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Inter-city rail services are express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance commuter rail trains within one city area nor slow regional rail trains stopping at all stations and covering local journeys only. An inter-city train is typically an express train with limited stops and comfortable carriages to serve long-distance travel.

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130-545: Not all rail services shown The Southern Highlands Line (SHL) is an intercity rail service that services the Macarthur , Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands regions of New South Wales . First operating in 1869, the service runs from Campbelltown across the Main Southern railway line through to Goulburn , with peak hour services extending the route to Central . The railway service operates alongside

260-732: A China -funded higher-speed railway link, the Boten–Vientiane railway , commonly referred to as the China-Laos Railway. A fully electrified higher-speed railway line, it is part of a long-term goal of connecting China with the rest of Southeast Asia . The line runs from Boten near the China- Laos border to Vientiane , the capital of Laos, using CRRC high/higher-speed EMU trains. Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malayan Railways) operates loco-hauled express trains called KTM Intercity along Peninsular Malaysia and into Singapore . At

390-871: 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

520-643: 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

650-818: 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

780-728: A bus route from Picton to Bowral , operating on the route of the Picton – Mittagong loop railway line , and a regional coach service from Bundanoon to Wollongong on the South Coast Line , operating on the corridor of the Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line . One of only two routes on the NSW TrainLink intercity network to run entirely on non-electrified railway lines, the Southern Highlands Line

910-582: 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

1040-571: A cross-border train or alighting from such a train. There are currently three cross-border train services on the conventional line: A new border-crossing service, the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link , has been approved and has been granted HKD 6.6 billion in funding by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee. The line has been opened in 2018 with a new station West Kowloon Terminus in

1170-578: A dense rail network, large territory, or less air and car transport, such as China, India, and Russia, overnight long-distance train services are provided and used practically. In many other countries, such long-distance rail journey has been replaced by air travel except for tourism or hobbyist purposes, luxury train journeys, or significant cost benefit. Amtrak long-distance services in the United States, Via Rail 's Canadian service in Canada, and

1300-664: A hyphen) was first conceived as a brand name by British Rail for the launch of its electrification of the major part of the West Coast Main Line in 1966, which brought new express services between London and the major cities of Manchester , Birmingham and Liverpool . It later became the name of one of British Rail's new business sectors in the 1980s and was used to describe the whole network of main-line passenger routes in Great Britain, but it went out of official use following privatisation . The introduction of

1430-406: 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

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1560-566: A network of JR's limited express inter-city trains on 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ), narrow gauge , lines. Major cities are covered by convenient train services of every one hour or more frequent. In addition to the JR Group, Japan has major private rail operators such as the Kintetsu , Meitetsu , Tobu Railway and Odakyu Electric Railway that operate "limited express" inter-city services. Inter-city railway services crossing

1690-581: A new section of line opened between Picton and Mittagong , with the original section becoming the Picton-Mittagong loop line. Originally a single track line, it was later doubled with the exception of the Picton-Mittagong loop line. Most services operate between Campbelltown and Moss Vale with a limited number extending to Sydney Central and Goulburn . All services are operated by NSW TrainLink using Endeavour railcars . Rail replacement bus services operate between Picton and Bowral paralleling

1820-763: 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

1950-711: 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

2080-685: 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

2210-406: A top service speed of 160 km/h. In Australia, electrified interurban commuter railway systems are used to connect urban areas separated by long distances and use heavy-rail equipment: On these systems, services either run as limited-stop expresses in the suburban area or as shuttles terminating where the suburban lines end. A large-scale non-electric project of four regional lines known as

2340-743: 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 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

2470-466: Is a common journey distance for inter-city rail in many countries. In many cases, railway travel is most competitive at about two to three hours journey time. Inter-city rail can often compete with highways and short-haul air travel for journeys of this distance. Most major intercity railway routes in Europe, such as London to Birmingham, Paris to Lyon, and Lisbon to Porto cover this range of distances. In journeys of 500–1,000 km (300–600 mi),

2600-401: 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

2730-488: 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

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2860-562: 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

