölling, Wilhelm P.; Layard, Richard G. ''Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today'', pg. 117</ref> and continued to suffer relative economic decline in the following decades.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rethinking International Organization: Deregulation and Global Governance|last=Emadi-Coffin|first=Barbara|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415195403|pages=p.64}}</ref> ] was also in a poor economic condition but regained a high level of growth by the 1950s. ] ] and had doubled production from pre-war levels by the 1950s.<ref>Dornbusch, Rudiger; Nölling, Wilhelm P.; Layard, Richard G. ''Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today'', pg. 29</ref> ] also staged a remarkable comeback enjoying rapid growth and modernisation; later on ], under the leadership of Franco, also recovered, and the nation recorded huge unprecedented economic growth beginning in the 1960s in what is called the ].<ref>Harrop, Martin. ''Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies'', pg. 23</ref> The majority of ]an states came under the control of the ] and thus were members of the ] (COMECON).<ref name=loc-cs>"Germany (East)", Library of Congress Country Study, </ref>
			With the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1991, the post-socialist states underwent ] measures to liberalise their economies and implement free market reforms.
	The states which retained a ] system were given a large amount of aid by the ] under the ].<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/marshallplan|title=Marshall Plan|publisher=US Department of State|accessdate=2008-06-10}}</ref> The western states moved to link their economies together, providing the basis for the ] and increasing cross border trade. This helped them to enjoy rapidly improving economies, while those states in COMECON were struggling in a large part due to the cost of the ]. Until 1990, the ] was expanded from 6 founding members to 12. The emphasis placed on resurrecting the West German economy led to it overtaking the ] as Europe's largest economy.
	] is Europe's key ] and ] supplier.<ref>, Spiegel</ref>]]
			After ] and West Germany were reunited in 1990, the economy of West Germany struggled as it had to support and largely rebuild the infrastructure of East Germany, while the latter ].
	===1991–2003: The rise of the EU===
	With the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1991 the Eastern states had to adapt to a free market system. There were varying degrees of success with ]an countries such as ], ], and ] adapting reasonably quickly, while eastern states like ] and ] taking far longer. Western Europe helped Eastern Europe by forming economic ties with them. After ] and ] were reunited in 1990, the economy of West Germany struggled as it had to support and largely rebuild the infrastructure of East Germany. ] lagged farthest behind as it was ravaged by war and in 2003 there were still many ] and ] peacekeeping troops in ], the ], and ], with only ] making any real progress.
	By the millennium change, the ] dominated the economy of Europe comprising the five largest European economies of the time namely ], the ], ], ], and ]. In 1999 12 of the 15 members of the EU joined the ] replacing their former national currencies by the common ]. The three who chose to remain outside the Eurozone were: the ], ], and ].
			By the millennium change, the EU dominated the economy of Europe, comprising the five largest European economies of the time: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. In 1999, 12 of the 15 members of the EU joined the ], replacing their national currencies by the ].
	==Language==
	]
	{{main|Languages of Europe}}
	European languages mostly fall within three ] language groups: the ], derived from the ] of the ]; the ], whose ancestor language came from southern ]; and the ].<ref name="encyclopedia britannica"/> While having much of its vocabulary descended from Romance languages, the ] is a Germanic language.
			Figures released by ] in 2009 confirmed that the Eurozone had gone into ] in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1231409822.27/ |title=EU data confirms eurozone's first recession|publisher= EUbusiness.com|date= 8 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230075057/http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1231409822.27/|archive-date=30 December 2010}}</ref> It impacted much of the region.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531022342/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/4958395/Thanks-to-the-Bank-its-a-crisis-in-the-eurozone-its-a-total-catastrophe.html |date=31 May 2022 }}. Telegraph. 8 March 2009.</ref> In 2010, fears of a ]<ref>{{cite news |title= Five Threats to the Common Currency |url= http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,677214,00.html |first= Stefan |last= Schultz |work= ] |date= 11 February 2010 |access-date= 28 April 2010 |archive-date= 14 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100414110833/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,677214,00.html |url-status= live }}</ref> developed concerning some countries in Europe, especially Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Brian |last1=Blackstone |first2=Tom |last2=Lauricella |first3=Neil |last3=Shah |title=Global Markets Shudder: Doubts About U.S. Economy and a Debt Crunch in Europe Jolt Hopes for a Recovery |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=5 February 2010 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704041504575045743430262982 |access-date=10 May 2010 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924135011/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704041504575045743430262982 |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, measures were taken, especially for Greece, by the leading countries of the Eurozone.<ref>{{cite web |author=Lauren Frayer |url=http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/european-leaders-try-to-calm-fears-over-greek-debt-crisis-and-protect-euro/19469674 |title=European Leaders Try to Calm Fears Over Greek Debt Crisis and Protect Euro |publisher=AOL News |access-date=2 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509111531/http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/european-leaders-try-to-calm-fears-over-greek-debt-crisis-and-protect-euro/19469674 |archive-date=9 May 2010 }}</ref> The ] unemployment rate was 10.3% in 2012. For those aged 15–24 it was 22.4%.<ref name="unemployment"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614152511/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics |date=14 June 2012 }}. ]. April 2012.</ref>
	Romance languages are spoken primarily in south-western Europe as well as in ] and ]. Germanic languages are spoken in north-western Europe and some parts of ]. Slavic languages are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe.<ref name="encyclopedia britannica"/>
			==Demographics==
	Many other languages outside the three main groups exist in Europe. Other Indo-European languages include the ] group (i.e., ] and ]), the ] group (i.e., ], ], ], ], ], and ]<ref name="encyclopedia britannica"/>), ], ], and ]{{Dubious|date=December 2008}}. A distinct group of ] are ], ], and ], spoken in the respective countries as well as in parts of Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Slovakia. Other Non-Indo-European languages are ] (the only ] official to the EU), ], ], ], and languages of minority nations in Russia.
			{{Main|Demographics of Europe}}
			{{See also|List of European countries by population|List of European countries by life expectancy|Ageing of Europe}}
			] in and around Europe in 2021<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527070418/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook//rankorder/2002rank.html |date=27 May 2016 }} CIA population growth rankings, CIA World Factbook</ref>]]
			The population of Europe was about 742 million in 2023 according to UN estimates.{{UN_Population|ref}} This is slightly more than one ninth of the world's population.{{cref2|v}} The ] of Europe (the number of people per area) is the second highest of any continent, behind Asia. The population of Europe is currently slowly decreasing, by about 0.2% per year,<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division |title=World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision |url=https://population.un.org/dataportal/data/indicators/53,50,51,52/locations/908/start/1990/end/2023/table/pivotbylocation |access-date=2023-04-28}}</ref> because ]. This natural decrease in population is reduced by the fact that more people ] from other continents than vice versa.
	Multilingualism 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.
			Southern Europe and Western Europe are the regions with the highest average number of elderly people in the world. In 2021, the percentage of people over 65 years old was 21% in Western Europe and Southern Europe, compared to 19% in all of Europe and 10% in the world.<ref>{{Citation |website=PRB |title=2021 World Population Data Sheet |url=https://interactives.prb.org/2021-wpds/ }}</ref> Projections suggest that by 2050 Europe will reach 30%.<ref>{{Citation |title=Population trends 1950 – 2100: globally and within Europe|url=https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/total-population-outlook-from-unstat-3/assessment-1|website=European Environment Agency }}</ref> This is caused by the fact that the population has been ] since the 1970s. The ] predicts that Europe will decline in population between 2022 and 2050 by −7 per cent, without changing immigration movements.<ref name="Results">{{Citation |title=World Population Prospects 2022, Summary of Results|publisher=]|url=https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf |pages=7, 9}}</ref>
	==Religion==
	[[File:Europe religion map en.png|thumb|250px|Predominant religions in Europe and neighboring regions:
	{{legend|#496EB8|]}}
	{{legend|#C44F4F|] ] }}
	{{legend|#855C99|]}}
	{{legend|#3D9956|]}}
	{{legend|#2E7340|]}}
	{{legend|#e7984d|]}}
	{{legend|#F6CC00|]}}
	]]
	{{main|Religion in Europe}}
			According to a population projection of the UN Population Division, Europe's population may fall to between 680 and 720 million people by 2050, which would be 7% of the world population at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations |url=https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/DemographicProfiles/Line/908 |website=population.un.org}}</ref> Within this context, significant disparities exist between regions in relation to ]. The average number of ] of child-bearing age is 1.52, far below the replacement rate.<ref>{{cite web |title=White Europeans: An endangered species? |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23784 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519224458/http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23784 |archive-date=19 May 2008 |access-date=10 June 2008 |publisher=Yale Daily News}}</ref> The UN predicts a steady ] in ] as a result of emigration and low birth rates.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614103137/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1545634/UN-predicts-huge-migration-to-rich-countries.html|date=14 June 2022}}. Telegraph. 15 March 2007.</ref>
	], ] in Europe has been a major influence on ], ], ] and ]. The majority religion in Europe is ] as practiced by ], ] and ] Churches. Following these is ] concentrated mainly in the south east (], ], ], ], ], ] and ]). Other religions including ], ] and ] are minority religions. Europe is a relatively secular continent and has the largest number and proportion of ], ] and ] people in the ], with a particularly high number of self-described non-religious people in the ], ], ], ] (East), and ].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dogan|first=Mattei|year=1998|title=The Decline of Traditional Values in Western Europe|journal=International Journal of Comparative Sociology|publisher=Sage|volume=39|pages=77–90|doi=10.1177/002071529803900106}}</ref>
			===Ethnic groups===
			{{main|Ethnic groups in Europe}}
			{{further|Genetic history of Europe}}
			Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ].<ref>Christoph Pan, Beate Sibylle Pfeil, ''Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europäischen Volksgruppen'' (2002). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720164413/http://www.living-diversity.eu/Introduction.html |date=20 July 2011 }}, English translation 2004.</ref>
			===Migration===
			{{main|Immigration to Europe|European diaspora}}
			Europe is home to the highest number of migrants of all global regions at nearly 87 million people in 2020, according to the ].<ref>{{Citation |title=Word migration report 2022. |date=2021 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1292425355 |access-date=2023-04-28 |place=NEW YORK |publisher=International Organization for Migration (IOM) |isbn=978-92-9268-078-7 |oclc=1292425355 |page = 87}}</ref> In 2005, the EU had an overall net gain from ] of 1.8&nbsp;million people. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=402 |title=Europe: Population and Migration in 2005 |publisher=Migration Information Source |access-date=10 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609075438/http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=402 |archive-date=9 June 2008 |date=June 2006 }}</ref> In 2021, 827,000 persons were given citizenship of an EU member state, an increase of about 14% compared with 2020.<ref name="eurostatMigration">{{Citation |title=Migration and migrant population statistics – Statistics Explained |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics#Migration_flows:_Immigration_to_the_EU_was_2.3_million_in_2021 |access-date=2023-04-28 |language=en}}</ref> 2.3 million immigrants from non-EU countries entered the EU in 2021.<ref name="eurostatMigration" />
			Early modern ] began with Spanish and Portuguese settlers in the 16th century,<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Brasil-Colônia|first1=Geraldo Pieroni doutor em História pela Université Paris-Sorbonnetambém escreveu os livros: Os Excluídos do Reino: Inquisição portuguesa e o degredo para o|last2=Brasil|first2=Os degredados na colonização do|last3=ciganos|first3=Vadios e|last4=autor|first4=Heréticos e Bruxas: os degredados no Brasil Textos publicados pelo autor Fale com o|title=A pena do degredo nas Ordenações do Reino – Jus.com.br {{!}} Jus Navigandi|url=https://jus.com.br/artigos/2125/a-pena-do-degredo-nas-ordenacoes-do-reino|access-date=11 February 2022|website=jus.com.br|language=pt-br|archive-date=21 June 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220621184943/https://jus.com.br/artigos/2125/a-pena-do-degredo-nas-ordenacoes-do-reino|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ppghis.ifcs.ufrj.br">{{cite web|title=Ensaio sobre a imigração portuguesa e os padrões de miscigenação no Brasil|url=http://www.ppghis.ifcs.ufrj.br/media/manolo_imigracao_lusa.pdf|access-date=18 August 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706162149/http://www.ppghis.ifcs.ufrj.br/media/manolo_imigracao_lusa.pdf|archive-date=6 July 2011}}</ref> and French and English settlers in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/AXTELL01.ART |title=The Columbian Mosaic in Colonial America |first=James |last=Axtell |journal=Humanities |date=September–October 1991 |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=12–18 |access-date=8 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517052031/http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/AXTELL01.ART |archive-date=17 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> But numbers remained relatively small until waves of mass emigration in the 19th century, when millions of poor families left Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Evans | first1 = N.J. | doi = 10.1080/21533369.2001.9668313 | title = Work in progress: Indirect passage from Europe Transmigration via the UK, 1836–1914 | journal = Journal for Maritime Research | volume = 3 | pages = 70–84 | year = 2001 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
			Today, ] are found on every continent. European ancestry predominates in North America and to a lesser degree in South America (particularly in ], ], ] and ], while most of the other ]n countries also have a considerable ]). ] and ] have large European-derived populations. Africa has no countries with European-derived majorities (or with the exception of ] and probably ], depending on context), but there are significant minorities, such as the ] in ]. In Asia, European-derived populations, specifically ], predominate in ] and some parts of Northern ].<ref>Robert Greenall, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115111257/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm |date=15 November 2019 }}, ], 23 November 2005</ref> Also in Asia, Europeans, especially the Spanish are an influential ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations-next-gen/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407092418/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations-next-gen/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 7, 2016|title=Reference Populations – Geno 2.0 Next Generation|access-date=December 21, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Go MC, Jones AR, Algee-Hewitt B, Dudzik B, Hughes C | title = Classification Trends among Contemporary Filipino Crania Using Fordisc 3.1 | journal = Human Biology | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | pages = 1–11 | publisher = University of Florida Press | date = 2019 | language = en | url = https://www.academia.edu/38744342 | doi = 10.5744/fa.2019.1005 | s2cid = 159266278 | quote = ABSTRACT: Filipinos represent a significant contemporary demographic group globally, yet they are underrepresented in the forensic anthropological literature. Given the complex population history of the Philippines, it is important to ensure that traditional methods for assessing the biological profile are appropriate when applied to these peoples. Here we analyze the classification trends of a modern Filipino sample (n = 110) when using the Fordisc 3.1 (FD3) software. We hypothesize that Filipinos represent an admixed population drawn largely from Asian and marginally from European parental gene pools, such that FD3 will classify these individuals morphometrically into reference samples that reflect a range of European admixture, in quantities from small to large. Our results show the greatest classification into Asian reference groups (72.7%), followed by Hispanic (12.7%), Indigenous American (7.3%), African (4.5%), and European (2.7%) groups included in FD3. This general pattern did not change between males and females. Moreover, replacing the raw craniometric values with their shape variables did not significantly alter the trends already observed. These classification trends for Filipino crania provide useful information for casework interpretation in forensic laboratory practice. Our findings can help biological anthropologists to better understand the evolutionary, population historical, and statistical reasons for FD3-generated classifications. The results of our studyindicate that ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology would benefit from population-focused research that gives consideration to histories of colonialism and periods of admixture. | access-date = September 13, 2020 | doi-access = | archive-date = January 7, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210107133718/https://www.academia.edu/38744342/Classification_Trends_Among_Modern_Filipino_Crania_Using_Fordisc_3_1 | url-status = live }}</ref>
			===Languages===
			{{Main|Languages of Europe}}
			]|222x222px]]{{See also|List of European languages by number of speakers}}
			Europe has about 225 indigenous languages,<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002010444/http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/LanguageFacts/tabid/1859/Default.aspx |date=2 October 2015 }}, Council of Europe. Retrieved 30 July 2015</ref> mostly falling within three ] language groups: the ], derived from the ] of the ]; the ], whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; and the ].<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/> Slavic languages are mostly spoken in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. Romance languages are spoken primarily in Western and Southern Europe, as well as in ] in Central Europe and ] and ] in Eastern Europe. Germanic languages are spoken in Western, Northern and Central Europe as well as in ] and ] in Southern Europe.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/> Languages in adjacent areas show significant overlaps (such as in ], for example). Other Indo-European languages outside the three main groups include the ] group (] and ]), the ] group (], ], ], ], ] and ]<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/>), ], ] and ].
			A distinct non-Indo-European family of ] (], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]) is spoken mainly in ], ], ] and parts of Russia. ] include ], ] and ], in addition to smaller languages in Eastern and Southeast Europe (], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]). ] (], ] and ]) are spoken primarily in ]. Two other language families reside in the North Caucasus (termed ], most notably including ], ] and ]; and ], most notably including ]). ] is the only ] that is official within the EU, while ] is the only European ].
			Multilingualism and the protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Europe today. The ] ] and the Council of Europe's ] set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe.
			===Religion===
			{{Main|Religion in Europe}}
			{{Pie chart
			|thumb = right
			|caption = Religion in Europe according to the ''Global Religious Landscape'' survey by the ], 2016<ref name="Survey">{{cite web|author=Analysis |url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323215026/http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-23 |url-status=live |title=Global religious landscape|publisher=Pewforum.org |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref>
			|label1 = ]
			|value1 = 76.2
			|color1 = Red
			|label2 = ]
			|value2 = 18.3
			|color2 = #FFFFFF
			|label3 = ]
			|value3 = 4.9
			|color3 = Green
			|label4 = ]
			|value4 = 0.2
			|color4 = Gold
			|label5 = ]
			|value5 = 0.2
			|color5 = Orange
			|label6 = Folk religion
			|value6 = 0.1
			|color6 = Chartreuse
			|label7 = Other religions
			|value7 = 0.1
			|color7 = Pink
			}}
			The largest religion in Europe is ], with 76.2% of Europeans considering themselves ],<ref name="Christianity">{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-regions/#europe|title=Regional Distribution of Christians: Christianity in Europe|date=18 December 2011|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=22 February 2015|archive-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801012932/http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-regions/#europe|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801204254/http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |archive-date=2019-08-01 |url-status=live|title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref> including ], ] and various ] denominations. Among Protestants, the most popular are ], ] and the ]. Smaller Protestant denominations include ] as well as denominations centred in the ] such as ], ], and ]. Although Christianity originated in the Middle East, its centre of mass shifted to Europe when it ] in the late 4th century. ] played ] of the ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Byrnes|first1=Timothy A.|last2=Katzenstein|first2=Peter J.|title=Religion in an Expanding Europe|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521676519|pages=110}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Europe in Crisis: Intellectuals and the European Idea, 1917–1957|last1=Hewitson|first1=Mark|last2=D’Auria|first2=Matthew|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2012|isbn=9780857457271|page=243|location=New York; Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Orthodoxy and Islam|first=Archimandrite|last=Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos|year=2017|isbn=9781315297927|page=16|publisher=Taylor & Francis|quote=Christianity has undoubtedly shaped European identity, culture, destiny, and history.}}</ref> Today, just over 25% of the world's Christians live in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pew Research Center |date=2011-12-19 |title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/ |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |language=en-US}}</ref>
