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159-517: The Danian was introduced in scientific literature by German - Swiss geologist Pierre Jean Édouard Desor in 1847 following a study of fossils found in France and Denmark. He identified this stage in deposits from Faxe and Møns Klint and named it after the Latin name for Denmark . The Montian Stage from Belgian stratigraphy (named after the city of Mons ) is now known to be roughly equivalent to

318-748: A general armistice ended the fighting. In the German Revolution (November 1918), Wilhelm II and the ruling princes abdicated their positions, and Germany was declared a federal republic . Germany's new leadership signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, accepting defeat by the Allies . Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of Adolf Hitler . Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and

477-513: A sustainable energy supply, the debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the fertility rate ( pronatalism ), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as Industry 4.0 . During the 2015 European migrant crisis , the country took in over a million refugees and migrants. Germany is the seventh-largest country in Europe . It borders Denmark to

636-567: A temperate climate, ranging from oceanic in the north and west to continental in the east and southeast. Winters range from the cold in the Southern Alps to cool and are generally overcast with limited precipitation, while summers can vary from hot and dry to cool and rainy. The northern regions have prevailing westerly winds that bring in moist air from the North Sea, moderating the temperature and increasing precipitation. Conversely,

795-871: A German naturalist, Peter Simon Pallas , as a valley that once connected the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and subsequently was proposed as a natural boundary between continents. By the mid-19th century, there were three main conventions, one following the Don, the Volga–Don Canal and the Volga, the other following the Kuma–Manych Depression to the Caspian and then the Ural River, and the third abandoning

954-460: A NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban . In the 2005 elections , Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor. In 2009, the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of European integration , the energy transition ( Energiewende ) for

1113-643: A Semitic term for west , this being either Akkadian erebu meaning 'to go down, set' (said of the sun) or Phoenician 'ereb 'evening, west', which is at the origin of Arabic maghreb and Hebrew ma'arav . Martin Litchfield West stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor", while Beekes considers a connection to Semitic languages improbable. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to

1272-818: A boundary along the Terek and Kuban rivers, so southwards from the Kuma and the Manych, but still with the Caucasus entirely in Asia. However, most geographers in the Soviet Union favoured the boundary along the Caucasus crest, and this became the common convention in the later 20th century, although the Kuma–Manych boundary remained in use in some 20th-century maps. Some view the separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as

1431-658: A centralised totalitarian state , withdrew from the League of Nations , and dramatically increased the country's rearmament . A government-sponsored programme for economic renewal focused on public works, the most famous of which was the Autobahn . In 1935, the regime withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the Nuremberg Laws which targeted Jews and other minorities. Germany also reacquired control of

1590-582: A common currency, the euro , and participate in the European single market and a customs union . A large bloc of countries, the Schengen Area , have also abolished internal border and immigration controls. Regular popular elections take place every five years within the EU; they are considered to be the second-largest democratic elections in the world after India's . The EU is the third-largest economy in

1749-615: A framework laid out in the 1949 constitution known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat ; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law , are valid in perpetuity. The president , currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier ,

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1908-680: A joint responsibility of the international community. It was the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States. Germany's military, the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence), is organised into the Heer (Army and special forces KSK ), Marine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Cyber- und Informationsraum (Cyber and Information Domain Service) branches. In absolute terms, German military spending in 2023

2067-406: A large land mass completely or almost completely surrounded by water at its borders. Prior to the adoption of the current convention that includes mountain divides, the border between Europe and Asia had been redefined several times since its first conception in classical antiquity , but always as a series of rivers, seas and straits that were believed to extend an unknown distance east and north from

2226-763: A precise eastern boundary of Europe arises in the Early Modern period, as the eastern extension of Muscovy began to include North Asia . Throughout the Middle Ages and into the 18th century, the traditional division of the landmass of Eurasia into two continents, Europe and Asia, followed Ptolemy, with the boundary following the Turkish Straits , the Black Sea , the Kerch Strait , the Sea of Azov and

2385-547: A provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was temporary. West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a " social market economy ". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the American Marshall Plan . Konrad Adenauer was elected the first federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth ( Wirtschaftswunder ) beginning in

2544-658: A residue of Eurocentrism : "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. [...]." During the 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene , numerous cold phases called glacials ( Quaternary ice age ), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America, occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of

2703-685: A result, the Reconquista took the greater part of eight hundred years, in which period a long list of Alfonsos, Sanchos, Ordoños, Ramiros, Fernandos, and Bermudos would be fighting their Christian rivals as much as the Muslim invaders. During the Dark Ages, the Western Roman Empire fell under the control of various tribes. The Germanic and Slav tribes established their domains over Western and Eastern Europe, respectively. Eventually

2862-577: A series of Imperial Reforms (approximately 1495–1555) provided for considerable local autonomy and a stronger Imperial Diet . The House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of Charles VI in 1740. Following the War of the Austrian Succession and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , Charles VI's daughter Maria Theresa ruled as empress consort when her husband, Francis I , became emperor. From 1740, dualism between

3021-655: A sheep; however; a few (like Ankalagon saurognathus ) reached the size of a medium-sized bear. Numerous lineages of modern birds also survived, particularly in the area around Australia but also elsewhere, e.g. Scaniornis of the North Sea region. The oceans remained much the same as the Late Cretaceous seas, only that there was less life, few remaining marine reptiles (mostly turtles , choristodera and crocodiles ), and other lesser-known animals. There are controversial reports of ammonites (mainly of

