The settlement of Europe goes back to the Paleolithic age, traces of prehistoric cultures have been preserved across the continent; the history of Europe begins with Greek culture in the 2nd millennium BC, the Romans conquered the first European empire in the first centuries of our era and spread the foundations of Greco-Roman culture across almost the entire continent. The formation of European culture was continued and intensified through the Christian mission, even beyond the population shifts of the migration of peoples in the 5th century. The Byzantine Empire ensured continuity in the east from the 5th to the 15th century, in the west the Charlemagne empire became the focal point of Christian Europe in the 9th century.
In the course of the late Middle Ages, the territorial states developed from the early member states. The idea of a European universal state contained in the fiction of the Holy Roman Empire was only finally given up in the 17th century. As early as the 8th century, the Christian West grew into a rival in Islam that was both a threat and a unifying factor (Arab occupation of Spain, crusades, Turkish wars). Since the 15th century, explorations have been undertaken all over the world from Europe, which led to extensive colonial conquests by the seafaring European countries (Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, England, France) and until the 20th century the global domination of Europe justified. In the wake of the Enlightenment, the nation states developed in the 19th century.
Europe Population by Countries
The largest country in Europe by population is Russia, with over 145 million inhabitants. Additionally, Russia is also the largest country in Europe by land area, spanning approximately 17.1 million square kilometers. See countries in Europe.
| Country | Number of residents | Population |
| Albania | 2,854,191 (2019) | large majority (95–98%) Albanians; minorities of Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Vlacher, Serbs, Montenegrins |
| Andorra | 77 142 (2019) | Spaniards 37%, Andorrans 36%, Portuguese 13%, French 7%, other ethnic groups 7% |
| Armenia | 2,957,731 (2019) | Armenians about 98%, Kurds (among others Yazidis) just over 1%, others (among others Russians) about 1% (census 2011) |
| Azerbaijan | 10 023 318 (2019) | Azeris 92%, Lezgins 2%, Armenians, Russians and Talishs about 1.3% each, the other 2% (census 2019) |
| Belgium | 11,484,055 (2019) | about 90% Belgians (of which just over half Flemish and just under half Walloons), Moroccans, Italians, Turks, Dutch, French and the rest about 10% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 301 000 (2019) | Bosniaks 50%, Serbs 31%, Croats 15%, others (including Roma, Albanians, Turks) 4% (2013 census) |
| Bulgaria | 6 975 761 (2019) | Bulgarians 84.8%, Bulgarian Turks 8.8%, Roma 4.9%, others (Russians, Armenians, Vlacher, Greeks, etc.) 1.5% (Census 2011) |
| Cyprus | 1,198,575 (2019) | Greek Cypriots about 77%, Turkish Cypriots about 18%, other 5% |
| Denmark | 5,818,553 (2019) | ethnic Danes 90%, Greenlanders and Faroese 0.3%, German-speakers 0.3%, immigrants and their children about 8% |
| Estonia | 1 326 590 (2019) | ester about 69%, Russians about 26%, Ukrainians about 2%, Belarusians, Finns etc. about 3% |
| Finland | 5,520,314 (2019) | Finnish-speaking 93%, Swedish-speaking 6%, others 1% |
| France | 67 059 887 (2019) | majority of French, about 20% of other origins |
| Georgia | 3 720 382 (2019) | Georgians 86.8 percent, Azerbaijanis 6.3 percent, Armenians 4.5 percent, Russians 0.7 percent, Ossetians 0.4 percent, Yazidis 0.3 percent, the rest 1 percent (according to a 2014 census that did not include the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia) |
| Greece | 10 716 322 (2019) | citizens are not registered according to ethnicity, but Greek speakers are about 99% |
| Ireland | 4 941 444 (2019) | Irish 88%, most of the others come from other EU countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, India and the United States |
| Iceland | 361 313 (2019) | Icelanders about 90%; largest minorities are Danes and Swedes |
| Italy | 60 297 396 (2019) | Italians 94% (including the linguistic minority groups), immigrants 6% |
| Kosovo | 1 794 248 (2019) | Around nine out of ten residents are Albanians, the rest mainly Serbs but also Bosniaks, Turks, Ashkali, Egyptians, Gorani, Roma |
| Croatia | 4 067 500 (2019) | Croatian 90%, Serbian 4.4% 2 |
| Latvia | 1 912 789 (2019) | letter 56.5%, Russians 30.5%, Belarusians 4.4%, Ukrainians 2.8%, others 5.8% |
