Template:Short descriptionScript error: No such module "redirect hatnote".Template:Pp-pcEuropeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are no universally accepted and precise definitions of the terms "ethnic group" and "nationality", but in the context of European ethnography in particular, the terms ethnic group, people, nationality and ethno-linguistic group are used as mostly synonymous. Preference may vary in usage with respect to the situation specific to the individual countries of Europe, and the context in which they may be classified by those terms.[1]
The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans in 2002.[2] The Russians are the most populous among Europeans, with a population of roughly 120 million.[3]
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In 2021, the number of non-EU nationals living in EU members states was 23.7 million (5.3% of the EU population). The countries with the largest population of non-nationals were Germany, Spain, France and Italy. These four Member States represented 70.3% of all non-EU nationals living in the EU Member States.[4] The population of the European Union, with some 450 million residents, accounts for two thirds of the current European population.
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Of the total population of Europe of some 740 million (as of 2010), close to 90% (or some 650 million) fall within three large branches of Indo-European languages, these being:
Three stand-alone Indo-European languages do not fall within larger sub-groups and are not closely related to those larger language families, but are still languages that are used in areas considered part of the European continent:
Indo-Aryan is represented by the Romani language spoken by Roma people of eastern Europe, and is at root related to the Indo-Aryan languages of the Indian subcontinent.
Besides the Indo-European languages, there are other language families on the European continent which are considered unrelated to Indo-European:
Language isolates: Basque, spoken in the Basque regions of Spain and France, is an isolate language, the only one in Europe, and is believed to be unrelated to any other living language; though it is related to the extinct Aquitanian language.
Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only relatively likely 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.
According to geneticist David Reich, based on ancient human genomes that his laboratory sequenced in 2016, Europeans descend from a mixture of four distinct ancestral components.[13]
Historical populations
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Exodus of Maghreb Christians, namely Berbers and African Romance speakers, from the 7th to the 12th centuries.[14]
The western Kipchaks known as Cumans entered the lands of present-day Ukraine in the 11th century.
The Mongol/Tatar invasions (1223–1480), and Ottoman control of the Balkans (1389–1912). These medieval incursions account for the presence of European Turks and Tatars.
Book IX of Isidore's Etymologiae (7th century) treats de linguis, gentibus, regnis, militia, civibus (concerning languages, peoples, realms, war 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 one of the earliest ethno-linguistic map of Europe, showing the beginning of the pater noster in the various European languages and scripts.[15][16]
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.[17]
The origins of modern ethnography are often traced to the work of Bronisław Malinowski, who emphasized the importance of fieldwork.[18]
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, Sardinians 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."[19][20][21]
Minorities
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The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of Europeans.[2]
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 had signed and ratified the convention, with the notable exception of France.
Indigenous minorities
The definitions that apply to who is considered an indigenous minority group in Europe can vary widely. One criterion is the so-called "time element", or how long the original inhabitants of a land occupied it before the arrival of later settlers. As there is no fixed time frame, considering a specific group to be indigenous is often context-dependent.[22] A number of ethnic groups in Europe claim indigenous status and are spread throughout the continent.
In Russia, the Uralic Nenets and Komi peoples in the north are considered to be indigenous peoples; the Nenets are divided into three distinct groups based on their way of life, Tundra, Forest, and Yaran, and have two autonomous regions that mention them as the majority inhabitants (Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets). Similarly, the Komi are divided into two main groups, the Zyryans and the Permiaks, which are individually divided into their own unique subgroupings.[23] The Komi primarily live in the Komi Republic, though much of the population of the Republic are ethnic Russians. The Nenets are one of the 40 groups in Russia that are recognized as indigenous small-numbered peoples, while the Komi are seeking this recognition.[24] The Circassians of southern Russia and the North Caucasus are another indigenous people to the country, though following the Circassian genocide, more Adyghe live in Turkey than in their ancestral homeland.[25]
In the Crimean Peninsula, which internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, the Turkic Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks and Crimean Karaites are indigenous peoples. The Crimean Tatars were the majority ethnic group of the Crimean Peninsula until the 19th century.[26] Meanwhile, the Krymchaks and Karaites differ by their much smaller population size (around 1–2,000 each) and their adherence to Judaism, with more of both groups now residing in Israel. The Crimean Tatars were declared an indigenous peoples in the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine,[27] while plans were declared in 2021 to grant Karaites and other groups the same status.
