The
European Union (EU) is an economic and political
union of 27 member states, located primarily in
Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht
on 1 November 1993[5] upon the foundations of
the pre-existing European Economic Community.
With almost 500 million citizens, the EU combined
generates an estimated 30% share (US$16.8 trillion
in 2007) of the nominal gross world product.
The EU has developed a single market through a
standardised system of laws which apply in all
member states, guaranteeing the freedom of movement
of people, goods, services and capital. It maintains
a common trade policy, agricultural and fisheries
policies, and a regional development policy.Sixteen
member states have adopted a common currency,
the euro. It has developed a role in foreign policy,
representing its members in the World Trade Organisation,
at G8 summits, and at the United Nations. Twenty-one
EU countries are members of NATO. The EU has developed
a role in justice and home affairs, including
the abolition of passport controls between many
member states under the Schengen Agreement, which
incorporates also non-EU states.
The EU operates through a hybrid system of intergovernmentalism
and supranationalism. In certain areas it depends
upon agreement between the member states. However,
it also has supranational bodies, able to make
decisions without unanimity between all national
governments. Important institutions and bodies
of the EU include the European Commission, the
European Parliament, the Council of the European
Union, the European Council, the European Court
of Justice and the European Central Bank. EU citizens
elect the Parliament every five years.
The EU traces its origins to the European Coal
and Steel Community formed among six countries
in 1951 and the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Since
then the union has grown in size through the accession
of new countries, and new policy areas have been
added to the remit of the EU institutions.
Econmony
Since
its origin, the EU has established a single economic
market across the territory of all its members.
Currently, a single currency is in use between
the 16 members of the eurozone. Considered as
a single economy, the EU generated an estimated
nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$16.83
trillion in 2007, amounting to 31% of the world's
total economic output, which makes it the largest
economy in the world by nominal GDP and the second
largest trade bloc economy in the world by PPP
valuation of GDP. It is also the largest exporter
of goods, the second largest importer, and the
biggest trading partner to several large countries
such as India, and China.
170 of the top 500 largest corporations measured
by revenue (Fortune Global 500) have their headquarters
in the EU. In May 2007 unemployment in the EU
stood at 7%[100] while investment was at 21.4%
of GDP, inflation at 2.2% and public deficit at
-0.9% of GDP. There is a great deal of variance
for annual per capita income within individual
EU states, these range from US$7,000 to US$69,000.
Profile
Europe
is one of the seven traditional continents of
the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe
is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west
of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the
Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean,
to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the
southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the Black
Sea and the waterways connecting the Black Sea
to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is generally
divided from Asia by the water divide of the Ural
Mountains, the Ural River, and by the Caspian
Sea.
Europe
is the world's second-smallest continent in terms
of area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres
(3,930,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface.
The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia.
It is the third most populous continent (after
Asia and Africa) with a population of 710,000,000
or about 11% of the world's population. However,
the term continent can refer to a cultural and
political distinction or a physiographic one,
leading to various perspectives about Europe's
precise borders, area and population. Of Europe's
48 countries, Russia is the largest by area and
population, while the Vatican is the smallest.
Europe
is the birthplace of Western culture. European
nations played a predominant role in global affairs
from the 16th century onwards, especially after
the beginning of colonization. By the 17th and
18th centuries European nations controlled most
of Africa, the Americas and large portions of
Asia. World War I and World War II led to a decline
in European dominance in world affairs as the
United States and Soviet Union took preeminence.
The Cold War between those two superpowers divided
Europe along the Iron Curtain. European integration
led to the formation of the Council of Europe
and the European Union in Western Europe, both
of which eventually expanded to include Central
and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet
Union in 1991.
Definition
The
term 'Europe' has multiple uses. Its principle
ones are political and geographical.
* Politically, Europe comprises those countries
in the European Union, but may at times be used
more casually to refer to both the EU together
with other non-EU countries generally, in the
same region.
* Physically and geographically, Europe is the
westmost peninsula of the continent of Eurasia;
its limits are well defined by sea to the North,
South and West, and by a slightly arbitrary boundary
discussed below on the east and south-eastern
side. The Ural mountains are usually taken as
the eastern limit of Europe; certainly points
beyond are not usually considered to be part of
the continent.
In
addition, people in countries such as Great Britain,
Scandinavia and the Mediterranean islands, may
routinely refer to "continental" or
"mainland" Europe (or simply "the
Continent"), as a term for the main land
mass containing countries such as France.