			] is the second most popular religion in Europe. Over 25 million, or roughly 5% of the population, adhere to it.<ref name="pewresearch.org" /> In ] and ], two countries in the ] in Southeastern Europe, Islam instead of Christianity is the majority religion. This is also the case in ] and in ], as well as in ] and ], all of which are at the border to Asia.<ref name="pewresearch.org">{{citation |last=Hackett |first=Conrad |title=5 facts about the Muslim population in Europe |date=29 November 2017 |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/29/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/ |work=] |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817033409/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/29/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many countries in Europe are home to a sizeable Muslim minority, and ] has increased the number of Muslim people in Europe in recent years.
			The ] population in Europe was about 1.4 million people in 2020 (about 0.2% of the population).<ref name="auto" /> There is a long ], beginning in antiquity. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian Empire had the majority of the world's Jews living within its borders.<ref>'']'', October 25, 1915, p. 11</ref> In 1897, according to ], the total Jewish population of Russia was 5.1 million people, which was 4.13% of total population. Of this total, the vast majority lived within the ].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Grosfeld|first1=Irena|last2=Rodnyansky|first2=Alexander|last3=Zhuravskaya|first3=Ekaterina|title=Persistent Antimarket Culture: A Legacy of the Pale of Settlement after the Holocaust|journal=American Economic Journal: Economic Policy|date=August 2013|volume=5|number=3|pages=189–226|publisher=]|doi=10.1257/pol.5.3.189 |jstor=43189345}}</ref> In 1933, there were about 9.5 million Jewish people in Europe, representing 1.7% of the population,<ref>{{Cite web |last=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |title=Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> but most were killed, and most of the rest displaced, during ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sherwood |first=Harriet |date=2020-10-25 |title=Europe's Jewish population has dropped 60% in last 50 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/25/europes-jewish-population-has-dropped-60-in-last-50-years |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Lipka |first=Michael |title=The continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=Pew Research Center |date=9 February 2015 |language=en-US}}</ref> In the 21st century, ] has the largest ] in Europe, followed by the ], ] and ].<ref name="Survey" />
			Other religions practiced in Europe include ] and ], which are minority religions, except in Russia's ], where Tibetan Buddhism is the majority religion.
			A large and increasing number of people in Europe are ], ] and ]. They are estimated to make up about 18.3% of Europe's population currently.<ref name="Survey" />
			===Major cities and urban areas===
			{{further|List of European cities by population within city limits}}
			The three largest ] are ], ] and ]. All have over 10 million residents,<ref name="UN WUP 2016">{{cite web|title=The World's Cities in 2016|url=http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/the_worlds_cities_in_2016_data_booklet.pdf|publisher=]|page=11|date=2016|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=1 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001173328/http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/the_worlds_cities_in_2016_data_booklet.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and as such have been described as ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Istanbul one of four anchor megacities of Europe: Research|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/istanbul-one-of-four-anchor-megacities-of-europe-research--92496|work=Hürriyet Daily News|date=14 December 2015|language=en|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=19 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319194120/https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/istanbul-one-of-four-anchor-megacities-of-europe-research--92496|url-status=live}}</ref> While ] has the highest total city population, it lies partly in ]. 64.9% of the residents live on the European side and 35.1% on the Asian side.
			The next largest cities in order of population are ], ], ], ], ], and ] each having over three million residents.<ref name="UN WUP 2016" />
			When considering the commuter belts or ] (for which comparable data is available), Moscow covers the largest population, followed in order by Istanbul, London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Ruhr Area, Saint Petersburg, Rhein-Süd, Barcelona and Berlin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Major Agglomerations of the World – Population Statistics and Maps|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/world/agglomerations/|access-date=10 September 2020|website=www.citypopulation.de|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140057/https://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
			{{multiple image
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			| image1 = Business Centre of Moscow 2.jpg
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			| image2 = Super moon over City of London from Tate Modern 2018-01-31 4.jpg
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			| image4 = View of Levent financial district from Istanbul Sapphire.jpg
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	==Culture==		==Culture==
	{{main|Culture of Europe}}		{{Main|Culture of Europe}}
			{{further|European folklore|European art}}
	The culture of Europe can be described as a series of overlapping cultures; cultural mixes exist across the continent. There are cultural ]s and movements, sometimes at odds with each other. Thus the question of "common culture" or "common values" is complex.
			] (StAGN)]]
			"Europe" as a cultural concept is substantially derived from the shared heritage of ] and the ] and its cultures. The boundaries of Europe were historically understood as those of ] (or more specifically ]), as established or defended throughout the medieval and early modern history of Europe, especially ], as in the ] and the ].<ref>], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316121024/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8442 |date=16 March 2018 }}, Chapter I</ref>
			This shared cultural heritage is combined by overlapping indigenous national cultures and folklores, roughly divided into ], ] and Germanic, but with several components not part of either of these groups (notably ], ] and ]). Historically, special examples with overlapping cultures are ] with Latin (Romance) and Germanic, or ] with Latin, Slavic and Germanic roots.
			Cultural contacts and mixtures shape a large part of the regional cultures of Europe. Europe is often described as "maximum cultural diversity with minimal geographical distances".
			Different cultural events are organised in Europe, with the aim of bringing different cultures closer together and raising awareness of their importance, such as the ], the ], the ] and the European Capital of Sport.
			=== Sport ===
			{{Main|Sport in Europe}}
			Sport in Europe tends to be highly organised with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dine |first1=Philip |title=Sport, Representation and Evolving Identities in Europe |last2=Crosson |first2=Seán |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2010 |isbn=9783039119776 |location=Bern |pages=2}}</ref>
			=== Social dimension ===
			In Europe many people are unable to access basic social conditions, which makes it harder for them to thrive and flourish. Access to basic necessities can be compromised, for example 10% of Europeans spend at least 40% of household income on housing. 75 million Europeans feel ]. From the 1980s income inequality has been rising and wage shares have been falling. In 2016, the richest 20% of households earned over five times more than the poorest 20%. Many workers experience stagnant ] and ] is common even for ].<ref name=SustainableProsperity>{{Cite web|url=https://sustainable-prosperity.eu/story/|title=Sustainable Prosperity – Made in Europe|website=sustainable-prosperity.eu}}</ref>
	==See also==		==See also==
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	==Notes==		==Notes==
			{{Cnote2 Begin|colwidth=30em}}
	{{Cnote|a|Continental regions as per ]. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below may be in ] Europe and ], or ].}}
			{{Cnote2|a|n=2|], internationally recognised as being a legal part of the ], although ''de facto'' control is exercised by its internationally unrecognised government which declared independence from Moldova in 1990}}
	{{Cnote|b|Includes ], a region that has declared, and '']'' ], independence; however, it is not recognised '']'' by ]s.}}
			{{Cnote2|b|Russia is a ] spanning Eastern Europe and ]. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives within its ].<ref name="Vishnevsky">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/popdecline/vishnevsky.pdf |title=Replacement Migration: Is it a solution for Russia? |access-date=14 January 2008 |last=Vishnevsky |first=Anatoly |date=15 August 2000 |publisher=United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs |website=Expert Group Meeting on Policy Responses to Population Ageing and Population Decline /UN/POP/PRA/2000/14 |pages=6, 10 |archive-date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829152839/http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/popdecline//vishnevsky.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, only the population figure includes the entire state.}}
	{{Cnote|c|] is considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. However the population and area figures include the entire state.}}
	{{Cnote|d|], the ] and ] are ] of the ]. Other ] legislated by the ] include ] and ].}}		{{Cnote2|c|n=3|], the ], and ] are ] of the ]. Other ] legislated by the ] include ] and ].}}
	{{Cnote|e|] is sometimes considered transcontinental country. Physiographically entirely in ] it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures refer to the entire state, including the ''de facto'' independent part ].}}{{Cnote|f|Figures for ] include the ] and ] archipelagos, both in ].}}		{{Cnote2|d|n=2|] can be considered part of Europe or ]; it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures refer to the entire state, including the ''de facto'' independent part ] which is not recognised as a sovereign nation by the vast majority of sovereign nations, nor the UN.}}
			{{Cnote2|e|Figures for ] include the ] and ] archipelagos, both in the North Atlantic.}}
	{{Cnote|g|Figures for ] include ], a province that unilaterally declared its independence from ] on 17 February 2008, and whose sovereign status is unclear.}}{{Cnote|h|Figures for ] include only ]: some ] are geographically located outside Europe.}}		{{Cnote2|f|Area figure for ] includes ], a province that unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and whose sovereign status is unclear. Population and density figures are from the first results of 2011 census and are given without the disputed territory of ].}}
			{{Cnote2|g|Figures for ] include only ]: some ] are geographically located outside Europe.}}
	{{Cnote|i|] population for July 2004. Population and area details include European portion only: Netherlands and two entities outside Europe (] and the ], in the ]) constitute the ]. ] is the official capital, while ] is the administrative seat.}}		{{Cnote2|h|] population for November 2014. Population and area details include European portion only: Netherlands and three entities outside Europe (], ], and ], in the ]) constitute the ]. ] is the official capital, while ] is the administrative seat.}}
	{{Cnote|j|] is physiographically considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe, with European territory west of the Ural Mountains and both the ] and ] rivers. However, area and population figures refer to the entire country.}}		{{Cnote2|i|] is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in Central Asia (UN region), partly in Eastern Europe, with European territory west of the ] and ]. However, only the population figure refers to the entire country.}}
	{{Cnote|k|] is physiographically entirely in ], but it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures include the entire state respectively.}}		{{Cnote2|j|] can be considered part of Eastern Europe or ]; it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures include the entire state, respectively.}}
			{{Cnote2|k|] is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in Western Asia. A small portion of its territory is located north of ], considered part of Eastern Europe.<ref name="UNstatsandCIAfacts">The ] Statistics Department {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212024547/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |date=12 December 2024 }} places Azerbaijan and Georgia in ] for statistical convenience ("The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories"). The ] places Azerbaijan and Georgia in Southwestern Asia, with a small portion north of the Caucasus range in Europe. ( {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127171042/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/azerbaijan/ |date=27 January 2021 }} and {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204222544/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/georgia/ |date=4 February 2021 }}).</ref> However the population and area figures are for the entire state. This includes the ] of the ] and the region ].}}
	{{Cnote|l|] is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia. However the population and area figures are for the entire state. This includes the ] of ] and the region ] that has declared, and '']'' ], independence. Nevertheless, it is not recognised '']'' by ]s.}}
			{{Cnote2|l| ] can be considered part of Eastern Europe or ];<ref name="UNstatsandCIAfacts" /> it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.<ref>] {{cite web |title=47 countries, one Europe |url=http://www.coe.int/aboutCoe/index.asp?page%3D47pays1europe%26l%3Den |access-date=9 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108003938/http://www.coe.int/aboutCoe/index.asp?l=en&page=47pays1europe |archive-date=8 January 2011 }}, ] {{cite web |title=Country profiles ' Europe ' Georgia |url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/europe/georgia/ |access-date=9 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231082215/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/europe/georgia |archive-date=31 December 2010 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112060752/http://www.euro.who.int/en/where-we-work |date=12 January 2011 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226022941/http://unwto.org/europe |date=26 December 2010 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102075359/http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/worldwide/europe-and-north-america/ |date=2 November 2018 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205015818/http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html |date=5 December 2013 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702183319/https://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html |date=2 July 2022 }}, ] {{cite web |title=Member States |url=https://www.ecac-ceac.org//about_ecac/ecac_member_states |access-date=9 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723024001/https://www.ecac-ceac.org//about_ecac/ecac_member_states |archive-date=23 July 2013 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509184812/http://www.euronews.net/weather |date=9 May 2021 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726013804/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1102477.stm |date=26 July 2022 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726150643/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_8443.htm |date=26 July 2022 }}, ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121082628/https://mid.ru/ns-reuro.nsf/strana |date=21 January 2022 }}, ] {{cite web |url=http://data.worldbank.org/region/ECA |title=Europe & Central Asia &#124; Data |access-date=9 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219144231/http://data.worldbank.org/region/ECA |archive-date=19 February 2011 }}.</ref> The population and area figures include Georgian estimates for ] and ], two regions that have declared and '']'' ] independence. ], however, is limited.}}
	{{Cnote|m|] is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe. However, the population and area figures include the entire state. This also includes Georgian estimates for ] and ], two regions that have declared and '']'' ] independence. The ], however, is limited.}}
			{{Cnote2|m|] is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in West Asia (the Middle East). Turkey has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called ].<ref>{{cite web|author=FAO|author-link=FAO|publisher=FAO|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/t0377e/t0377e27.htm|title=Inland fisheries of Europe|access-date=26 March 2011|archive-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126124249/http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/t0377e/t0377e27.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> However, only the population figure includes the entire state.}}
	{{Cnote|n|] is physiographically considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe. However the population and area figures include the entire state, both the European and Asian portions.}}
	{{Cnote|o|The total figures for area and population include only European portions of transcontinental countries.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} The precision of these figure is compromised by the ambiguous geographical extend of Europe and the lack of references for European portions of transcontinental countries.}}		{{Cnote2|n|n=4|The total figures for area and population include only European portions of transcontinental countries. The precision of these figures is compromised by the ambiguous geographical extent of Europe and the lack of references for European portions of transcontinental countries.}}
	{{Cnote|p|] unilaterally declared its independence from ] on 17 February 2008. Its sovereign status is ]. Its population is a 2007 estimate.}}		{{Cnote2|o|] unilaterally declared its independence from ] on 17 February 2008. Its sovereign status is ]. Its population is July 2009 CIA estimate.}}
	{{Cnote|r|] and ] unilaterally declared their independence from ] on 25 August 1990 and 28 November 1991 respectively. Their sovereign status is ]. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates respectively.}}		{{Cnote2|p|n=2|] and ], both of which can be considered part of Eastern Europe or ]<ref name="UNstatsandCIAfacts" /> unilaterally declared their independence from ] on 25 August 1990 and 28 November 1991, respectively. Their status as sovereign nations is ] by a vast majority of sovereign nations, nor the UN. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates, respectively.}}
			{{Cnote2|q|], which can be considered part of Eastern Europe or ], unilaterally declared its independence from ] on 6 January 1992. Its status as a sovereign nation is not recognised by any sovereign nation, nor the UN. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates, respectively.}}
			{{Cnote2|r|], an autonomous constituent country within the ], is geographically a part of the continent of North America, but has been politically and culturally associated with Europe.}}
			{{Cnote2|s|n=2|The ] and ] are internationally recognised as being a legal part of ], although ''de facto'' control is exercised by governments which declared independence from Ukraine in 2014.}}
			{{Cnote2|t|Europe is normally considered its own continent in the English-speaking world, which uses the seven continent model.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/europe |title=Europe |dictionary=Oxford Learner's Dictionary |access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Europe |title=Europe |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref> Other models consider Europe as part of a Eurasian or Afro-Eurasian continent. See {{slink|Continent|Number}} for more information.}}
			{{Cnote2|u|The map shows one of the most commonly accepted delineations of the geographical boundaries of Europe, as used by ] and ]. Whether countries are considered in Europe or Asia can vary in sources, for example in the classification of the ] or that of the ]. Certain countries in Europe, such as France, have ], but which are nevertheless considered integral parts of that country.}}
			{{Cnote2|v|This number includes Siberia, (about 38 million people) but excludes European Turkey (about 12 million).}}
			{{Cnote2 End}}
	==References==		==References==
	{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}		{{reflist}}
	{{refbegin}}
	*] (2005). ''National Geographic Visual History of the World''. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-7922-3695-5.
	{{refend}}
	==Further reading==		==Sources==
			* ] (2005). ''National Geographic Visual History of the World''. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. {{ISBN|0-7922-3695-5}}.
	*Williams, Glyndwr (1968) "''The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century''". London, Blandford Press, SRN 7-137-32723-5.
			* {{cite book | last1 = Bulliet | first1 = Richard | last2 = Crossley | first2 = Pamela | last3 = Headrick | first3 = Daniel | last4 = Hirsch | first4 = Steven | last5 = Johnson | first5 = Lyman | title = The Earth and Its Peoples, Brief Edition | volume = 1 | publisher = Cengage Learning | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-495-91311-5 }}
			* {{cite book | last1 = Brown | first1 = Stephen F. | last2 = Anatolios | first2 = Khaled | last3 = Palmer | first3 = Martin | editor-last = O'Brien | editor-first = Joanne | title = Catholicism & Orthodox Christianity | publisher = Infobase Publishing | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-1-60413-106-2 }}
			* {{Cite book |last1=Laiou |first1=Angeliki E. |author-link=Angeliki Laiou |title=The Byzantine Economy |last2=Morisson |first2=Cécile |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-84978-4 |location=Cambridge, England}}
			* {{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Martin W. |last2=Wigen |first2=Kären |title=The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography |date= 1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20743-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2as0sWxFBAC |language=en}}
			* {{Cite book |last=Pounds |first=Norman John Greville |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalgeogra0000poun |title=An Historical Geography of Europe, 1500–1840 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1979 |isbn=978-0-521-22379-9 |location=Cambridge, England}}
	==External links==		==External links==
			* {{GovPubs|Europe}}
	*
			* {{Britannica|195686}}
	*] from ]
			* at the ]
	*
	* ].		* from the United States ]
			* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Europe | volume= 9 | pages = 907–953 |short= 1}}
			* ]
			'''Historical Maps'''
			* Geacron ]
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Latest revision as of 08:26, 30 December 2024