In Scandinavia, which comprises Norway, Finland, and Sweden, the Sámi people inhabit the cultural region of Sápmi (which also includes parts of Russia). Up to today, the people have experienced great discrimination as an indigenous group, with the Norwegian and Swedish governments having previously been accused of policies of Norwegianization and Swedification against them.[28][29] While challenges regarding the rights of the Sámi remain, the Church of Sweden made a formal apology for its role in forced conversions, and outlined a one-year plan for reconciliation.[30]
Many non-European ethnic groups and nationalities have migrated to Europe over the centuries. Although some groups arrived centuries ago, the vast majority of non-indigenous ethnic groups have arrived more recently, mostly in the 20th and 21st centuries. Often, they come from former colonies of the British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish empires.
Ashkenazi Jews: approximately 1.4 million, mostly in the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine. They are believed by scholars to have arrived from Israel via southern Europe[54][55][56][57][58] in the Roman era[59] and settled in France and Germany towards the end of the first millennium. The Nazi Holocaust wiped out the vast majority during World War II and forced most to flee, with many of them going back to Israel.
Bukharan Jews: from Uzbekistan, approximately 320,000, now half in Israel, 12% in the United States (2/3 in the New York metropolitan area), 5% the United Kingdom, and 3% scattered in Austria, Germany, Uzbekistan, Canada, and Russia.
Sephardi Jews: approximately 300,000, mostly in France. They arrived via Spain and Portugal in the pre-Roman[60] and Roman[61] eras, and were forcibly converted or expelled in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Mizrahi Jews: approximately 300,000, mostly in France, via Islamic-majority countries of the Middle East.
Italqim: approximately 50,000, mostly in Italy, since the 2nd century BC.
Romaniotes: approximately 6,000, mostly in Greece, with communities dating at least from the 1st century AD.
Assyrians: In Sweden, Assyrians number of 150,000 people,[62] and the city of Södertälje is considered the unofficial Assyrian capital of Europe. Other European countries that have a sizeable Assyrian population are Germany, France, the Netherlands, and in smaller numbers in Great Britain and Armenia. Depending on religious denomination, tribe, or country of origin, they may also identify as Syriac, Chaldean, or Aramean, and they have formed different organizations that aim to represent them under these labels.
Kurds: approximately 2.5 million, mostly in the UK, Germany, and Sweden.
Horn Africans (Somalis, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Djiboutians, and the Northern Sudanese): approximately 700,000, mostly in Scandinavia, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, and Italy. Majority arrived to Europe as refugees. Proportionally few live in Italy despite former colonial ties, most live in the Nordic countries.
Sub-Saharan Africans (many ethnicities including Afro-Caribbeans, African-Americans, Afro-Latinos and others by descent): approximately 5 million in 2007, mostly in the UK and France, with smaller numbers in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere.[64]
Latin Americans: approximately 2.2 million in 2007, mainly in Spain and to a lesser extent Italy and the UK.[65] See also Latin American Britons (80,000 Latin American born in 2001).[66]
Chilean refugees escaping the Augusto Pinochet regime of the 1970s formed communities in France, Sweden, the UK, former East Germany and the Netherlands.
Venezuelans: around 520,000 mostly in Spain (200,000), Portugal (100,000), France (30,000), Germany (20,000), UK (15,000), Ireland (5,000), Italy (5,000) and the Netherlands (1,000).Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Romani (Gypsies): approximately 4 or 10 million (although estimates vary widely), dispersed throughout Europe but with large numbers concentrated in the Balkans area, they are of ancestral South Asian and European descent,[71] originating from the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Indians: approximately 2 million, mostly in the UK, also in Netherlands, Italy, in Germany and France.