3180-638: A state, the East German authorities eased border restrictions, but this actually led to an acceleration of the Wende reform process culminating in the Two Plus Four Treaty under which Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR. The fall of the Wall in 1989 became a symbol of

3339-712: A symbol of the Cold War . Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor Willy Brandt 's Ostpolitik . In 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open its border with Austria , causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. In an effort to help retain East Germany as

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3498-634: A universal health care system , and tuition-free university education . Germany is a member of the United Nations , Council of Europe , NATO and OECD , and a founding member of the European Union, G7 and G20 . It has the third-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites , 54 , of which 51 are cultural. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania , which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for

3657-628: Is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the Gulf Stream , which produce a temperate climate , tempering winters and summers, on much of the continent. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable producing more continental climates . European culture consists of a range of national and regional cultures, which form the central roots of the wider Western civilisation , and together commonly reference ancient Greece and ancient Rome , particularly through their Christian successors , as crucial and shared roots. Beginning with

3816-401: Is also evidence that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 54,000 years ago, some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. The earliest sites in Europe dated 48,000 years ago are Riparo Mochi (Italy), Geissenklösterle (Germany) and Isturitz (France). The European Neolithic period—marked by the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock, increased numbers of settlements and

3975-488: Is closest to Anatolia (or Asia Minor), but is considered part of Europe politically and it is a member state of the EU. Malta was considered an island of North-western Africa for centuries, but now it is considered to be part of Europe as well. "Europe", as used specifically in British English , may also refer to Continental Europe exclusively. The term "continent" usually implies the physical geography of

4134-648: Is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure. Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory, beeches , oaks , and other deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are conifers , particularly spruce and pine . There are many species of ferns , flowers , fungi , and mosses . Wild animals include roe deer , wild boar , mouflon (a subspecies of wild sheep), fox , badger , hare , and small numbers of

4293-478: Is evidenced in the geologic record by two negative carbon isotope excursions and is believed to have led to a 2–3 °C (3.6–5.4 °F) warming of both deep and surface seawater. This hyperthermal also led to a shallowing of the oceanic lysocline , as evidenced by the significant decrease in calcium carbonate preservation. Germany – in Europe  (light green & dark grey) – in

4452-562: Is generally considered a transcontinental country divided entirely by water, while Russia and Kazakhstan are only partly divided by waterways. France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are also transcontinental (or more properly, intercontinental, when oceans or large seas are involved) in that their main land areas are in Europe while pockets of their territories are located on other continents separated from Europe by large bodies of water. Spain, for example, has territories south of

4611-608: Is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. As of 2017 , Germany is divided into 401 districts ( Kreise ) at a municipal level; these consist of 294 rural districts and 107 urban districts . Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law . The Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review . Germany's specialized supreme court system includes

4770-550: Is sometimes considered to mark the end of antiquity; alternatively antiquity is considered to end with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE; the closure of the pagan Platonic Academy of Athens in 529 CE; or the rise of Islam in the early 7th century CE. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe. During

4929-422: Is somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent compared to any clear-cut definition of the term "continent". The current division of Eurasia into two continents now reflects East-West cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border between Europe and Asia does not follow any state boundaries and now only follows a few bodies of water. Turkey

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5088-653: Is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the Bundesversammlung (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the Bundestagspräsident ( President of the Bundestag ), who is elected by

5247-488: Is vested in the parliament consisting of the Bundestag (Federal Diet) and Bundesrat (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The Bundestag is elected through direct elections using the mixed-member proportional representation system. The members of the Bundesrat represent and are appointed by the governments of the sixteen federated states. The German political system operates under

5406-463: The Gründerzeit period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as chancellor of Germany secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war. However, under Wilhelm II , Germany took an imperialistic course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries. A dual alliance was created with the multinational realm of Austria-Hungary ;

5565-491: The Bundestag and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the chancellor, who is appointed by the Bundespräsident after being elected by the party or coalition with the most seats in the Bundestag . The chancellor, currently Olaf Scholz , is the head of government and exercises executive power through his Cabinet . Since 1949,

5724-955: The Allies de jure abolished the German state and partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom , and the United States , were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany ( German : Bundesrepublik Deutschland ); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) ( German : Deutsche Demokratische Republik ; DDR). They were informally known as West Germany and East Germany. East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as

5883-625: The Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia , Greece and the Soviet Union . By 1942, Germany and its allies controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa , but following the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad , the Allied reconquest of North Africa and invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In 1944,

6042-597: The Berchtesgaden National Park . In addition, there are 17 Biosphere Reserves , and 105 nature parks . More than 400 zoos and animal parks operate in Germany. The Berlin Zoo , which opened in 1844, is the oldest in Germany, and claims the most comprehensive collection of species in the world. Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic. Federal legislative power

6201-845: The Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century. From that time, the term designated the sphere of influence of the Western Church , as opposed to both the Eastern Orthodox churches and to the Islamic world . A cultural definition of Europe as the lands of Latin Christendom coalesced in the 8th century, signifying the new cultural condominium created through the confluence of Germanic traditions and Christian-Latin culture, defined partly in contrast with Byzantium and Islam , and limited to northern Iberia ,

6360-414: The Don (ancient Tanais ). But maps produced during the 16th to 18th centuries tended to differ in how to continue the boundary beyond the Don bend at Kalach-na-Donu (where it is closest to the Volga, now joined with it by the Volga–Don Canal ), into territory not described in any detail by the ancient geographers. Around 1715, Herman Moll produced a map showing the northern part of the Ob River and