2990-847: Is maintained by Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland 's is run by Northern Ireland Railways . With the introduction of high-speed trains, intercity trains are limited to few services per day on mainline and regional tracks. The daytime services ( InterCity IC), while not frequent and limited to one or two trains per route, are essential in providing access to cities and towns off the railway's mainline network. The main routes are Trieste to Rome (stopping at Venice , Bologna , Prato , Florence and Arezzo ), Milan to Rome (stopping at Genoa , La Spezia , Pisa and Livorno / stopping at Parma , Modena , Bologna, Prato, Florence and Arezzo), Bologna to Lecce (stopping at Rimini , Ancona , Pescara , Bari and Brindisi ) and Rome to Reggio di Calabria (stopping at Latina and Naples ). In addition,

3120-456: Is most prevalent in Europe because of the proximity of its 50 countries to a 10,180,000-square-kilometre (3,930,000-square-mile) area. Eurostar and EuroCity are examples. In many European countries, the word InterCity or Inter-City is an official brand name for a network of regular-interval and relatively long-distance train services that meet certain criteria of speed and comfort. That use of

3250-478: Is operated in most Main railway lines like Japanese limited express or German Intercity . Also, Mugunghwa-ho is the most common and most popular type of intercity rail travel like German Regional-Express . In addition, Seoul and Busan are linked by a high-speed train line known as KTX , which was built using French TGV technology. India 's inter-city trains are run by Indian Railways . With 68,043 km (42,280 mi) of rail routes and 7,308 stations,

3380-776: Is operated with a rolling stock solely consisting of Endeavour railcars , with most services only using two cars. The service spans 169 kilometres (105 mi) of railway, making it the most extensive route on the NSW TrainLink network apart from the Blue Mountains Line 's Bathurst Bullet service. Despite that, the route spans only 22 stations, making it also the route with the lowest number of stops. An additional 2 stations and 55 kilometres (34 mi) of railway are traversed by Southern Highlands trains at peak hours. The Main South line opened in stages to Picton in 1863, Moss Vale in 1867 and Goulburn in 1869. In 1919,

3510-775: Is planning the revival of inter-city rail with projects such as the PNR South Long Haul which aims to reconstruct the railway in Southern Luzon. Thailand has a sizable meter-gauge intercity rail network radiating outwards from Bangkok , transporting around 60 million passengers every year. Construction is underway to connect Bangkok with Nakhon Ratchasima using a dedicated high speed rail line. Trains in Vietnam , run by Vietnam Railways , link Hanoi , Hué , Da Nang , Nha Trang , and Ho Chi Minh City . Israel Railways operates inter-city services between all

3640-541: Is relatively low: trains average 60 or 70 km/h (37 or 43 mph). Canada 's inter-city trains are mostly run by Via Rail , a Canadian crown corporation mandated to operate inter-city passenger rail service in Canada. The majority of its services connect major cities in the most populous part of the country known as the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor , straddling the provinces of Ontario and Quebec . It also operates long-distance trains to western Canada and

3770-550: 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

3900-422: 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

4030-477: 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 is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the Gulf Stream , which produce a temperate climate , tempering winters and summers, on much of

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4160-809: Is the fastest one. All long-distance journeys generally require a reservation, although unreserved travel is allowed in some trains. There is only one train service in Cambodia , from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville , stopping at Doun Kaev (Takeo) and Kampot . In Indonesia, PT Kereta Api operates inter-city services between some of the country's major cities, like Jakarta , Bandung , Semarang , Yogyakarta , Surakarta , Surabaya , Medan , Padang , and Palembang . In Jakarta metropolitan area (or Jabodetabek ), KRL Jabotabek operates inter-city and commuter services. Indonesia also currently operates Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail line, from Jakarta to Bandung . In recent years construction has started on

4290-514: The British Rail Class 43 (HST) helped InterCity become a familiar brand in the 1970s. The principal network of international express trains in continental Europe is called EuroCity , even though some InterCity trains also cross borders. High-speed railways have relatively few stops. The German high-speed train service was named InterCityExpress , indicating its evolution from older InterCity trains. Other high-speed lines include

4420-845: 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 ,

4550-517: 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

4680-573: 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

4810-512: 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,

4940-863: The Indian Pacific in Australia are examples. Faster high-speed rail of at least 250 km (160 mi) per hour, such as the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway in China (1,300 km or 810 mi in 5 hours) and Tokyo-Sapporo in the proposed Hokkaido Shinkansen in Japan (1,030 km or 640 mi in 4 hours), may play a significant role in long-distance travel in the future. Railways in Africa are still developing or not practically used for passenger purposes in many countries, but