| Liechtenstein | 38 019 (2019) | Liechtenstein 67%, Swiss 10%, Austrians 5.7%, Germans 3.4%, Italians and others 9.9% (2011) |
| Lithuania | 2,786,844 (2019) | Lithuanians 83.7%, Poles 6.6%, Russians 5.3%, others 4.4% (2012) |
| Luxembourg | 619 896 (2019) | just over half Luxembourgers, others mainly from other EU countries (2016) |
| Northern Macedonia | – | Macedonians 64%, Albanians 25%, Turks 4%, Roma 3%, Serbs 2%, others 2% (Census 2002) |
| Malta | 502 653 (2019) | Maltese in the vast majority |
| Moldova | 2 657 637 (2019) | Moldavians 76%, Ukrainians 8.5%, Russians 6%, Gagauzers 4.5%, Romanians 2%, Bulgarians 2%, other ethnic groups 1% (Census 2004) |
| Monaco | 38 964 (2019) | French 28.4%, Monegasques 21.6%, Italians 18.7%, British 7.5%, others 23.8% (2008 census) |
| Montenegro | 622 137 (2019) | Montenegrins 45 percent, Serbs 29 percent, Bosniaks / Muslims 12 percent, Albanians 5 percent, Roma 1 percent, the other 8 percent (2011 census) |
| Netherlands | 17 332 850 (2019) | Dutch about 90% (of which 2.5% are Frisians), foreign-born about 10% (mainly Turks, Surinamese and Moroccans) |
| Norway | 5,347,896 (2019) | Norwegians 96.3%, Danes 0.4%, Swedes 0.3%, others 3% |
| Poland | 37 970 874 (2019) | Poles 91.6%, dual ethnic identity (Poles and for example Silesians, Kashubians, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians or Jews) 2.2%, non-Poles 1.4%, proportion who do not state any ethnic identity 4.8% (2011 census, based on how respondents define themselves) |
| Portugal | 10 269 417 (2019) | Portuguese |
| Romania | 19 356 544 (2019) | Romanians 88.6%, Hungarians 6.5%, Roma 3.3%; in addition, small groups of Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Russians, Tatars, etc. (Census 2011) |
| Russia | 144 373 535 (2019) | 82% Russians, 4% Tatars, 3% Ukrainians, 1% Thieves, Bashkirs, 1%, Belarusians and another hundred peoples |
| San Marino | 33 860 (2019) | San Marines 83.1%, Italians 12.0%, others 4.8% |
| Switzerland | 8 574 832 (2019) | German-speaking 64%, French-speaking 20%, Italian-speaking 6.5%, Rhaeto-Romance 0.5%, others 9% |
| Serbia | 6 944 975 (2019) | Serbs 83%, Hungarians 3.5%, Bosniaks 2%, Roma 2%, others (incl. unknown and no answers) 9.5% (2011 census) |
| Slovakia | 5,454,073 (2019) | Slovaks 80.7%, minorities of Hungarians (8.5%), Roma, Czechs, Ruthenians and Ukrainians and more (Census 2011) |
| Slovenia | 2,087,946 (2019) | Slovenes 83%, Serbs 2%, Croats 1.8%, Bosniaks 1% |
| Spain | 47 076 781 (2019) | Spaniards (including Catalans, Galicians and Basques) |
| UK | 66 834 405 (2019) | British (English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish), people from different EU countries or of African, Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese origin and more |
| Sweden | 10 285 453 (2019) | majority of Swedes, just under a fifth of the residents were born in another country |
| Czech Republic | 10 669 709 (2019) | A clear majority of Czechs, minorities of, among others, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Poles, Vietnamese and Germans (almost every fourth resident chose not to indicate nationality in the 2011 census) |
| Turkey | 83 429 615 (2019) | Turks up to 75%, Kurds 18–20%, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and the rest 5–10% |
| Germany | 83 132 799 (2019) | Germans 91%, Turks about 4%, other immigrants about 4% |
| Ukraine | 44 385 155 (2019) | Ukrainians 78%, Russians 17%, Belarusians, Moldovans, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Romanians, Poles, Jews, Armenians, Greeks and others |
| Hungary | 9 769 949 (2019) | Hungarians about 92%, Roma officially 2%, however controversial figure, is believed to be at least 5%, others 3-6% (census 2001) |
| Vatican City State | – | – |
| Belarus | 9,466,856 (2019) | Belarusians 83.7%, Russians 8.3%, Poles 3.1%, Ukrainians 1.7%, others 3.2% |
| Austria | 8 877 067 (2019) | Austrians 98%, others (including Croats, Slovenes, Hungarians and Czechs) 2% |
In the 20th century two world wars devastated Europe, after 1945 the continent split into two power blocs: the western democracies and the communist eastern bloc; the Cold War confrontation ended at the end of the 1980s with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, which Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev initiated with his policy of democratic transformation. Since then, the states of Europe have been looking for new forms of cooperation in the political and economic field (enlargement of the EU, expansion of the CSCE to the OSCE).
