Changes

In recent years conservative parties have dominated in Europe, as typified by President [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] of France and chancellor [[Angela Merkel]] of Germany.  Europe’s center-right parties have embraced many ideas associated with the left in the United States: generous welfare benefits, nationalized health care, sharp restrictions on carbon emissions, the ceding of some sovereignty to the European Union. But they have won elections by promising more efficiently than the left-wing parties, while working to lower taxes, improve financial regulation, and grapple with ageing populations. They have supported the United States in Afghanistan, participating heavily in the International Security Assistance Force. In general, labour unions are tied to the left in Europe and have the image of inefficiency and selfishness.  "Green" parties, emphasizing environmentalism, have drained off much of the younger leftist.<ref>Steven Erlanger, "In Bad Times for Capitalism, Socialists in Europe Suffer," [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/europe/29socialism.html?ref=world ''New York Times'' Sept. 29, 2009]</ref> Europe is generally a highly secularized continent containing many of the most atheistic countries in the world.

In recent years conservative parties have dominated in Europe, as typified by President [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] of France and chancellor [[Angela Merkel]] of Germany.  Europe’s center-right parties have embraced many ideas associated with the left in the United States: generous welfare benefits, nationalized health care, sharp restrictions on carbon emissions, the ceding of some sovereignty to the European Union. But they have won elections by promising more efficiently than the left-wing parties, while working to lower taxes, improve financial regulation, and grapple with ageing populations. They have supported the United States in Afghanistan, participating heavily in the International Security Assistance Force. In general, labour unions are tied to the left in Europe and have the image of inefficiency and selfishness.  "Green" parties, emphasizing environmentalism, have drained off much of the younger leftist.<ref>Steven Erlanger, "In Bad Times for Capitalism, Socialists in Europe Suffer," [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/europe/29socialism.html?ref=world ''New York Times'' Sept. 29, 2009]</ref> Europe is generally a highly secularized continent containing many of the most atheistic countries in the world.

   

   

==Land==

==Land==

There is no overall consensus over the eastern boundary of Europe, given that it is not a continent in the same sense as the others, given that it is not a distinct tectonic plate. However, one of the most commonly suggested eastern borders is that of the Ural Mountains, a chain running north-south in present-day Russia.  The Caucasus, another mountain chain between the Black and Caspian Seas, forms the southern land boundary.  Its remaining boundaries are coastlines; the Arctic Ocean, the North and Norwegian Seas, the Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.  The northernmost point on the mainland is Cape Nordkinn, Norway; the southernmost in Spain at Punta de Tarifa.

There is no overall consensus over the eastern boundary of Europe, given that it is not a continent in the same sense as the others, given that it is not a distinct tectonic plate. However, one of the most commonly suggested eastern borders is that of the Ural Mountains, a chain running north-south in present-day Russia.  The Caucasus, another mountain chain between the Black and Caspian Seas, forms the southern land boundary.  Its remaining boundaries are coastlines; the Arctic Ocean, the North and Norwegian Seas, the Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.  The northernmost point on the mainland is Cape Nordkinn, Norway; the southernmost in Spain at Punta de Tarifa.

==History==

==History==

====Early humans====

====Early humans====

 

It was during the late Paleolithic that humans arrived on the continent, and although of a hunter-gatherer stock they left behind examples of their art, most notably the cave paintings in Spain and France with their highly-decorated murals of extinct animals.  As these hunters settled down by the Neolithic period, they had learned to farm, and by roughly 6000 B.C. farming had spread across most of the continent.  With farming came a more settled life, and towns were created, with the Starčevo and Danubian cultures in the Balkans, and Sesklo and Dimini in Thessaly.  Trade in metals (copper, tin) resulted in the creation of bronze by about 4000 B.C.; amber marked its appearence as a precious stone in trade from the Baltic.  Elaborate burials were becoming common, especially of aristocrats or royalty; during this time as well humans were organized into societies that resulted in the construction of the megaliths, of which [[Stonehenge]] is the best known example.  

It was during the late Paleolithic that humans arrived on the continent, and although of a hunter-gatherer stock they left behind examples of their art, most notably the cave paintings in Spain and France with their highly-decorated murals of extinct animals.  As these hunters settled down by the Neolithic period, they had learned to farm, and by roughly 6000 B.C. farming had spread across most of the continent.  With farming came a more settled life, and towns were created, with the Starčevo and Danubian cultures in the Balkans, and Sesklo and Dimini in Thessaly.  Trade in metals (copper, tin) resulted in the creation of bronze by about 4000 B.C.; amber marked its appearence as a precious stone in trade from the Baltic.  Elaborate burials were becoming common, especially of aristocrats or royalty; during this time as well humans were organized into societies that resulted in the construction of the megaliths, of which [[Stonehenge]] is the best known example.