Europe

See also: Amorce=pour the European Union (political entity), to see, European Union

The Europe is regarded as a Continent or part of the Eurasia (Western peninsula), even of the Eurafrasie, according to the point of view. It is sometimes described of “Old continent” (or “Old world”), in opposition to the “Nouveau World” (America S).

Etymology

In the Greek Mythology, Europe, girl of Agénor ( Εὐρώπη in Greek, Eurṓpē ) is a princess Phénicie nne who was removed by Zeus metamorphosed in white Taureau, and was taken along on the island of Crete where it gave rise to Minos. In works of Homère, Εὐρώπη is a mythological queen of Crete and not a geographical term. Later, the word meant the continental Greece and since the year -500 its significance includes/understands all the grounds with the Northern .

With the I {{er}} front century J. - C., Varron evokes a bipartition of the world on the level of the the Bosphorus, the parts located at the North-West of the strait constituting Europe, those located at south-east, the Asia.

At the 4th century apr. J. - C., the word Europe indicates one of the six provinces of the diocese of Thrace, and its territory corresponds roughly to that of current Turkish Eastern Thrace.

The most widespread analysis of this word regards it as a composition of the Greek words eurýs ( εὐρύς , “broad”) and ṓps ( ὤψ , “face”), and more precisely like a doublet of the female name Eurōpē (“with the large eyes”), an old designation of the Earth. The interpretation of the word by the Semitic ereb , which means “to lay down sun” (thus occident) today is not retained more. From the Asian or means-Eastern point of view, the sun lies down indeed in Europe, the ground with the western. And the princess Phénicie nne (thus Semitic) of Tyr was indeed removed by Zeus towards the setting one.

According to John Hauls, the word Europe existed already before the 16th century to indicate a continent distinct from Africa and Asia, but it was known only well-read men. The use of the word by the inhabitants of Europe spread only as from the 16th century, i.e. when the Renaissance was already quite committed.

Geography of Europe

See also: Geography of Europe

The terrestrial limiting of Europe were always a little fuzzy in their " part; Est" since that there does not exist clearly definite limit, of relief, or sea clearly coming to divide the Eurasia. Moreover, one should not confuse the concepts of geographical and territorial Europe on the one hand, of that of zone of influence of the Occidental culture on the other hand, these concepts being especially political besides (some think on this subject that following the example the Commonwealth Britannique, the European Union could be defined according to the extent of the euro-Western culture throughout the world).

In the purely geographical vision, Europe is usually separated from the Asia to the Is by the solid mass and the river the Ural. In south-east, the Caspian Sea, the solid mass of the the Caucasus, the strait of the the Bosphorus separates it from the the Middle East. In the south and south-west, the Mediterranean and the strait of Gibraltar separate Europe from the Africa. The continent is bordered with the Western by the Atlantic Ocean and with the Northern by the Arctique. Are considered European the Iceland (located geologically on Europe-America separation), and the principal islands of the Mediterranean; the case of Cyprus is however particularly subject to deposit, at the same time on the geography plans, cultural, political and historical.

The cases of the Russia and the Turkey are emblematic Hiatus géographico-policy. These two nations having most of their territory in Asia (Russia), and the Middle East (Turkey), the political plan does not recut the " plan" geographical first. Thus, if Russia is " occidentale" by its culture, its history and a share of its territory, its center of gravity made of it quasi- acontinent, extending from the Peaceful into Europe. the case is more complex for Turkey, this one having the major part of its territory in the Middle East, and having by the history a culture mixed between the Occidental culture and Means-Eastern.

A famous quotation of Paul Valéry summarizes well the ambiguity of the strict delimitation of the borders " est" and " south-est" Europe, since it describes Europe like the “Small course of the continent of Asia”. In addition, he proposed his own definition of Europe: it would be the whole of the areas having undergone triples it influence:

  • of the Hellénisme (Philosophy, reason, republic and democracy, art and technology, science, humanism);
  • of Romanité (Latin, importance of the Right, report/ratio essential with the texts and the writing, administrative management of the territories, expansive imperialism);
  • of the Judeo-Christianity (Monothéisme, values morals of forgiveness and love of its next, expansive moral missionarism);
the whole forming since the Rebirth the common cultural bottom of European Humanistic philosophy.

