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WesternEuropeWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

WesternEurope
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

WesternEuropeistheregioncomprisingthewesternpartofthe
Europeancontinent.Theremaybedifferencesbetweenthegeopolitical
andpurelygeographicdefinitionsoftheterm.

Contents
1 Historicaldivisions
1.1 Classicalantiquityandmedievalorigins
1.2 ColdWar
1.3 WesternEuropeanUnion
2 Moderndivisions
2.1 UnitedNationsStatisticsDivisiongeoscheme
2.2 WesternEuropeanandOthersGroup
2.3 EuropeanUnion
2.4 EFTA
2.5 CIAdefinitions
2.6 IntermediateRegion
2.7 Othergroupingsandorganisations
3 Population
4 Climate
5 Languages
6 Economy
7 Seealso
8 Notes
9 References
10 Sources
11 Externallinks

Videotakenbythecrewof
Expedition29onboardtheISSona
passoverWesternEuropein2011.

Historicaldivisions
Classicalantiquityandmedievalorigins
PriortotheRomanconquest,alargepartofWesternEuropehad
adoptedthenewlydevelopedLaTneculture.AstheRomandomain
expanded,aculturalandlinguisticdivisionappearedbetweenthe
mainlyGreekspeakingeasternprovinces,whichhadformedthehighly
urbanizedHellenisticcivilization,andthewesternterritories,whichin
contrastlargelyadoptedtheLatinlanguage.Thisculturalandlinguistic
divisionwaseventuallyreinforcedbythelaterpoliticaleastwest
divisionoftheRomanEmpire.
ThedivisionbetweenthesetwowasenhancedduringLateAntiquity
andtheMiddleAgesbyanumberofevents.TheWesternRoman
Empirecollapsed,startingtheEarlyMiddleAges.Bycontrast,the
EasternRomanEmpire,mostlyknownastheGreekorByzantine
Empire,survivedandeventhrivedforanother1000years.Theriseof

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe

TheGreatSchisminChristianity,the
predominantreligioninWestern
Europeatthetime.

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theFrankishEmpireinthewest,andinparticulartheGreatSchismbetweenEasternOrthodoxyandRoman
Catholicism,enhancedtheculturalandreligiousdistinctivenessbetweenEasternandWesternEurope.
AftertheconquestoftheByzantineEmpire,centeroftheEasternOrthodoxChurch,bytheMuslimOttoman
Empireinthe15thcentury,andthegradualfragmentationoftheHolyRomanEmpire(whichhadreplacedthe
FrankishEmpire)thedivisionbetweenRomanCatholicandProtestantbecamemoreimportantinEuropethan
thatwithEasternOrthodoxy.
WesternEurope'ssignificanthistoricaleventsincludetheRenaissance,theAgeofDiscovery,theProtestant
ReformationbyMartinLutherandtheCounterReformationoftheCatholicChurch,theAgeofEnlightenment,
theFrenchRevolutionandtheIndustrialRevolution.
InEastAsia,WesternEuropewashistoricallyknownastaixiinChinaandtaiseiinJapan,whichliterally
translatesasthe"FarWest".ThetermFarWestbecamesynonymouswithWesternEuropeinChinaduringthe
Mingdynasty.TheItalianJesuitpriestMatteoRicciwasoneofthefirstwritersinChinatousetheFarWestas
anAsiancounterparttotheEuropeanconceptoftheFarEast.Inhiswritings,Riccireferredtohimselfas
"MatteooftheFarWest".[1]Thetermwasstillinuseinthelate19thandearly20thcenturies.

ColdWar
DuringthefinalstagesofWorldWarIIthefutureofEuropewas
decidedbetweentheAlliesinthe1945YaltaConference,betweenthe
BritishPrimeMinister,WinstonChurchill,theU.S.President,Franklin
D.Roosevelt,andthePremieroftheSovietUnion,JosephStalin.
PostwarEuropewouldbedividedintotwomajorspheres:theWest,
influencedbytheUnitedStates,andtheEasternBloc,influencedbythe
SovietUnion.WiththeonsetoftheColdWar,Europewasdividedby
theIronCurtain.

PoliticalsituationinEuropeduring
theColdWar

ThistermhadbeenusedduringWorldWarIIbyGermanPropaganda
MinisterJosephGoebbelsandlaterCountLutzSchwerinvonKrosigk
inthelastdaysofthewarhowever,itsusewashugelypopularisedbyWinstonChurchill,whouseditinhis
famous"SinewsofPeace"addresson5March1946atWestminsterCollegeinFulton,Missouri:
FromStettinintheBaltictoTriesteintheAdriaticanironcurtainhasdescendedacrossthe
Continent.BehindthatlinelieallthecapitalsoftheancientstatesofCentralandEasternEurope.
Warsaw,Berlin,Prague,Vienna,Budapest,Belgrade,BucharestandSofiaallthesefamouscities
andthepopulationsaroundthemlieinwhatImustcalltheSovietsphere,andallaresubject,in
oneformoranother,notonlytoSovietinfluencebuttoaveryhighandinsomecasesincreasing
measureofcontrolfromMoscow.

