Depending on what parts of the South Caucasus are considered part of Europe, various peoples of the Caucasus may also be considered "European peoples": Armenians: approx. 4.6 -6.3 million Georgians: approx. 4 million Nokhches (Chechens and Ingushes): approx. 1.8 million Abkhazians: approx. 100,000 Ossetians: approx. 600,000 Kabardians, Cherkesses and Adyghes: approx. 600,000 Peoples of the Mountain Dagestan (Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks etc.): approx. 2 million

By country

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- |Country || Majority || % || Regional majorities || Other minorities |- |Albania || Albanians || 92% || || Greeks ~6%, other 2% (Vlachs, Romani, Serbs, Macedonians, Bulgarians and Turks). |- |Austria || Austrians|| 91.1% || || South Slavs 4% (includes Burgenland Croats, Carinthian Slovenes, Croats, Slovenes, Serbs and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, Germans 0.9%, and other or unspecified 2.4%. (2001 census) |- |Belarus || Belarusians || 81.2%|| || Russians 11.4%, Poles 3.9%, Ukrainians 2.4%, and other 1.1%. (1999 census) |- |Belgium || Flemings || 58%||Walloons 31%, Germans 1% || mixed or other (i.e. Luxembourgers, Eastern or Southern Europeans, Africans and Asians, and Latin Americans) 10%. |- |Bosnia and Herzegovina || — || || Bosniak 48%, Serbs 37.1% Croats 14.3%|| other 0.6%.(2000) |- |Bulgaria || Bulgarians || 84%|| Turks 9%, Roma 5% || 2% (including Russian, Armenian, Tatar, and Vlach). (2001 census) |- |Croatia || Croats || 89.6% || || Serbs 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, Dalmatian Italians, Austrian-German, Romanian and Romani). (2001 census) |- |Czech Republic || Czechs || 90.4%|| Moravians 3.7% || Slovaks 1.9%, and other 4%. (2001 census) |- |Denmark || Danes || 90% || Faroese || other Scandinavian, Germans, Frisians, other European, Greenlandic people and others. |- |Estonia || Estonians || 67.9%|| Estonian Swedes || Baltic Russians 25.6%, Ukrainians 2.1%, Belarusians 1.3%, Finns 0.9%, and other (Baltic Germans) 2.2%. (2000 census) |- |Finland|| Finns || 93.4%|| Swedes 5.6%, Sami 0.1%|| Russians 0.5%, Estonians 0.3%, Romani 0.1% and Turks 0.05%. (2006) |- |France || French || 84%|| (includes sometimes considered as "regional groups" like Bretons, Corsicans, Occitans, Alsatians, Normans, Picards, Savoyards, Basques and Flemings). || other European 7%, North African 7%, Sub-Saharan African, Indochinese, Asian, Latin American and Pacific Islander. French with recent immigrant background (at least one great-grandparent) 33%. |- |Germany || Germans || 81%-91% ||includes Bavarians, Swabians, Saxons, Frisians, Sorbs, Silesians, Saarland Germans, Polish-Germans and Schleswig-Holstein Danes). || Germans without immigrant background 81%; Germans with immigrant background (including ethnic German repatriates and people of partial immigrant background) 10%; Foreigners 9%: Turks 2.1%, others 6.7% and non-European descent about 2 to 5%). |- |Greece || Greeks || 93% || includes linguistic minorities 3%|| Albanians 4%, and other (i.e. Aromanians/Megleno-Romanians, Cretan Turks and Macedonian/Greek Slavic 3%. (2001 census) |- |Hungary ||Hungarians || 92.3%|| || Romani 1.9%, Germans 1.2%, other (i.e. Croats, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks and Ruthenians) or unknown 4.6%. (2001 census) |- |Iceland || Icelanders || 94%|| || other (non-native/immigrants - mainly Polish, Russian, Greek, Portuguese and Filipino) 6%. |- |Ireland || Irish || 87.4%|| Protestant Irish or Anglo-Irish || other white (large numbers of Latvian, Polish and Ukrainian migration) 7.5%, Asian 1.3%, black 1.1%, mixed 1.1%, and unspecified (i.e. Ulster Scots and Irish Travellers) 1.6%. (2006 census) |- |Italy || Italians||92.5% ||includes Sicilians, Sardinians, Lombards and other subgroups plus German-speakers in South Tyrol and French-speaking minority of Val d'Aosta. || other European (mostly Romanians, Albanians, followed by Ukrainians, a recognised Slovene minority, Polish, Greek, British, French and Macedonian) 4%, North African Arab 1%, and others (i.e. Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Black African and Latin American) 2.5%. |- |''Kosovo'' || Albanians || 88%|| Serbs 7% || other 5% (Bosniak, Gorani, Romani, Turk, Ashkali and Egyptians, and Macedonian). |- |Latvia || Latvians || 59.4%|| Baltic Russians 27.5%|| Belarusian 3.5%, Ukrainian 2.4%, Polish 2.3%, Lithuanian 1.2%, Livonian (Finno-Estonian) 0.1% and other 3.6%. (2010) |- |Lithuania || Lithuanians || 83.5%|| || Poles 6.74%, Russians 6.31%, Belorussians 1.23%, other (Lipka Tatars) 2.27% and Jews (Karaites and Yiddish-speaking) 0.01%. (2001 census) |- |Macedonia || Macedonians|| 64.2%|| Albanians 25.2%, Turks 3.9%|| Romani 2.7%, Serbs 1.8%, and other (i.e. Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians and Croats) 2.2%. (2002 census) |- |Malta || Maltese || 95.3%|| Sporadic number of Maltese of Italian ancestry 4.5%.|| |- |Moldova||Moldovans || 75.8%|| Ukrainians 8.4%, Gagauz 4.4%|| Russians 5.9%, Romanians 2.1%, Bulgarians 1.9%, and other 1.3%. (2004 census) |- |Montenegro||— || ||Montenegrins 44.98%, Serbs 28.73%|| Bosniaks 8.65%, Albanians 4.91%, and other (Croats, Greeks, Romani and Macedonians) 12,73%. (2011 census) |- |Netherlands||Dutch || 80.7%|| Frisians 3% || other European Union nationals 5%, Indonesians 2.4%, Turks 2.2%, Surinamese 2%, Moroccans 2%, Netherlands Antilles & Aruban 0.8%, other 4.8% and Frisian-speaking dominant 0.01%. (2008 est.) |- |Norway || Norwegians || 93.1% || Sami 1.2 - 2.5%|| other European 3.6%, and other non-European races 2%. (2007 estimate) |- |Poland||Poles || 96.7%|| ||Germans 0.4%, Belarusians 0.1%, Ukrainians 0.1%, other and unspecified (i.e. Silesians, Prussian Lithuanians and Kashubians) 2.7%, and about 5,000 Polish Jews reported to reside in the country. (2002 census) |- |Portugal|| Portuguese ||92% || || other 8% - European Union (i.e. Spanish, British, German, French, Romanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians) and non-EU nationals (i.e. Ukrainians, Moldavians, Russians, Serbs and Croats); Africans from Portuguese-speaking Africa, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians, Portuguese Gypsies and local Portuguese Mirandese speakers (i.e. Mirandese language). |- |Romania|| Romanians || 89.5%|| Hungarians 6.6%, Romani 2.5%, Germans 0.3% || Ukrainians 0.3%, Russians 0.2%, Turks 0.2%, other 0.4% and Jewish 0.1%. (2002 census) |- |Russia ||Russians || 79.8%|| Tatars 3.8%, Kalmyks, Chechens, Circassians, Ossetians and others|| Ukrainians 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1% and other or unspecified (Kazakhs, Nogais, Mordvins, Komi, Azerbaijanis and Armenians) 12.1%, and a total of 102 other nationalities. (2002 census, includes Asian Russia). |- |Serbia|| Serbs || 82.9% || || Hungarians 3.9%, Romani 1.4%, Yugoslavs 1.1%, Bosniaks 1.8%, Montenegrin 0.9%, and other 8%. i.e. Macedonians, Slovaks, Romanians, Croats, Ruthenes, Germans and other. (2002 census, includes Kosovo). |- |Slovakia|| Slovaks || 85.8%|| Hungarians 9.7%|| Romani 1.7%, Ruthenian/Ukrainian 1%, other and unspecified 1.8%. (2001 census) |- |Slovenia|| Slovenes || 83.1%|| || Serbs 2%, Croats 1.8%, Bosniaks 1.1%, other (Dalmatian Italians, ethnic Germans, Hungarians and Romanians) and/or unspecified 12%. (2002 census) |- |Spain|| Spaniards ||89% || Various nationalities or sub-ethnicities of the Spanish people, including Castilians and Leonese, Catalans/Valencians, Galicians and Basques.|| Spanish Gypsies, Spanish Jews, immigrant peoples (Latin Americans, Romanians, North Africans, sub-Saharan Africans, Chinese, Filipinos, Levant Arabs, and others). |- |Sweden|| Swedes ||88%|| Sweden-Finns, Sami people|| foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Russians, Syriacs, Greeks, Turks, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Thais, Koreans and Chileans. |- |Switzerland ||Swiss || 79%||regional linguistic subgroups, including the Alamannic German-speakers, the Romand French-speakers, the Italian-speakers and Romansh people (see Romansh language). || Balkans (Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks or Albanians) 6%, Italians 4%, Portuguese 2%, Germans 1.5%, Turks 1%, Spanish 1% and Ukrainians 0.5%. |- |Ukraine || Ukrainians || 77.8%|| Russians 17.3% || Belarusians 0.6%, Moldovans 0.5%, Crimean Tatars 0.5%, Bulgarians 0.4%, Hungarians 0.3%, Romanians 0.3%, Poles 0.3%, Jews 0.2%, Armenians 0.1% and other 1.8%. (2001 census) |- |United Kingdom || White British || >85%||(consisting of English: c 75-80% Scottish: 8.0%, Welsh: 4.5%, Northern Irish: 2.8%, also Cornish, Manx, Romani and Channel Islanders). Included are the inhabitants of Gibraltar.|| Black British, Asian British often consists of South Asian and East Indian peoples, Chinese British, various other Commonwealth Citizens and other Europeans. |}

