Europe is a continent with a rich history and cultural heritage spanning centuries. Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations greatly influenced modern Europe through developments in philosophy, science, law, and more. Throughout the Middle Ages, Europe experienced invasions, the rise of feudalism, and growth of trade routes. The Industrial Revolution transformed Europe and marked the beginning of mass urbanization and new technologies. Today, Europe comprises many nations, each with unique traditions, but united as a community that has overcome conflicts and built cooperative institutions like the EU.

1. We are Europe
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is the world’s
second-smallest continent by surface area, which is divided to approximately 50 countries.
But what does the term “continent” even mean? By saying the word “continent” we do not
only mean the peace of land. The term also incorporates historical, cultural and political
elements. A continent is an aggregation of the history and culture, the economic and political
development throughout the centuries of every country, which occupies the said continent’s
territory.
Europe is much more than just a part of the world. Europe is the place where many of
the first civilizations, known to humanity, have thrived and have given the start of what
Europe and even the rest of the world today are.
The ancient civilizations have rendered a great influence on today’s polities, society,
art, culture, science, law and even the mentality of certain nations. For example we can take
Ancient Greece, which was the founding culture of Western civilization. We have become
familiar with the ancient mythology and everyday life with the help of archeologists and
researches. The ancient literary piece “Iliad”, which tells the story about the Trojan War,
reveals to us that human greed and jealousy as well as bravery and nobility have existed since
the beginning of time and that these character qualities have been passed onto every following
generation. From this we can only deduce that early peoples have had an impact on the
mentality of the different nations. However, mentality is not the only thing the Europeans and
many other nations have inherited from the ancient civilizations. The Greeks have invented
the polis and created the democracy. Their political ideals have been rediscovered in the 18th
century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece has also made great contributions to
the European culture: in philosophy, humanism and rationalism under Aristotle, Socrates and
Plato, in history under Herodotus, who is considered to be the father of history, in medicine
with Hippocrates and Galen; and in science with Pythagoras, Euclid and Archimedes and of
course in drama and theatre. The word “theatre” itself comes from the Latin word “teathron”,
which refers to the accommodation, in which the drama was played by the actors, who were
always men.
The Greek civilization is not the only one who has contributed to the further
development of Europe. The highly developed Roman civilization has also had its share in
“bringing something to the table”. In addition to its artistic, architectural, warfare, religious
and linguistic contributions we can credit the Roman civilization with the creation of the

2. government system “res publica”, which at that time achieved impressive technological and
architectural feats, such as the construction of an extensive system of aqueducts and roads, as
well as monuments, palaces and public facilities, and has been the inspiration for the modern
republics.
After the classical antiquity period came to an end with the decline of the Roman
Empire. During that time Europe entered The Early Middle Ages period, the beginning of
which was marked by a change, which historians refer to as the “Age of Migration”. The most
important aspect of this period is the movement of the existing tribes – the numerous
invasions and migrations. This is also the time, which was called the “Dark Ages”, because of
the dominance of the Germanic and Slav tribes over the bigger part of Europe. Their
superiority at that time has brought many changes into the European culture and established
new traditions, many of which we have kept until today. Another aspect of history, which has
helped Europe’s trade condition nowadays, is the development of major commercial routes
along the coast of the Mediterranean See in The Middle Ages. The routes have been
established due to the economic growth of Europe and the lack of safety on the current
mainland trading routes. Better trading conditions are not the only contribution of The Middle
Ages. At that time the nobility and the clergy dominated the most part of Europe and at a
certain point of time it came to the development of feudalism in France, which later spread
throughout the entire continent, causing a change in the polity and setting different rules for
the diverse social classes. Europe’s history is abundant in positive events and aspects, which
have altered not only Europe’s social structure, policy and culture, but as well as the world
economic development.
The responsibility for that lies on The Industrial Revolution, which marked a major
turning point in Earth’s ecology and humans’ relationship with the environment. The
beginning of The Industrial Revolution is marked by the machinery’s replacement of manual
labor. New technologies were invented and implemented, which led to the rise in production
capacity. Therefore these processes caused an impact on the basic human need, including the
production of food, medicine, housing and clothing. The scientific development has also
benefited. In general, the introduction of new technology resulted in a rapid urban growth,
mass employment and rise of a new working class, as well as giving the start to a new,
industrialized world.
However Europe has had also dark aspect in its centuries of existing, which have
brought nothing but sorrow and grief and will always stay in history, known as the worst
times of Europe. The “Black Death” is a great example for this. The devastating disease was

3. one of the deadliest pandemics, known to mankind. It killed 25 million people in Europe,
which at that time was one third of Europe’s population. But affected were not only the
human bodies, but their spirits and mental health as well – because of the disease people
started losing their minds.. We gain a bit knowledge of this from the book “Decameron”,
written by Giovanni Boccaccio, illustrating the collapsed social structure – people living for
the moment, doing sinful deeds, such as having an inappropriate behavior in public and
getting drunk to oblivion.
All this happened in the mid 14th
century, during the age of The Renaissance, which
can be described as a time of many artistic, philosophical and musical achievements.