Pakistanis: approximately 1 million, mostly in the UK, but also in France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Bangladeshi residing in Europe estimated at over 500,000, mostly in the UK.
Sri Lankans: approximately 200,000, mainly in the UK.
Afghans, about 100,000 to 200,000, most happen to live in the UK, but Germany and Sweden have also been popular destinations for Afghan immigrants since the 1960s.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas, a scant few in the European continent of American Indian ancestry (often Latin Americans in Spain, France and the UK; Inuit in Denmark), but most may be children or grandchildren of U.S. soldiers from American Indian tribes by intermarriage with local European women.
European identity
Historical
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Medieval notions of a relation of the peoples of Europe are expressed in terms of genealogy of mythical founders of the individual groups.
The Europeans were considered the descendants of Japheth from early times, corresponding to the division of the known world into three continents, the descendants of Shem peopling Asia and those of Ham peopling Africa. Identification of Europeans as "Japhetites" is also reflected in early suggestions for terming the Indo-European languages "Japhetic".
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.[72]
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The text goes then on to list the genealogy of Alanus, connecting him to Japheth via eighteen generations.
European culture
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European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage".[73] Due to the great number of perspectives which can be taken on the subject, it is impossible to form a single, all-embracing conception of European culture.[74] Nonetheless, there are core elements which are generally agreed upon as forming the cultural foundation of modern Europe.[75] One list of these elements given by K. Bochmann includes:[76]
A specific conception of the individual expressed by the existence of, and respect for, a legality that guarantees human rights and the liberty of the individual;[77]
A plurality of states with different political orders, which are condemned to live together in one way or another;[77]
Respect for peoples, states and nations outside Europe.[77]
Berting says that these points fit with "Europe's most positive realisations".[78]
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.[79] 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
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Christianity has been the dominant religion shaping European culture for at least the last 1700 years.[82][83][84][85][86] Modern philosophical thought has very much been influenced by Christian philosophers such as St Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus, and throughout most of its history, Europe has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture.[87] The Christian culture was the predominant force in western civilization, guiding the course of philosophy, art, and science.[88][89] The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom" many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified European identity.[90]
Christianity is still the largest religion in Europe; according to a 2011 survey, 76.2% of Europeans considered themselves Christians.[91][92] Also according to a study on Religiosity in the European Union in 2012, by Eurobarometer, Christianity is the largest religion in the European Union, accounting for 72% of the EU's population.[93] As of 2010 Catholics were the largest Christian group in Europe, accounting for more than 48% of European Christians. The second-largest Christian group in Europe were the Orthodox, who made up 32% of European Christians. About 19% of European Christians were part of the Protestant tradition.[94]Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy.[94] According to Scholars, in 2017, Europe's population was 77.8% Christian (up from 74.9% 1970),[95][96] these changes were largely result of the collapse of Communism and switching to Christianity in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries.[95]
Islam
Islam has some tradition in the Balkans and the Caucasus due to conquest and colonization from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th to 19th centuries, as well as earlier though discontinued long-term presence in much of Iberia as well as Sicily. Muslims account for the majority of the populations in Albania, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Northern Cyprus (controlled by Turks), and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Significant minorities are present in the rest of Europe. Russia also has one of the largest Muslim communities in Europe, 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. According to the Pew Forum, the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2010 was about 44 million (6%),[97][98] while the total number of Muslims in the European Union in 2007 was about 16 million (3.2%).[99]
Judaism
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%. The Jewish population of Europe is composed primarily of two groups, the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi. Ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews likely migrated to Central 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 where they resided for thousands of years until the 2nd century AD, when they spread around the Mediterranean and into Europe, although small communities were known to exist in Greece as well as the Balkans since at least the 1st century BC. Jewish history was notably affected by the Holocaust and emigration (including Aliyah, as well as emigration to America) in the 20th century. The Jewish population of Europe in 2010 was estimated to be approximately 1.4 million (0.2% of European population) or 10% of the world's Jewish population.[100] In the 21st century, France has the largest Jewish population in Europe,[100][101] followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.[101]
Secularisation
From the 20th century, there has been significant secularization, notably in secularist France, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
Theism
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[102] found that 52% of EU citizens believe in God. According to a Pew Research Center Survey in 2012 the Religiously Unaffiliated (Atheists and Agnostics) make up about 18.2% of the European population in 2010.[103] According to the same Survey the Religiously Unaffiliated make up the majority of the population in only two European countries: Czech Republic (76%) and Estonia (60%).[103]
Pan-European identity
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"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 of 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 following 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 member 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.[104]
European ethnic groups by sovereign state
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↑Karl Friedrich Vollgraff, Erster Versuch einer Begründung sowohl der allgemeinen Ethnologie durch die Anthropologie, wie auch der Staats und Rechts-philosophie durch die Ethnologie oder Nationalität der Völker (1851), p. 257.