5070-636: 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

5200-801: 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

5330-733: 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

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5460-458: The Malaysia – Thailand border, connections to State Railway of Thailand trains are available. KTM Intercity trains are diesel-powered and run on a single-track 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge system. The rail track is gradually being duplicated and electrified. On the completed Central to Northern section (border), KTM runs the higher-speed Electric Train Service (ETS). As of February 2020,

5590-419: 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

5720-490: 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

5850-427: 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

5980-668: The Ontario Northland Railway , which operates passenger services between Cochrane and Moosonee in rural northern Ontario and luxury train operators such as the Royal Canadian Pacific and Rocky Mountaineer , which operate rail tours in Western Canada . In Mexico , the federal government discontinued almost all scheduled inter-city passenger trains in June 2001. Ferromex operates trains on three routes: Chihuahua City to Los Mochis , Torreón to Felipe Pescador , and Guadalajara to Amatitán . Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed intercity trains, including from Mexico City to Toluca (construction began July 7, 2014),

6110-432: 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

6240-438: The Philippine National Railways does not have a regular inter-city rail service although the agency is planning on rebuilding new railway lines. Prior to the 1970s, the main island of Luzon had a relatively expansive narrow-gauge railway network, but government prioritization towards highway construction and the effects of multiple natural disasters gradually led to the decline and abandonment of most intercity rail services. Until

6370-409: 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

6500-412: The Regional Fast Rail is operational in Victoria . Current interurban and intercity journeys outside the suburban area are often locomotive-hauled, particularly for longer distance services, due to Victoria's lack of electrification outside of Melbourne. In New Zealand , there are currently three long-distance passenger services classed as inter-city: the Coastal Pacific , the Northern Explorer , and

6630-406: 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

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6760-537: The TGV (France), AVE (Spain), Treno Alta Velocità (Italy), Eurostar (United Kingdom–France and Belgium), Thalys (Netherlands–Belgium–Germany and France), Lyria (France-Switzerland), and Railjet (Germany-Austria–Czechia/Hungary). In Great Britain , the inter-city rail links are now operated by a number of private companies as well as Continental State owned railways such as Avanti West Coast , LNER , EMR , CrossCountry , TransPennine Express , Greater Anglia and GWR . Ireland 's inter-city rail network

6890-462: The TranzAlpine . Their slow average speed is limited by the rugged country traversed, particularly in the middle of the North Island , where the North Island Main Trunk has many sharp curves and steep gradients. Given these speeds, as well as the prioritization of the rail transport in New Zealand towards freight, these passenger services primarily cater the tourist market, similar to long-distance routes in Australia. Europe Europe

7020-426: 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

7150-465: 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

7280-432: 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

7410-517: 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

7540-457: 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 the second-smallest continent (using the seven-continent model ). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states , of which Russia

7670-402: 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

7800-461: 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

7930-401: 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

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8060-444: 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

8190-410: The 2000s, PNR had two inter-city rail services: the Bicol Express and the Mayon Limited. The Bicol Express leaves Manila and passes through Manila, Pasay , and Muntinlupa and the provinces of Laguna , Quezon , and Camarines Sur before arriving at Naga . The trip takes 10 hours, or 600 minutes. The Mayon Limited connects Minola and Ligao in 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours. The Philippine government

8320-400: 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

8450-421: 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

8580-448: 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,

8710-427: 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

8840-452: 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

8970-421: 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

9100-404: 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

9230-412: The Hong Kong-China border (often known as through trains ) are jointly operated by Hong Kong's MTR Corporation Limited and the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China . Currently, Hung Hom station is the only station in the territory where passengers can catch these cross-border trains. Passengers are required to go through immigration and customs inspections of Hong Kong before boarding

9360-909: The Intercity trains provide a more economical means of long-distance rail travel within Italy. The night trains ( Intercity Notte ICN) have sleeper compartments and washrooms, but no showers on board. Main routes are Rome to Bolzano /Bozen (calling at Florence, Bologna, Verona , Rovereto and Trento ), Milan to Lecce (calling at Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Faenza, Forlì, Cesena, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi), Turin to Lecce (calling at Alessandria , Voghera , Piacenza , Parma, Bologna, Rimini, Pescara, Termoli, San Severo,Foggia, Barletta, Bisceglie, Molfetta, Bari, Monopoli, Fasano, Ostuni and Brindisi) and Reggio di Calabria to Turin (calling at Naples, Rome, Livorno , La Spezia and Genova). Most portions of these ICN services run during