Althoughsomecountrieswereofficiallyneutral,theywereclassifiedaccordingtothenatureoftheirpolitical
andeconomicsystems.ThisdivisionlargelydefinedthepopularperceptionandunderstandingofWestern
EuropeanditsborderswithEasternEuropetillthisday.
TheworldchangeddramaticallywiththefalloftheIronCurtainin1989.TheFederalRepublicofGermany
peacefullyabsorbedtheGermanDemocraticRepublic,inGermanreunification.COMECONandtheWarsaw
Pactweredissolved,andin1991,theSovietUnionceasedtoexist.Severalcountrieswhichhadbeenpartofthe
SovietUnionregainedfullindependence.
AlthoughthetermWesternEuropewasmoreprominentduringtheColdWar,itremainsmuchinuse.Theterm
commonlyappearsinthemediaandineverydayuse,in"western"andotherregionsofEurope.
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WesternEuropeanUnion
In1948theTreatyofBrusselswassignedbetweenBelgium,France,
Luxembourg,theNetherlandsandtheUnitedKingdom.Itwasfurther
revisitedin1954attheParisConference,whentheWesternEuropean
Unionwasestablished.Itwasdeclareddefunctin2011,aftertheTreaty
ofLisbon,andtheTreatyofBrusselswasterminated.WhentheWestern
EuropeanUnionwasdissolved,ithad10membercountries,six
associatemembercountries,fiveobservercountriesandsevenassociate
partnercountries.

Moderndivisions

FormerWesternEuropeanUnionits
membersandassociates

UnitedNationsStatisticsDivisiongeoscheme
UnitedNationsgeoscheme
TheUnitedNationsStatisticsDivisiongeoschemeisaschemedevised
bytheUnitedNationsStatisticsDivisionbasedontheM49coding
classification,whichassignscountriestoregionsandsubregionsfor
statisticalconvenience.[2]Thesedonotimplyanyassumptionregarding
politicalorotheraffiliationofcountriesorterritoriesbytheUnited
Nations.[3]ThegeoschemeforEuropeisdividedintofourgroups:
EasternEurope,NorthernEurope,SouthernEuropeandWestern
Europe.TheWesternEuropegroupconsistsofninecountries:
Austria
Belgium
France
Germany
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
Switzerland

Regionsusedforstatisticalprocessing
purposesbytheUnitedNations
StatisticsDivision:
NorthernEurope
WesternEurope
EasternEurope
SouthernEurope

However,thisgeoschemeisnotnecessarilyusedinotheragenciesofthe
UN,includingUNHCR[4]

WesternEuropeanandOthersGroup
TheWesternEuropeanandOthersGroupisoneofseveralunofficialRegionalGroupsintheUnitedNations
thatactasvotingblocsandnegotiationforums.Regionalvotingblocswereformedin1961toencouragevoting
tovariousUNbodiesfromdifferentregionalgroups.
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe

Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands

Norway
Portugal
SanMarino
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
UnitedKingdom
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EuropeanUnion
TheEuropeanUnion(EU)isaneconomicandpoliticalunionof28
memberstatesthatarelocatedprimarilyinEurope.[5][6]

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech
Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France

Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta

Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United
Kingdom

EuropeanUnioncountries

Netherlands

EFTA
SomeWesternandNorthernEuropeancountriesofIceland,Norway,SwitzerlandandLiechtensteinare
membersofEFTA,thoughcooperatingtovaryingdegreewiththeEuropeanUnion.

CIAdefinitions
TheCIAdividesWesternEuropeintotwosmallersubregions:

WesternEurope(orange)andSouthwesternEurope
(darkorange).

RegionsofEuropebasedonCIAworldfactbook.Western
EuropeinlightblueSouthwesternEuropeinred

IntermediateRegion

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TheIntermediateRegionisanestablishedgeopoliticalmodelsetforth
inthe1970sbytheGreekhistorianDimitriKitsikis.Underthismodel,
thelandsbetweentheAdriaticSeaandtheIndusRiverformthe
IntermediateRegion,andareconsideredabridgebetweenWesternand
Easterncivilisations.

Othergroupingsandorganisations
OthergroupingsandorganisationscoveringthewesternpartofEurope
include:

R1bisthemost
commonhaplogroup
amidWestern

Europeans.[7][8]

Development
AssistanceCommittee

GeopoliticalOccidentofEurope

Organisationfor
EconomicCo
operationand
Development(OECD)

IMFdeveloped
economies

EuropeanSpace
Agency

Population
Populationofvariouscountriesthatarecommonlyreferredtoas"WesternEurope".[9]

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Country

WesternEuropeWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Population
(2011est.)