Etymology
In
ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician
princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form
and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave
birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For
Homer, Europe (Greek: ????p? Eur?pe; see also
List of traditional Greek place names) was this
mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical
designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece,
and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to
lands to the north.
In
etymology one theory suggests the name Europe
is derived from the Greek words meaning broad
(eurys) and face (opsis)—broad having been
an epithet of Earth itself in the reconstructed
Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia).
A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular
etymology is really based on a Semitic word such
as the Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down,
set",[2] cognate to Phoenician 'ereb "evening;
west" and Arabic Maghreb, Hebrew ma'ariv.
(see also Erebus).
The
majority of major world languages use words derived
from "Europa" to refer to the continent—e.g.
Chinese uses the word Ouzhou (??), which is an
abbreviation of the transliterated name Ouluóba
zhou (????). However, for centuries, the Turks
used the term Frengistan (land of the Franks)
in referring to Europe.[3]
History
History of Europe
Prehistory
Homo
georgicus, which lived roughly 1.8 million years
ago in Georgia, is the first hominid to have so
far been discovered in Europe.[4] Other hominid
remains, dating back roughly 1 million years,
have been discovered in Spain. [5]Neanderthal
man (named for the Neander Valley in Germany)
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 (Cro-Magnons), who appeared around
40,000 years ago.[6] During the latter part of
this period, a period of megalith construction
took place, with many megalithic monuments such
as Stonehenge being constructed throughout Europe.
Development
of complex society
In
terms of human society, Prehistoric Europe was
inhabited by nomadic bands and (subsequently)
tribal cultures. Early city-states and states
spread broadly from the Fertile Crescent (~ 5000
BC) outward, leading to the various Persian empires
(~ 700 BC) and the city-states of Ancient Greece
(~700 BC), followed by the Roman Republic (founded
~ 500 BC in modern-day Italy) and subsequent Empire,
and the northward spread of organised states gradually
throughout the rest of Europe over the following
millennium.
Classical
antiquity
Ancient
Greece had a profound impact on Western civilization.
Western democratic and individualistic culture
are often attributed to Ancient Greece. The Greeks
invented the polis, or city-state, which played
a fundamental role in their concept of identity.[9]
These 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; and in science with Pythagoras, Euclid,
and Archimedes.
Another
major influence on Europe came from the Roman
Empire which left its mark on law, language, engineering,
architecture, and government.[13] During the pax
romana, the Roman Empire expanded to encompass
the entire Mediterranean Basin and much of Europe.[14]
Stoicism influenced emperors such as Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, who all spent
time on the Empire's northern border fighting
Germanic, Pictish and Scottish tribes.[15][16]
Christianity was eventually legitimized by Constantine
I after three centuries of imperial persecution.
Dark
Ages
During
the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered
a long period of change arising from what is known
in America as the Age of Migrations. There were
numerous invasions and migrations amongst the
Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Franks,
Angles, Saxons, and, later still, the Vikings
and Normans. [17] Renaissance thinkers such as
Petrarch would later refer to this as the "Dark
Ages".[18] Isolated monastic communities
in Ireland, Scotland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded
and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously;
very few written records survive and much literature,
philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from
the classical period disappeared from European
popular currency.
During
the Dark Ages, the Western Roman Empire fell under
the control of Celt, Slav and Germanic tribes.
The Celtic tribes established their kingdoms in
Gaul, the predecessor to the Frankish kingdoms
that eventually became France.[20] The Germanic
and Slav tribes established their domains over
Central and Eastern Europe respectively.[21] Eventually
the Frankish tribes were united under Clovis I.[22]
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 to the founding of the
Holy Roman Empire, which eventually became centered
in the German principalities of central Europe.
The
Eastern Roman Empire became known in the west
as the Byzantine Empire. Based in Constantinople,
they viewed themselves as the natural successors
to the Roman Empire.[24] Emperor Justinian I presided
over Constantinople's first golden age: he established
a legal code, funded the construction of the Hagia
Sophia and brought the Christian church under
state control.[25] Fatally weakened by the sack
of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the
Byzantines fell in 1453 when they were conquered
by the Ottoman Empire.