History

Prehistoric populations

Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only secure reconstruction is that of Proto-Greek (ca. 2000 BC). A Proto-Italo-Celtic ancestor of both Italic and Celtic (assumed for the Bell beaker period), and a Proto-Balto-Slavic language (assumed for roughly the Corded Ware horizon) has been postulated with less confidence. Old European hydronymy has been taken as indicating an early (Bronze Age) Indo-European predecessor of the later centum languages.

Historical populations

Historical immigration

History of European ethnography

The earliest accounts of European ethnography date to Classical Antiquity. Herodotus described the Scythians and Thraco-Illyrians. Dicaearchus gave a description of Greece itself besides accounts of western and northern Europe. His work survives only fragmentarily, but was received by Polybius and others.

Roman Empire period authors include Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Tacitus. Julius Caesar gives an account of the Celtic tribes of Gaul, while Tacitus describes the Germanic tribes of Magna Germania.

The 4th century Tabula Peutingeriana records the names of numerous peoples and tribes. Ethnographers of Late Antiquity such as Agathias of Myrina Ammianus Marcellinus, Jordanes or Theophylact Simocatta give early accounts of the Slavs, the Franks, the Alamanni and the Goths.

Book IX of Isidore's ''Etymologiae'' (7th century) treats ''de linguis, gentibus, regnis, militia, civibus'' (of languages, peoples, realms, armies and cities). Ahmad ibn Fadlan in the 10th century gives an account of the Bolghar and the Rus' peoples. William Rubruck, while most notable for his account of the Mongols, in his account of his journey to Asia also gives accounts of the Tatars and the Alans. Saxo Grammaticus and Adam of Bremen give an account of pre-Christian Scandinavia. The ''Chronicon Slavorum'' (12th century) gives an account of the northwestern Slavic tribes.

Gottfried Hensel in his 1741 ''Synopsis Universae Philologiae'' published what is probably the earliest ethno-linguistic map of Europe, showing the beginning of the ''pater noster'' in the various European languages and scripts. In the 19th century, ethnicity was discussed in terms of scientific racism, and the ethnic groups of Europe were grouped into a number of "races", Mediterranean, Alpine and Nordic, all part of a larger "Caucasian" group.

The beginnings of ethnic geography as an academic subdiscipline lie in the period following World War I, in the context of nationalism, and in the 1930s exploitation for the purposes of fascist and Nazi propaganda so that it was only in the 1960s that ethnic geography began to thrive as a bona fide academic subdiscipline.

The origins of modern ethnography are often traced to the work of Bronisław Malinowski who emphasized the importance of fieldwork. The emergence of population genetics further undermined the categorisation of Europeans into clearly defined racial groups. A 2007 study on the genetic history of Europe found that the most important genetic differentiation in Europe occurs on a line from the north to the south-east (northern Europe to the Balkans), with another east-west axis of differentiation across Europe, separating the "indigenous" Basques and Sami from other European populations. Despite these stratifications it noted the unusually high degree of European homogeneity: "there is low apparent diversity in Europe with the entire continent-wide samples only marginally more dispersed than single population samples elsewhere in the world."

