Peoples of Europe: history, features, traditions, customs, culture, languages, religions, everyday life

The peoples of Europe are one of the most interesting and at the same time complex themes in history and cultural studies. Understanding the peculiarities of their development, way of life, traditions, culture will make it possible to better understand contemporary events that take place in this part of the world in various areas of life.

general characteristics

With all the diversity of the population living on the territory of European states, we can say that, in principle, they all went through one common path of development. Most states were formed on the territory of the former Roman Empire, which included vast areas, from Germanic lands in the west to the Gallic regions in the east, from Britain in the north to northern Africa in the south. That is why it can be said that all these countries, despite their dissimilarity, nevertheless formed in a single cultural space.

The path of development in the early Middle Ages

The peoples of Europe as a nationality began to form as a result of the great migration of tribes that swept the continent in the 4th-5th centuries. Then, as a result of massive migration flows, a radical transformation of the social structure took place, which existed throughout the centuries in the period of ancient history, and new ethnic communities were formed. In addition, the formation of nationalities was influenced by the movement of the Germanic tribes who founded their so-called barbarian states on the lands of the former Roman Empire. Within their framework, the peoples of Europe have been formed approximately in the form in which they exist at the present stage. However, the process of final national registration took place during the mature Middle Ages.

Further folding of states

In the XII-XIII centuries in many countries of the continent the process of formation of national self-consciousness began. It was a time when the prerequisites for the inhabitants of states to identify and position themselves as a certain national community were established. Originally it manifested itself in language and culture. The peoples of Europe began to develop national literary languages, which determined their belonging to one or another ethnic group. In England, for example, this process began very early: already in the 12th century the famous writer D. Chaucer created his famous "Canterbury Tales", which laid the foundation of the national English language.

XV-XVI century in the history of Western Europe

The period of the late Middle Ages and early modern times played a decisive role in the formation of states. This was the period of the formation of monarchies, the design of the main governing bodies, the formation of ways of economic development, and, most importantly, the specificity of the cultural appearance was formed. In connection with these circumstances, the traditions of the peoples of Europe were very diverse. They were determined by the entire course of the preceding development. First of all, the geographical factor affected, as well as the peculiarities of the folding of national states, which finally took shape in the epoch under consideration.

New time

XVII-XVIII century is a time of turbulent upheavals for Western European countries that have experienced a rather difficult period in their history in connection with the transformation of the socio-political, social and cultural environment. We can say that in these centuries the traditions of the peoples of Europe have passed the test of strength not only in time, but also in revolutions. In these centuries, the states fought for hegemony on the mainland with varying success. The 16th century was marked by the rule of the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs, the next century - under the clear leadership of France, which was facilitated by the fact of establishing here absolutism. The XVIII century shook its position in many respects because of the revolution, wars, as well as internal political crisis.

Expansion of spheres of influence

The next two centuries were marked by serious changes in the geopolitical situation in Western Europe. This was due to the fact that some leading states took the path of colonialism. The peoples living in Europe have mastered new territorial spaces, primarily the North, South American and eastern lands. This significantly influenced the cultural image of European states. First of all, this concerns the UK, which created a whole colonial empire that covered almost half of the world. This led to the fact that it was the English language and British diplomacy that began to influence European development.

Another event strongly affected the geopolitical map of the mainland - two world wars. The peoples living in Europe found themselves on the verge of destruction as a result of the devastation inflicted on them by the fighting. Of course, all this affected the fact that it was the Western European states that influenced the beginning of the globalization process and the creation of global bodies for settling conflicts.

Current state

The culture of the peoples of Europe in our day is largely determined by the process of erasing national borders. Computerization of society, rapid development of the Internet, as well as broad migration flows put the problem of erasing national identity. Therefore, the first decade of our century passed under the sign of resolving the issue of preserving the traditional cultural image of ethnic groups and nationalities. Recently, with the expansion of the process of globalization, there is a tendency to preserve the national identity of countries.

Cultural development

The life of the peoples of Europe is determined by their history, mentality and religion. With all the diversity of cultural ways of the countries, one general feature of development in these states can be singled out: it is the dynamism, practicality, purposefulness of processes that occurred at different times to science, art, politics, economy and society in general. It was the last characteristic feature pointed out by the famous philosopher O. Spengler.

The history of the peoples of Europe is characterized by early penetration into the culture of secular elements. This determined such a rapid development of painting, sculpture, architecture and literature. The desire for rationalism was inherent in leading European thinkers and scientists, which determined the rapid growth rate of technical achievements. In general, the development of culture on the mainland was determined by the early penetration of secular knowledge and rationalism.

Spiritual life

Religions of the peoples of Europe can be divided into two large groups: Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. The first is one of the most common not only on the mainland, but all over the world. Initially, it was dominant in Western European countries, but then, after the Reformation, which occurred in the 16th century, Protestantism arose. The latter has several branches: Calvinism, Lutheranism, Puritanism, Anglican Church and others. Subsequently, on its basis, separate communities of a closed type arose. Orthodoxy is common in Eastern Europe. It was borrowed from neighboring Byzantium, from where it penetrated into Rus.

Linguistics

The languages of the peoples of Europe can be conditionally divided into three large groups: the Romance, the Germanic and the Slavic. To the first belong: France, Spain, Italy and others. Their peculiarities are that they were formed under the influence of the Eastern peoples. In the Middle Ages, these territories were subjected to the invasion of Arabs and Turks, which undoubtedly affected the folding of their speech characteristics. These languages are flexible, sonorous and melodious. It is not by chance that it is in Italian that most operas are written, and in general, it is he who is considered one of the most musical in the world. These languages are easy enough for perception and learning; However, the grammar and pronunciation of French can cause some difficulties.