Middle
Ages
High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages
The
Middle Ages were dominated by the two upper echelons
of the social structure: the nobility and the
clergy. Feudalism already developed in France
in the Early Middle Ages, but soon spread throughout
Europe.[27] The struggle between the nobility
and the monarchy in England led to the writing
of the Magna Carta and the establishment of a
parliament.[28] 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. The 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.[29] In Europe itself, the Church
organized the Inquisition against heretics. In
Spain, the Reconquista concluded with the fall
of Granada in 1492, ending over seven centuries
of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula.
Europe
was devastated in the mid-14th century by the
Black Death, which killed an estimated 25 million
people - a third of the European population at
the time.[27] Successive epidemics led to increased
religious fervor,[31] a result of which was widespread
persecution of Jews.
Early
modern period
The School of Athens by Raphael. Contemporaries
such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci (centre)
are portrayed as classical scholars.
The School of Athens by Raphael. Contemporaries
such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci (centre)
are portrayed as classical scholars.
Main article: Early modern period
See also: Renaissance, Protestant Reformation,
and Age of Discovery
The
Renaissance was a period of cultural change originating
in Italy in the fourteenth century. The rise of
a new humanism was accompanied by the recovery
of forgotten classical and Arabic knowledge from
monastic libraries and the Islamic world.[31][33][34]
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.[35][36][37] 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 Great Schism. During this forty-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.[40]
The Church's power was further weakened by the
Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther, 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 Catholic,
Protestant and Calvinist faiths.[41] This eventually
led to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), which
crippled the Holy Roman Empire and devastated
much of Germany. In the aftermath of the Peace
of Westphalia, France rose to predominance within
Europe.
The
Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start
of an Age of Discovery, a period of exploration,
invention, and scientific development. In the
15th century, Portugal and Spain, two of the greatest
naval powers of the time, took the lead in exploring
the world.[43][44] Christopher Columbus discovered
the New World in the 1498, and soon after the
Spanish and Portuguese began establishing colonial
empires in the Americas.[45] France, the Netherlands
and England soon followed in building large colonial
empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas,
and Asia.
18th
and 19th centuries
Main article: Modern History
See also: Industrial Revolution, French Revolution,
and Age of Enlightenment
The
Age of Enlightenment was a powerful intellectual
eighteenth century movement in which scientific
and reason-based thought predominated.[46][47][48]
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: the monarchy and many of the nobility
perished during the initial reign of terror.[49]
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 nation-state, as well as the widespread
adoption of the French model for administration,
law and education.[52][53][54] The Congress of
Vienna was convened after Napoleon's downfall.
It established a new balance of power in Europe
centered on the five "great powers":
the United Kingdom, France, Prussia, Habsburg
Austria and Russia.[55] This balance would remain
in place until the Revolutions of 1848, 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.[56] In 1867
the Austro-Hungarian empire was formed; and 1871
saw the unification of Italy and Germany as nation-states
from smaller principalities.
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 technology resulted in rapid urban growth,
mass employment and the rise of a new working
class. [58] Reforms in social and economic spheres
followed, including the first laws on child labor,
the legalization of Trade Unions [59] and the
abolition of slavery. [60] Karl Marx's Manifesto
of the Communist Party was published in London
in 1848.
20th
century and present
Main articles: Modern History and History of Europe
See also: World War I, Great Depression, World
War II, Cold War, and History of the European
Union
The
first half of the 20th century was dominated by
two world wars and an economic depression. World
War I was fought between 1914 and 1918. It started
when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated
by Gavrilo Princip.[63] All European nations were
drawn into the war, which was fought between two
series of alliances: the Entente Powers (led by
France, Russia and the United Kingdom, joined
later by Italy and the United States) and the
Central Powers (led by Austria-Hungary, Germany
and the Ottoman Empire). The war's casualties,
both civilian and military, were around 40 million.[64]
World War I changed the map of Europe. Russia
was plunged into the Russian Revolution, after
which the Tsarist monarchy was replaced by the
communist Soviet Union.[65] Austria-Hungary and
the Ottoman Empire collapsed and broke up into
separate nations, and many other nations had their
borders redrawn or eliminated altogether. The
Treaty of Versailles was harsh towards Germany,
upon whom it placed full responsibility for the
war and imposed heavy sanctions.
Economic
instability, caused in part by debts incurred
from the First World War, brought about the worldwide
Great Depression during the 1930s, precipitated
by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Fascist movements
developed throughout Europe during the economic
crisis, placing leaders Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany,
Francisco Franco of Spain and Benito Mussolini
of Italy in power.