National minorities

The member states of the Council of Europe in 1995 signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The broad aims of the Convention are to ensure that the signatory states respect the rights of national minorities, undertaking to combat discrimination, promote equality, preserve and develop the culture and identity of national minorities, guarantee certain freedoms in relation to access to the media, minority languages and education and encourage the participation of national minorities in public life. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities defines a national minority implicitly to include minorities possessing a territorial identity and a distinct cultural heritage. By 2008, 39 member states have signed and ratified the Convention, with the notable exception of France.

Indigenous minorities

Ethnic minorities of non-European origin

Europe is also where a multiplicity of cultures, nationalities and ethnic groups originated outside of Europe reside in, most of them are recently arrived immigrants in the 20th century and their country of origin are often a former colony of the British, French and Spanish empires.

Populations of non-European origin in Europe (approx. 22 - 29+ million, or approx. 3% to 4%+ [depending on definition of non-European origin], out of a total population of approx. 728 million):

European identity

Historical

In this tradition, the ''Historia Brittonum'' (9th century) introduces a genealogy of the peoples of the Migration period (as it was remembered in early medieval historiography) as follows, :''The first man that dwelt in Europe was Alanus, with his three sons, Hisicion, Armenon, and Neugio. Hisicion had four sons, Francus, Romanus, Alamanus, and Bruttus. Armenon had five sons, Gothus, Valagothus, Cibidus, Burgundus, and Longobardus. Neugio had three sons, Vandalus, Saxo, and Boganus.'' :''From Hisicion arose four nations—the Franks, the Latins, the Germans, and Britons; from Armenon, the Gothi, Valagothi, Cibidi, Burgundi, and Longobardi; from Neugio, the Bogari, Vandali, Saxones, and Tarincgi. The whole of Europe was subdivided into these tribes.'' The text goes then on to list the genealogy of Alanus, connecting him to Japheth via eighteen generations.

European culture

Berting says that these points fit with "Europe's most positive realisations". The concept of European culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic and philosophical principles which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history has been strongly marked by European immigration or settlement during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Europe.

Religion

Since the High Middle Ages, most of Europe used to be dominated by Christianity. There are three major denominations, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, with Protestantism restricted mostly to Northern Europe, and Orthodoxy to Slavic regions, Romania, Greece and Georgia. Catholicism, while centered in the Latin parts, has a significant following also in Germanic and Slavic regions, Hungary, and Ireland (with some in Great Britain).

Islam has some tradition in the Balkans (the European dominions of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th to 19th centuries), in Albania, Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkish East Thrace. European Russia has the largest Muslim community, including the Tatars of the Middle Volga and multiple groups in the Caucasus, including Chechens, Avars, Ingush and others. With 20th century migrations, Muslims in Western Europe have become a noticeable minority.

Judaism has a long history in Europe, but is a small minority religion, with France (1%) the only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%. (With millions of Jews killed during WW2, the Holocaust has contributed to the small population percentages.) The Jewish population of Europe is composed primarily of two groups, the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi. Ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews likely migrated to the middle of Europe at least as early as the 8th century, while Sephardi Jews established themselves in Spain and Portugal at least one thousand years before that. Jews originated in the Levant thousands of years ago and spread around the Mediterranean and into Europe. Jewish European history was notably affected by the Holocaust and emigration (including Aliyah, as well as emigration to America) in the 20th century.

In modern times, significant secularization has taken place, notably in laicist France in the 19th century and in the 20th century such as Estonia and German Democratic Republic. Currently, distribution of theism in Europe is very heterogeneous, with more than 95% in Poland, and less than 20% in the Czech Republic and Estonia. The 2005 Eurobarometer poll found that 52% of EU citizens believe in God.

Pan-European identity

"Pan-European identity" or "Europatriotism" is an emerging sense of personal identification with Europe, or the European Union as a result of the gradual process European integration taking place over the last quarter of the 20th century, and especially in the period after the end of the Cold War, since the 1990s. The foundation of the OSCE followng the 1990s Paris Charter has facilitated this process on a political level during the 1990s and 2000s.

From the later 20th century, 'Europe' has come to be widely used as a synonym for the European Union even though there are millions of people living on the European continent in non-EU states. The prefix ''pan'' implies that the identity applies throughout Europe, and especially in an EU context, and 'pan-European' is often contrasted with national identity.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Category:Europe