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No clear definition exists for the origin of the Indo-European languages.  Some scholars theorize that it came across the plains north of the Black Sea with a kurgan culture around 2500 B.C.  According to the theory, the first such kurgan invasion was successful in the Balkans, where it spread to central Europe.
 
No clear definition exists for the origin of the Indo-European languages.  Some scholars theorize that it came across the plains north of the Black Sea with a kurgan culture around 2500 B.C.  According to the theory, the first such kurgan invasion was successful in the Balkans, where it spread to central Europe.
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====First Civilizations====
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The island of Crete in the Aegean was the first to have a major civilization in Europe.  Named after King Minos of Greek mythology, the Minoan Civilization had its capital at Knossos; the ruins excavated in the early 20th century by British archaeologist Arthur Evans indicate a well-developed society, capable of extensive trade by sea, which effectively controlled the Aegean by 1600 B.C.  By then the first tellings of the Mycenaean Civilization appeared on mainland Greece.  These ancient Greeks may have been Indo-Europeans from the Balkans, and have been in conflict with the Minoans, who simply vanish from the historical record by 1400 B.C. (this may be due to the eruption of Thera, a volcano to the north of Crete, about 1450 B.C.; physical evidence on Crete indicates a massive, catastrophic explosion).  By 1200 B.C. the Mycenaeans themselves were almost destroyed, by warfare and earthquakes.  In the years following, the Greeks began to fashion new tools and weapons from iron.
    
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
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*[[Europa]]
 
*[[Europa]]
 
*[[Architecture]]
 
*[[Architecture]]
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====First Civilizations====
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The island of Crete in the Aegean was the first to have a major civilization in Europe.  Named after King Minos of Greek mythology, the Minoan Civilization had its capital at Knossos; the ruins excavated in the early 20th century by British archaeologist Arthur Evans indicate a well-developed society, capable of extensive trade by sea, which effectively controlled the Aegean by 1600 B.C.  By then the first tellings of the Mycenaean Civilization appeared on mainland Greece.  These ancient Greeks may have been Indo-Europeans from the Balkans, and have been in conflict with the Minoans, who simply vanish from the historical record by 1400 B.C. (this may be due to the eruption of Thera, a volcano to the north of Crete, about 1450 B.C.; physical evidence on Crete indicates a massive, catastrophic explosion).  By 1200 B.C. the Mycenaeans themselves were almost destroyed, by warfare and earthquakes.  In the years following, the Greeks began to fashion new tools and weapons from iron.
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== External links ==
 
== External links ==
nsTeam1RO, nsTeam1RW, nsTeam1_talkRO, nsTeam1_talkRW, Administrators
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