Hitler
began slowly expanding Germany's size after coming
to power, incorporating Austria with the Anschluss
in 1938 and later Czechoslovakia after already
annexing the Sudetenland in a move that was highly
contested by the other powers but ultimately permitted
in hopes of appeasing Hitler. His invasion of
Poland in 1939, backed by Soviet troops, prompted
France and the United Kingdom to declare war,
starting World War II in Europe. [69][70] In 1940
Germany quickly conquered the Low Countries, Denmark
and Norway. Aided by their newly declared allies
Italy, they occupied France, but failed in their
bombing offensive on Britain.[71] In 1941 they
unexpectedly turned on their former Soviet allies
with an ultimately unsuccessful invasion of the
Soviet Union.[72] Japan's surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor drew the United States into the conflict
as allies of the British and Free French forces.[73][74]
By 1944 the Germans were being attacked on two
fronts: by Soviet forces in the east and by British
and U.S. forces in the west. Berlin 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,[75]
including between 9 and 11 million people who
perished during the Holocaust.[76]
World
War I and especially World War II ended the pre-eminence
of Western Europe in world affairs. After World
War II 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 an "iron curtain". The United States
and Western Europe established the NATO alliance
and later the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
established the Warsaw Pact. [77] The two new
superpowers, the United States and the Soviet
Union, became locked in a fifty-year long Cold
War, centered on nuclear proliferation. At the
same time decolonization, which had already started
after World War I, gradually resulted in the independence
of most of the European colonies in Asia and Africa.[78]
In the 1980s the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev
and the solidarity movement in Poland accelerated
the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the end of
the Cold War. Germany was reunited, after the
symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and
the maps of Eastern Europe had once more to be
completely redrawn.
European
integration also grew in the post-World War II
years. 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.[80] 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.[81] 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.
Geography
and extent
Geography of Europe
Physiographically,
Europe is the northwestern constituent of the
larger landmass known as Eurasia, or Afro-Eurasia:
Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous
landmass and all share a common continental shelf.
Europe's eastern frontier is now commonly delineated
by the Ural Mountains in Russia. The first century
AD geographer Strabo, [83] took the Tanais River
to be the boundary, as did early Judaic sources.
The southeast boundary with Asia is not universally
defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively,
the Emba River serve as possible boundaries. The
boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest
of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the
Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black
Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the
Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean
Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa.
The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland,
though nearer to Greenland (North America) than
mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe.
There is ongoing debate on where the geographical
centre of Europe is. For detailed description
of the boundary between Asia and Europe see transcontinental
nation.
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 Russia and other post-Soviet
states generally include the Urals in Europe while
including Caucasia in Asia. Similarly, numerous
geographers consider Azerbaijan's and Armenia's
southern border with Iran and Turkey's southern
and eastern border with Syria, Iraq and Iran as
the boundary between Asia and Europe because of
political and cultural reasons. In the same way,
despite being close to Asia and Africa, the Mediterranean
islands of Cyprus and Malta are considered part
of Europe.
Physical
geography
Land
relief in Europe shows great variation within
relatively small areas. The southern regions,
however, are more mountainous, while moving north
the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees
and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad,
low northern plains, which are vast in the east.
This extended lowland is known as the Great European
Plain, and at its heart lies the North German
Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the
north-western seaboard, which begins in the western
parts of Britain and Ireland, and then continues
along the mountainous, fjord-cut, spine of Norway.
This
description is simplified. Sub-regions such as
the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula
contain their own complex features, as does mainland
Central urope itself, where the relief contains
many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate
the general trend. Sub-regions like Iceland, Britain
and Ireland are special cases. The former is a
land unto itself in the northern ocean which is
counted as part of Europe, while the latter are
upland areas that were once joined to the mainland
until rising sea levels cut them off.
Dettifoss,
the most powerful waterfall in Europe, is located
in northeastern Iceland.
Aletsch
Glacier, the largest glacier in Continental Europe,
is located in Switzerland
Cape
Roca, a cape that forms the westernmost point
of mainland Europe, is located in Portugal
Geology
Main article: 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 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 England in the west to Ural Mountains in
the east. These two halves are separated by the
mountain chains of 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 contain the old geological continent
of Baltica, and so may be regarded geologically
as the "main continent", while peripheral
highlands and mountainous regions in 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.
