Ethnic groups in Europe

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This article deals with the European people as an ethnic group or ethnic groups. For information about residents or nationals of Europe, see Demography of Europe. For information on other uses please see disambiguation page: European

The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe.

European Ethnology is the field of cultural anthropology focussing on Europe.

Cultural / Ethnic areas of Europe according to the Encyclopedia Britannica:
Atlantic fringe:
  Scandinavian culture area
  Celtic culture area
  Dutch culture area
  English culture area
  French culture area
Mediterranean:
  Iberian culture area
  Pyrenean culture area
  Mediterraneo-Alpine culture area
  Italic culture area
  Balkan culture area
The Carpatho-Alpine-West plain climax:
  German culture area
  Baltic culture area
  West Slavic culture area
  West Ugric culture area
East plain and Caucasus:
  East Slavic culture area
  West Finno-Permian culture area
  Ponto-Caspian Turko-Tartar culture area
  Caucasian culture area
                         North Germanic                     West Germanic
                    Celtic
                         Western Romance      Italian / Southern Romance
     Eastern Romance      Basque
                         East Slavic                     West Slavic
               South Slavic
          Baltic
     Greek      Albanian      Armenian      Iranian
               Finno-Permic      Hungarian      Ob-Ugric
     Caucasian      Turkic      Kalmyk      Arabic / Maltese      Berber

Ethnic groups of Europe

see Category:Ethnic groups in Europe
Further information: Demography of Europe, Languages of Europe, and Eurolinguistics

Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million (as of 2005), some 85% or 630 million fall within three large ethno-linguistic super-groups, viz., Slavic, Latin (Romance) and Germanic. The largest groups that do not fall within either of these are the Greeks and the Hungarians (about 13 million each). About 20-25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin. The population of the European Union with some 500 million accounts for two thirds of European population.

The largest ethnic group of Europe are probably the Russians with some 90 million settling in the European parts of Russia, followed by the Germans (69 million), French (63 million), Italians (58 million), English (45 million), Spanish (42 million), Ukrainians (40 million) and the Poles (38 million).

Depending on what parts of the Caucasus are considered part of Europe, various peoples of the Caucasus may also be considered "European peoples":

Physical appearance and genetics

Main article: Genetic history of Europe
Further information: White people and Caucasoid

The vast majority of Europeans are of the "Caucasoid" (White) typological race, characterized by lightly pigmented skin and significant polymorphism in eye and hair colour, although typological races are largely discreditied. Human habitation of Europe goes back over a million years,[1] but recognisably anatomically modern humans are not seen in Europe until some 40,000 years ago, with the Cro magnon settlement, and Europe over the prehistoric period received continual immigration, notably with the neolithic revolution.[2]

European diasporas

Further information: History of colonialism

Nations and regions outside of Europe with significant populations of European ancestry:

Individual diasporas:

Further information: List of diasporas

Diasporas in Europe

Further information: Islam in Europe, Muslims in Western Europe, Hinduism in Europe, and Buddhism in Europe

Populations of non-European origin in Europe:

European identity and culture

Main articles: European culture, Western world, Christendom, and Pan-European identity

The culture of Europe might better be described as a series of overlapping cultures. Whether it is a question of West as opposed to East; Christianity as opposed to Islam; many have claimed to identify cultural fault lines across the continent.

European culture also has a broad influence beyond the continent of Europe due to the legacy of colonialism. In this broader sense it is sometimes referred to as Western Civilization. Nearly all of the Americas and all of Africa were ruled by European powers at one time or another, and some parts of the New World, such as French Guiana, still are. The vast majority of the population of the Americas speak European languages, specifically Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and to a much lesser extent Dutch. Additionally the cultures of the European colonial powers (Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France) exert a strong influence.

Pan-European identity refers to both the sense of personal identification with Europe, and to the identity possessed by 'Europe' as a whole. 'Europe' is 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, 'pan-European' is often contrasted with national.

Religion

Predominant religions in Europe
  Roman Catholicism
  Orthodox Christianity
  Protestantism
  Sunni Islam
  Shi'a Islam
Main article: Religion in Europe

Since the High Middle Ages, most of Europe has been dominated by Christianity. There are three major denominations, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, with Protestantism restricted mostly to Germanic regions, and Orthodoxy to Slavic regions and Greece. Catholicism, while centered in the Latin parts, has a significant following also in Germanic, Slavic and Celtic regions.

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, as well as among the Tatars and Chechens of Russia. With 20th century migrations, Muslims in Western Europe have become a noticeable minority.

Judaism has a long history in Europe, but remains a small minority religion, with France (1%) the only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%.

In modern times, significant secularization has taken place, notably in laicist France in the 19th century and in Communist Eastern Europe in the 20th century. Currently, distribution of theism in Europe is very heterogeneous, with more than 80% in Poland, and less than 20% in the Czech Republic. On average, the 2005 Eurobarometer poll[3] found that 52% of the citizens of EU member state that they believe in God.

References

  1. ^ Georgian Homo Erectus Published by Angela M.H. Schuster. Archaeology May 2000
  2. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. "Europe : The people".
  3. ^ http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf

Further reading

  • Cole, J. W., Wolf, E. R., The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley, University of California Press; (1999), ISBN 978-0520216815.
  • Dow, R. R., Bockhorn, O., The Study of European Ethnology in Austria, Progress in European Ethnology, Ashgate Publishing (2004), ISBN 978-0754617471.
  • Jordan, T. G., The European culture area: A systematic geography (2nd ed.). New York: Harper and Row (1988).
  • Parman, S. (ed.), Europe in the Anthropological Imagination, Prentice Hall (1998).

External links

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Europeans.
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