Some islands of the Atlantic (Madeira, the Canaries, the Azores) that the geography does not attach to this continent are regarded as European by the origin of their settlement and their Culture. It is also the case of the Greenland, which belongs to the Denmark. It will not be forgotten finally that certain countries of Western Europe preserved some remote colonies whose inhabitants find themselves in fact Europeans, such as for example the departments and overseas territories for the France.

Europe has a surface of a little more than 10 million square kilometers, precisely: 10392855  km ². That represents a third of the Africa or a quarter of the Asia or America.

One can distinguish five great geographical areas: Western Europe, Central Europe, Europe of the South, Eastern Europe and Northern Europe. The organization of space shows an economic heart, the “blue Banane” or European Mégalopole, which includes/understands in particular the Rhenish Europe) as well as the European peripheries.

It should be noted that the Eastern borders of Europe are before any policies: the limit of the Ural is due to the cartographers of the tsar Pierre I {{er}} '' Large the '' at the 18th century. In the same way, the border was moved high peaks of the the Caucasus towards the Caspienne at the beginning of the 19th century to justify the annexation of the Georgia and the Arménie in the Russian Empire. From a more scientific point of view, if one refer to the Plate tectonics , Europe and the continental part of the Asia are one and even continent, called Eurasia. Also, some Geographer S eminent, such as Alexander von Humboldt, regarded Europe as simple a Presqu'île of the Asia.

See also the geological Formations of Europe.

  • Seen satellite with Wikimapia

Climate

Extending in latitude from the 36e to the 71e parallel north, with more 4  000 kilometers between spaces Scandinavian and Mediterranean, Europe belongs to the moderate zone.

Europe has 40  000 kilometers of littoral of an extreme diversity, strewn with islands, almost islands and peninsulas. The Atlantic facade is supplemented by seas known as closed, one hot, in the south, the the Mediterranean, the other, in north, of glacial origin, the Baltique. This maritime unit makes the richness of Europe.

Europe is characterized by a great number of penetrations of arm of the sea between Péninsule S, which thus contribute to moderate the climate of the continent, in addition heated on its Western frontage by the Gulf Stream .

The major part of the continent is located under moderate Latitude S and knows thus four well marked Saison S. The coastal regions of the Atlantic facade know a oceanic Climat, softened by the Gulf Stream , while the large plain of the North-East is characterized by a continental Climat. One can also distinguish the mountain Climat from the areas of altitude (the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Scandinavian Alps) as well as the Mediterranean Climat particularly lenient of the contour of the Mediterranean.

Arranged by formidable tectonics which gave him its variety of reliefs, Europe is a puzzle of landscapes. Its natural areas are extremely varied and generally from weak extent. Mountains, valleys, plains became the compost of its cultures and its plural identity.

History of Europe

See also: History of Europe

Prehistory

Excavations carried out these last years in Georgia then in Bulgaria make it possible to say that the kind Homo exists in Europe since approximately 1,5 million years. It is indeed probable that its representatives populated Europe since the the Caucasus while following the Danubian way.

One calls anténéandertaliens the populations which lived in Europe there is: 800000 with: 400000 years. They are in particular represented by the Homme of Tautavel (-: 450000 years), the “oldest French”.

The first traces of settlement néandertalien in Europe go back to: 300000 years. This mankind, very specialized, seems to have existed only in Europe and with the the Middle East. It disappeared there is close to: 30000 years.

The modern Man (whose first African traces go back to: 120000 years) in Europe there appears is: 40000 years, represented in particular by the Man of Cro-Magnon.

Antiquity

It with the Greek that one owes the word Europe , is attested for the first time at sixth century BC It seems that he indicated initially for them the continental area located at the north of the Golfe of Corinth, then the grounds which they discovered little by little in the north of the Mediterranean basin.

On banks of the the Mediterranean, after the rise of the Greece, that comes from Roman civilization . More in north develop protohistoric civilizations : Celtic, German, etc

The constitution of the Roman Empire, then the development of the Christianity, allow a first outline of European unit whose political and economic center is the Mediterranean.

The slow disintegration of this empire and its incapacity to resist vis-a-vis the repeated incursions of the Germanic people involve his dislocation then the collapse of its Western half. Various Germanic people then monopolize the capacity in new territorial entities at the moving borders, preludes to the creation of the current European States of the west.