Geological
history
The
geological history of Europe traces back to the
formation of the Baltic Shield (Fennoscandia)
and the Sarmatian craton, both around 2250 million
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 1100 million
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 an 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.[84]
Biodiversity
See also: Fauna of Europe
Biogeographic
regions of Europe (including Asian part of Turkey)
Biogeographic regions of Europe (including Asian
part of Turkey)
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 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 could
be described as having a warm, but mild climate.
There are frequent summer droughts in this region.
Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some
of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west
and allow the wind to carry large masses of water
from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented
south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides,
Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls
primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented
towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while
on the other side, the conditions are much less
favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have
not been grazed by livestock at some point in
time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural
forest habitat caused disruption to the original
plant and animal ecosystems.
Eighty
to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered
by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean
Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's
original forests disappeared through the centuries
of deforestation, Europe still has over one quarter
of its land area as forest, such as the taiga
of Scandinavia and Russia, mixed rainforests of
the Caucasus and the Cork oak forests in the western
Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation
has been slowed and many trees have been planted.
However, in many cases monoculture plantations
of conifers have replaced the original mixed natural
forest, because these grow quicker. The plantations
now cover vast areas of land, but offer poorer
habitats for many European forest dwelling species
which require a mixture of tree species and diverse
forest structure. The amount of natural forest
in Western Europe is just 2–3% or less,
in European Russia 5–10%. The country with
the smallest percentage of forested area (excluding
the micronations) is Iceland (2%), while the most
forested country is Finland(72%).
In
temperate Europe, mixed forest with both broadleaf
and coniferous trees dominate. The most important
species in central and western Europe are beech
and oak. In the north, the taiga is a mixed spruce-pine-birch
forest; further north within Russia and extreme
northern Scandinavia, the taiga gives way to tundra
as the Arctic is approached. In the Mediterranean,
many olive trees have been planted, which are
very well adapted to its arid climate; Mediterranean
Cypress isalso widely planted in southern Europe.
The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much
scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian
grassland (the steppe) extends eastwards from
Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary
and traverses into taiga to the north.
Glaciation
during the most recent ice age and the presence
of man affected the distribution of European fauna.
As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most
large animals and top predator species have been
hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth was extinct
before the end of the Neolithic period. Today
wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are
endangered. Once they were found in most parts
of Europe. However, deforestation caused these
animals to withdraw further and further. By the
Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to
more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient
forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily
in the Balkan peninsula, Scandinavia, and Russia;
a small number also persist in other countries
across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in
these areas brown bear populations are fragmented
and marginalised because of the destruction of
their habitat. In addition, polar bears may be
found on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago far
north of Scandinavia. The wolf, the second largest
predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be
found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans,
with a handful of packs in pockets of Western
Europe (Scandinavia, Spain, etc.).
Other
important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx,
European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox),
jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs,
different species of reptiles snakes (vipers,
grass snake…), different birds (owls, hawks
and other birds of prey).
Important
European herbivores are snails, amphibian larvae,
fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents,
deer and roe deer, boars, and living in the mountains,
marmots, steinbocks, chamois among others.
Sea
creatures are also an important part of European
flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton.
Important animals that live in European seas are
zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different
crustaceans, squids and octopuses, ish, 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.
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Europe, European
ethnic groups, and Aging of Europe
The
population growth/decline of European countries
Since
the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, Europe
has had a major nfluence in culture, economics
and social movements in the world. European demographics
are important not only historically, but also
in understanding current international relations
and population issues.
Some
current and past issues in European demographics
have included religious emigration, race relations,
economic immigration, a declining birth rate and
an aging population. In some countries, such as
the Republic of Ireland and Poland, access to
abortion is currently limited; in the past, such
restrictions and also restrictions on artificial
birth control were commonplace throughout Europe.
Furthermore, three European countries (The Netherlands,
Belgium and Switzerland) have allowed a limited
form of voluntary euthanasia for some terminally
ill people.
In
2005 the population of Europe was estimated to
be 728 million according to the United Nations,
which is slightly more than one-ninth of the world's
population. A century ago Europe had nearly a
quarter of the world's population. The population
of Europe has grown in the past century, but in
other areas of the world (in particular Africa
and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.[85]
According to UN population projection (medium
variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050,
numbering 653 million.[86] Within this context,
significant disparities exist between religions
in relation to fertility rates. The average number
of children per female of child bearing age is
1.52. According to some sources,[87][88] this
rate is higher among Muslims. In 2005 the EU had
an overall net gain from immigration of 1.8 million
people, despite having one of the highest population
densities in the world. This accounted for almost
85% of Europe's total population growth.
