History of "Europe"

     A continent is a large landmass that has a distinct land border, distinct culture, and self-recognizes as a continent. Though there are alterations, expansions, and more restrictive definitions, the delineation for those geographical borders have become entrenched in the accepted knowledge of the world. One of the oldest questions of the Western World is: Where are the boundaries of Europe? From arguments in the European Union's acceptance of Turkey to the Greece's scorn of the Illyrians on their western coast, "Europe" has one of the most complicated definitions of political geography.
     According to Herodotus, Europe's eastern boundary stopped at the River Phasis - but some said the River Don. The Romans also decided that Europe stopped at the Don River. Since ancient times, the boundary of Europe has oscillated between a series of rivers but has stayed within the Greater Caucasus watershed that flows through the Turkish straits, Black Sea, along the Ural Sea through the Ural mountains, into the Ural River. Though disputed by several alternatives, the Ural River and Mountains are the most widely accepted border because they are the largest geographical features and most decidedly divide people groups.
     While the Dardanelles that separate the two halves of Constantinople are the accepted modern boundary for two continents, the ancient Greek's definitions for the true European peoples did not align to its borders and shifted regularly through history.
     Greeks resided in Greece and along the Anatolian coast. Some identified all Greeks as European while others divided the city-states as European and Asiatic. The Greek empires following the Macedonian conquest of the Persian Empire intermingled the economies, political boundaries, and identities of the crossroads of continents. Despite the eastern overlap, ancient Greeks did not see the uncivilized Germanic tribes to the north or west as European.
     Rome's boundaries overlapped the continental divide well into the Middle East and maintained the fluid definitions of the Greeks. Rome's expansion into Gaul and Germania brought Greek ideas to the tribes; thus the Roman civilization that connected the northern Mediterranean expanded the cultural inclusions of Europe.
     After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire Charles "The Hammer" Martel's defeat of the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732 cemented the European identity of Franks with Martel's triumph declaration that Christianity was safe in Europe. The defense against further Muslim advance combined with the Christianization of northern and eastern Germanic tribes coalesced to form a cultural-religious distinction of Europe that has endured. Charlemagne rose from the Frankish kings to gain considerable control over modern France, Germany, the Low Countries, and Northern Italy. His borders combined with the recent memories of Rome's glory incited a fervor within the later leaders of the kingdoms of Europe to form a grand, united empire. The Holy Roman Empire sought to maintain its control from modern Denmark to Rome but often failed in enforcing those borders. Aside from those attempts at a vast European empire a century after Charlemagne, the kingdoms of Europe focused on survival and expansion.
     With the division of Charlemagne's Empire and the Norse invasions, Europe became introverted. Aside from the Holy Land Crusades from about 1000-1400, Europe focused internally and warred amongst itself. This secluded development allowed Europe to strengthen its own identities, particularly with the development of the monarchy-based nation-state. Though a continent united by religious values, Europe remained divided into spheres of influence for the greater powers even with the colonization and settlement of the New World by the rising global powers of Portugal, Spain, France, and England.
     The shift of power away from the ancient empires of Greece and Rome into the iron-rich regions of England, France, and the Germanic states again redefined Europe to mean Christianized peoples of Latin and Germanic descent and began excluding a Greece that remained part of the Middle Eastern-focused Byzantine Empire despite that the Byzantine Empire was descended from the same Roman Empire that inspired Charlamagne's European unification.
     Though certain monarchs had European ambitions through the late medieval and early modern periods, notably Spain's control of the Netherlands, it was not until Napoleon Bonaparte's rise from the French Revolution that a serious, ambitious attempt to conquer all of Europe was undertaken. Napoleon's development of total war spread nationalism, ruptured the antiquated governance of the German states, and empowered British overseas developments. Despite the insubstantial attention his efforts to permanently unify Europe, his near-success inspired a re-invigoration of the unification concept in intellectual hopefuls. The Germans responded by creating a coalition parliament, and Prussia developed the Zollverein. Three decades after Napoleon's defeat and in lieu of the 1848 revolutions, author Victor Hugo gained public attention for his suggestions of unifying Europe as a coalition of states. However, the desired balance of Great Powers in the nineteenth century superseded all inter-European interests and ignored the desires of idealists.

     After the carnage of World War I, intellectuals and some government officials proposed a unification of Europe, but the bitterness created by the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depressioin, and the development of competition between fascist and democratic states negated any efforts. Nonetheless, Hilter's solidification of Fortress Europe during World War II combined with the devastation and collapse of global empires facilitated an environment of cooperation. The Treaty of Rome, effective in 1958, was, essentially, an extension of the Zollverein that permitted free trade on steel and other materials within co-signer nations. The success of the European Economic Community (EEC) encouraged non-founder states to seek participation and led to the basis of the European Union which formed as a result of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993.
     As the European Union has grown and continued the post-world wars peace in Europe, the borderlands of Europe have sought acceptance into this profitable economic partnership. Greece gained admittance in 1981 despite questionable financial stability because of its history, trade, Christian religion and values, and involvement with both World Wars. Other Balkan states have since applied to join the EU as well but inconsistent economies and human rights records have delayed acceptance.
     Turkey, the main descendant of the power of the Ottoman Empire, applied to join the European Union first in 1987 but did not receive candidate status until 1999. It officially applied in 2005 and negations have continued through 2016 having been delayed by the global financial crisis of 2008, the Greek financial crisis, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
     Europe has been self-identified for centuries as Christian peoples of Germanic, Slavic, and Caucasian decent with strong Roman-Latin influences. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim, but has many of the values, economic strengths, and military alliances as its European counterparts. Turkey is the grey area, the dotted-line on the border between Europe and the Middle East. Many eurocentric diplomats campaign against Turkey's admittance into the EU, but a hundred years ago, Turkey controlled significant interests in the Balkans and was referred to as the "sick man of Europe." As religiously distinct as Turkey is, the history of the Greco-Roman period, Byzantine, and early modern periods indisputably tie Turkey into the squabbles of the European powers. If it has suffered through the same alliances, world and cold wars, and the changing of empires, should it not also share in the economic prosperity of the European Union?
     The boundaries of Europe have been dynamic since their creation and fluid in their definition, but it is the decision of the modern claimants to the continent as to whether or not they will safeguard the Hellespont against the Asia of the ancient Greeks or extend a hand of welcome to the Europe of the Imperial monarchs.


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Agatha Tyche