Continent This article is about the continent. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation).

Europe

Show national bordersHide national borders
Area	10,186,000 square kilometres (3,933,000 sq mi) (6th)
Population	745,173,774 (2021; 3rd)
Population density	72.9/km (188/sq mi) (2nd)
GDP (PPP)	$33.62 trillion (2022 est; 2nd)
GDP (nominal)	$24.02 trillion (2022 est; 3rd)
GDP per capita	$34,230 (2022 est; 3rd)
HDI	0.845
Religions	Christianity (76.2%) No religion (18.3%) Islam (4.9%) Other (0.6%)
Demonym	European
Countries	Sovereign (44–50) De facto (2–5)
Dependencies	External (5–6) Internal (3)
Languages	Most common: Russian German English French Italian Spanish Polish Ukrainian Romanian Dutch Serbo-Croatian
Time zones	UTC−1 to UTC+5
Largest cities	Largest urban areas: Moscow Istanbul Paris London Madrid Essen-Düsseldorf Saint Petersburg Milan Barcelona Berlin
UN M49 code	150 – Europe 001 – World
a. Figures include only European portions of transcontinental countries. b. Includes Asian population. Istanbul is a transcontinental city which straddles both Asia and Europe. c. "Europe" as defined by the International Monetary Fund

Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait.

Europe covers approx. 10,186,000 square kilometres (3,933,000 sq mi), or 2% of Earth's surface (6.8% of Earth's land area), making it the second-smallest continent (using the seven-continent model). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states, of which Russia is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 745 million (about 10% of the world population) in 2021; the third-largest after Asia and Africa. The European climate is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the Gulf Stream, which produce a temperate climate, tempering winters and summers, on much of the continent. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable producing more continental climates.

The culture of Europe consists of a range of national and regional cultures, which form the central roots of the wider Western civilisation, and together commonly reference ancient Greece and ancient Rome, particularly through their Christian successors, as crucial and shared roots. Beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Christian consolidation of Europe in the wake of the Migration Period marked the European post-classical Middle Ages. The Italian Renaissance spread in the continent a new humanist interest in art and science which led to the modern era. Since the Age of Discovery, led by Spain and Portugal, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs with multiple explorations and conquests around the world. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers colonised at various times the Americas, almost all of Africa and Oceania, and the majority of Asia.

The Age of Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally, politically, and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe and eventually the wider world. Both world wars began and were fought to a great extent in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence and competed over dominance in Europe and globally. The resulting Cold War divided Europe along the Iron Curtain, with NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East. This divide ended with the Revolutions of 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which allowed European integration to advance significantly.

European integration has been advanced institutionally since 1948 with the founding of the Council of Europe, and significantly through the realisation of the European Union (EU), which represents today the majority of Europe. The European Union is a supranational political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation and is based on a system of European treaties. The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A majority of its members have adopted a common currency, the euro, and participate in the European single market and a customs union. A large bloc of countries, the Schengen Area, have also abolished internal border and immigration controls. Regular popular elections take place every five years within the EU; they are considered to be the second-largest democratic elections in the world after India's. The EU is the third-largest economy in the world.

Name

Further information: Europa (consort of Zeus)

The place name Evros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Evros (today's Maritsa) – flows through the fertile valleys of Thrace, which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent.