Political
geography
Territories
and regions
See also: Demographics of Europe and List of European
countries by population
Regions
of Europe as delineated by the United Nations
(other categorisations may vary): Northern Europe
Western Europe Eastern Europe Southern Europe
Regions of Europe as delineated by the United
Nations (other categorisations mayvary): Northern
Europe Western Europe Eastern Europe Southern
Europe
The
countries in this table are categorised according
to the scheme for geographic subregions used by
the United Nations, and data included are per
sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they
differ, provisos are clearly indicated.
According
to different definitions, such as consideration
of the concept of Central Europe, the following
territories and regions may be subject to various
other categorisations.
Economy of Europe
As
a continent, the economy of Europe is currently
the largest on Earth. The European Union, or EU,
an intergovernmental body composed of most of
the European states, is one of the two largest
in the world. Of the member states in the EU,
Germany has the largest national economy. Thirteen
EU countries share a common unit of currency,
the euro. Major economic sectors in Europe include
agriculture, manufacturing, and investment. The
majority of the EU's trade is with the United
States, China, India, Russia and non-member European
states.
Language
Main article: Languages of Europe
See also: Eurolinguistics
European
languages mostly fall within three language groups:
the Romance languages, derived from the Latin
language of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages,
whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia;
and the Slavic languages.
Romance
languages are spoken primarily in south-western
Europe as well as Romania and Moldova which are
situated in Eastern Europe. Germanic languages
are spoken more or less in north-western Europe
and some parts of central Europe. Slavic languages
are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern
Europe.
Many
other languages outside the three main groups
are spoken in Europe. The English language is
unique, as it is a hybrid of the Romance and Germanic
languages. The Celtic language group was once
a distinct group like the Romance, Germanic and
Slavic language groups but has mostly died out,
with the exceptions of Welsh and Gaelic in the
British Isles and some speakers in Brittany.
Multilingualism
and the protection of regional and minority languages
are recognized 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.
Religions
Religion in Europe
The
most prevalent religions of Europe are the following:
* Christianity
o Roman Catholicism: Countries or areas with significant
Catholic populations are Andorra, Austria, west
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
the Czech Republic, France, south and west Germany,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latgale region in Latvia,
Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco,
south Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
central and south Switzerland, and Vatican City.
There are also large Catholic minorities in Great
Britain: England, Scotland, Wales and most European
countries.
o Eastern-Rite Catholicism also known as "Uniatism",
is found in western Ukraine, Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Greece, Armenia, Hungary, the Republic of Macedonia,
Romania, Serbia and Slovakia, southern Italy (Sardinia
and Sicily) and Corsica, France.
o Orthodox Christianity: The countries with significant
Orthodox populations are Greece, Russia, Belarus,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia,
Moldova, Montenegro, Armenia, Serbia, Ukraine,
Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, easternmost
Hungary, a small minority in Southern Italy, Kazakhstan,
sizable minorities in Albania, Latvia and Lithuania,
small minority in Poland, Finland (Karelia).
o Protestantism: Countries with significant Protestant
populations include Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
north and east Germany, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden; east, north and west Switzerland;
and the United Kingdom. There are significant
minorities in France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic,
Hungary, and Ireland, and a small minority in
Poland.
* Islam: Countries with significant Muslim population
are Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, several
republics of Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Crimea in
Ukraine, and, from Western Europe, France.
Other
religions are practiced by smaller groups in Europe,
including:
* Judaism primarily in France, Germany, the United
Kingdom, Russia. At one time Judaism was practiced
widely throughout the European continent, though
it has dwindled in numbers since the expulsion,
extermination, and exodus of Jews during the later
portion of the second millennium.
* Hinduism mainly among Indian immigrants in the
United Kingdom. In 1998 there were an estimated
1,382,000 Hindu adherents in Europe alone [1].
* Buddhism thinly spread throughout Europe.
* Indigenous European pagan traditions and beliefs,
many countries (a fast-growing neopagan movement
in France, Germany, Ireland and United Kingdom
is noted), and one neopagan faith Asatru recognized
as a minority religion in Iceland (since 1973),
Norway and Sweden.
* Rastafari, communities in the United Kingdom,
France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere.
