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Europe has been the center
of much of Western Civilization throughout the history of mankind.
Here are 20 interesting things about Europe you should know, but may
not.
20 Interesting Things About Europe
With the amazing history of Europe, picking 20 things out can be a
controversial effort to say the least, but here we go anyway.
1. Europe is the second smallest continent with roughly 4 million
square miles.
2. Europe is designated as a continent for political reasons. There
is no geographic basis for the claim.
3. Europe is home to more than 700 million people, but birth rates
are stagnant.
4. Most scholars believe Europe was named after Europa, a Phoenician
Princess in Greek mythology.
5. The smallest country in Europe is the Vatican, which is
considered a separate country from Italy even though it is in the
middle of Rome.
6. The largest city in Europe is Paris with a population of just
under 10 million people.
7. La Sapienza University in Rome is the largest university in
Europe with a whopping 184,000 students.
8. Europe produces just over 18 percent of all the oil in the world.
9. The European Union has 25 country members.
10. 80 to 90 percent of Europe was once covered in forest, but this
has been reduced to 3 percent in Western Europe.
11. Europe has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world.
12. Europe has been racked with war throughout its history to the
point where more than 70 former countries have been conquered and no
longer appear on maps.
13. The great Roman inventions so often cited by scholars actually
were created by Etruscans, a small empire in the south of present
day Italy.
14. The Dark Ages in Europe lasted from 476 to 1,000 A.D. or twice
as long as the United States has been a country.
15. The Renaissance followed this period and lasted roughly 200
years.
16. The first country to join the industrial revolution in Europe
was Great Britain.
17. The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918 and resulted in
four empires radically changing or dissolving completely: the
German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian.
18. Adolf Hitler was not German. He was Austrian, born in the small
town of Braunau am Inn.
19. It is estimated that 62 million people died in World War II, 2.5
percent of the world’s population at that time.
20. The 10 most generous countries in the world when it comes to
charitable giving are all located in Europe.
To be honest, the 20 items mentioned about Europe cited above are
just scratching the surface. If you have a hankering for history,
Europe is a fascinating subject to study.
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About the author:
Richard Monk is with
FactsMonk.com - a site
with facts about everything including
Europe.
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