In classical Greek mythology, Europa (Ancient Greek: Εὐρώπη, Eurṓpē) was a Phoenician princess. One view is that her name derives from the Ancient Greek elements εὐρύς (eurús) 'wide, broad', and ὤψ (ōps, gen. ὠπός, ōpós) 'eye, face, countenance', hence their composite Eurṓpē would mean 'wide-gazing' or 'broad of aspect'. Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. An alternative view is that of Robert Beekes, who has argued in favour of a pre-Indo-European origin for the name, explaining that a derivation from eurus would yield a different toponym than Europa. Beekes has located toponyms related to that of Europa in the territory of ancient Greece, and localities such as that of Europos in ancient Macedonia.

There have been attempts to connect Eurṓpē to a Semitic term for west, this being either Akkadian erebu meaning 'to go down, set' (said of the sun) or Phoenician 'ereb 'evening, west', which is at the origin of Arabic maghreb and Hebrew ma'arav. Martin Litchfield West stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor", while Beekes considers a connection to Semitic languages improbable.

Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu (歐洲/欧洲), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name Ōuluóbā zhōu (歐羅巴洲) (zhōu means "continent"); a similar Chinese-derived term Ōshū (欧州) is also sometimes used in Japanese such as in the Japanese name of the European Union, Ōshū Rengō (欧州連合), despite the katakana Yōroppa (ヨーロッパ) being more commonly used. In some Turkic languages, the originally Persian name Frangistan ("land of the Franks") is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa.

Definition

Further information: Boundaries between the continents § Asia and Europe See also: List of transcontinental countries

Contemporary definition

Clickable map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly used continental boundaries
Key: blue: states which straddle the border between Europe and Asia; green: countries not geographically in Europe, but closely associated with the continent

Alb. Andorra Austria Azer. Belarus Belg. Bosnia Bulgaria Channel
Is. Croatia CzechiaDenmark Estonia Finland France Gib. (UK) Germany Georgia Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy IoM
San
Mar. Kazakhstan Kos. Latvia Liech. Lithuania Lux. Malta Moldova Monaco Mont. Netherlands N. Macedonia Norway Svalbard (Nor) Poland Portugal Romania Russia Franz Josef Land (Rus) Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switz-
erland Turkey Ukraine United
Kingdom Far. (Dk) Vatican Armenia Cyprus Greenland (Dk) Adr- iatic Sea Arctic Ocean Baltic
Sea Aegean Sea Barents Sea Bay of
Biscay Black
Sea Caspian
Sea Celtic
Sea Greenland Sea Baffin Bay Gulf of
Cádiz Ligurian
Sea Mediterranean Sea North
Atlantic
Ocean North
Sea Norwegian
Sea Strait of Gibraltar

The prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century. Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water to the north, west and south; Europe's limits to the east and north-east are usually taken to be the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and the Caspian Sea; to the south-east, the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Islands are generally grouped with the nearest continental landmass, hence Iceland is considered to be part of Europe, while the nearby island of Greenland is usually assigned to North America, although politically belonging to Denmark. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions based on sociopolitical and cultural differences. Cyprus is closest to Anatolia (or Asia Minor), but is considered part of Europe politically and it is a member state of the EU. Malta was considered an island of North-western Africa for centuries, but now it is considered to be part of Europe as well. "Europe", as used specifically in British English, may also refer to Continental Europe exclusively.

The term "continent" usually implies the physical geography of a large land mass completely or almost completely surrounded by water at its borders. Prior to the adoption of the current convention that includes mountain divides, the border between Europe and Asia had been redefined several times since its first conception in classical antiquity, but always as a series of rivers, seas and straits that were believed to extend an unknown distance east and north from the Mediterranean Sea without the inclusion of any mountain ranges. Cartographer Herman Moll suggested in 1715 Europe was bounded by a series of partly-joined waterways directed towards the Turkish straits, and the Irtysh River draining into the upper part of the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean. In contrast, the present eastern boundary of Europe partially adheres to the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, which is somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent compared to any clear-cut definition of the term "continent".

The current division of Eurasia into two continents now reflects East-West cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border between Europe and Asia does not follow any state boundaries and now only follows a few bodies of water. Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country divided entirely by water, while Russia and Kazakhstan are only partly divided by waterways. France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are also transcontinental (or more properly, intercontinental, when oceans or large seas are involved) in that their main land areas are in Europe while pockets of their territories are located on other continents separated from Europe by large bodies of water. Spain, for example, has territories south of the Mediterranean Sea—namely, Ceuta and Melilla—which are parts of Africa and share a border with Morocco. According to the current convention, Georgia and Azerbaijan are transcontinental countries where waterways have been completely replaced by mountains as the divide between continents.

History of the concept

See also: Boundary between Europe and Asia

Early history

The first recorded usage of Eurṓpē as a geographic term is in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, in reference to the western shore of the Aegean Sea. As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BCE by Anaximander and Hecataeus. Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni River on the territory of Georgia) in the Caucasus, a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. Herodotus mentioned that the world had been divided by unknown persons into three parts—Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa)—with the Nile and the Phasis forming their boundaries—though he also states that some considered the River Don, rather than the Phasis, as the boundary between Europe and Asia. Europe's eastern frontier was defined in the 1st century by geographer Strabo at the River Don. The Book of Jubilees described the continents as the lands given by Noah to his three sons; Europe was defined as stretching from the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, separating it from Northwest Africa, to the Don, separating it from Asia.

The convention received by the Middle Ages and surviving into modern usage is that of the Roman era used by Roman-era authors such as Posidonius, Strabo, and Ptolemy, who took the Tanais (the modern Don River) as the boundary.

The Roman Empire did not attach a strong identity to the concept of continental divisions. However, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the culture that developed in its place, linked to Latin and the Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of "Europe". The term "Europe" is first used for a cultural sphere in the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century. From that time, the term designated the sphere of influence of the Western Church, as opposed to both the Eastern Orthodox churches and to the Islamic world.

A cultural definition of Europe as the lands of Latin Christendom coalesced in the 8th century, signifying the new cultural condominium created through the confluence of Germanic traditions and Christian-Latin culture, defined partly in contrast with Byzantium and Islam, and limited to northern Iberia, the British Isles, France, Christianised western Germany, the Alpine regions and northern and central Italy. The concept is one of the lasting legacies of the Carolingian Renaissance: Europa often figures in the letters of Charlemagne's court scholar, Alcuin. The transition of Europe to being a cultural term as well as a geographic one led to the borders of Europe being affected by cultural considerations in the East, especially relating to areas under Byzantine, Ottoman, and Russian influence. Such questions were affected by the positive connotations associated with the term Europe by its users. Such cultural considerations were not applied to the Americas, despite their conquest and settlement by European states. Instead, the concept of "Western civilisation" emerged as a way of grouping together Europe and these colonies.

Modern definitions

Further information: Regions of Europe and Continental Europe

The question of defining a precise eastern boundary of Europe arises in the Early Modern period, as the eastern extension of Muscovy began to include North Asia. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the 18th century, the traditional division of the landmass of Eurasia into two continents, Europe and Asia, followed Ptolemy, with the boundary following the Turkish Straits, the Black Sea, the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov and the Don (ancient Tanais). But maps produced during the 16th to 18th centuries tended to differ in how to continue the boundary beyond the Don bend at Kalach-na-Donu (where it is closest to the Volga, now joined with it by the Volga–Don Canal), into territory not described in any detail by the ancient geographers.

Around 1715, Herman Moll produced a map showing the northern part of the Ob River and the Irtysh River, a major tributary of the Ob, as components of a series of partly-joined waterways taking the boundary between Europe and Asia from the Turkish Straits, and the Don River all the way to the Arctic Ocean. In 1721, he produced a more up to date map that was easier to read. However, his proposal to adhere to major rivers as the line of demarcation was never taken up by other geographers who were beginning to move away from the idea of water boundaries as the only legitimate divides between Europe and Asia.

Four years later, in 1725, Philip Johan von Strahlenberg was the first to depart from the classical Don boundary. He drew a new line along the Volga, following the Volga north until the Samara Bend, along Obshchy Syrt (the drainage divide between the Volga and Ural Rivers), then north and east along the latter waterway to its source in the Ural Mountains. At this point he proposed that mountain ranges could be included as boundaries between continents as alternatives to nearby waterways. Accordingly, he drew the new boundary north along Ural Mountains rather than the nearby and parallel running Ob and Irtysh rivers. This was endorsed by the Russian Empire and introduced the convention that would eventually become commonly accepted. However, this did not come without criticism. Voltaire, writing in 1760 about Peter the Great's efforts to make Russia more European, ignored the whole boundary question with his claim that neither Russia, Scandinavia, northern Germany, nor Poland were fully part of Europe. Since then, many modern analytical geographers like Halford Mackinder have declared that they see little validity in the Ural Mountains as a boundary between continents.

The mapmakers continued to differ on the boundary between the lower Don and Samara well into the 19th century. The 1745 atlas published by the Russian Academy of Sciences has the boundary follow the Don beyond Kalach as far as Serafimovich before cutting north towards Arkhangelsk, while other 18th- to 19th-century mapmakers such as John Cary followed Strahlenberg's prescription. To the south, the Kuma–Manych Depression was identified c. 1773 by a German naturalist, Peter Simon Pallas, as a valley that once connected the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and subsequently was proposed as a natural boundary between continents.

By the mid-19th century, there were three main conventions, one following the Don, the Volga–Don Canal and the Volga, the other following the Kuma–Manych Depression to the Caspian and then the Ural River, and the third abandoning the Don altogether, following the Greater Caucasus watershed to the Caspian. The question was still treated as a "controversy" in geographical literature of the 1860s, with Douglas Freshfield advocating the Caucasus crest boundary as the "best possible", citing support from various "modern geographers".

In Russia and the Soviet Union, the boundary along the Kuma–Manych Depression was the most commonly used as early as 1906. In 1958, the Soviet Geographical Society formally recommended that the boundary between the Europe and Asia be drawn in textbooks from Baydaratskaya Bay, on the Kara Sea, along the eastern foot of Ural Mountains, then following the Ural River until the Mugodzhar Hills, and then the Emba River; and Kuma–Manych Depression, thus placing the Caucasus entirely in Asia and the Urals entirely in Europe. The Flora Europaea adopted a boundary along the Terek and Kuban rivers, so southwards from the Kuma and the Manych, but still with the Caucasus entirely in Asia. However, most geographers in the Soviet Union favoured the boundary along the Caucasus crest, and this became the common convention in the later 20th century, although the Kuma–Manych boundary remained in use in some 20th-century maps.

Some view the separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as a residue of Eurocentrism: "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. ."

History

Main article: History of Europe

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Europe

During the 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene, numerous cold phases called glacials (Quaternary ice age), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America, occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of the last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary, called the Holocene.

Homo erectus georgicus, which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in Georgia, is the earliest hominin to have been discovered in Europe. Other hominin remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in Atapuerca, Spain. Neanderthal man (named after the Neandertal valley in Germany) appeared in Europe 150,000 years ago (115,000 years ago it is found already in the territory of present-day Poland) and disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago, with their final refuge being the Iberian Peninsula. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans (Cro-Magnons), who seem to have appeared in Europe around 43,000 to 40,000 years ago. However, there is also evidence that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 54,000 years ago, some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. The earliest sites in Europe dated 48,000 years ago are Riparo Mochi (Italy), Geissenklösterle (Germany) and Isturitz (France).

The European Neolithic period—marked by the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock, increased numbers of settlements and the widespread use of pottery—began around 7000 BCE in Greece and the Balkans, probably influenced by earlier farming practices in Anatolia and the Near East. It spread from the Balkans along the valleys of the Danube and the Rhine (Linear Pottery culture), and along the Mediterranean coast (Cardial culture). Between 4500 and 3000 BCE, these central European neolithic cultures developed further to the west and the north, transmitting newly acquired skills in producing copper artifacts. In Western Europe the Neolithic period was characterised not by large agricultural settlements but by field monuments, such as causewayed enclosures, burial mounds and megalithic tombs. The Corded Ware cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic. During this period giant megalithic monuments, such as the Megalithic Temples of Malta and Stonehenge, were constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe.

The modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic Epigravettian culture; Neolithic Early European Farmers who migrated from Anatolia during the Neolithic Revolution 9,000 years ago; and Yamnaya Steppe herders who expanded into Europe from the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of Indo-European migrations 5,000 years ago. The European Bronze Age began c. 3200 BCE in Greece with the Minoan civilisation on Crete, the first advanced civilisation in Europe. The Minoans were followed by the Myceneans, who collapsed suddenly around 1200 BCE, ushering the European Iron Age. Iron Age colonisation by the Greeks and Phoenicians gave rise to early Mediterranean cities. Early Iron Age Italy and Greece from around the 8th century BCE gradually gave rise to historical Classical antiquity, whose beginning is sometimes dated to 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games.

Classical antiquity

Main article: Classical antiquity See also: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

Ancient Greece was the founding culture of Western civilisation. Western democratic and rationalist culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece. The Greek city-state, the polis, was the fundamental political unit of classical Greece. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens. The Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece also generated many cultural contributions: in philosophy, humanism and rationalism under Aristotle, Socrates and Plato; in history with Herodotus and Thucydides; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with the epic poems of Homer; in drama with Sophocles and Euripides; in medicine with Hippocrates and Galen; and in science with Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes. In the course of the 5th century BCE, several of the Greek city states would ultimately check the Achaemenid Persian advance in Europe through the Greco-Persian Wars, considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greece that laid many of the foundations of Western civilisation.