9490-655: 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

9620-648: The Maritimes on the Canadian and Ocean lines and by smaller trains to more remote areas of Canada. Much like the United States , Canada previously had a larger intercity rail network prior to the 1970s; certain major cities such as Calgary and Regina lack connections to the extant Via Rail network, and passenger rail usage outside of the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor is infrequent and geared towards

9750-588: 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

9880-603: The Peninsular train from Yucatán to Riviera Maya , and the Mexico-Querétaro high-speed train from Puebla to Tlaxcala and Mexico City with future expansion to Guadalajara. In recent years, passenger trains have seen a revival, with the construction of the tourist-oriented Tren Maya route traversing the Yucatan Peninsula. There was a dense system of inter-city railways in the United States in

10010-494: The Picton-Mittagong loop line and Bundanoon and Wollongong paralleling the Moss Vale-Unanderra line . A daytime bus service also operates between Moss Vale and Goulburn. Some stations are also served by NSW TrainLink XPT and Xplorer services from Sydney to Canberra , Griffith and Melbourne . Up until the mid-1990s, most services on the line operated through to Sydney Central. Named trains that operated on

10140-478: The Southern Highlands Line experiences significantly worse peak hour on-time running performance than other suburban and intercity lines. The following table shows the patronage of each line of the NSW TrainLink Intercity network for the year ending 30 June 2024, based on Opal tap on and tap off data. Inter-city rail Inter-city rail sometimes provides international services. This

10270-801: 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

10400-509: 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

10530-662: The United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York City . The two busiest passenger rail stations in the United States are Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal , both in Manhattan , New York City. Passenger rail outside the Northeast, Northwest , California , and the Chicago metropolitan area is infrequent and rarely used relative to networks in Europe and Japan. Passenger lines in most of

10660-616: The United States are operated by the quasi-public corporation Amtrak. The separate Alaska Railroad , which is also government-owned, runs passenger trains in Alaska , and the privately owned Brightline rail service operates in Florida . The California High-Speed Rail system began construction in 2015 and aims to connect major job centers in California . Multiple new rail corridors have been identified for private development throughout

10790-496: 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 ,

10920-604: The average speed of inter-city rail service would be faster than 100 km/h (62 mph) in order to be competitive with car, bus and other methods of transport. The distance of an inter-city rail journey is usually at least 50–100 km (30–60 mi), although in many large metropolitan areas commuter and regional services cover equal or longer distances. Examples of countries with relatively short intercity rail distances with service patterns comparable to regional rail include Belgium , Israel , The Netherlands , and Switzerland . A distance of 100–500 km (60–300 mi)

11050-648: 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

11180-563: 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

11310-466: The city centre. Taiwan 's coastline is connected by frequent inter-city train services by Taiwan Railway Administration . Taiwan High Speed Rail, opened in 2007, covers the most populated west-coast corridor. Chinese:對號列車 There are Chu-kuang express (莒光號) and Tze-chiang limited express (自強號). Almost every major town and city in South Korea is linked by railway, run by Korail . ITX-Saemaeul

11440-590: 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

11570-573: 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,

11700-424: 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

11830-640: 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

11960-877: The country. These include the Brightline West corridor from Las Vegas to Los Angeles , California, the Texas Central Railway between Dallas and Houston in Texas , and others. In Australia , the national interstate network operated by Journey Beyond connects all mainland Australian capital cities except Canberra . However, it is catered towards the luxury tourism market. NSW TrainLink operates interstate services from Sydney to Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. Intrastate inter-city trains that traverse shorter distances are operated by V/Line , NSW TrainLink, Sydney Trains , Queensland Rail and Transwa . The fastest intercity trains in regular service have

12090-640: 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

12220-656: 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

12350-590: 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

12480-731: The following countries have inter-city services between major cities: Trains run by China Railway link almost every town and city in the People's Republic of China , including Beijing , Guangzhou , Shanghai , Shenzhen , and Xi'an , and onwards from Shenzhen across the border to Kowloon , in Hong Kong . New high-speed lines from 200–350 km/h (124–217 mph) operation are constructed, and many conventional lines are also upgraded to 200 km/h (124 mph) operation. Currently there are seven High-Speed Inter-City lines in China , with up to 21 planned. They are operated independently from