Europe – prehistory
Man came to Europe for between 1 and 3/ 4 million. years ago, probably from Africa, where the early human type Homo erectus lived from about 1.6 million years ago.
Palaeolithic Age
Hunting for the great game of forests and steppes, forest elephant, mammoth, bison, unruly and rhinoceros formed the basis of existence in older mansion politics. The oldest tools, pebble tools, were found at Vallonnet in France and in Isernia in Italy. Off for approx. 1 / 2 million. Years ago, finds were discovered with handcuffs, and from the same time the oldest human find, the lower jaw from Mauer at Heidelberg. It may have belonged to H. erectus, while some later human remains from Arago in France, Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, Steinheim and Bilzingsleben in Germany are attributed to pre-Neandertal or archaic Homo sapiens.
In the Middle Palaeolithic, the mosque, 200,000-35,000 years ago lived the Neanderthal man, who, in addition to more developed stone tools, has left behind the oldest known burials in Europe. However, the Neanderthals disappeared 40,000-35,000 years ago, when the modern human type, Homo sapiens sapiens, already widespread in Asia and Africa, immigrated and brought the culture aurignacia to the southern parts of the continent. Thus, younger Palaeolithic began, during which the hunter population developed a finer tool technology and adaptability that allowed the extreme climatic conditions to last during the last ice age. It came, among other things. expressed through a specialization in hunting certain animals such as the mammoth hunters on the river Don and the reindeer hunters in northern Europe. During the younger Palaeolithic, great artistic creativity unfolded, known as Venus statues and cave paintings with depictions of a rich animal world (see Altamira, the Chauvet Cave). Only after the last glacial cold peak under the Hamburg culture from ca. 12,500 BC hunter tribes found their way to the southernmost parts of Scandinavia.
After the end of the last ice age approx. 9300 BC the forest spread over most of Europe. A scattered and few hunter population settled at streams and lakes where there were favorable conditions for hunting, fishing and gathering. In mainland time until approx. 7500 BC settlement also occurred in areas now covered by the sea, for example the entire southern part of the North Sea. Well-preserved finds of cabins, utensils and meal waste are known from the Maglemose culture in Denmark. In Atlantic time, ca. 7000-3900 BC, the settlement was concentrated in many parts of Western and Northern Europe on the coasts, as evidenced by remnants of kitchen meetings in Portugal, Brittany, Scotland and Denmark. In northern Scandinavia, hunting and fishing communities found themselves in spacious houses and depicting the game on the cliff faces.
Neolithic
While much of the continent was still inhabited by hunters, fishermen and collectors, extensive farming and livestock farming took place 7000-4000 BC. gradually from Southeastern to Western Europe and southern Scandinavia. Early peasant culture in Greece and the Balkans is considered to be immigrated from already cultivated areas in Asia Minor. Well-ordered rural communities grew over time to tell ‘is’ urban high,’ as in the Middle East. Already sailing on the Mediterranean must have at that time contributed to the further spread of Neolithic professions, which, however, developed in most places in southern Europe by a gradual conversion.
To Central Europe, agriculture extended from around 5400 BC. with the ribbon-ceramic culture that quickly established villages with timber-built longhouses in a belt from the Paris Basin to Moldova. The very uniform cultural pattern of the band ceramics was approx. 5000-3500 BC replaced by societies with very different structure. In Ukraine, large gated villages existed as in the Balkans; At the foot of the Alps, seafront settlements, pile buildings were constructed, while the buildings in Northern Europe were divided into many small units. Here and in Western Europe the early peasant communities were characterized by special ritual sites, partly monumental tombs in the form of tall, later megalithic tombs., partly large gathering places surrounded by fences and ditches. Megalith tombs were built in western France as early as 4500-4000 BC, in Scandinavia only after 3500 BC The construction of passage graves in the Iberian Peninsula, in Ireland and in southern Scandinavia took place about the same time, 3200-3000 BC Other megalitmonumenter known from the British Isles, from Brittany in the form of avenues of menhirs and from Malta in the form of stone temples. In Britain there are many stone circles; the most famous is Stonehenge, which first got its final shape in the early Bronze Age.