In the east, the Roman Empire of the East, having for capital Constantinople, remains and driven in a Christian empire of the East where the inhabitants persist in being considered “Roman”.

the Middle Ages

Charlemagne was regarded as the “father of Europe”. It is indeed with him that the word Europe takes a political significance. One calls it of alive sound Pater Europae , and one finds also the expression Europa vel regnum Caroli (Europe, or the kingdom of Charles). Europe of Charlemagne, it is initially franque Europe , in which Rome does not play any more the important role: if he is crowned emperor of Occident to Rome, it is Aachen which he chooses like capital of his empire. It is also Christian Europe: Charles regards himself as crowned by God, and the fact that its crowning in Rome took place a December 25th has value of symbol. It is finally Western Europe, the projects of union with the Byzantine Empire under consideration about the year 800 having failed.

The Middle Ages were, almost everywhere in Europe, the time of the Féodalité from where will emerge, under the impulse of energetic and ambitious kings, the outlines of the first modern, often antagonistic States like the France and the England.

The Western Empire disaggregates quickly after the death of Charlemagne, then disappears at the beginning of the 10th century. In 962, Otton I {{er}} creates the Saint Germanic Roman Empire, but this one cannot extend, thwarted by the rise of the Nationalisme S (France, England), by its fights with the Papauté, then by the development of the Ottoman Empire at the time of the modern time.

The Byzantine Empire, Christian but of primarily Greek culture, knows important fluctuations of its force and consequently of the influence of its territory. This one will extend to its apogee on most of the Mediterranean shore, initially under Justinien Ier, then under the emperors Macedonians, of at the 11th century.

The rise to power of the Moslem S, then the Great Schism (1054) between the Catholicism and the Orthodoxie - follow-up of a crusade directed in 1202 in its opposition - weaken the Byzantine Empire. It is cut up pieces per pieces by the Ottoman Empire before disappearing at the time of the Chute of Constantinople in 1453.

In fact, it is the term of Chrétienté which, during a few centuries, will link the majority of catholic Europeans culturally whereas the word Europe disappears from the remarks and the spirits. The Croisade S are one of the rare concretizations policy and soldier of this feeling of membership.

modern Time

At the time where the Byzantine Empire crumbles, the Reconquista touches at its end. 1492 is the year of the Spain, with the reconquest of the last kingdom Moor (Grenade) on Iberian peninsula and a first journey of Christophe Colomb, under the aegis of the catholic Kings which will open the way with the establishment of European hegemonies.

The dream of a great European empire reappears at the 16th century, with the confrontation between François I {{er}} and Charles Quint, which both disputes the throne of the Holy roman Empire. Thanks to the support of the bankers Fugger, Charles Quint carries it, finding itself with the head of a very wide field, but also very parcelled out. The various wars carried out against France do not give any result and, during two centuries, the cutting of Europe will evolve/move with the liking of matrimonial alliances and the wars between States. It is however vis-a-vis the threat of the Ottoman Empire that the idea of a union of the States d' Europe appears: “ We hold of Gadès with the Isler, a zone which extends between the two seas and which is the very courageous one and very powerful Europe. There, if we link ourselves, we would not be only equal to Turkey, but higher than all Asia ” (Luis Sharp).

More serious, cement of the catholic Christianity, which gave a pretense of union to this Europe, bursts of pieces with the Réforme (or rather Reforms), whose political impact is considerable, in particular involving the formation of the United Provinces and the Swiss Confédération. The Wars of religion, the War Thirty Year old, wars of Louis XIV rythment 16th and 17th centuries. The Traités of Westphalia (1648) durably redraw the political map of Europe and the balance of the involved forces.

The modern Time thus is finally marked by a reinforcement of the Nationalisme S in any kinds. It is also the time when Europe extends very far from its natural borders by the constitution from the first colonial empires on the American continent, then in India.

contemporary Time

The French revolution inaugurates a very important political upheaval: the democratic ideas appear on the front of the scene and the campaigns of Napoleon i then the Congrès of Vienna will deeply reorganize the chart of Europe and mentalities.

At the end of a long process, the 19th century sees being carried out the unit of the Italy and the Germany, as well as the constitution of several new countries in the Balkans, resulting from the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, then called the sick man of Europe .