Greece was followed by Rome, which left its mark on law, politics, language, engineering, architecture, government, and many more key aspects in western civilisation. By 200 BCE, Rome had conquered Italy and over the following two centuries it conquered Greece, Hispania (Spain and Portugal), the North African coast, much of the Middle East, Gaul (France and Belgium), and Britannia (England and Wales).

Expanding from their base in central Italy beginning in the third century BCE, the Romans gradually expanded to eventually rule the entire Mediterranean basin and Western Europe by the turn of the millennium. The Roman Republic ended in 27 BCE, when Augustus proclaimed the Roman Empire. The two centuries that followed are known as the pax romana, a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity and political stability in most of Europe. The empire continued to expand under emperors such as Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, who spent time on the Empire's northern border fighting Germanic, Pictish and Scottish tribes. Christianity was legalised by Constantine I in 313 CE after three centuries of imperial persecution. Constantine also permanently moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul) which was renamed Constantinople in his honour in 330 CE. Christianity became the sole official religion of the empire in 380 CE, and in 391–392 CE the emperor Theodosius outlawed pagan religions. This is sometimes considered to mark the end of antiquity; alternatively antiquity is considered to end with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE; the closure of the pagan Platonic Academy of Athens in 529 CE; or the rise of Islam in the early 7th century CE. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe.

Early Middle Ages

Main articles: Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages See also: Dark Ages and Age of Migrations Europe c. 650Charlemagne's empire in 814:      Francia,      Tributaries

During the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of change arising from what historians call the "Age of Migrations". There were numerous invasions and migrations amongst the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Franks, Angles, Saxons, Slavs, Avars, Bulgars, Vikings, Pechenegs, Cumans, and Magyars. Renaissance thinkers such as Petrarch would later refer to this as the "Dark Ages".

Isolated monastic communities were the only places to safeguard and compile written knowledge accumulated previously; apart from this, very few written records survive. Much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period disappeared from Western Europe, though they were preserved in the east, in the Byzantine Empire.

While the Roman empire in the west continued to decline, Roman traditions and the Roman state remained strong in the predominantly Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Emperor Justinian I presided over Constantinople's first golden age: he established a legal code that forms the basis of many modern legal systems, funded the construction of the Hagia Sophia and brought the Christian church under state control.

From the 7th century onwards, as the Byzantines and neighbouring Sasanid Persians were severely weakened due to the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars, the Muslim Arabs began to make inroads into historically Roman territory, taking the Levant and North Africa and making inroads into Asia Minor. In the mid-7th century, following the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam penetrated into the Caucasus region. Over the next centuries Muslim forces took Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, and parts of southern Italy. Between 711 and 720, most of the lands of the Visigothic Kingdom of Iberia were brought under Muslim rule—save for small areas in the northwest (Asturias) and largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees. This territory, under the Arabic name Al-Andalus, became part of the expanding Umayyad Caliphate. The unsuccessful second siege of Constantinople (717) weakened the Umayyad dynasty and reduced their prestige. The Umayyads were then defeated by the Frankish leader Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732, which ended their northward advance. In the remote regions of north-western Iberia and the middle Pyrenees the power of the Muslims in the south was scarcely felt. It was here that the foundations of the Christian kingdoms of Asturias, Leon, and Galicia were laid and from where the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula would start. However, no coordinated attempt would be made to drive the Moors out. The Christian kingdoms were mainly focused on their own internal power struggles. As a result, the Reconquista took the greater part of eight hundred years, in which period a long list of Alfonsos, Sanchos, Ordoños, Ramiros, Fernandos, and Bermudos would be fighting their Christian rivals as much as the Muslim invaders.

During the Dark Ages, the Western Roman Empire fell under the control of various tribes. The Germanic and Slav tribes established their domains over Western and Eastern Europe, respectively. Eventually the Frankish tribes were united under Clovis I. Charlemagne, a Frankish king of the Carolingian dynasty who had conquered most of Western Europe, was anointed "Holy Roman Emperor" by the Pope in 800. This led in 962 to the founding of the Holy Roman Empire, which eventually became centred in the German principalities of central Europe.

East Central Europe saw the creation of the first Slavic states and the adoption of Christianity (c. 1000 CE). The powerful West Slavic state of Great Moravia spread its territory all the way south to the Balkans, reaching its largest territorial extent under Svatopluk I and causing a series of armed conflicts with East Francia. Further south, the first South Slavic states emerged in the late 7th and 8th century and adopted Christianity: the First Bulgarian Empire, the Serbian Principality (later Kingdom and Empire), and the Duchy of Croatia (later Kingdom of Croatia). To the east, Kievan Rus' expanded from its capital in Kiev to become the largest state in Europe by the 10th century. In 988, Vladimir the Great adopted Orthodox Christianity as the religion of state. Further east, Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in the 10th century, but was eventually absorbed into Russia several centuries later.

High and Late Middle Ages

Main articles: High Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages, and Middle Ages See also: Medieval demography

The period between the year 1000 and 1250 is known as the High Middle Ages, followed by the Late Middle Ages until c. 1500.

During the High Middle Ages the population of Europe experienced significant growth, culminating in the Renaissance of the 12th century. Economic growth, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, made possible the development of major commercial routes along the coast of the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. The growing wealth and independence acquired by some coastal cities gave the Maritime Republics a leading role in the European scene.

The Middle Ages on the mainland were dominated by the two upper echelons of the social structure: the nobility and the clergy. Feudalism developed in France in the Early Middle Ages, and soon spread throughout Europe. A struggle for influence between the nobility and the monarchy in England led to the writing of Magna Carta and the establishment of a parliament. The primary source of culture in this period came from the Roman Catholic Church. Through monasteries and cathedral schools, the Church was responsible for education in much of Europe.

The Papacy reached the height of its power during the High Middle Ages. An East-West Schism in 1054 split the former Roman Empire religiously, with the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Catholic Church in the former Western Roman Empire. In 1095 Pope Urban II called for a crusade against Muslims occupying Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In Europe itself, the Church organised the Inquisition against heretics. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Reconquista concluded with the fall of Granada in 1492, ending over seven centuries of Islamic rule in the south-western peninsula.

In the east, a resurgent Byzantine Empire recaptured Crete and Cyprus from the Muslims, and reconquered the Balkans. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th to the 12th centuries, with a population of approximately 400,000. The Empire was weakened following the defeat at Manzikert, and was weakened considerably by the sack of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade. Although it would recover Constantinople in 1261, Byzantium fell in 1453 when Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Empire.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the Pechenegs and the Cuman-Kipchaks, caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, and temporarily halted the expansion of the Rus' state to the south and east. Like many other parts of Eurasia, these territories were overrun by the Mongols. The invaders, who became known as Tatars, were mostly Turkic-speaking peoples under Mongol suzerainty. They established the state of the Golden Horde with headquarters in Crimea, which later adopted Islam as a religion, and ruled over modern-day southern and central Russia for more than three centuries. After the collapse of Mongol dominions, the first Romanian states (principalities) emerged in the 14th century: Moldavia and Walachia. Previously, these territories were under the successive control of Pechenegs and Cumans. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Moscow grew from a small principality under Mongol rule to the largest state in Europe, overthrowing the Mongols in 1480, and eventually becoming the Tsardom of Russia. The state was consolidated under Ivan III the Great and Ivan the Terrible, steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries.

The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was the first crisis that would strike Europe in the late Middle Ages. The period between 1348 and 1420 witnessed the heaviest loss. The population of France was reduced by half. Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines, and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period. Europe was devastated in the mid-14th century by the Black Death, one of the most deadly pandemics in human history which killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe alone—a third of the European population at the time.

The plague had a devastating effect on Europe's social structure; it induced people to live for the moment as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353). It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church and led to increased persecution of Jews, beggars and lepers. The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until the 18th century. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe.

Early modern period

Main article: Early modern period See also: Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Age of Discovery

The Renaissance was a period of cultural change originating in Florence, and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The rise of a new humanism was accompanied by the recovery of forgotten classical Greek and Arabic knowledge from monastic libraries, often translated from Arabic into Latin. The Renaissance spread across Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries: it saw the flowering of art, philosophy, music, and the sciences, under the joint patronage of royalty, the nobility, the Catholic Church and an emerging merchant class. Patrons in Italy, including the Medici family of Florentine bankers and the popes in Rome, funded prolific quattrocento and cinquecento artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Political intrigue within the Church in the mid-14th century caused the Western Schism. During this 40-year period, two popes—one in Avignon and one in Rome—claimed rulership over the Church. Although the schism was eventually healed in 1417, the papacy's spiritual authority had suffered greatly. In the 15th century, Europe started to extend itself beyond its geographic frontiers. Spain and Portugal, the greatest naval powers of the time, took the lead in exploring the world. Exploration reached the Southern Hemisphere in the Atlantic and the southern tip of Africa. Christopher Columbus reached the New World in 1492, and Vasco da Gama opened the ocean route to the East, linking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in 1498. The Portuguese-born explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached Asia westward across the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans in a Spanish expedition, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the globe, completed by the Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano (1519–1522). Soon after, the Spanish and Portuguese began establishing large global empires in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. France, the Netherlands and England soon followed in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas and Asia. In 1588, the Spanish Armada failed to invade England. A year later, England tried unsuccessfully to invade Spain, allowing Philip II of Spain to maintain his dominant war capacity in Europe. This English disaster also allowed the Spanish fleet to retain its capability to wage war for the next decades. However, two more Spanish armadas failed to invade England (2nd Spanish Armada and 3rd Spanish Armada).

The Church's power was further weakened by the Reformation, which began in 1517 when German theologian Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses criticising the selling of indulgences to the church door. He was subsequently excommunicated in the papal bull Exsurge Domine in 1520 and his followers were condemned in the 1521 Diet of Worms, which divided German princes between Protestant and Catholic faiths. Religious fighting and warfare spread with Protestantism. The plunder of the empires of the Americas allowed Spain to finance religious persecution in Europe for over a century. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) crippled the Holy Roman Empire and devastated much of Germany, killing between 25 and 40 percent of its population. In the aftermath of the Peace of Westphalia, France rose to predominance within Europe. The defeat of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 marked the historic end of Ottoman expansion into Europe.

In much of Central and Eastern Europe, the 17th century was a period of general decline; the region experienced more than 150 famines in a 200-year period between 1501 and 1700. From the Union of Krewo (1385) east-central Europe was dominated by the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The hegemony of the vast Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had ended with the devastation brought by the Northern War of 1655–1660 (Deluge) and subsequent conflicts; the state itself was partitioned and ceased to exist at the end of the 18th century.

From the 15th to 18th centuries, when the disintegrating khanates of the Golden Horde were conquered by Russia, Tatars from the Crimean Khanate frequently raided Eastern Slavic lands to capture slaves. Further east, the Nogai Horde and Kazakh Khanate frequently raided the Slavic-speaking areas of contemporary Russia and Ukraine for hundreds of years, until the Russian expansion and conquest of most of northern Eurasia (i.e. Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia).

The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of an Age of Discovery, a period of exploration, invention and scientific development. Important figures of the Scientific Revolution during the 16th and 17th centuries included Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Isaac Newton. According to Peter Barrett, "It is widely accepted that 'modern science' arose in the Europe of the 17th century (towards the end of the Renaissance), introducing a new understanding of the natural world."

18th and 19th centuries

Main article: Modern history See also: Industrial Revolution, French Revolution, and Age of Enlightenment

The Seven Years' War brought to an end the "Old System" of alliances in Europe. Consequently, when the American Revolutionary War turned into a global war between 1778 and 1783, Britain found itself opposed by a strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.

The Age of Enlightenment was a powerful intellectual movement during the 18th century promoting scientific and reason-based thoughts. Discontent with the aristocracy and clergy's monopoly on political power in France resulted in the French Revolution, and the establishment of the First Republic as a result of which the monarchy and many of the nobility perished during the initial reign of terror. Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and established the First French Empire that, during the Napoleonic Wars, grew to encompass large parts of Europe before collapsing in 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleonic rule resulted in the further dissemination of the ideals of the French Revolution, including that of the nation state, as well as the widespread adoption of the French models of administration, law and education. The Congress of Vienna, convened after Napoleon's downfall, established a new balance of power in Europe centred on the five "great powers": the UK, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. This balance would remain in place until the Revolutions of 1848, during which liberal uprisings affected all of Europe except for Russia and the UK. These revolutions were eventually put down by conservative elements and few reforms resulted. The year 1859 saw the unification of Romania, as a nation state, from smaller principalities. In 1867, the Austro-Hungarian empire was formed; 1871 saw the unifications of both Italy and Germany as nation-states from smaller principalities.