12610-584: 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

12740-493: The four major metropolitan areas of Israel : Tel Aviv , Jerusalem , Be'er Sheva , and Haifa . However, due to the small geography of Israel, most of the railway services have a more suburban service pattern, with many short stops at stations between the major city centres. In Europe, many long-distance inter-city trains are operated under the InterCity (often simply IC) brand. InterCity (or, initially, "Inter-City" with

12870-651: 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

13000-509: 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

13130-550: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the decline of passenger railroads in North America in the 1960s, the inter-city lines decreased greatly and today the national system is far less dense. The most heavily used routes with the greatest ridership and schedule frequencies are in the Northeastern United States on Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor . About one in every three users of mass transit in

13260-596: 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

13390-504: The line included the Goulburn Day Train and Southern Highlands Express . In the late 1980s, air-conditioned HUB / RUB carriages were introduced. These would later be joined by Budd and Tulloch carriages and DEB railcars . In 1994, all were replaced by Endeavour railcars. Most services were altered to operate only as far north as Campbelltown connecting with Sydney Trains electric services to Sydney. As of 2014–15,

13520-577: 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

13650-538: The national government. As of 2018, foreign services operate on the Polish Railways network. These include EuroCity and EuroNight trains operating between Western and Eastern European destinations, including by the EN 440/441 from Berlin via Warsaw to Moscow operated by Talgo train of Russian Railways company. In 2019, new nightjet train from Wien to Berlin via Ostrava (CZ) and Wroclaw (PL) starts

13780-471: The night; since most services take 10 to 15 hours to complete a one-way journey, their day-time portion provide extra train connections to complement with the Intercity services. The Polish State Railways (PKP), a state-owned corporate group, is the main provider of railway services. The PKP group holds an almost unrivaled monopoly over rail services in Poland since it is both supported and partly funded by

13910-710: 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

14040-418: The often parallel High-Speed-Rail-Lines. Japan has six main regional passenger railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Five JR companies operate the "bullet trains" on very fast and frequent Shinkansen lines that link all the larger cities, including Tokyo, Yokohama , Nagoya , Kyoto , Osaka , Hiroshima , Fukuoka and many more. Many other cities are covered by

14170-483: 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

14300-444: 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

14430-512: The railway network in India is the third-largest in the world (after Russia and China) and the largest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres. The Vande Bharat Express , Gatimaan Express , Tejas Express , Tejas-Rajdhani Express , Rajdhani Express , Shatabdi Express , Jan Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express are the fastest inter-city services in India; of these, the Vande Bharat

14560-480: 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

14690-575: 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

14820-483: The role of inter-city rail is often replaced by faster air travel . Development of high-speed rail in some countries increases the share of railway for such longer-distance journeys. The Paris-Marseille TGV (750 km or 466 mi in 3 hours) and Tokyo-Aomori Shinkansen (675 km or 419 mi in 2 hours 59 minutes) are examples of this type of journey. In conventional non high-speed rail, overnight trains are common for this distance. In some countries with

14950-542: The service. "source 1" . 8 May 2018. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .. Russia has a dense network of long-distance railways all over its vast territory, the longest and most famous being the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok . Long-distance train routes of more than 1,000 or 2,000 km (621 or 1,243 mi) are common, with many trips taking two or three days. Speed

15080-535: 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

15210-493: The term appeared in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and has been widely imitated. The speeds of inter-city rail lines are quite diverse, ranging from 50 km/h (31 mph) in a mountainous area or on undeveloped tracks to 200–350 km/h (124–217 mph) on newly constructed or improved tracks. As a result, Inter-city rail may or may not fall into the category of higher-speed rail or high-speed rail . Ideally,

15340-609: The tourism market. International trains, run jointly by Amtrak and Via Rail, connect New York City with Toronto . Amtrak also operates the Adirondack between New York City and Montreal , and the Amtrak Cascades service linking Vancouver and Seattle . In addition, the White Pass and Yukon Route links Skagway and Whitehorse on an isolated northern route. Other inter-city passenger rail operators include

15470-407: 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

15600-445: 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

15730-416: 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

15860-399: 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

15990-419: 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

16120-411: 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

16250-410: 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 )

16380-452: 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

16510-422: 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

16640-399: 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

16770-428: 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

16900-495: 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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