It is also the appearance of new political movements preaching more equality (Socialisme S), even the dismantling of the capacity of the States (Anarchisme S). These ideas will be diffused thereafter, and with more or less of delay, largely out of the borders of Europe.

The political and economic domination of Europe on the rest of the world continued after it upset its economy at the time of the industrial revolutions, developing its Productivité and amorçant a strong demographic explosion. Their technological advance, and in particular soldier, allowed the European countries, in competition the ones against the others, to extend their influence on the other continents. This Colonisation knew its apogee at the beginning of the 20th century (this apogee is completed in 1914), before both World wars do not upset the established order. The Second world war leaves bloodless Europe ( to see the article Europe under domination Nazi ). Whereas the supremacy of the Western European countries disappears with the profit from two new super powers (the the United States and the Soviet Union), of the rebellions develop in the colonies, leading to the independence of many countries, in particular during the third quarter of the 20th century.

In parallel, whereas the demographic surplus of Europe was such as it constituted a tank of massive emigration throughout the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the countries of the continent were confronted with a stabilization, even a demographic regression starting from the First World War. That, combined with the continuous development of the economy, whose mainly industry of production and transformation, caused a call of labor which transformed Europe into a ground of Immigration, in particular during the glorious Thirty .

Population and Civilization

Population

The the Council of Europe underlined into 2005 that for a few decades the EU has owed her Population growth (for whole or part) with the Immigration which in the years 2000 became the first, then the only factor of increase in the total population of the EU. Thus two million people came to settle in Europe in 2004 whereas the natural increase was negative of: 63000 people. Europe is at the beginning of the 21e century the third hearth of settlement behind the China and the India, with population densities among highest in the world in certain zones of the Netherlands, of Belgium, of the United Kingdom, of Germany or France, the more so as the Rural migration was reinforced as well as the attractivity of the Littoraux with increasingly urban populations. In 2007,70 million people, that is to say 16% of the population of the EU, reside in coastal communes.

Recent demographic history

In spite of tens of million died of both World wars, Europe knew one period of demographic explosion with, which was accompanied by a strong pressure on the nonrenewable Environnement and resources (ecological cf Empreinte, Empreinte energy, urban pressure, Pollution S, etc). For a few decades, the European population has tended to be stabilized, following a strong reduction in the birthrate, which remains however still largely compensated by the birthrate of certain countries, by the retreat of the age to which the women make their first children, and especially by a regular immigration.

Futurology

Into term of Prospective, a less birthrate, associated with the lengthening of the lifespan results in a Net ageing. They are 25 to 33% of the population which could have more than 65 years in 2050, against 14,7% in 2000 according to a report/ratio of the Council of Europe (2005) which postulates a reduction of 13 to 22% of the population from here at 2050 compared to the figures of 1995 (without notable contribution by immigration or increase of the index of fruitfulness and/or the contributions of Turkey, of the countries of the Caucasus and Cyprus, and without taking account of an additional fall which could be due for example to a world Pandémie.

The exploratory studies for 2050 vary from a population decreasing from the only 3% (on the assumption of a ICF going up with 2,34), with -22% even -50% in worst of the cases. These figures all must be used with prudence, the demographic futurology having always been taken at fault and being able itself to influence in return the individual and collective behaviors and the policies of support for the birthrate or immigration.

Geographical disparities

The population growth continued overall for the 27 Member States of the EU, but in the years 2000 to 2005 the population decrease already in Russia, Ukraine and Romania (: - 247000 people on the whole for these countries in 2004). This demographic decline seems more important and more rapid in the ex-countries of the East, some countries where the poverty and the reinforcement of the inequalities followed the collapse of the Communism, and also in the affected regions by the Catastrophe of Tchernobyl (the Bielorussia which has received approximately 70% cesium and iodine repercussions Radioactif S and knows for 20 years the strongest rate of abortion and the rate of abandonment of children is high there). In Eastern Europe, the population could decrease by 30% of 2005 to 2050, according to the “pessimistic” prospectivists more if a significant migratory flux does not compensate for this reduction. In addition, it is not possible to push the population to again live the zones contaminated nor to work there. Immigration, except policy change of the States will not be enough to counterbalance the demographic retreat, because it would be necessary according to the Council of Europe “1,8 million immigrants per annum” from here for 2050 maintaining by then its population on its level of 1995, “3,6 million immigrants” to per annum maintain on its level the working-age population, and “25,2 million immigrants per annum” to even maintain the relationship between the credits and the pensioners.