6519-430: The Eurasian beaver . The blue cornflower was once a German national symbol . The 16 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park , the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park , the Müritz National Park , the Wadden Sea National Parks , the Harz National Park , the Hainich National Park , the Black Forest National Park , the Saxon Switzerland National Park , the Bavarian Forest National Park and

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6678-399: The European Union  (light green) Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe . It lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of

6837-439: The European population at the time. The plague had a devastating effect on Europe's social structure; it induced people to live for the moment as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353). It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church and led to increased persecution of Jews , beggars and lepers . The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until

6996-485: The Fall of Communism , the dissolution of the Soviet Union , German reunification and Die Wende ("the turning point"). United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany so it retained its memberships in international organisations. Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act (1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a Bundesstadt (federal city) retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of

7155-411: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic . The Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship , World War II , and the Holocaust . In 1949, after the war and a period of Allied occupation , Germany was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany , and

7314-460: The Greeks and Phoenicians gave rise to early Mediterranean cities. Early Iron Age Italy and Greece from around the 8th century BCE gradually gave rise to historical Classical antiquity, whose beginning is sometimes dated to 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games . Ancient Greece was the founding culture of Western civilisation. Western democratic and rationalist culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece. The Greek city-state,

7473-400: The Inquisition against heretics. In the Iberian Peninsula , the Reconquista concluded with the fall of Granada in 1492 , ending over seven centuries of Islamic rule in the south-western peninsula. In the east, a resurgent Byzantine Empire recaptured Crete and Cyprus from the Muslims, and reconquered the Balkans. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th to

7632-422: The Investiture controversy . Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes encouraged German settlement to the south and east ( Ostsiedlung ). Members of the Hanseatic League , mostly north German towns, prospered in the expansion of trade. The population declined starting with the Great Famine in 1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–1350. The Golden Bull issued in 1356 provided

7791-409: The Iron Curtain , with NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East . This divide ended with the Revolutions of 1989 , the fall of the Berlin Wall , and the dissolution of the Soviet Union , which allowed European integration to advance significantly. European integration is being advanced institutionally since 1948 with the founding of the Council of Europe , and significantly through

7950-442: The Irtysh River , a major tributary of the Ob, as components of a series of partly-joined waterways taking the boundary between Europe and Asia from the Turkish Straits, and the Don River all the way to the Arctic Ocean. In 1721, he produced a more up to date map that was easier to read. However, his proposal to adhere to major rivers as the line of demarcation was never taken up by other geographers who were beginning to move away from

8109-428: The Jastorf culture during the Nordic Bronze Age or early Iron Age . From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany , they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the Celtic , Iranian , Baltic , and Slavic tribes. Southern Germany was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, who belonged to the wider La Tène culture . They were later assimilated by the Germanic conquerors. Under Augustus ,

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8268-408: The Lower Paleolithic , with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts . Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity . A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire . During the 16th century, northern German regions became

8427-419: The Mediterranean Sea —namely, Ceuta and Melilla —which are parts of Africa and share a border with Morocco. According to the current convention, Georgia and Azerbaijan are transcontinental countries where waterways have been completely replaced by mountains as the divide between continents. The first recorded usage of Eurṓpē as a geographic term is in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo , in reference to

8586-490: The Megalithic Temples of Malta and Stonehenge , were constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe. The modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers , descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic Epigravettian culture; Neolithic Early European Farmers who migrated from Anatolia during the Neolithic Revolution 9,000 years ago; and Yamnaya Steppe herders who expanded into Europe from

8745-467: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland , beginning World War II in Europe ; Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. In the spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway , the Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , and France , forcing the French government to sign an armistice . The British repelled German air attacks in

8904-427: The Neandertal valley in Germany ) appeared in Europe 150,000 years ago (115,000 years ago it is found already in the territory of present-day Poland ) and disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago, with their final refuge being the Iberian Peninsula. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans ( Cro-Magnons ), who seem to have appeared in Europe around 43,000 to 40,000 years ago. However, there

9063-432: The Pechenegs and the Cuman-Kipchaks , caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, and temporarily halted the expansion of the Rus' state to the south and east. Like many other parts of Eurasia , these territories were overrun by the Mongols . The invaders, who became known as Tatars , were mostly Turkic-speaking peoples under Mongol suzerainty. They established

9222-409: The Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of Indo-European migrations 5,000 years ago. The European Bronze Age began c. 3200 BCE in Greece with the Minoan civilisation on Crete , the first advanced civilisation in Europe. The Minoans were followed by the Myceneans , who collapsed suddenly around 1200 BCE, ushering the European Iron Age . Iron Age colonisation by

9381-529: The Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of Germania between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history . By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote Germania , Germanic tribes had settled along

9540-430: The Saarland in 1935, remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938, annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 with the Munich Agreement , and in violation of the agreement occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people. In August 1939, Hitler's government negotiated

9699-406: The Scaphitidae class in Turkmenistan ) still being around at this time, although they did not survive the Danian age. Close to the end of the Danian, around 62.2 Ma, occurred a hyperthermal, similar to but smaller in magnitude compared to the more famous Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), known as the Latest Danian Event (LDE). The event, which took place over a 170-230 kyr time interval,