Population
(2000est.)

/+of
Population

Percent
change

Capital

Population
density
(perkm)

Austria

8,414,638

8,002,186

412,452

4.90% Vienna

101

Belgium

11,007,020

10,296,350

710,670

6.45% Brussels

366

Denmark

5,564,219

5,330,020

234,019

4.20% Copenhagen 130

Finland

5,388,417

5,167,486

220,931

4.10% Helsinki

17.9

France

65,821,885

60,537,977

5,283,908

8.02% Paris

118

Germany

81,799,600

82,163,475

363,875

0.44% Berlin

226

Greece

10,815,197

10,964,020

148,823

0.88% Athens

82

Iceland

318,452

279,049

39,403

12.37% Reykjavk

3.20

Ireland

4,581,269

3,777,763

803,506

17.53% Dublin

65

60,681,514

56,923,524

3,757,990

6.19% Rome

199

511,840

433,600

78,240

15.28% Luxembourg 208

16,699,600

15,863,950

835,650

5.00% Amsterdam 498

Norway

4,989,300

4,478,497

510,803

Portugal

10,647,763

10,195,014

452,749

4.25% Lisbon

115

Spain

46,030,111

40,049,708

5,980,401

13.00% Madrid

93

9,415,570

8,861,426

554,144

5.88% Stockholm

23.5

7,866,500

7,162,444

704,056

8.95% Bern

196

62,262,000

58,785,246

3,476,754

5.91% London

255

Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands

Sweden
Switzerland
UnitedKingdom

10.23% Oslo

15.6

Climate
TheclimateofWesternEuropevariesfromsubtropicalanddeserticinthesoutherncoastofSpaintopolarin
thePyrenees.TheMediterraneanclimateofthesouthisdryandwarm.Thewesternandnorthwesternparts
haveamild,generallyhumidclimate,influencedbytheNorthAtlanticDrift.IncentralandeasternEuropethe
climateisofthehumidcontinentaltypewithwarmsummers.

Languages
WesternEuropeanlanguagesmostlyfallwithintwoIndoEuropeanlanguagegroups:theRomancelanguages,
derivedfromtheLatinoftheRomanEmpireandtheGermaniclanguages,whoseancestorlanguagecamefrom
southernScandinavia.[10]RomancelanguagesarespokenprimarilyinsouthwesternEuropeaswellasin
CentralEurope.GermaniclanguagesarespokeninNorthernEurope,theBritishIslesandsomepartsofCentral
Europe.[10]
SeveralothersmallerlanguagesoutsidethetwomaingroupsexistinWesternEurope.OtherIndoEuropean
languagesincludetheCelticgroup(thatis,Irish,ScottishGaelic,Manx,Welsh,Cornish,andBreton[10]).In
addition,adistinctgroupofUraliclanguages(FinnishandHungarian)isspokenmainlyinFinland,and
Hungary.MalteseistheonlySemiticlanguagethatisofficialwithinWesternEurope,whileBasqueistheonly
WesternEuropeanlanguageisolate.
MultilingualismandtheprotectionofregionalandminoritylanguagesarerecognisedpoliticalgoalsinWestern
Europetoday.TheCouncilofEuropeFrameworkConventionfortheProtectionofNationalMinoritiesandthe
CouncilofEurope'sEuropeanCharterforRegionalorMinorityLanguagessetupalegalframeworkfor
languagerightsinEurope.
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ThefollowingisatabledisplayingthenumberofspeakersofthelanguagesinWesternEuropespokenbymore
Largestcountrieswhere
Largestregionswhere
Language
Speakers[a]
[b]
than5millionpeople:
spoken
spoken[c]
Language
Catalan

Speakers[a]
10,000,000
[11][12]

Largestcountrieswhere
spoken[b]

Largestregionswhere
spoken[c]
Catalonia,
Community

Andorra
BosniaandHerzegovina,
Croatia

Valencian

Croatian

5,752,090[13]

Czech

10,619,340[14]

CzechRepublic

Danish

5,522,490[15]

Denmark

Dutch

21,944,690[16]

Belgium,

English

59,800,000[17]

Ireland,

Finnish

5,392,180[18]

Finland

French

65,700,000[19]

Belgium,
France,
Monaco, Switzerland

Jersey,

German

95,000,000

Austria,
Belgium,
Germany,
Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Switzerland

SouthTyrol[21]

Greek

13,432,490[22]

Cyprus,

Hungarian

12,606,130[23]

Hungary

Italian

59,400,000[24]

Polish

38,663,780[25]