Consequences

Such a reduction in the population is almost a new fact (which has in the past be associated only with the epidemic S, of Black Death in particular or with the Great Wars). Except for the question of the retirements which requires solutions innovating and interdependent for a few decades, the return to a less population is however not in oneself a negative fact nor pessimistic. From a certain point of view, it seems desired besides by the population itself which does not follow the exhortations of the States, nor does not let itself influence by prophecies catastrophists of the demographers. The tendency to stabilization or a certain reduction in the population of the countries is a fact. One can see there very positive aspects for the means and long run, beyond the difficult passage of the financing of the retirements of the “sacrificed generation” of the Baby-boom. The economists holding of a bearable and convivial, even of the Sustainable development or bearable Decrease can see even there a requirement of the continuation of the Human development and development of Europe of which resources, as that of planet are finished and for some already used largely beyond their threshold of renewal. The more so as a Montée oceans foreseeable will still limit the territory available for the human activities.
“ During a few years to come, the European population will continue to slightly increase ”… before decreasing and to pose “ problems of financing of the retirements ” announced in 2005 Charlotte Höhn, president of the European Comité on the population.

Languages

On a reduced territory, Europe profits from a great richness Ethnoculturel it and from Langue S; The cultures Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Slavic, and Mediterranean are represented by the diversity of the spoken languages: 120 languages and dialects having roots Indo-European; Latin and Greek in the south, Germanic in north and the North-West; Slavic in the east and in Central Europe.

  • 35 official languages are not without posing some problems of translation and communication to the European administrations. This linguistic inheritance of great value for the literature, poetry and the cinema, etc, is enriched by 225 nonofficial secondary languages. This figure can appear high, but it accounts for only 3% of the total of the living languages still spoken on planet.
  • With more than 720 or 980 million inhabitants according to whether one considers political or geographical Europe, Europe remains according to the linguists (of which Summer Institute off Linguistics of Texas) a zone of strong linguistic homogeneity with on average a language for 4,3 million inhabitants. (http://www.ethnologue.com//)

  • Administratively, the German , the English, the Russian , the French and the Spanish dominate. And in this group the English progresses more like language of exchange, but Europe linguistically much richer since the 50 European States (all sovereigns, except Gibraltar) of large geographical Europe gather 35 official languages, is enriched according to the linguists by 222 languages vernacular S.

  • a single language is officially spoken only in 3 small States: Iceland (where one speaks Icelandic), Liechtenstein (where one speaks German), and the Republic of San Marino (where one speaks Italian). The State of the Vatican City (smaller State European) is a case with share: Italian is the common language there, the Latin (famous dead language) there is the legal language, French is the language of diplomacy there (the Vatican is made record like French-speaking State near the international organizations), and German is the language of use in the army (the Swiss Garde). The other States count all several vernacular languages, as well Dialecte S as languages with share (more or less recognized and often not taught) and until more than 10 for Germany (21 languages), Azerbaïdjan (13), Bulgaria (11), Spain (14), France (25), Italy (33), Romania (14), the United Kingdom (12). Vast Russia only gathers with it 56 languages on its territory.
  • In Western Europe (France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, etc) the vernacular languages are often regional and very minority, sometimes at the edge of the extinction, but some (Breton, Basque, Flemish is recognized, and taught in France, rather at the University, but sometimes as of childhood: school Diwan in Brittany). In Spain, it is the case of the Basque, the Catalan and the Galician . For the United Kingdom, it is the Welsh, the Scottish and the Irish. French is recognized in Italy in the Valley of Aoste, like are the Féroïen in the Faroe Islands, or clippings in the Netherlands, etc
  • Certaines regional languages, without official statute (although sometimes doubling the names of communes or streets) persist and are sometimes protected and taught, often with the support of local government agencies or are regional (Breton, Corsica, Occitan in France, Sarde in Italy, Lapon in Scandinavia.
  • With the languages originating in the host countries is added the native tongues of the circulating (Rroms), migrant or taken refuge populations, and particularly the Arab , the Berbère, the Turkish , the Hindi, etc… and the Esperanto/Ido… Without speaking about the mixtures which are born in the suburbs from the continent or the territories known as “from overseas” (creole) or in certain communities (Verlan), including virtual on the Internet.