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9858-406: The Serbian Principality (later Kingdom and Empire ), and the Duchy of Croatia (later Kingdom of Croatia ). To the east, Kievan Rus' expanded from its capital in Kiev to become the largest state in Europe by the 10th century. In 988, Vladimir the Great adopted Orthodox Christianity as the religion of state. Further east, Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in the 10th century, but

10017-450: The Triple Alliance of 1882 included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa , German South West Africa , Togoland , and Kamerun . Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in

10176-426: The decline of the Roman Empire , Europe entered a long period of change arising from what historians call the " Age of Migrations ". There were numerous invasions and migrations amongst the Ostrogoths , Visigoths , Goths , Vandals , Huns , Franks , Angles , Saxons , Slavs , Avars , Bulgars , Vikings , Pechenegs , Cumans , and Magyars . Renaissance thinkers such as Petrarch would later refer to this as

10335-465: The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Christian consolidation of Europe in the wake of the Migration Period marked the European post-classical Middle Ages . The Italian Renaissance spread in the continent a new humanist interest in art and science which led to the modern era . Since the Age of Discovery , led by Spain and Portugal , Europe played a predominant role in global affairs with multiple explorations and conquests around

10494-409: The former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990 . Germany has been described as a great power with a strong economy ; it has the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP . As a global power in industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer . As a developed country , it offers social security ,

10653-417: The inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice for civil and criminal cases, along with the Federal Labour Court , Federal Social Court , Federal Fiscal Court , and Federal Administrative Court for other matters. Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively. The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of

10812-432: The last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary, called the Holocene . Homo erectus georgicus , which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in Georgia , is the earliest hominin to have been discovered in Europe. Other hominin remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in Atapuerca , Spain . Neanderthal man (named after

10971-517: The polis , was the fundamental political unit of classical Greece. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens . The Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece also generated many cultural contributions: in philosophy , humanism and rationalism under Aristotle , Socrates and Plato ; in history with Herodotus and Thucydides ; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with

11130-428: The revolutions of 1848 in the German states , raising the German question. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement. King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Minister President of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the war with Denmark in 1864 ;

11289-402: The "Dark Ages". Isolated monastic communities were the only places to safeguard and compile written knowledge accumulated previously; apart from this, very few written records survive. Much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period disappeared from Western Europe, though they were preserved in the east, in the Byzantine Empire. While the Roman empire in

11448-613: The "Evangelical" faith ( Lutheranism ), but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be the faith of his subjects ( cuius regio, eius religio ). From the Cologne War through the Thirty Years' Wars (1618–1648), religious conflict devastated German lands and significantly reduced the population. The Peace of Westphalia ended religious warfare among the Imperial Estates . The legal system initiated by

11607-587: The 12th centuries, with a population of approximately 400,000. The Empire was weakened following the defeat at Manzikert , and was weakened considerably by the sack of Constantinople in 1204 , during the Fourth Crusade . Although it would recover Constantinople in 1261, Byzantium fell in 1453 when Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Empire . In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as

11766-677: The 12th to the 15th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Moscow grew from a small principality under Mongol rule to the largest state in Europe, overthrowing the Mongols in 1480, and eventually becoming the Tsardom of Russia . The state was consolidated under Ivan III the Great and Ivan the Terrible , steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries. The Great Famine of 1315–1317

11925-499: The 18th century. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe. The Renaissance was a period of cultural change originating in Florence , and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The rise of a new humanism was accompanied by the recovery of forgotten classical Greek and Arabic knowledge from monastic libraries, often translated from Arabic into Latin . The Renaissance spread across Europe between

12084-400: The 50 years of peace that followed are known as Golden Age of Athens , the seminal period of ancient Greece that laid many of the foundations of Western civilisation. Greece was followed by Rome , which left its mark on law , politics , language , engineering , architecture , government , and many more key aspects in western civilisation. By 200 BCE, Rome had conquered Italy and over

12243-640: The Alps. Subsequently, the Holy Roman Empire emerged from it. The Ottonian rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major duchies . In 996, Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III , whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through

12402-924: The Austrian Habsburg monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, Prussia and Austria, along with the Russian Empire , agreed to the Partitions of Poland . During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars , the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet , most of the Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories;

12561-537: The British Isles, France, Christianised western Germany, the Alpine regions and northern and central Italy. The concept is one of the lasting legacies of the Carolingian Renaissance : Europa often figures in the letters of Charlemagne's court scholar, Alcuin . The transition of Europe to being a cultural term as well as a geographic one led to the borders of Europe being affected by cultural considerations in

12720-581: The Cretaceous genus Globotruncana . The top of the Danian Stage (the base of the Selandian) is close to the boundary between biozones NP4 and NP5 from marine biostratigraphy . It is slightly after the first appearances of many new species of the calcareous nanoplankton genus Fasciculithus ( F. ulii , F. billii , F. janii , F. involutus , F. tympaniformis and F. pileatus ) and close to

12879-514: The Don altogether, following the Greater Caucasus watershed to the Caspian. The question was still treated as a "controversy" in geographical literature of the 1860s, with Douglas Freshfield advocating the Caucasus crest boundary as the "best possible", citing support from various "modern geographers". In Russia and the Soviet Union , the boundary along the Kuma–Manych Depression was the most commonly used as early as 1906. In 1958,

13038-675: The Early Middle Ages, and soon spread throughout Europe. A struggle for influence between the nobility and the monarchy in England led to the writing of Magna Carta and the establishment of a parliament . The primary source of culture in this period came from the Roman Catholic Church . Through monasteries and cathedral schools , the Church was responsible for education in much of Europe. The Papacy reached