Copper production began in Eastern Europe and the Balkans already approx. 4500 BC, and the time until this metal was replaced by bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is called copper age. Grave at Varna in Bulgaria from approx. 4000 BC contains a wealth of copper weapons and gold jewelery. Metal-rich areas in Europe came under the control of an armed elite, which allowed to build castles such as Dimini in Greece and Los Millares in Spain.
After 3000 BC most of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe came under the influence of societies characterized by individual burials, armed with battle axes and great mobility, which is emphasized by carriage finds and the use of domestic horses north of the Black Sea. For many of these communities, the term lace ceramic cultures is used, which refers to lace ornaments on a standardized beverage service. A similar phenomenon occurred ca. 2500-2000 BC in Western and Central Europe with the bell-cup culture, which in many places marked the breakthrough for the use of metals.
Bronze Age
The lace potters were Neolithic peasants and cattle breeders, who must have led a more independent life than the people of the Aegean area, where palaces like Troy emerged simultaneously in the early Bronze Age. The development here led to approx. 2000 BC for the creation of a palace culture on the basis of an economy that included the cultivation of wine and olives as well as trade, shipping and conquests. In Central Europe, the Bronze Age began about. 2000 BC with the appearance of an elite marked by princely burials within the Aunjetitz culture, which were at the same time as the Wessex culture in southern England. Significant quantities of metal were imported in the Nordic countries, and a rich Bronze Age culture was developed, especially from approx. 1500 BC Its art and symbolic language, which is known from the carvings and picture stones in the Kivikgrave in Sweden, with the production of tanks and ships, have parallels in the excavation tombs in Mycenae in Greece. 1200-1100 BC the palaces in the Aegean and Asia Minor were run over by strangers. At the same time, with the Urnemarks cultures in Central Europe, a new social pattern emerged, the burial custom changed to burning, and new types of swords were used, while the knowledge of iron-making spread.
The Iron Age
The iron was put into service in Greece approx. 1000 BC From approx. 800 the Greek maritime trade began to expand, and in the construction of colonies in Italy from the mid-700th. the Greeks made trade contact with the iron-producing Etruscans. From approx. 600 were connected to shooters and thrakers on the Black Sea. With the Hallstatt culture in the Alpine region and eastern Central Europe, approx. 700 a military elite, accumulating considerable wealth behind solid city walls. From the same area are known pine tombs with rich equipment which includes carts, metal vessels, imported Greek luxury goods and wine. In Eastern Europe, the Hallstatt period was characterized by the erection of strongholds, and fortified cities emerged such as Biskupin in Poland.
While the Mediterranean area for the last 500 years BC entered the light of history, the prehistoric Iron Age continued in the rest of Europe. During the La Tène period from 500 BC Celtic culture made its mark on much of Europe from Ireland to the Black Sea. In a core area between the Loire River and the Middle Danube, a civilization grew with large fortified cities, oppida, where production and trade were highly developed and included coinage. The art of the Celts united many alien features (see Gundestrup kettle). A particular Celtic style was preserved in Ireland and Scotland until well into the Christian era.
After the birth of Christ, most of Europe was under the influence of the Romans, whose weapons and merchandise were spread beyond the Roman border, glued, not least to the Germanic tribes of Northern Europe. When the Romans lost dominion after the division of the kingdom in 395, the wars and armies of the Peoples set in and culminated with the attacks of the females until 453. While the migrations continued with invaders and Saxons invading Britain until approx. 500, new kingdom formation took place in Central and Southern Europe; the most significant of these was the Merovingian Empire from 481. The time after the fall of the Roman Empire ca. 400 are considered medieval in most of Europe; however, the Iron Age in Northern Europe lasted through the Germanic Iron Age (400-750) and the Viking Age (750-1050).The slaves, who were on the rise in Eastern Europe and the Balkans 500-800, constituted the last large prehistoric peoples group in Europe. Like the Scandinavians, they became Christianized late, in some areas only after 1200.
The adaptation to the various natural conditions and business opportunities led to the formation of a mosaic of diverse cultures in Europe through prehistoric times. Still, it is characteristic that the innovations that occurred from the ancient Stone Age to historical times in technology, food production and community structure, broke through at great pace over large areas. In the Mediterranean and south-eastern Europe, the origins of many cultural changes are seen, but the time lag relative to the rest of Europe is clear.