In parallel, the Eastern Question grew more complex ever since the Ottoman defeat in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). As the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire seemed imminent, the Great Powers struggled to safeguard their strategic and commercial interests in the Ottoman domains. The Russian Empire stood to benefit from the decline, whereas the Habsburg Empire and Britain perceived the preservation of the Ottoman Empire to be in their best interests. Meanwhile, the Serbian Revolution (1804) and Greek War of Independence (1821) marked the beginning of the end of Ottoman rule in the Balkans, which ended with the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913. Formal recognition of the de facto independent principalities of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania ensued at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain in the last part of the 18th century and spread throughout Europe. The invention and implementation of new technologies resulted in rapid urban growth, mass employment and the rise of a new working class. Reforms in social and economic spheres followed, including the first laws on child labour, the legalisation of trade unions, and the abolition of slavery. In Britain, the Public Health Act of 1875 was passed, which significantly improved living conditions in many British cities. Europe's population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million by 1900. The last major famine recorded in Western Europe, the Great Famine of Ireland, caused death and mass emigration of millions of Irish people. In the 19th century, 70 million people left Europe in migrations to various European colonies abroad and to the United States. The industrial revolution also led to large population growth, and the share of the world population living in Europe reached a peak of slightly above 25% around the year 1913.

20th century to the present

Main articles: Modern era and History of Europe See also: World War I, Great Depression, Interwar period, Second World War, Cold War, and History of the European Union

Two world wars and an economic depression dominated the first half of the 20th century. The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918. It started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by the Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Most European nations were drawn into the war, which was fought between the Entente Powers (France, Belgium, Serbia, Portugal, Russia, the United Kingdom, and later Italy, Greece, Romania, and the United States) and the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire). The war left more than 16 million civilians and military dead. Over 60 million European soldiers were mobilised from 1914 to 1918.

Russia was plunged into the Russian Revolution, which threw down the Tsarist monarchy and replaced it with the communist Soviet Union, leading also to the independence of many former Russian governorates, such as Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as new European countries. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire collapsed and broke up into separate nations, and many other nations had their borders redrawn. The Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the First World War in 1919, was harsh towards Germany, upon whom it placed full responsibility for the war and imposed heavy sanctions. Excess deaths in Russia over the course of the First World War and the Russian Civil War (including the postwar famine) amounted to a combined total of 18 million. In 1932–1933, under Stalin's leadership, confiscations of grain by the Soviet authorities contributed to the second Soviet famine which caused millions of deaths; surviving kulaks were persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labour. Stalin was also responsible for the Great Purge of 1937–38 in which the NKVD executed 681,692 people; millions of people were deported and exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

The social revolutions sweeping through Russia also affected other European nations following The Great War: in 1919, with the Weimar Republic in Germany and the First Austrian Republic; in 1922, with Mussolini's one-party fascist government in the Kingdom of Italy and in Atatürk's Turkish Republic, adopting the Western alphabet and state secularism. Economic instability, caused in part by debts incurred in the First World War and 'loans' to Germany played havoc in Europe in the late 1920s and 1930s. This, and the Wall Street Crash of 1929, brought about the worldwide Great Depression. Helped by the economic crisis, social instability and the threat of communism, fascist movements developed throughout Europe placing Adolf Hitler in power of what became Nazi Germany.

In 1933, Hitler became the leader of Germany and began to work towards his goal of building Greater Germany. Germany re-expanded and took back the Saarland and Rhineland in 1935 and 1936. In 1938, Austria became a part of Germany following the Anschluss. Following the Munich Agreement signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, later in 1938 Germany annexed the Sudetenland, which was a part of Czechoslovakia inhabited by ethnic Germans. In early 1939, the remainder of Czechoslovakia was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, controlled by Germany and the Slovak Republic. At the time, the United Kingdom and France preferred a policy of appeasement.

With tensions mounting between Germany and Poland over the future of Danzig, the Germans turned to the Soviets and signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which allowed the Soviets to invade the Baltic states and parts of Poland and Romania. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, prompting France and the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany on 3 September, opening the European Theatre of the Second World War. The Soviet invasion of Poland started on 17 September and Poland fell soon thereafter. On 24 September, the Soviet Union attacked the Baltic countries and, on 30 November, Finland, the latter of which was followed by the devastating Winter War for the Red Army. The British hoped to land at Narvik and send troops to aid Finland, but their primary objective in the landing was to encircle Germany and cut the Germans off from Scandinavian resources. Around the same time, Germany moved troops into Denmark. The Phoney War continued.

In May 1940, Germany attacked France through the Low Countries. France capitulated in June 1940. By August, Germany had begun a bombing offensive against the United Kingdom but failed to convince the Britons to give up. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. On 7 December 1941 Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor drew the United States into the conflict as allies of the British Empire, and other allied forces.

After the staggering Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, the German offensive in the Soviet Union turned into a continual fallback. The Battle of Kursk, which involved the largest tank battle in history, was the last major German offensive on the Eastern Front. In June 1944, British and American forces invaded France in the D-Day landings, opening a new front against Germany. Berlin finally fell in 1945, ending the Second World War in Europe. The war was the largest and most destructive in human history, with 60 million dead across the world. More than 40 million people in Europe had died as a result of the Second World War, including between 11 and 17 million people who perished during the Holocaust. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people (mostly civilians) during the war, about half of all Second World War casualties. By the end of the Second World War, Europe had more than 40 million refugees. Several post-war expulsions in Central and Eastern Europe displaced a total of about 20 million people.

The First World War, and especially the Second World War, diminished the eminence of Western Europe in world affairs. After the Second World War the map of Europe was redrawn at the Yalta Conference and divided into two blocs, the Western countries and the communist Eastern bloc, separated by what was later called by Winston Churchill an "Iron Curtain". The United States and Western Europe established the NATO alliance and, later, the Soviet Union and Central Europe established the Warsaw Pact. Particular hot spots after the Second World War were Berlin and Trieste, whereby the Free Territory of Trieste, founded in 1947 with the UN, was dissolved in 1954 and 1975, respectively. The Berlin blockade in 1948 and 1949 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 were one of the great international crises of the Cold War.

The two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, became locked in a fifty-year-long Cold War, centred on nuclear proliferation. At the same time decolonisation, which had already started after the First World War, gradually resulted in the independence of most of the European colonies in Asia and Africa.

In the 1980s the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev and the Solidarity movement in Poland weakened the previously rigid communist system. The opening of the Iron Curtain at the Pan-European Picnic then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which the Eastern bloc, the Warsaw Pact and other communist states collapsed, and the Cold War ended. Germany was reunited, after the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the maps of Central and Eastern Europe were redrawn once more. This made old previously interrupted cultural and economic relationships possible, and previously isolated cities such as Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Trieste were now again in the centre of Europe.

European integration also grew after the Second World War. In 1949 the Council of Europe was founded, following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill, with the idea of unifying Europe to achieve common goals. It includes all European states except for Belarus, Russia, and Vatican City. The Treaty of Rome in 1957 established the European Economic Community between six Western European states with the goal of a unified economic policy and common market. In 1967 the EEC, European Coal and Steel Community, and Euratom formed the European Community, which in 1993 became the European Union. The EU established a parliament, court and central bank, and introduced the euro as a unified currency. Between 2004 and 2013, more Central European countries began joining, expanding the EU to 28 European countries and once more making Europe a major economical and political centre of power. However, the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020, as a result of a June 2016 referendum on EU membership. The Russo-Ukrainian conflict, which has been ongoing since 2014, steeply escalated when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, marking the largest humanitarian and refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War and the Yugoslav Wars.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Europe

Europe makes up the western fifth of the Eurasian landmass. It has a higher ratio of coast to landmass than any other continent or subcontinent. Its maritime borders consist of the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas to the south. Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions 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 the islands of Britain and Ireland, and then continues along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Subregions such as the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula 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 that 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.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Europe

Europe lies mainly in the temperate climate zone of the northern hemisphere, where the prevailing wind direction is from the west. The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, an ocean current which carries warm water from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream not only carries warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.

Therefore, the average temperature throughout the year of Aveiro is 16 °C (61 °F), while it is only 13 °C (55 °F) in New York City which is almost on the same latitude, bordering the same ocean. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in far south-eastern Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around 8 °C (14 °F) higher than those in Calgary and they are almost 22 °C (40 °F) higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk.

The large water masses of the Mediterranean Sea, which equalise the temperatures on an annual and daily average, are also of particular importance. The water of the Mediterranean extends from the Sahara desert to the Alpine arc in its northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea near Trieste.

In general, Europe is not just colder towards the north compared to the south, but it also gets colder from the west towards the east. The climate is more oceanic in the west and less so in the east. This can be illustrated by the following table of average temperatures at locations roughly following the 64th, 60th, 55th, 50th, 45th and 40th latitudes. None of them is located at high altitude; most of them are close to the sea.

Temperatures in °C

Location	Latitude	Longitude	Coldest month	Hottest month	Annual average
Reykjavík	64 N	22 W	0.1	11.2	4.7
Umeå	64 N	20 E	−6.2	16.0	3.9
Oulu	65 N	25.5 E	−9.6	16.5	2.7
Arkhangelsk	64.5 N	40.5 E	−12.7	16.3	1.3
Lerwick	60 N	1 W	3.5	12.4	7.4
Stockholm	59.5 N	19 E	−1.7	18.4	7.4
Helsinki	60 N	25 E	−4.7	17.8	5.9
Saint Petersburg	60 N	30 E	−5.8	18.8	5.8
Edinburgh	55.5 N	3 W	4.2	15.3	9.3
Copenhagen	55.5 N	12 E	1.4	18.1	9.1
Klaipėda	55.5 N	21 E	−1.3	17.9	8.0
Moscow	55.5 N	30 E	−6.5	19.2	5.8
Isles of Scilly	50 N	6 W	7.9	16.9	11.8
Brussels	50.5 N	4 E	3.3	18.4	10.5
Kraków	50 N	20 E	−2.0	19.2	8.7
Kyiv	50.5 N	30 E	−3.5	20.5	8.4
Bordeaux	45 N	0	6.6	21.4	13.8
Venice	45.5 N	12 E	3.3	23.0	13.0
Belgrade	45 N	20 E	1.4	23.0	12.5
Astrakhan	46 N	48 E	−3.7	25.6	10.5
Coimbra	40 N	8 W	9.9	21.9	16.0
Valencia	39.5 N	0	11.9	26.1	18.3
Naples	40.5 N	14 E	8.7	24.9	15.9
Istanbul	41 N	29 E	5.5	23.4	13.9

It is notable how the average temperatures for the coldest month, as well as the annual average temperatures, drop from the west to the east. For instance, Edinburgh is warmer than Belgrade during the coldest month of the year, although Belgrade is around 10° of latitude farther south.

Climate change

This section is an excerpt from Climate change in Europe.

Climate change has resulted in an increase in temperature of 2.3 °C (4.14 °F) (2022) in Europe compared to pre-industrial levels. Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world. Europe's climate is getting warmer due to anthropogenic activity. According to international climate experts, global temperature rise should not exceed 2 °C to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change; without reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, this could happen before 2050. Climate change has implications for all regions of Europe, with the extent and nature of impacts varying across the continent. Impacts on European countries include warmer weather and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather such as heat waves, bringing health risks and impacts on ecosystems. European countries are major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, although the European Union and governments of several countries have outlined plans to implement climate change mitigation and an energy transition in the 21st century, the European Green Deal being one of these. The European Union commissioner of climate action is Frans Timmermans since 1 December 2019.

Geology

Main articles: Geology of Europe and Geological history of Europe

The geological history of Europe traces back to the formation of the Baltic Shield (Fennoscandia) and the Sarmatian craton, both around 2.25 billion years ago, followed by the Volgo–Uralia shield, the three together leading to the East European craton (≈ Baltica) which became a part of the supercontinent Columbia. Around 1.1 billion years ago, Baltica and Arctica (as part of the Laurentia block) became joined to Rodinia, later resplitting around 550 million years ago to reform as Baltica. Around 440 million years ago Euramerica was formed from Baltica and Laurentia; a further joining with Gondwana then leading to the formation of Pangea. Around 190 million years ago, Gondwana and Laurasia split apart due to the widening of the Atlantic Ocean. Finally and very soon afterwards, Laurasia itself split up again, into Laurentia (North America) and the Eurasian continent. The land connection between the two persisted for a considerable time, via Greenland, leading to interchange of animal species. From around 50 million years ago, rising and falling sea levels have determined the actual shape of Europe and its connections with continents such as Asia. Europe's present shape dates to the late Tertiary period about five million years ago.

The geology of Europe is hugely varied and complex and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent, from the Scottish Highlands to the rolling plains of Hungary. Europe's most significant feature is the dichotomy between highland and mountainous Southern Europe and a vast, partially underwater, northern plain ranging from Ireland in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east. These two halves are separated by the mountain chains of the Pyrenees and Alps/Carpathians. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the Scandinavian Mountains and the mountainous parts of the British Isles. Major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the Celtic Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea complex and Barents Sea.

The northern plain contains the old geological continent of Baltica and so may be regarded geologically as the "main continent", while peripheral highlands and mountainous regions in the south and west constitute fragments from various other geological continents. Most of the older geology of western Europe existed as part of the ancient microcontinent Avalonia.

Flora

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 humans. With the exception of Fennoscandia 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 mixed forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe has a warm but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these, such as the Alps and the 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 the 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 preagricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems.

Possibly 80 to 90 percent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Although 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 broadleaf and mixed forests, 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, while in its Western Russia its 5–10%. The European country with the smallest percentage of forested area is Iceland (1%), while the most forested country is Finland (77%).