* Sikhism and Jainism, small membership rolls,
both mainly among Indian immigrants in the United
Kingdom.
* Voodoo, mainly among black Caribbean and West
African immigrants in the United Kingdom and France.
* Traditional African Religions (including Muti),
mainly in the United Kingdom and France.
* Other religions with few (or under a million)
adherents in Europe: Animism, Christian Scientists,
Eco-religion, Gnosticism, Paganism, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Mennonites, Moravian Church, Mormonism
or Latter-day Saints, Pantheism, Polytheism, theological
relativism, Scientology, Seventh-day Adventists,
Universal Life Church, Unitarians, Wiccan, and
Zoroastrianism.
Millions
of Europeans profess no religion or are atheist,
agnostic or humanist. The largest non-confessional
populations (as a percentage) are found in the
Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the former soviet
countries of Belarus, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine,
although most former communist countries have
significant non-confessional populations.
Official
religions
A
number of countries in Europe have official religions,
including Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, the Vatican
City (Catholic), Greece (Eastern Orthodox), Denmark,
Iceland, and Norway (Lutheran). In Switzerland,
some cantons are officially Catholic, others Reformed
Protestant. Some Swiss villages even have their
religion as well as the village name written on
the signs at their entrances.
Georgia
has no established church, but the Georgian Orthodox
Church enjoys de facto privileged status. In Finland,
both the Finnish Orthodox Church and the Lutheran
Church are official. England, a part of the UK,
has Anglicanism as its official religion. Scotland,
another part of the UK, has Presbyterianism as
its national church, but it is no longer "official",
and in Sweden, the national church is Lutheranism,
but it is also no longer "official".
Azerbaijan, France, Portugal, Romania, Russia,
Spain and Turkey are officially "secular".
(Credit:
Wikipedia).
European
Union Unable To Agree On Online Gaming Accords,
by Earl Burton - 11th March 2009 (Credit:
Poker News Daily)
While the United States has been unable or unwilling
to broach the regulation of the online gaming
world, Europe has - in some cases - ventured into
that area. Countries such as England and Ireland
have introduced regulation of the online poker
and gaming worlds with a great deal of success.
Others, however, have attempted to nationalize
this industry rather than welcome worldwide competition.
A recent decision by the European Parliament demonstrates
how divisive the issue has become.
According
to a report from the European Gaming and Betting
Association (EGBA) on Tuesday, the European Parliament
- which is part of a bicameral legislative body,
along with the Council of the European Union,
and is the only elected body that leads the EU
- has introduced a resolution that looks at “the
integrity of online gambling.” In this resolution,
there are many issues that are brought to light
but there is conflict among the officials in an
alternative report that was presented.
The
majority report resolution that was adopted by
the European Parliament states that the European
Commission should “carry out studies and
make appropriate proposals” regarding online
gaming while insisting at the same time on “the
Member States’ right to regulate (the online
gaming sector) in accordance with their traditions
and cultures”. The minority report, which
is backed by Members of the European Parliament
(MEPs) representing nine of the Member States
and the three main European political parties,
looks to approach online gaming and betting in
a more practical way. It wants to recognize the
cross-border nature of the industry and take into
consideration both the challenges and opportunities
offered in this area by Internet technology.
What
this means is that, according to the EGBA, that
there will be no agreement in the near future
for the European Union to coordinate the world
of online gaming and poker. The Secretary General
of the EGBA, Sigrid Ligné, admitted this
when she said, “Today’s vote shows
that we cannot expect an EU harmonized legislation
to be adopted in the near future. It clearly means
that it is the rules of the Treaty and the case
law of the Court of Justice that continue to apply
and that will prevail for our sector in the years
to come”.
Since
the mid-point of this decade, the European Union
has wrestled over the questions that continue
to plague the online gaming and poker industry.
While regulation has been accepted in some countries,
other countries have attempted to nationalize
the operations for the benefit of their own countries
and prevent the freedom of trade in online gaming.
France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Spain have
been the major players in this nationalization
effort, but some of those countries have changed
their minds in the face of potential penalties
or restrictions by the European Union through
the Treaty of Commerce that all member nations
have signed.
Recently,
France announced that they would begin accepting
applications for companies to legally accept French
action in 2010; Sweden will start the same program
next year, while Spain has already implemented
a regulatory agency. Until all nations of the
European Union can come to an agreement, there
will still be stormy conditions for the online
gaming and poker worlds in the future.