13197-559: The East, especially relating to areas under Byzantine, Ottoman, and Russian influence. Such questions were affected by the positive connotations associated with the term Europe by its users. Such cultural considerations were not applied to the Americas, despite their conquest and settlement by European states. Instead, the concept of "Western civilization" emerged as a way of grouping together Europe and these colonies. The question of defining

13356-591: The European Union . It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France , Luxembourg , Belgium , and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt ; the largest urban area is the Ruhr . Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in

13515-654: The Frankish tribes were united under Clovis I . Charlemagne , a Frankish king of the Carolingian dynasty who had conquered most of Western Europe, was anointed " Holy Roman Emperor " by the Pope in 800. This led in 962 to the founding of the Holy Roman Empire , which eventually became centred in the German principalities of central Europe. East Central Europe saw the creation of the first Slavic states and

13674-695: The Franks established the Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria . Areas of what is today eastern Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes. Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire in 800; it was divided in 843 . The eastern successor kingdom of East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe river in the east and from the North Sea to

13833-504: The German Bundestag , though they have never been part of the federal government. In the 2017 German federal election , the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany gained enough votes to attain representation in the parliament for the first time. Germany is a federation and comprises sixteen constituent states which are collectively referred to as Länder . Each state ( Land ) has its own constitution, and

13992-705: The German Democratic Republic, or East Germany . Berlin continued its de jure Four Power status . The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union , while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact . After the fall of the communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw

14151-468: The Great 's efforts to make Russia more European, ignored the whole boundary question with his claim that neither Russia, Scandinavia, northern Germany, nor Poland were fully part of Europe. Since then, many modern analytical geographers like Halford Mackinder have declared that they see little validity in the Ural Mountains as a boundary between continents. The mapmakers continued to differ on

14310-550: The Holocaust , the German government persecuted minorities , including interning them in concentration and death camps across Europe. The regime systematically murdered 6 million Jews, at least 130,000 Romani , 275,000 disabled , thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses , thousands of homosexuals , and hundreds of thousands of political and religious opponents . Nazi policies in German-occupied countries resulted in

14469-804: The K-Pg boundary. It is very important because the readily recognized iridium anomaly and primitive Danian planktonic foraminifers define the base of the Danian. Danian foraminiferans repopulated the Paleocene seas after the Cretaceous mass extinction (Olsson et al., 1996). The first replacement foraminiferan of the Paleogene is the Globigerina eugubina, which is used to define the base of the Danian Age (Stainforth et al., 1975). This foraminiferan replaced

14628-655: The Levant and North Africa and making inroads into Asia Minor . In the mid-7th century, following the Muslim conquest of Persia , Islam penetrated into the Caucasus region. Over the next centuries Muslim forces took Cyprus , Malta , Crete , Sicily , and parts of southern Italy . Between 711 and 720, most of the lands of the Visigothic Kingdom of Iberia were brought under Muslim rule—save for small areas in

14787-763: The Mediterranean Sea without the inclusion of any mountain ranges. Cartographer Herman Moll suggested in 1715 Europe was bounded by a series of partly-joined waterways directed towards the Turkish straits, and the Irtysh River draining into the upper part of the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean . In contrast, the present eastern boundary of Europe partially adheres to the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, which

14946-630: The Pacific and China. The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day Namibia ), from 1904 to 1907, carried out the annihilation of the local Herero and Namaqua peoples as punishment for an uprising; this was the 20th century's first genocide . The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger World War I . After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed,

15105-684: The Pacific. On 11 August 1919, President Friedrich Ebert signed the democratic Weimar Constitution . In the subsequent struggle for power, communists seized power in Bavaria , but conservative elements elsewhere attempted to overthrow the Republic in the Kapp Putsch . Street fighting in the major industrial centres, the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops, and a period of hyperinflation followed. A debt restructuring plan and

15264-599: The Reichstag after a special election in 1932 and Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. After the Reichstag fire , a decree abrogated basic civil rights and the first Nazi concentration camp opened. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, overriding the constitution, and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany. His government established

15423-587: The Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus ), occupying most of modern Germany. However, Baden-Württemberg , southern Bavaria , southern Hesse and the western Rhineland had been incorporated into Roman provinces . Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest:

15582-801: The Soviet Geographical Society formally recommended that the boundary between the Europe and Asia be drawn in textbooks from Baydaratskaya Bay , on the Kara Sea , along the eastern foot of Ural Mountains, then following the Ural River until the Mugodzhar Hills , and then the Emba River ; and Kuma–Manych Depression, thus placing the Caucasus entirely in Asia and the Urals entirely in Europe. The Flora Europaea adopted

15741-619: The Soviets pushed into Eastern Europe ; the Western allies landed in France and entered Germany despite a final German counteroffensive . Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin , Germany signed the surrender document on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe and Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, surviving Nazi officials were tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . In what later became known as

15900-509: The Tanais (the modern Don River) as the boundary. The Roman Empire did not attach a strong identity to the concept of continental divisions. However, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the culture that developed in its place , linked to Latin and the Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of "Europe". The term "Europe" is first used for a cultural sphere in

16059-600: The Upper Danian and is considered a junior synonym and is no longer in use. The base of the Danian is defined at the iridium anomaly which characterized the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–T boundary) in stratigraphic sections worldwide. A section in El Kef , Tunisia was appointed as a reference profile ( GSSP ) for this important boundary. The Danian is the oldest age of the Paleocene, defined at its base by