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 westwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.

Fauna

Main article: Fauna of Europe

Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of humans 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 and hunting 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 Central and Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, with a handful of packs in pockets of Western Europe (Scandinavia, Spain, etc.).

Other carnivores include the European wildcat, red fox and arctic fox, the golden jackal, different species of martens, the European hedgehog, different species of reptiles (like snakes such as vipers and grass snakes) and amphibians, as well as different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey).

Important European herbivores are snails, larvae, fish, different birds and mammals, like rodents, deer and roe deer, boars and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamois among others. A number of insects, such as the small tortoiseshell butterfly, add to the biodiversity.

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.

Biodiversity is protected in Europe through the Council of Europe's Bern Convention, which has also been signed by the European Community as well as non-European states.

Politics

Main articles: Politics of Europe and Democracy in Europe See also: List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, International organisations in Europe, Regions of Europe, and European integration

An Euler diagram showing the relationships between various multinational European organisations and agreements

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The political map of Europe is substantially derived from the re-organisation of Europe following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. The prevalent form of government in Europe is parliamentary democracy, in most cases in the form of republic; in 1815, the prevalent form of government was still the monarchy. Europe's remaining eleven monarchies are constitutional.

European integration is the process of political, legal, economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states as it has been pursued by the powers sponsoring the Council of Europe since the end of the Second World War. The European Union has been the focus of economic integration on the continent since its foundation in 1993. More recently, the Eurasian Economic Union has been established as a counterpart comprising former Soviet states.

27 European states are members of the politico-economic European Union, 26 of the border-free Schengen Area and 20 of the monetary union Eurozone. Among the smaller European organisations are the Nordic Council, the Benelux, the Baltic Assembly, and the Visegrád Group.

The least democratic countries in Europe are Belarus, Russia, and Turkey in 2024 according to the V-Dem Democracy indices.

List of states and territories

Main articles: List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe and Area and population of European countries

This list includes all internationally recognised sovereign countries falling even partially under any common geographical or political definitions of Europe.

*	= Member state of the EU

Arms	Flag	Name	Area (km)	Population	Population density (per km)	Capital	Name(s) in official language(s)
		Albania	28,748	2,876,591	98.5	Tirana	Shqipëria
		Andorra	468	77,281	179.8	Andorra la Vella	Andorra
		Armenia	29,743	2,924,816	101.5	Yerevan	Հայաստան (Hayastan)
		Austria*	83,858	8,823,054	104	Vienna	Österreich
		Azerbaijan	86,600	9,911,646	113	Baku	Azərbaycan
		Belarus	207,560	9,504,700	45.8	Minsk	Беларусь (Belaruś)
		Belgium*	30,528	11,358,357	372.06	Brussels	België/Belgique/Belgien
		Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,129	3,531,159	68.97	Sarajevo	Bosna i Hercegovina/Боснa и Херцеговина
		Bulgaria*	110,910	7,101,859	64.9	Sofia	България (Bǎlgariya)
		Croatia*	56,594	3,871,833	68.4	Zagreb	Hrvatska
		Cyprus*	9,251	1,170,125	123.4	Nicosia	Κύπρος (Kýpros)/Kıbrıs
		Czech Republic*	78,866	10,610,947	134	Prague	Česko
		Denmark*	43,094	5,748,796	133.9	Copenhagen	Danmark
		Estonia*	45,226	1,328,439	30.5	Tallinn	Eesti
		Finland*	338,455	5,509,717	16	Helsinki	Suomi/Finland
		France*	547,030	67,348,000	116	Paris	France
		Georgia	69,700	3,718,200	53.5	Tbilisi	საქართველო (Sakartvelo)
		Germany*	357,168	82,800,000	232	Berlin	Deutschland
		Greece*	131,957	10,297,760	82	Athens	Ελλάδα (Elláda)
		Hungary*	93,030	9,797,561	105.3	Budapest	Magyarország
		Iceland	103,000	350,710	3.2	Reykjavík	Ísland
		Ireland*	70,280	4,761,865	67.7	Dublin	Éire/Ireland
		Italy*	301,338	58,968,501	195.7	Rome	Italia
		Kazakhstan	148,000	20,075,271	7	Astana	Қазақстан (Qazaqstan)
		Latvia*	64,589	1,862,700	29	Riga	Latvija
		Liechtenstein	160	38,111	227	Vaduz	Liechtenstein
		Lithuania*	65,300	2,800,667	45.8	Vilnius	Lietuva
		Luxembourg*	2,586	602,005	233.7	Luxembourg City	Lëtzebuerg/Luxemburg/Luxembourg
		Malta*	316	445,426	1,410	Valletta	Malta
		Moldova	33,846	3,434,547	101.5	Chișinău	Moldova
		Monaco	2.020	38,400	18,713	Monaco	Monaco
		Montenegro	13,812	642,550	45.0	Podgorica	Crna Gora/Црна Гора
		Netherlands*	41,543	17,271,990	414.9	Amsterdam	Nederland
		North Macedonia	25,713	2,103,721	80.1	Skopje	Северна Македонија (Severna Makedonija)
		Norway	385,203	5,295,619	15.8	Oslo	Norge/Noreg/Norga
		Poland*	312,685	38,422,346	123.5	Warsaw	Polska
		Portugal*	92,212	10,379,537	115	Lisbon	Portugal
		Romania*	238,397	18,999,642	84.4	Bucharest	România
		Russia	3,969,100	144,526,636	8.4	Moscow	Россия (Rossiya)
		San Marino	61.2	33,285	520	San Marino	San Marino
		Serbia	88,361	7,040,272	91.1	Belgrade	Srbija/Србија
		Slovakia*	49,035	5,435,343	111.0	Bratislava	Slovensko
		Slovenia*	20,273	2,066,880	101.8	Ljubljana	Slovenija
		Spain*	505,990	48,946,035	97	Madrid	España
		Sweden*	450,295	10,151,588	22.5	Stockholm	Sverige
		Switzerland	41,285	8,401,120	202	Bern	Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra
		Turkey	23,764	84,680,273	106.7	Ankara	Türkiye
		Ukraine	603,628	42,418,235	73.8	Kyiv	Україна (Ukraina)
		United Kingdom	244,820	66,040,229	270.7	London	United Kingdom
		Vatican City	0.44	1,000	2,272	Vatican City	Città del Vaticano/Civitas Vaticana
Total		50	10,180,000	743,000,000	73

Within the above-mentioned states are several de facto independent countries with limited to no international recognition. None of them are members of the UN:

Symbol	Flag	Name	Area (km)	Population	Population density (per km)	Capital
		Abkhazia	8,660	243,206	28	Sukhumi
		Kosovo	10,908	1,920,079	159	Pristina
		Northern Cyprus	3,355	313,626	93	Nicosia (northern part)
		South Ossetia	3,900	53,532	13.7	Tskhinvali
		Transnistria	4,163	475,665	114	Tiraspol

Several dependencies and similar territories with broad autonomy are also found within or close to Europe. This includes Åland (an autonomous county of Finland), two autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark (other than Denmark proper), three Crown Dependencies and two British Overseas Territories. Svalbard is also included due to its unique status within Norway, although it is not autonomous. Not included are the three countries of the United Kingdom with devolved powers and the two Autonomous Regions of Portugal, which despite having a unique degree of autonomy, are not largely self-governing in matters other than international affairs. Areas with little more than a unique tax status, such as the Canary Islands and Heligoland, are also not included for this reason.

*	= Part of the EU

Symbol	Flag	Name	Sovereign state	Area (km)	Population	Population density (per km)	Capital
		Akrotiri and Dhekelia	UK	255	7,700	30.2	Episkopi Cantonment
		Åland*	Finland	1,580	29,489	18.36	Mariehamn
		Bailiwick of Guernsey	UK	78	65,849	844.0	St. Peter Port
		Bailiwick of Jersey	UK	118.2	100,080	819	Saint Helier
		Faroe Islands	Denmark	1,399	50,778	35.2	Tórshavn
		Gibraltar	UK	6.7	32,194	4,328	Gibraltar
		Greenland	Denmark	2,166,086	55,877	0.028	Nuuk
		Isle of Man	UK	572	83,314	148	Douglas
		Svalbard	Norway	61,022	2,667	0.044	Longyearbyen

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Europe, List of sovereign states in Europe by GDP (nominal), and List of sovereign states in Europe by GDP (PPP)

As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth and it is the richest region as measured by assets under management with over $32.7 trillion compared to North America's $27.1 trillion in 2008. In 2009 Europe remained the wealthiest region. Its $37.1 trillion in assets under management represented one-third of the world's wealth. It was one of several regions where wealth surpassed its precrisis year-end peak. As with other continents, Europe has a large wealth gap among its countries. The richer states tend to be in the Northwest and West in general, followed by Central Europe, while most economies of Eastern and Southeastern Europe are still reemerging from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The model of the Blue Banana was designed as an economic geographic representation of the respective economic power of the regions, which was further developed into the Golden Banana or Blue Star. The trade between East and West, as well as towards Asia, which had been disrupted for a long time by the two world wars, new borders and the Cold War, increased sharply after 1989. In addition, there is new impetus from the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative across the Suez Canal towards Africa and Asia.

The European Union, a political entity composed of 27 European states, comprises the largest single economic area in the world. Nineteen EU countries share the euro as a common currency. Five European countries rank in the top ten of the world's largest national economies in GDP (PPP). This includes (ranks according to the CIA): Germany (6), Russia (7), the United Kingdom (10), France (11) and Italy (13).

Some European countries are much richer than others. The richest in terms of nominal GDP is Monaco with its US$185,829 per capita (2018) and the poorest is Ukraine with its US$3,659 per capita (2019).

As a whole, Europe's GDP per capita is US$21,767 according to a 2016 International Monetary Fund assessment.

Rank	Country	GDP (nominal, Peak Year) millions of USD	Peak Year
	European Union	19,403,162	2024
1	Germany	4,710,032	2024
2	United Kingdom	3,587,545	2024
3	France	3,174,099	2024
4	Italy	2,417,242	2008
5	Russia	2,292,470	2013
6	Spain	1,731,469	2024
7	Turkey	1,344,318	2024
8	Netherlands	1,218,401	2024
9	Switzerland	942,265	2024
10	Poland	862,908	2024

Rank	Country	GDP (PPP, Peak Year) millions of USD	Peak Year
	European Union	28,044,235	2024
1	Russia	6,909,381	2024
2	Germany	6,017,222	2024
3	France	4,359,372	2024
4	United Kingdom	4,282,173	2024
5	Turkey	3,767,230	2023
6	Italy	3,597,954	2024
7	Spain	2,665,230	2024
8	Poland	1,890,698	2024
9	Netherlands	1,460,530	2024
10	Romania	912,852	2023

Economic history

Industrial growth (1760–1945)

Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism. From Britain, it gradually spread throughout Europe. The Industrial Revolution started in Europe, specifically the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, and the 19th century saw Western Europe industrialise. Economies were disrupted by the First World War, but by the beginning of the Second World War, they had recovered and were having to compete with the growing economic strength of the United States. The Second World War, again, damaged much of Europe's industries.

Cold War (1945–1991)

After the Second World War the economy of the UK was in a state of ruin, and continued to suffer relative economic decline in the following decades. Italy was also in a poor economic condition but regained a high level of growth by the 1950s. West Germany recovered quickly and had doubled production from pre-war levels by the 1950s. France also staged a remarkable comeback enjoying rapid growth and modernisation; later on Spain, under the leadership of Franco, also recovered and the nation recorded huge unprecedented economic growth beginning in the 1960s in what is called the Spanish miracle. The majority of Central and Eastern European states came under the control of the Soviet Union and thus were members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).

The states which retained a free-market system were given a large amount of aid by the United States under the Marshall Plan. The western states moved to link their economies together, providing the basis for the EU and increasing cross border trade. This helped them to enjoy rapidly improving economies, while those states in COMECON were struggling in a large part due to the cost of the Cold War. Until 1990, the European Community was expanded from 6 founding members to 12. The emphasis placed on resurrecting the West German economy led to it overtaking the UK as Europe's largest economy.

Reunification (1991–present)

With the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1991, the post-socialist states underwent shock therapy measures to liberalise their economies and implement free market reforms.

After East and West Germany were reunited in 1990, the economy of West Germany struggled as it had to support and largely rebuild the infrastructure of East Germany, while the latter experienced sudden mass unemployment and plummeting of industrial production.

By the millennium change, the EU dominated the economy of Europe, comprising the five largest European economies of the time: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. In 1999, 12 of the 15 members of the EU joined the Eurozone, replacing their national currencies by the euro.

Figures released by Eurostat in 2009 confirmed that the Eurozone had gone into recession in 2008. It impacted much of the region. In 2010, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed concerning some countries in Europe, especially Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. As a result, measures were taken, especially for Greece, by the leading countries of the Eurozone. The EU-27 unemployment rate was 10.3% in 2012. For those aged 15–24 it was 22.4%.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Europe See also: List of European countries by population, List of European countries by life expectancy, and Ageing of Europe

The population of Europe was about 742 million in 2023 according to UN estimates. This is slightly more than one ninth of the world's population. The population density of Europe (the number of people per area) is the second highest of any continent, behind Asia. The population of Europe is currently slowly decreasing, by about 0.2% per year, because there are fewer births than deaths. This natural decrease in population is reduced by the fact that more people migrate to Europe from other continents than vice versa.