Religions

Three whole of Religion S dominates:

The catholics are majority in 23 country, the orthodoxe ones in 10 countries, the Protestants in 9 countries, the Moslems 2 countries (Bosnia-Herzégovine, Albania), and also in Turkey if one regards the latter as belonging to Europe.

There exist religious minorities inside these great units:

  • the Jewish are present in Europe since the Roman Empire, they were persecuted since the Moyen-âge and during the Second world war (see Shoah).
  • the Moslem are strongly present in Balkans, formerly under the old Ottoman Empire (Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia) and, of the continuations of the Immigration, in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium…
  • the Eastern extreme religions, being a growing success, by taste of exoticism or the immigrant Asian communities in Europe.
  • the Athéisme is minority. In the past in Albania, the religion was prohibited: according to the work of J. Baubérot (to dir.), Religion and secularity in Europe of the 12 , 1994, page 259: a quarter of the population of the European Union would be “not nun” and 5% of Europeans would be convinced atheists. A survey carried out in 21 country into: 21000 people and published in December 2004 announces that 25% of Europeans of the west are said atheistic against 12% in the Central European countries and Eastern. Always according to this investigation published in the Wall Street Journal European version, 4% of the Roumanians and 8% of the Greeks say themselves atheistic. On the contrary, 49% of the Czechs and 41% of the Netherlanders are atheistic. According to a recent investigation of the public sociological research Center ( Le Monde , July 2005), 82,4% of the Spanish are said catholic and 47,7% of them practitioners.
  • the Laïcité remains a free-Turkish specificity, but the separation of the Church and the State is established in almost all the countries. However, within the European Union, various countries have denominational systems, i.e. the State recognizes an official or dominant religion: inter alia, the United Kingdom (Church Anglican in England and presbytérienne in Scotland); Denmark and Finland (Protestantism Lutheran); Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Monaco, Italy, San Marino, (Catholicism); Switzerland (variable according to the cantons) and Greece (Greek orthodoxy). In these cases, there is not equal treatment between the religions but of the prerogatives (often of a financial nature, sometimes just of an honorary nature) are granted to the one of them. Preparatory debates with the European constitution evoked the possibility of registering the Christian roots in the text, but that was rejected.

For a long time, the continent was devastated by religious intolerance and the Wars of religion (France, Guerre Thirty Year old, Pogrom S).

Political

See also: Political of Europe, Dates of the construction of the European Union

The countries which have whole or part of their territory in Europe (according to the higher definite geographical limits) are 50:

Albania, Germany, Andorra, Arménie, Austria, Azerbaïdjan, Bielorussia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzégovine, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Old Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldavie, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Swiss, Turkey, Ukraine, the Vatican.

Evolution of the number of European States since 1871

Paradoxically, it is the day before the war of 1914 that the political map of Europe could be regarded as most homogeneous. After the unification of the Italy and Germany, the number of European States had fallen to 20 in 1871 (including the Turkey, which still controlled the major part of the Balkans), before going up to 23 in 1878, date on which the Congrès of Berlin recognized the independence of the Serbia, of the Montenegro and the Romania. This number passed then to 26 with the accession to the independence of the Norway (1905), of the Bulgaria (1908) and of the Albania (1912).

The number of European States undergoes important fluctuations following the two world wars: thus the the Saar and the Baltic States (inter alia) changed hands on several occasions (and of statute). During the Inter-war period, the free cities of Dantzig, Fiume and Memel also knew a transitory existence under the quite relative protection of the Société of the Nations. Thereafter, it was the same for the free Territoire of Trieste, placed under supervision of the United Nations in 1947, then divided between the Italy and the Yugoslavia in 1954.

During Years 1960, the number of European States was stabilized to 35 with the accession with the independence of Cyprus (1960) and of Malta (1964). It was to be maintained on this level until the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989. After the reunification of Germany and the bursting of the old communist federations (the USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia), the number of European States officially recognized as independent in 2006 with 49 rose (or 44 if Cyprus is considered, the Turkey, the Arménie, the Georgia and the Azerbaïdjan like Asian).