↑A. Kumar, Encyclopaedia of Teaching of Geography (2002), p. 74 ff.; the tripartite subdivision of "Caucasians" into Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean groups persisted among some scientists into the 1960s, notably in Carleton Coon's book The Origin of Races (1962).
↑Official is attached to: Decree of the Russian Government Nr 255 "On the Unified Register of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation", 24 March 2000 (Постановление Правительства РФ от 24 марта 2000 г. N 255 "О Едином перечне коренных малочисленных народов Российской ФедерацииTemplate:In lang) http://base.garant.ru/181870.htm
↑* "In the broader sense of the term, a Jew is any person belonging to the worldwide group that constitutes, through descent or conversion, a continuation of the ancient Jewish people, who were themselves descendants of the Hebrews of the Old Testament."
"The Jewish people as a whole, initially called Hebrews (ʿIvrim), were known as Israelites (Yisreʾelim) from the time of their entrance into the Holy Land to the end of the Babylonian Exile (538 BC)."
↑Script error: No such module "Lang". Nennius (1848) [8th century]. Historia Brittonum. Translated by J. A. Giles. London: Henry G. Bohn. Template:Webarchive.
↑Cederman (2001:2) remarks: "Given the absence of an explicit legal definition and the plethora of competing identities, it is indeed hard to avoid the conclusion that Europe is an essentially contested concept." Cf. also Davies (1996:15); Berting (2006:51).
↑K. Bochmann (1990) L'idée d'Europe jusqu'au XXè siècle, quoted in Berting (2006:52). Cf. Davies (1996:15): "No two lists of the main constituents of European civilization would ever coincide. But many items have always featured prominently: from the roots of the Christian world in Greece, Rome and Judaism to modern phenomena such as the Enlightenment, modernization, romanticism, nationalism, liberalism, imperialism, totalitarianism."
↑Peter Beyer, Religions in Global Society, 2006, page 146
↑Cambridge University Historical Series, An Essay on Western Civilization in Its Economic Aspects, p. 40: Hebraism, like Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of Western Civilization; Judaism, as the precursor of Christianity, has indirectly had had much to do with shaping the ideals and morality of western nations since the christian era.
↑Caltron J.H. Hayas, Christianity and Western Civilization (1953), Stanford University Press, p. 2: That certain distinctive features of our Western civilization — the civilization of western Europe and of America— have been shaped chiefly by Judaeo – Graeco – Christianity, Catholic and Protestant.
↑Horst Hutter, University of New York, Shaping the Future: Nietzsche's New Regime of the Soul And Its Ascetic Practices (2004), p. 111: three mighty founders of Western culture, namely Socrates, Jesus, and Plato.
↑Fred Reinhard Dallmayr, Dialogue Among Civilizations: Some Exemplary Voices (2004), p. 22: Western civilization is also sometimes described as "Christian" or "Judaeo- Christian" civilization.
↑This is particularly the case among proponents of the so-called confederalist or neo-functionalist position on European integration. Eder and Spohn (2005:3) note: "The evolutionary thesis of the making of a European identity often goes with the assumption of a simultaneous decline of national identities. This substitution thesis reiterates the well-known confederalist/neo-functionalist position in the debate on European integration, arguing for an increasing replacement of the nation-state by European institutions, against the intergovernmentalist/realist position, insisting on the continuing primacy of the nation-state."
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