16218-551: The adoption of Christianity ( c. 1000 CE) . The powerful West Slavic state of Great Moravia spread its territory all the way south to the Balkans, reaching its largest territorial extent under Svatopluk I and causing a series of armed conflicts with East Francia . Further south, the first South Slavic states emerged in the late 7th and 8th century and adopted Christianity : the First Bulgarian Empire ,

16377-648: The basis of many modern legal systems, funded the construction of the Hagia Sophia and brought the Christian church under state control. From the 7th century onwards, as the Byzantines and neighbouring Sasanid Persians were severely weakened due to the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars , the Muslim Arabs began to make inroads into historically Roman territory, taking

16536-435: The boundary between the lower Don and Samara well into the 19th century. The 1745 atlas published by the Russian Academy of Sciences has the boundary follow the Don beyond Kalach as far as Serafimovich before cutting north towards Arkhangelsk , while other 18th- to 19th-century mapmakers such as John Cary followed Strahlenberg's prescription. To the south, the Kuma–Manych Depression was identified c.  1773 by

16695-441: The centre of the Protestant Reformation . Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815. Formal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state commenced on 18 August 1866 with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia -led North German Confederation , which became the German Empire in 1871. After World War I and

16854-429: The communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany , supported by the Stasi , an immense secret service. While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity. The Berlin Wall , built in 1961, prevented East German citizens from escaping to West Germany, becoming

17013-415: The constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors . Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, laying the basis for the democratization of knowledge . In 1517, Martin Luther incited the Protestant Reformation and his translation of the Bible began the standardization of the language; the 1555 Peace of Augsburg tolerated

17172-400: The continent The prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century. Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water to the north, west and south; Europe's limits to the east and north-east are usually taken to be the Ural Mountains , the Ural River , and the Caspian Sea ; to the south-east, the Caucasus Mountains , the Black Sea , and

17331-453: The continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu ( 歐洲 / 欧洲 ), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name Ōuluóbā zhōu ( 歐羅巴洲 ) ( zhōu means "continent"); a similar Chinese-derived term Ōshū ( 欧州 ) is also sometimes used in Japanese such as in the Japanese name of the European Union, Ōshū Rengō ( 欧州連合 ) , despite the katakana Yōroppa ( ヨーロッパ ) being more commonly used. In some Turkic languages,

17490-424: The continents as the lands given by Noah to his three sons; Europe was defined as stretching from the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar , separating it from Northwest Africa , to the Don, separating it from Asia. The convention received by the Middle Ages and surviving into modern usage is that of the Roman era used by Roman-era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo , and Ptolemy , who took

17649-401: The country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2024, Germany reported $ 97.7 billion to NATO, exceeding the NATO target of 2% at 2.12% of GDP. Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere . It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to

17808-405: The creation of a new currency in 1924 ushered in the Golden Twenties , an era of artistic innovation and liberal cultural life. The worldwide Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning 's government pursued a policy of fiscal austerity and deflation which caused unemployment of nearly 30% by 1932. The Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the largest party in

17967-413: The creation of a more unified European political, economic and security apparatus. The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies . Cultural ties and economic interests have crafted a bond between the two countries resulting in Atlanticism . After 1990, Germany and Russia worked together to establish a "strategic partnership" in which energy development became one of

18126-536: The criminal and the protection of the public. With the exceptions of petty crimes, tried by a single professional judge, and of serious political crimes, all charges are adjudicated by mixed tribunals where lay judges ( Schöffen ) and professional judges preside together. As of 2016, Germany's murder rate stood at a low of 1.18 murders per 100,000. In 2018, the overall crime rate fell to its lowest since 1992. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017, and LGBT rights are generally protected in

18285-461: The deaths of an estimated 2.7 million Poles , 1.3 million Ukrainians , 1 million Belarusians and 3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war . German military casualties have been estimated at 5.3 million, and around 900,000 German civilians died. Around 12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from across Eastern Europe, and Germany lost roughly one-quarter of its pre-war territory. After Nazi Germany surrendered,

18444-402: The development of major commercial routes along the coast of the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas . The growing wealth and independence acquired by some coastal cities gave the Maritime Republics a leading role in the European scene. The Middle Ages on the mainland were dominated by the two upper echelons of the social structure: the nobility and the clergy. Feudalism developed in France in

18603-447: The early 1950s. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community . On 1 January 1957, the Saarland joined West Germany. East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the Soviet Union via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact . Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members ( Politbüro ) of

18762-411: The ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the Imperium was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars . Following the fall of Napoleon , the Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation, a loose league of 39 sovereign states . The appointment of the emperor of Austria as

18921-466: The end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe and eventually the wider world. Both world wars began and were fought to a great extent in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence and competed over dominance in Europe and globally. The resulting Cold War divided Europe along

19080-402: The epic poems of Homer ; in drama with Sophocles and Euripides ; in medicine with Hippocrates and Galen ; and in science with Pythagoras , Euclid , and Archimedes . In the course of the 5th century BCE, several of the Greek city states would ultimately check the Achaemenid Persian advance in Europe through the Greco-Persian Wars , considered a pivotal moment in world history, as