The German group includes the languages of the Nordic and Scandinavian countries. This speech is distinguished by the hardness of pronunciation and expressive sound. They are more difficult to perceive and learn. For example, German is considered one of the most difficult among European languages. Scandinavian speech is also characterized by the complexity of constructing sentences and a rather difficult grammar.

The Slavic group is also quite difficult to master. Russian is also considered one of the most difficult to learn. At the same time, it is generally accepted that it is very rich in its lexical composition and semantic expressions. It is believed that it has all the necessary speech tools and language to communicate the necessary thoughts. Indicative is the fact that it was the European languages at different times and centuries that were considered world languages. For example, at first it was Latin and Greek, which was due to the fact that the Western European states, as already mentioned above, formed on the territory of the former Roman Empire, where both were in the process. Subsequently, Spanish became very popular due to the fact that in the 16th century Spain became the leading colonial power, and its language spread to other continents, primarily to South America. In addition, this was due to the fact that the Austro-Spanish Habsburgs were leaders on the mainland.

But later France took the leading position, which, moreover, also embarked on the path of colonialism. Therefore, the French language spread to other continents, primarily to North America and North Africa. But already in the XIX century, the British Empire became the dominant colonial state, which determined the main role of English language throughout the world, which is preserved in ours. In addition, this language is very convenient and easy to communicate, its grammatical structure is not as complicated as, for example, the French, and in connection with the rapid development of the Internet in recent years, English has greatly simplified and become almost colloquial. For example, many English words in Russian sound have become common in our country.

Mentality and Consciousness

The characteristics of the peoples of Europe should be considered in the context of their comparison with the population of the East. This analysis was carried out in the second decade by a well-known culturologist O. Spengler. He noted that for all European nations an active life position is characteristic , which determined the rapid development of technology, technology and industry in different centuries. It was the latter circumstance that determined, in his opinion, the fact that they very quickly embarked on the path of progressive development, began actively exploring new lands, improving production and so on. The practical approach has become a guarantee that these peoples have achieved great results in modernizing not only economic, but also social and political life.

The mentality and consciousness of Europeans, according to the same scholar, have been from time immemorial aimed at not only learning and understanding the nature and the surrounding reality, but also actively using the results of these achievements in practice. Therefore, the thoughts of Europeans have always been aimed not only at obtaining knowledge in its pure form, but also at using them in the transformation of nature for their needs and improving the conditions of life. Of course, the above-mentioned development path was typical for other regions of the world, but it was in Western Europe that it manifested itself with the greatest completeness and expressiveness. Some researchers associate such business consciousness and the practically directed mentality of Europeans with the peculiarities of the geographical conditions of their residence. After all, most European countries are small in size, and therefore, in order to make progress, the peoples populating Europe have followed an intensive path of development, that is, because of the limited nature of natural resources, they began to develop and master various technologies for improving production.

Characteristic features of the countries

The customs of the peoples of Europe are very indicative for understanding their mentality and consciousness. They reflect their life values and priorities. Unfortunately, very often in the mass consciousness, the image of a particular nation is formed according to purely external attributes. Thus, labels are placed on this or that country. For example, England is often associated with stiffness, practicality and exceptional efficiency. The French are very often perceived as a cheerful secular and open people, relaxed in communication. Italians or, for example, the Spaniards seem to be a very emotional nation with a violent temperament.

However, the peoples inhabiting Europe have a very rich and complex history, which has left a deep imprint on their life traditions and way of life. For example, the fact that the English are considered to be home-grown (from which the saying "my house is my castle") undoubtedly has deep historical roots. When there were fierce internecine wars in the country, it seems that the notion that a fortress or a castle of some feudal lord is a reliable defense seems to have formed. The English, for example, have another interesting custom that also dates back to the Middle Ages: in the process of parliamentary elections, the victorious contender literally scrambles to his place, which is a kind of reference to the time when a fierce parliamentary struggle was going on. Also, it is still customary to sit on a sack with wool, since it was the textile industry that gave impetus to the rapid development of capitalism in the 16th century.

The French still have a tradition of striving to express their national identity in a particularly expressive way. This is due to their turbulent history, especially this refers to the XVIII century, when the country experienced a revolution, the Napoleonic wars. In the course of these events, the people were particularly keenly aware of their national identity. The expression of pride for their fatherland is also a long tradition of the French, which is manifested, for example, in the performance of the "Marseillaise" in our days.

Population

The question of which peoples inhabit Europe is very difficult, especially in view of the turbulent migration processes in recent times. Therefore, in this section, we should confine ourselves to a small survey on this topic. When describing the language groups, it was already mentioned above which ethnic groups inhabited the continent. Here it is necessary to identify a few more features. Europe became the arena of the great migration of peoples back in the early Middle Ages. Therefore, its ethnic composition is extremely pestr. In addition, at one time the Arabs and Turks dominated its part, which left their imprint. However, it is still necessary to point to the list of the peoples of Europe from west to east (in this series only the largest nations are listed): the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the French, the Italians, the Romanians, the Germans, the Scandinavian ethnoses, the Slavs (Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Poles, Croats, Serbs , Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks Bulgarians, Russians and others). At present, the issue of migration processes that threatens to change the ethnic map of Europe is especially acute. In addition, the processes of modern globalization and the openness of borders threaten the erosion of ethnic territories. This issue is now one of the main issues in world politics, therefore, in a number of countries a tendency has emerged to preserve national and cultural isolation.