Southern Europe and Western Europe are the regions with the highest average number of elderly people in the world. In 2021, the percentage of people over 65 years old was 21% in Western Europe and Southern Europe, compared to 19% in all of Europe and 10% in the world. Projections suggest that by 2050 Europe will reach 30%. This is caused by the fact that the population has been having children below replacement level since the 1970s. The United Nations predicts that Europe will decline in population between 2022 and 2050 by −7 per cent, without changing immigration movements.

According to a population projection of the UN Population Division, Europe's population may fall to between 680 and 720 million people by 2050, which would be 7% of the world population at that time. Within this context, significant disparities exist between regions in relation to fertility rates. The average number of children per female of child-bearing age is 1.52, far below the replacement rate. The UN predicts a steady population decline in Central and Eastern Europe as a result of emigration and low birth rates.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Europe Further information: Genetic history of Europe

Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ethnic minorities.

Migration

Main articles: Immigration to Europe and European diaspora

Europe is home to the highest number of migrants of all global regions at nearly 87 million people in 2020, according to the International Organisation for Migration. In 2005, the EU had an overall net gain from immigration of 1.8 million people. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth. In 2021, 827,000 persons were given citizenship of an EU member state, an increase of about 14% compared with 2020. 2.3 million immigrants from non-EU countries entered the EU in 2021.

Early modern emigration from Europe began with Spanish and Portuguese settlers in the 16th century, and French and English settlers in the 17th century. But numbers remained relatively small until waves of mass emigration in the 19th century, when millions of poor families left Europe.

Today, large populations of European descent are found on every continent. European ancestry predominates in North America and to a lesser degree in South America (particularly in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, while most of the other Latin American countries also have a considerable population of European origins). Australia and New Zealand have large European-derived populations. Africa has no countries with European-derived majorities (or with the exception of Cape Verde and probably São Tomé and Príncipe, depending on context), but there are significant minorities, such as the White South Africans in South Africa. In Asia, European-derived populations, specifically Russians, predominate in North Asia and some parts of Northern Kazakhstan. Also in Asia, Europeans, especially the Spanish are an influential minority population in the Philippines.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Europe

See also: List of European languages by number of speakers

Europe has about 225 indigenous languages, mostly falling within three Indo-European language groups: the Romance languages, derived from the Latin of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages, whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; and the Slavic languages. Slavic languages are mostly spoken in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. Romance languages are spoken primarily in Western and Southern Europe, as well as in Switzerland in Central Europe and Romania and Moldova in Eastern Europe. Germanic languages are spoken in Western, Northern and Central Europe as well as in Gibraltar and Malta in Southern Europe. Languages in adjacent areas show significant overlaps (such as in English, for example). Other Indo-European languages outside the three main groups include the Baltic group (Latvian and Lithuanian), the Celtic group (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton), Greek, Armenian and Albanian.

A distinct non-Indo-European family of Uralic languages (Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Erzya, Komi, Mari, Moksha and Udmurt) is spoken mainly in Estonia, Finland, Hungary and parts of Russia. Turkic languages include Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Turkish, in addition to smaller languages in Eastern and Southeast Europe (Balkan Gagauz Turkish, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Nogai and Tatar). Kartvelian languages (Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan) are spoken primarily in Georgia. Two other language families reside in the North Caucasus (termed Northeast Caucasian, most notably including Chechen, Avar and Lezgin; and Northwest Caucasian, most notably including Adyghe). Maltese is the only Semitic language that is official within the EU, while Basque is the only European language isolate.

Multilingualism and the protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Europe today. The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Europe

Religion in Europe according to the Global Religious Landscape survey by the Pew Forum, 2016

  Christianity (76.2%)  No religion (18.3%)  Islam (4.9%)  Buddhism (0.2%)  Hinduism (0.2%)  Folk religion (0.1%)  Other religions (0.1%)

The largest religion in Europe is Christianity, with 76.2% of Europeans considering themselves Christians, including Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and various Protestant denominations. Among Protestants, the most popular are Lutheranism, Anglicanism and the Reformed faith. Smaller Protestant denominations include Anabaptists as well as denominations centred in the United States such as Pentecostalism, Methodism, and Evangelicalism. Although Christianity originated in the Middle East, its centre of mass shifted to Europe when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the late 4th century. Christianity played a prominent role in the development of the European culture and identity. Today, just over 25% of the world's Christians live in Europe.

Islam is the second most popular religion in Europe. Over 25 million, or roughly 5% of the population, adhere to it. In Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, two countries in the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe, Islam instead of Christianity is the majority religion. This is also the case in Turkey and in certain parts of Russia, as well as in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, all of which are at the border to Asia. Many countries in Europe are home to a sizeable Muslim minority, and immigration to Europe has increased the number of Muslim people in Europe in recent years.

The Jewish population in Europe was about 1.4 million people in 2020 (about 0.2% of the population). There is a long history of Jewish life in Europe, beginning in antiquity. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian Empire had the majority of the world's Jews living within its borders. In 1897, according to Russian census of 1897, the total Jewish population of Russia was 5.1 million people, which was 4.13% of total population. Of this total, the vast majority lived within the Pale of Settlement. In 1933, there were about 9.5 million Jewish people in Europe, representing 1.7% of the population, but most were killed, and most of the rest displaced, during The Holocaust. In the 21st century, France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia.

Other religions practiced in Europe include Hinduism and Buddhism, which are minority religions, except in Russia's Republic of Kalmykia, where Tibetan Buddhism is the majority religion.

A large and increasing number of people in Europe are irreligious, atheist and agnostic. They are estimated to make up about 18.3% of Europe's population currently.

Major cities and urban areas

Further information: List of European cities by population within city limits

The three largest urban areas of Europe are Moscow, London and Paris. All have over 10 million residents, and as such have been described as megacities. While Istanbul has the highest total city population, it lies partly in Asia. 64.9% of the residents live on the European side and 35.1% on the Asian side. The next largest cities in order of population are Madrid, Saint Petersburg, Milan, Barcelona, Berlin, and Rome each having over three million residents.

When considering the commuter belts or metropolitan areas within Europe (for which comparable data is available), Moscow covers the largest population, followed in order by Istanbul, London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Ruhr Area, Saint Petersburg, Rhein-Süd, Barcelona and Berlin.

European megacitiesMoscowLondonParisIstanbul

Culture

Main article: Culture of Europe Further information: European folklore and European art

"Europe" as a cultural concept is substantially derived from the shared heritage of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire and its cultures. The boundaries of Europe were historically understood as those of Christendom (or more specifically Latin Christendom), as established or defended throughout the medieval and early modern history of Europe, especially against Islam, as in the Reconquista and the Ottoman wars in Europe.

This shared cultural heritage is combined by overlapping indigenous national cultures and folklores, roughly divided into Slavic, Latin (Romance) and Germanic, but with several components not part of either of these groups (notably Greek, Basque and Celtic). Historically, special examples with overlapping cultures are Strasbourg with Latin (Romance) and Germanic, or Trieste with Latin, Slavic and Germanic roots. Cultural contacts and mixtures shape a large part of the regional cultures of Europe. Europe is often described as "maximum cultural diversity with minimal geographical distances".

Different cultural events are organised in Europe, with the aim of bringing different cultures closer together and raising awareness of their importance, such as the European Capital of Culture, the European Region of Gastronomy, the European Youth Capital and the European Capital of Sport.

Sport

Main article: Sport in Europe

Sport in Europe tends to be highly organised with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.

Social dimension

In Europe many people are unable to access basic social conditions, which makes it harder for them to thrive and flourish. Access to basic necessities can be compromised, for example 10% of Europeans spend at least 40% of household income on housing. 75 million Europeans feel socially isolated. From the 1980s income inequality has been rising and wage shares have been falling. In 2016, the richest 20% of households earned over five times more than the poorest 20%. Many workers experience stagnant real wages and precarious work is common even for essential workers.

See also

• Early modern Europe
• Eurodistrict
• European Games
• European Union as a potential superpower
• Euroregion
• Financial and social rankings of sovereign states in Europe
• Flags of Europe
• Healthcare in Europe
• List of sovereign states in Europe by GDP (nominal)
• List of European television stations
• List of names of European cities in different languages
• List of villages in Europe
• Lists of cities in Europe
• Modernity
• OSCE countries statistics
• Pan-European identity
• Transport in Europe

Notes

1. ^ Transnistria, internationally recognised as being a legal part of the Republic of Moldova, although de facto control is exercised by its internationally unrecognised government which declared independence from Moldova in 1990
2. Russia is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives within its European part. However, only the population figure includes the entire state.
3. ^ Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Jersey are Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom. Other Channel Islands legislated by the Bailiwick of Guernsey include Alderney and Sark.
4. ^ Cyprus can be considered part of Europe or West Asia; it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures refer to the entire state, including the de facto independent part Northern Cyprus which is not recognised as a sovereign nation by the vast majority of sovereign nations, nor the UN.
5. Figures for Portugal include the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, both in the North Atlantic.
6. Area figure for Serbia includes Kosovo, a province that unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and whose sovereign status is unclear. Population and density figures are from the first results of 2011 census and are given without the disputed territory of Kosovo.
7. Figures for France include only metropolitan France: some politically integral parts of France are geographically located outside Europe.
8. Netherlands population for November 2014. Population and area details include European portion only: Netherlands and three entities outside Europe (Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten, in the Caribbean) constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is the official capital, while The Hague is the administrative seat.
9. Kazakhstan is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in Central Asia (UN region), partly in Eastern Europe, with European territory west of the Ural Mountains and Ural River. However, only the population figure refers to the entire country.
10. Armenia can be considered part of Eastern Europe or West Asia; it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures include the entire state, respectively.
11. Azerbaijan is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in Western Asia. A small portion of its territory is located north of Greater Caucasus, considered part of Eastern Europe. However the population and area figures are for the entire state. This includes the exclave of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the region Nagorno-Karabakh.
12. Georgia can be considered part of Eastern Europe or West Asia; it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures include Georgian estimates for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions that have declared and de facto achieved independence. International recognition, however, is limited.
13. Turkey is physiographically considered a transcontinental country, mostly in West Asia (the Middle East). Turkey has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called East Thrace. However, only the population figure includes the entire state.
14. ^ The total figures for area and population include only European portions of transcontinental countries. The precision of these figures is compromised by the ambiguous geographical extent of Europe and the lack of references for European portions of transcontinental countries.
15. Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. Its sovereign status is unclear. Its population is July 2009 CIA estimate.
16. ^ Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which can be considered part of Eastern Europe or West Asia unilaterally declared their independence from Georgia on 25 August 1990 and 28 November 1991, respectively. Their status as sovereign nations is not recognised by a vast majority of sovereign nations, nor the UN. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates, respectively.
17. Nagorno-Karabakh, which can be considered part of Eastern Europe or West Asia, unilaterally declared its independence from Azerbaijan on 6 January 1992. Its status as a sovereign nation is not recognised by any sovereign nation, nor the UN. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates, respectively.
18. Greenland, an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm, is geographically a part of the continent of North America, but has been politically and culturally associated with Europe.
19. ^ The Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic are internationally recognised as being a legal part of Ukraine, although de facto control is exercised by governments which declared independence from Ukraine in 2014.
20. Europe is normally considered its own continent in the English-speaking world, which uses the seven continent model. Other models consider Europe as part of a Eurasian or Afro-Eurasian continent. See Continent § Number for more information.
21. The map shows one of the most commonly accepted delineations of the geographical boundaries of Europe, as used by National Geographic and Encyclopædia Britannica. Whether countries are considered in Europe or Asia can vary in sources, for example in the classification of the CIA World Factbook or that of the BBC. Certain countries in Europe, such as France, have territories lying geographically outside Europe, but which are nevertheless considered integral parts of that country.
22. This number includes Siberia, (about 38 million people) but excludes European Turkey (about 12 million).

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Sources

• National Geographic Society (2005). National Geographic Visual History of the World. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-7922-3695-5.
• Bulliet, Richard; Crossley, Pamela; Headrick, Daniel; Hirsch, Steven; Johnson, Lyman (2011). The Earth and Its Peoples, Brief Edition. Vol. 1. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-91311-5.
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• Laiou, Angeliki E.; Morisson, Cécile (2007). The Byzantine Economy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84978-4.
• Lewis, Martin W.; Wigen, Kären (1997). The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20743-1.
• Pounds, Norman John Greville (1979). An Historical Geography of Europe, 1500–1840. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22379-9.

External links

• Europe web resources provided by GovPubs at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
• Europe at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Europe: Human Geography at the National Geographic Society
• European Reading Room from the United States Library of Congress
• "Europe" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 907–953.
• The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online Columbia University Press

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v t e Countries and dependencies of Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependent territories Denmark Faroe Islands autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Sovereign Base Areas) Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory) Crown Dependencies Bailiwick of Guernsey Alderney Guernsey Sark Bailiwick of Jersey Isle of Man Special areas of internal sovereignty Finland Åland (autonomous region subject to the Åland convention of 1921) Norway Svalbard (unincorporated area subject to the Svalbard Treaty) United Kingdom England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland (country of the United Kingdom subject to the British-Irish Agreement) Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. 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