Poland

Portuguese

10,000,000[26]

Portugal

Slovak

5,187,740[27]

CzechRepublic,

Spanish

45,000,000+[28]

Spain,

Swedish

9,197,090[29]

Finland,

Burgenland

FaroeIslands
Netherlands
UnitedKingdom

Valled'Aosta[20]

Greece
Burgenland,

Italy, Monaco, San

Marino, Switzerland,
VaticanCity

Slovakia

Vojvodina

Corsica,
IstriaCounty,
Malta,
SloveneIstria

Vojvodina

Andorra
Sweden

Economy
WesternEuropeisoneoftherichestregionsoftheworld.GermanyhasthehighestGDPinEuropeandthe
largestfinancialsurplusofanycountry,LuxembourghasahighestGDPpercapita,FrancehasthehighestNet
NationalWealthofanyEuropeanstate.
LiechtensteinhasthehighestaveragewageofanystateinEurope,SwitzerlandrankshighestinEuropeonthe
SocialProgressIndex.

Seealso
CentralEurope
EasternEurope
NorthernEurope
SouthernEurope
FarWest
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MarshallPlan

Notes
a.BothnativeandsecondlanguagespeakersresidinginEuropeonly.
b.Countryisdefinedasbeingoneofthe193membersoftheUnitedNations.'Recognisedminoritylanguage'statusis
notincluded.
c.Regionisdefinedasbeingasubordinateconstituentofacountry,wherealegitimatepoliticalentityhasgrantedthe
languageofficialstatusinthatregion.

References
1.Ricci,Matteo(1610)[2009].OnFriendship:OneHundredMaximsforaChinesePrince.TranslatedbyTimothy
Billings.ColumbiaUniversityPress.pp.19,71,87.ISBN9780231149242.
2."UnitedNationsStatisticsDivisionStandardCountryandAreaCodesClassifications(M49)".un.org.
3.UnitedNationsStatisticsDivisionStandardCountryandAreaCodesClassifications(M49)(http://unstats.un.org/uns
d/methods/m49/m49.htm)
4.UnitedNationsHighCommissionerforRefugees."UNHCRNorthern,Western,CentralandSouthernEurope".
unhcr.org.
5."BasicinformationontheEuropeanUnion".EuropeanUnion.europa.eu.Retrieved4October2012.
6."European".OxfordEnglishDictionary.Retrieved3October2011."5b.spec.Designatingadevelopingseriesof
economicandpoliticalunionsbetweencertaincountriesofEuropefrom1952onwards,asEuropeanEconomic
Community,EuropeanCommunity,EuropeanUnion"
7.http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mcdonald/WorldHaplogroupsMaps.pdf
8."EuropeanYDNAhaplogroupsfrequenciesbycountry".Eupedia.
9."EUROPE,GEOGRAPHICALANDPOLITICALNationalGeographicStyleManual".Stylemanual.ngs.org.1
November1993.Retrieved19July2012.
10."Europe".EncyclopdiaBritannica.2007.Retrieved10June2008.
11.CatalanNewsAgencyNumberofCatalanspeakersrisingdespiteadversecontext(http://www.catalannewsagency.co
m/societyscience/item/numberofcatalanspeakersrisingdespiteadversecontext)
12.InformesobrelaSituacidelaLlenguaCatalana|XarxaCRUSCAT.Coneixements,usosirepresentacionsdelcatal
(http://blogs.iec.cat/cruscat/publicacions/informe/)
13.Croatian(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/hrv)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
14.Czech(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/ces)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
15.Danish(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/dan)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
16.Dutch(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/nld)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
17.English(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/eng)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
18.Finnish(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/fin)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
19.French(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/fra)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
20.LeStatutspcialdelaValled'Aoste,Article38,TitleVI.RegionValled'Aoste.Archivedfromtheoriginalon4
November2011.Retrieved2May2014.
21.http://www.regione.taa.it/normativa/statuto_speciale.pdf
22.Greek(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/ell)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
23.Hungarian(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/hun)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
24.Italian(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/ita)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
25.Polish(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/pol)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
26.Portuguese(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/por)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
27.Slovak(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/slk)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
28.Spanish(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/spa)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)
29.Swedish(http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/swe)atEthnologue(18thed.,2015)

Sources
TheMakingofEurope,ISBN0140154094,byRobertBartlett
CrescentandCross,ISBN1842127535,byHughBicheno
TheNormans,ISBN0752428810,byTrevorRowley
1066:TheYearoftheThreeBattles,ISBN0712666729,byFrankMcLynn
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Externallinks
TheEuropeansubregionsaccordingtotheUN(http://unstats.un.
org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#europe)
TeachingaboutWesternEurope(http://www.ericdigests.org/pre9
217/europe.htm)

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