This number reaches even about sixty if one holds account of the many countries whose statute is disputed (Abkhazie, Cyprus of North, Gagaouzie, Haut-Karabagh, Ossétie-of-South, Sealand, Seborga, Chetchnia, Transnistrie) or in the course of evolution (Féroé, Kosovo). Israel forms in addition part of many association European cultural or sporting (ex: UEFA). The Algeria, the Egypt, Israel, the Lebanon, the Libya, the Morocco, the Syria, and the Tunisia belong to the European Union of radio-television. Morocco took part in the Concours Eurovision of the song in 1980.

The European unit, dreams and reality

Europe forever known of total political unit. Certain one variable duration periods were however marked by the domination of a vast part of the continent by a single capacity, which in general was essential by the force. It was thus the case of the Roman empire, of the Carolingian empire, the Napoleonean empire, and the III {{E}} Reich. Certain royal families also, by the means of dynastic relations, controlled a great number of European countries, the first of which the family of the Habsbourg.

Victor Hugo often dreamed that one day would exist the United States of Europe, making during with the the United States. Its marked speech the August 21st 1849, at the time of the opening of the Congress of Peace with Paris, remained famous. It evokes there finally pacified Europe, linked in the same government. The continuation of the History gives him wrong, with the war of 1870 and the two world wars. Then the Cold war arrives, which divides Europe into two antagonistic blocks. Despite everything, the general de Gaulle preserves the hope, speaking on several occasions about vast Europe going of the Atlantique to the the Ural. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet block could one day give him reason.

Indeed, since second half of the 20th century, a political movement of union is in construction, with for characteristic its installation peaceful and democratic. The current form of this new capacity which is the European Union however is not yet stopped and leaves today a great political freedom to the Member States, increasingly many. The European Union now includes/understands 27 Member States, including 13 which belongs to the Euro area.

For the current government of the the United States, “old Europe” includes/understands the countries of the west of the continent, and “new Europe” the countries of the center and old the Pays of the East, in the past “Eastern bloc”.

With Asia, Europe is the continent cash the most monarchies (a monarchy for three republics). Except notable for the Liechtenstein and that, more anecdotic, City of the the Vatican, European monarchies are democratic, the sovereigns having generally only one role symbolic system or a political role not determining: they are the Prime Ministers or heads of government, resulting from a parliamentary majority, who are invested true political power.

European organizations

Economy

See also: Economy of Europe

Environment

Europe gathers several terrestrial and marine biogeographic Zones a large variety of ecosystem S and which often was intensively exploited, fragmented and polluted.

Europe was driving for many Member States as regards Droit of the environment with in particular the directives Habitats and Oiseaux, although certain Member States (of which France) tardily and incompletely applied them. A parent directive on water is in the course of application, of the directive on the ground and the sea are in project, and on January 1st 2005 is coming into effect the new European standard to limit the Atmospheric pollution: agglomerations of more than: 250000 inhabitants of the European Union should not exceed certain limiting values: 50 Microgramme S (0,05 Mg) of particles by Cubic meter of ambient Air must be the maximum threshold for 35 Jour S by year, and the annual median value should not go beyond 40 micrograms. However, the anti-pollution standards already into force were already not respected: in 2002, 11 countries out of 15 exceeded the authorized margin.
Depuis 1996, the the Council of Europe invites the states to build a ecological Réseau together paneuropéen and they must apply, like all the communities directive 2003/4 concerning the access of the public to information as regards environment, the directive INSPIRES (Infrastructure of space information in Europe). A future European Network of data of observation and monitoring (EMODNET/ European Monitoring Observation. Data Network ) is in construction.
Pour to measure the state of the environment, the pressures and the answers, the EU obtained a European Agence for the Environment (AEE) which applies methodology LEAC now (Land and Ecosystem Accounting - Accounts Department of the ecosystems and the territory). The system Corine Landcover and others makes it possible to harmonize the European charts of environmental data.

Tourism

Famous places and monuments

Random links:Subdivisions of Mauritania | 1863 in France | For balance of any account | Season 1 of Tudors | Antonio Salvi | Août_Wilhelm_Ambros