4. Today, Europe has a new face. It is a continent with a great cultural and historical
abundance. But what do we even mean by saying “Europe’s culture” or “Europe’s history”?
Do we refer to the most known traditions and the lifestyles of the British, German and
French? Or are we perhaps alluding to the most important facts and events, which have
brought crucial change? Those things alone do not make Europe for what it is. When we are
referring to Europe’s history and cultural heritage, we should also take into account both the
history of the smaller countries like Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Luxembourg, Kosovo, and
their culture. Every little contribution to every aspect of the continent’s development is of
importance, no matter which country has been credited with it. The same applies to every
custom, that has existed and to those who still do exist to the present day. Not a lot of people
realize that, though. Little are those, who by saying “I want to travel through Europe” actually
mean it. The most part of the tourists, who say they want to visit Europe, go visit museums in
Paris or climb up the Eifel Tower. Unfortunately many nations think that Europe is defined by
the bigger states – France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Most people
do not think of Europe as a whole. What occurs to them by thinking about Europe is actually
the western part of continent, where the well developed countries are, where the economy is
strong and the salaries are big. However the small countries are also of great importance.
They may not have given much to the world, but they are worth it to be visited, because many
of them have traditions of their own and a really beautiful nature. Whether or not the climate
is warm, nature in itself is beautiful and some of the most enchanting places of the world can
be seen in Europe. Though, not all of them are to be found in Western Europe. The beauty is
spread all around the continent and it does not only include nature. It includes both music and
folklore, never heard before, as well as architecture and monuments, which carry the stories of
entire nation within themselves. Eastern Europe is also abundant in all of these things, but
despite all the facts, nobody actually seems to consider Eastern Europe as a part of the
continent. It is somewhat isolated, because nobody thinks of Romania, Macedonia or Bulgaria
when the term “Europe” is used. People think like that just because the countries in the East
of the continent are small, not well developed and the official languages haven’t even been
heard among other European nations. The one exception is Greece, because of its history and
its being a great tourist center. But no country should be neglected, because each has the
potential of becoming a well developed one and each could one day become a main tourist
destination.

5. Europe’s beauty can be also seen in people. There is poverty and many are not
satisfied with their way of living, but that is something that has to do with economic crises,
lower educational achievements in many regions and governments, who do not take interested
in their people. Even so, European nations are in general nice and friendly. Some, of course,
are friendlier and hospitable than other like the Bulgarians. Others, like the Germans are
polite, the British are known to be more sophisticated and aristocrats, the French are people of
fashion and art, the Italians – culinary masters, etc. Every nation has its own, specific
characteristic by which it can be defined. We are all different and we manage to coexist.
And that is one of the greatest things about Europe. It is a community of many
different nations, whereas some continents are occupied by only one nation, like for example
– America.
Throughout the years Europe has had to overcome many disasters and bad outcomes
of conflicts and wars. But despite all the hardships, the European countries have survived and
have managed to build up a “system”, the EU, which till this day helps the members support
each other and makes the decisions of what would be in all of their interests.
Europe can be interpreted in many ways. The question is ,however, how do we
interpret Europe. What do we recognize from, that we are European? It is not from the
country that we live in, that is for sure. Being an European does not mean living in Germany,
England or Spain and swelling yourself with importance just because you do live in a well
developed country. It is more than that. Being an European is about realizing that you are a
part of a society with a rich history and cultural heritage, that you are a part of community,
whose members work well together and try to provide the population with the best they can.
To be able to travel and see other places in Europe is also one of the benefits of being an
European. To feel proud to be living on one of the oldest continents with the richest history
and a great number of contributions to the world development is also what it means to be an
European.
Something else that is beneficial to feeling proud of being an European is the high
level of education. Some of the best educational institutions in the world are actually in
Europe. This gives the opportunity to study to young people, who are diligent in their studies
and want to achieve something. Scientific achievements, the setting of new fashion trend,
mass production in more than just one field, important discoveries and invention in the fields
of history, biology, physics and many more – it has all begun in Europe and we, as Europeans,
should feel proud, that we live on one of the greatest continents.

6. Europe is in itself unique. It has had its hardships and dark times, but it has survived
through all of them and will continue to do so in the future. Europe is the birthplace of the
democracy and the republic, of many scientific inventions, art and philosophy progress. It is a
place, which offers many opportunities for young people and their development. It is the place
many of us call home.