19239-464: The first appearance of calcareous nanoplankton species Neochiastozygus perfectus . The Danian Stage overlaps the Puercan and Torrejonian North American land mammal ages and the Shanghuan and lowest part of the Nongshanian Asian land mammal ages . It includes the oldest Mammal Paleogene zones , all included in the 1 - 5 group. Though the non-avian dinosaurs were gone, the mammals and other land animals remained small, most not even bigger than

19398-410: The following two centuries it conquered Greece , Hispania ( Spain and Portugal ), the North African coast, much of the Middle East , Gaul ( France and Belgium ), and Britannia ( England and Wales ). Expanding from their base in central Italy beginning in the third century BCE, the Romans gradually expanded to eventually rule the entire Mediterranean basin and Western Europe by the turn of

19557-434: The government was completed in 1999, and modernisation of the East German economy was scheduled to last until 2019. Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union , signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, and co-founding the eurozone . Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent German troops to Afghanistan as part of

19716-400: The height of its power during the High Middle Ages. An East-West Schism in 1054 split the former Roman Empire religiously, with the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Catholic Church in the former Western Roman Empire. In 1095 Pope Urban II called for a crusade against Muslims occupying Jerusalem and the Holy Land . In Europe itself, the Church organised

19875-399: The idea of water boundaries as the only legitimate divides between Europe and Asia. Four years later, in 1725, Philip Johan von Strahlenberg was the first to depart from the classical Don boundary. He drew a new line along the Volga , following the Volga north until the Samara Bend , along Obshchy Syrt (the drainage divide between the Volga and Ural Rivers ), then north and east along

20034-532: The latter waterway to its source in the Ural Mountains . At this point he proposed that mountain ranges could be included as boundaries between continents as alternatives to nearby waterways. Accordingly, he drew the new boundary north along Ural Mountains rather than the nearby and parallel running Ob and Irtysh rivers. This was endorsed by the Russian Empire and introduced the convention that would eventually become commonly accepted. However, this did not come without criticism. Voltaire , writing in 1760 about Peter

20193-464: The millennium. The Roman Republic ended in 27 BCE, when Augustus proclaimed the Roman Empire . The two centuries that followed are known as the pax romana , a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity and political stability in most of Europe. The empire continued to expand under emperors such as Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius , who spent time on the Empire's northern border fighting Germanic , Pictish and Scottish tribes. Christianity

20352-410: The most important factors. As a result of the cooperation, Germany imported most of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia. Germany's development policy functions as a distinct sector within its foreign policy framework. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as

20511-409: The nation. Germany has a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad and maintains relations with more than 190 countries. Germany is a member of NATO , the OECD , the G7 , the G20 , the World Bank and the IMF . It has played an influential role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France and all neighbouring countries since 1990. Germany promotes

20670-435: The north, Poland and Czechia to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France , Luxembourg , Belgium , and the Netherlands to the west. Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. German territory covers 357,596 km (138,069 sq mi). Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,963 metres or 9,721 feet) in

20829-441: The northwest ( Asturias ) and largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees . This territory, under the Arabic name Al-Andalus , became part of the expanding Umayyad Caliphate . The unsuccessful second siege of Constantinople (717) weakened the Umayyad dynasty and reduced their prestige. The Umayyads were then defeated by the Frankish leader Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732, which ended their northward advance. In

20988-431: The originally Persian name Frangistan ("land of the Franks ") is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa . Clickable map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly used continental boundaries Key: blue : states which straddle the border between Europe and Asia ; green : countries not geographically in Europe, but closely associated with

21147-404: The party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany . So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/The Greens have also been junior partners in coalition governments . Since 2007, the democratic socialist party The Left has been a staple in

21306-507: The people' (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus ), derived from * þeudō , descended from Proto-Indo-European * tewtéh₂- 'people', from which the word Teutons also originates. Pre-human ancestors, the Danuvius guggenmosi , who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest ones to walk on two legs. Ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil (the Neanderthal )

21465-456: The peoples east of the Rhine . The German term Deutschland , originally diutisciu land ('the German lands'), is derived from deutsch ( cf. Dutch ), descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' (from diot or diota 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants . This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic * þiudiskaz 'of

21624-421: The permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of Prussia 's rising influence. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich . The Zollverein , a tariff union, furthered economic unity. In light of revolutionary movements in Europe , intellectuals and commoners started

21783-444: The poetry devoted to it. An alternative view is that of Robert Beekes , who has argued in favour of a pre-Indo-European origin for the name, explaining that a derivation from eurus would yield a different toponym than Europa. Beekes has located toponyms related to that of Europa in the territory of ancient Greece, and localities such as that of Europos in ancient Macedonia . There have been attempts to connect Eurṓpē to

21942-417: The realisation of the European Union (EU), which represents today the majority of Europe. The European Union is a supranational political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation and is based on a system of European treaties . The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A majority of its members have adopted

22101-456: The remote regions of north-western Iberia and the middle Pyrenees the power of the Muslims in the south was scarcely felt. It was here that the foundations of the Christian kingdoms of Asturias , Leon , and Galicia were laid and from where the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula would start. However, no coordinated attempt would be made to drive the Moors out. The Christian kingdoms were mainly focused on their own internal power struggles. As

22260-425: The second-smallest continent (using the seven-continent model ). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states , of which Russia is the largest and most populous , spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 745 million (about 10% of the world population ) in 2021; the third-largest after Asia and Africa. The European climate

