Home > History of Europe
This article discusses the history of the continent of Europe.
1 The origins
Main article: Prehistoric Europe
Homo erectus and Neandertals settled Europe long before the emergence of modern humans, Homo sapiens.
The earliest appearance of anatomically modern people in Europe has been dated to the 35,000 BC. Evidence of permanent settlement dates from the 7th millennium BC in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. The Neolithic reached Central EuropeHistorical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. There are no physical landmarks that would commonly be seen as its borders. Rather, it is a concept of shared history, in op in the 6th millennium BC7th millennium BC 6th millennium BC 5th millennium BC other millennia) Events Agriculture appears in the valley of the Nile Rice cultivated in Asia Wheel and plough invented circa 5600 BC According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with and parts of Northern EuropeNorthern Europe is a name for the northern part of the European continent. At different times this region has been defined differently but today it is generally seen to include Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden in the 5th6th millennium BC 5th millennium BC 4th millennium BC other millennia) Events 4713 BC The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. circa 4500 BC Civilization of and 4th millennium BC5th millennium BC 4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC other millennia) Events City of Ur in Mesopotamia ( 40th century BC). Naqada culture on the Nile, 4000 3000 BC. Civilization of Crete ( 38th century BC). Epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew Calendar oc. There is no prehistoric culture that covers the whole of Europe. For short introductions to the various cultures, see Palaeolithic, MesolithicThe Mesolithic (middle stone age) is the period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. It began at the end of the Pleistocene epoch around 10,000 years ago and ended with the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical r, NeolithicThe Neolithic (Greek neos new, lithos stone, or "New Stone Age") is traditionally the last part of the stone age. The name was invented by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. It followed Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic and early Holo, Bronze Age and Iron Age.
The first well-known literate civilization in Europe was that of the Minoans of the island of Crete and later the Myceneans in the adjacent parts of Greece, starting at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Around 400 BC, the La Tene culture spread over most of the interior as far as the Iberian Peninsula ( Spain and Portugal), and later Anatolia. The Etruscans inhabited central Italy and Lombardy, where they were displaced by the Celts, who mingled with earlier residents of Iberia to produce a unique Celtiberian culture. As the Celts did not use a written language, knowledge of them is piecemeal. The Romans encountered them and recorded a great deal about them; these records and the archeological evidence form our primary understanding of this extremely influential culture. The Celts posed a formidable, if disorganized, competition to the Roman state, that later colonized and conquered much of the southern portion of Europe.