22419-549: The south to the shores of the North Sea ( Nordsee ) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea ( Ostsee ) in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: in the municipality Neuendorf-Sachsenbande , Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres or 11.6 feet below sea level ) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Significant natural resources include iron ore, coal, potash , timber, lignite , uranium , copper, natural gas, salt, and nickel. Most of Germany has

22578-505: The south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa . Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian Sea , the Greater Caucasus , the Black Sea , and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait . Europe covers about 10.18 million km (3.93 million sq mi), or 2% of Earth's surface (6.8% of land area), making it

22737-756: The southeast regions have more extreme temperatures. From February 2019 – 2020, average monthly temperatures in Germany ranged from a low of 3.3 °C (37.9 °F) in January 2020 to a high of 19.8 °C (67.6 °F) in June 2019. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 30 litres per square metre in February and April 2019 to 125 litres per square metre in February 2020. Average monthly hours of sunshine ranged from 45 in November 2019 to 300 in June 2019. The territory of Germany can be divided into five terrestrial ecoregions : Atlantic mixed forests , Baltic mixed forests , Central European mixed forests , Western European broadleaf forests , and Alps conifer and mixed forests . As of 2016 , 51% of Germany's land area

22896-422: The state of the Golden Horde with headquarters in Crimea, which later adopted Islam as a religion, and ruled over modern-day southern and central Russia for more than three centuries. After the collapse of Mongol dominions, the first Romanian states (principalities) emerged in the 14th century: Moldavia and Walachia . Previously, these territories were under the successive control of Pechenegs and Cumans. From

23055-429: The subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation which excluded Austria . After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War , the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital. In

23214-407: The waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea . Islands are generally grouped with the nearest continental landmass, hence Iceland is considered to be part of Europe, while the nearby island of Greenland is usually assigned to North America , although politically belonging to Denmark. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions based on sociopolitical and cultural differences. Cyprus

23373-445: The west and the north, transmitting newly acquired skills in producing copper artifacts. In Western Europe the Neolithic period was characterised not by large agricultural settlements but by field monuments, such as causewayed enclosures , burial mounds and megalithic tombs . The Corded Ware cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic . During this period giant megalithic monuments, such as

23532-416: The west continued to decline, Roman traditions and the Roman state remained strong in the predominantly Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire , also known as the Byzantine Empire . During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Emperor Justinian I presided over Constantinople's first golden age: he established a legal code that forms

23691-399: The western shore of the Aegean Sea . As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BCE by Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni River on the territory of Georgia ) in the Caucasus, a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. Herodotus mentioned that

23850-419: The widespread use of pottery—began around 7000 BCE in Greece and the Balkans , probably influenced by earlier farming practices in Anatolia and the Near East . It spread from the Balkans along the valleys of the Danube and the Rhine ( Linear Pottery culture ), and along the Mediterranean coast ( Cardial culture ). Between 4500 and 3000 BCE, these central European neolithic cultures developed further to

24009-411: The world had been divided by unknown persons into three parts—Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa)—with the Nile and the Phasis forming their boundaries—though he also states that some considered the River Don , rather than the Phasis, as the boundary between Europe and Asia. Europe's eastern frontier was defined in the 1st century by geographer Strabo at the River Don. The Book of Jubilees described

24168-410: The world. The place name Evros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Evros (today's Maritsa ) – flows through the fertile valleys of Thrace , which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent. In classical Greek mythology , Europa ( Ancient Greek : Εὐρώπη , Eurṓpē )

24327-452: The world. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers colonised at various times the Americas , almost all of Africa and Oceania , and the majority of Asia. The Age of Enlightenment , the French Revolution , and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally, politically, and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution , which began in Great Britain at

24486-422: Was legalised by Constantine I in 313 CE after three centuries of imperial persecution . Constantine also permanently moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul ) which was renamed Constantinople in his honour in 330 CE. Christianity became the sole official religion of the empire in 380 CE, and in 391–392 CE the emperor Theodosius outlawed pagan religions. This

24645-399: Was a Phoenician princess. One view is that her name derives from the Ancient Greek elements εὐρύς ( eurús ) 'wide, broad', and ὤψ ( ōps , gen. ὠπός , ōpós ) 'eye, face, countenance', hence their composite Eurṓpē would mean 'wide-gazing' or 'broad of aspect'. Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and

24804-454: Was discovered in the Neander Valley . Similarly dated evidence of modern humans has been found in the Swabian Jura , including 42,000-year-old flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found, the 40,000-year-old Lion Man , and the 41,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels . The Nebra sky disk , created during the European Bronze Age , has been attributed to a German site. The Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged from

24963-428: Was eventually absorbed into Russia several centuries later. The period between the year 1000 and 1250 is known as the High Middle Ages , followed by the Late Middle Ages until c. 1500. During the High Middle Ages the population of Europe experienced significant growth, culminating in the Renaissance of the 12th century . Economic growth, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, made possible

25122-444: Was the seventh-highest in the world . In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German military expenditure would be increased past the NATO target of 2%, along with a one-time 2022 infusion of 100 billion euros, representing almost double the 53 billion euro military budget for 2021. In 2023, military spending according to NATO criteria amounted to $ 73.1 billion, or 1.64% of

25281-495: Was the first crisis that would strike Europe in the late Middle Ages. The period between 1348 and 1420 witnessed the heaviest loss. The population of France was reduced by half. Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines, and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period. Europe was devastated in the mid-14th century by the Black Death , one of the most deadly pandemics in human history which killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe alone—a third of

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