What is European Ethnic Groups?

This article deals with the European people as an ethnic group or ethnic groups. For information about residents or nationals of Europe, see Demography of Europe. For information on other uses please see disambiguation page: European

The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe.

European Ethnology is the field of cultural anthropology focusing on Europe.

Ethnic groups of Europe

see

Further information: Demography of Europe, Languages of Europe, Eurolinguistics

[[Image:Languages of Europe no legend.png|thumb|350px|Languages of Europe:
                    North Germanic                 West Germanic                 Celtic
                    Western Romance    Italian+Southern     Eastern Romance     Basque
                    East Slavic                 West Slavic             South Slavic         Baltic
    Greek     Albanian     Armenian     Iranian
            Finno-Permic     Hungarian     Ob-Ugric
    Caucasian     Turkic     Kalmyk     Arabic+Maltese     Berber ]] Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million (as of 2005), some 85% or 630 million fall within three large ethno-linguistic super-groups, viz., Slavic, Latin (Romance) and Germanic. The largest groups that do not fall within either of these are the Greeks and the Hungarians (about 13 million each). About 20-25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin. The population of the European Union with some 500 million accounts for two thirds of European population.

The largest ethnic group of Europe are probably the Russians with some 90 million settling in the European parts of Russia, followed by the Germans (69 million), French (63 million), Italians (58 million), English (45 million), Spanish (42 million), Ukrainians (40 million) and the Poles (38 million).

• Indo-Europeans
• Slavic Europe (approx. 230 million)
• Russians+Belarusians (approx. 100 million)
• Ukrainians (approx. 40 million)
• Poles (approx. 38 million)
• South Slavs (approx. 35 million)
• Czechs+Slovaks (approx. 15 million)
• Latin Europe (approx. 200 million)
• French+Walloons+Romands (approx. 70 million)
• Italians (approx. 58 million)
• Spaniards, various nationalisms (approx. 42 million)
• Romanians+Moldovans (approx. 23 million)
• Portuguese (approx. 12 million)
• Germanic Europe (approx. 190-200 million)
• Germans+Austrians+Alemannic Swiss+Luxembourgers (approx. 90 million)
• English (approx. 45 million)
• Scandinavians (approx. 22 million)
• Dutch+Flemish (approx. 20 million)
• Frisians (approx. 1.5 million)
• Celtic Europe (approx. 1 million speakers of Celtic languages, but depending on the definition, some 20 million may be considered "Celtic")
• Irish (approx. 6 million)
• Scots (approx. 6 million)
• Welsh (approx. 5 million)
• Bretons (approx. 5 million)
• Cornish (approx. 500,000)
• Manx (approx. 80,000)
• Greeks (approx. 13 million)
• Albanians (approx. 8 million)
• Balts (approx. 5 million)
• Roma people (roughly 5-10 million)
• Turkic peoples
• Turks: (approx. 11 million in Turkish Thrace and Istanbul Province, another 5 million in diaspora)
• Tatars (approx. 10 million)
• Chuvash (approx. 2 million)
• Gagauz (approx. 100,000)
• Hungarians (approx. 13 million)
• Finnic peoples
• Finns (approx. 6 million)
• Estonians (approx. 1 million)
• Sami (approx. 100,000)
• Karelians
• Mordvins
• Basques (approx. 2.5 million)
• Maltese (approx. 400,000)
• Kalmyks (approx. 170,000)

Depending on what parts of the Caucasus are considered part of Europe, various peoples of the Caucasus may also be considered "European peoples":

• Armenians: approx. 4.5 million
• Georgians: approx. 4 million
• Chechens: approx. 2 million
• Ossetians: approx. 600,000

"Indigenous" minorities

Since most of Europe in historical times was never colonized by non-European powers with lasting effect (arguably except for Hungary, Turkish Thrace and islands such as Malta or Cyprus^[1]), the vast majority of Europeans can be considered "indigenous". In a more narrow sense of "indigenous peoples", ethnic minorities marginalized by historical expansion of their neighbour populations, the following groups can be considered "indigenous peoples" of Europe:

• the northern indigenous peoples of Russia, marginalized by Russian expansion, mostly Finno-Ugric peoples such as the Komi peoples of the western Urals, and Samoyedic peoples of the northern Russian Federation such as the Nenets.
• the Sami of northern Scandinavia (marginalized by Finnish and North Germanic expansion)
• the Basque people of France and Spain (marginalized by Latin/Western Romance expansion)

Physical appearance and genetic origins

Main article: Genetic history of Europe

Further information: White people Caucasoid

The vast majority of Europeans are of the "Caucasoid" (White) typological race, characterized by lightly pigmented skin and variability in eye and hair colour ^[2], although typological division into races has now largely been discredited. There has been human habitation in Europe for over a million years,^{[3] [4]} but humans with a recognisably modern anatomy can only be dated back to 40,000 years ago, with the Cro magnon settlement. Over the prehistoric period there was continual immigration to Europe, notably with the neolithic revolution.^[5] It is probable that the origins of Cro Magnon man can be traced back to ancestors in East Africa. ^[6]

European diasporas

Further information: History of colonialism

Nations and regions outside of Europe with significant populations of European ancestry:

• Africa
• South Africa (Whites in South Africa)
• Zimbabwe
• The Middle East
• Israel
• North America
• Canada - 83% of the population
• United States of America (European American) - 60.7% of the population
• Central & South America (see Latin America or Ibero-America)
• Argentina - 95% of the population
• Cuba - (White Cuban) 65.5% of the population
• Brazil (White Brazilian) - 49.9% of the population
• Chile
• Uruguay
• Venezuela
• Oceania
• Australia - 89.3% of the population
• New Zealand (New Zealand European) - 59.1% of the population

Individual diasporas:

Further information: List of diasporas

• Basque diaspora
• Bosnian diaspora
• Croatian diaspora
• Dutch diaspora
• German diaspora
• Greek diaspora
• Italian diaspora
• Irish diaspora
• Romanian diaspora
• Russian diaspora
• Scottish diaspora
• Serbian diaspora
• Ukrainian diaspora

Diasporas in Europe

Further information: Islam in Europe, Muslims in Western Europe, Hinduism in Europe, Buddhism in Europe

Populations of non-European origin in Europe:

• Turks: approx. 5 million
• Arabs: approx. 5 million, mostly in UK, France and Germany
• African diaspora (many ethnicities): approx. 5 million
• Somalis: approx. 200,000
• Indians (many ethnicities): approx. 2 million (see also Hinduism in Europe)
• Tamils: approx. 250,000
• Armenians (sometimes considered European, see above): approx. 1.5 million
• Kurds: approx. 1.5 million
• Chinese: approx. 1 million
• Syriacs: approx. 130,000
• Japanese: ca. 100,000

European identity and culture

Main articles: European culture, Western world, Christendom, and Pan-European identity

The culture of Europe might better be described as a series of overlapping cultures. Whether it is a question of West as opposed to East; Christianity as opposed to Islam; many have claimed to identify cultural fault lines across the continent.

European culture also has a broad influence beyond the continent of Europe due to the legacy of colonialism. In this broader sense it is sometimes referred to as Western Civilization. Nearly all of the Americas and all of Africa were ruled by European powers at one time or another, and some parts of the New World, such as French Guiana, still are. The vast majority of the population of the Americas speak European languages, specifically Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and to a much lesser extent Dutch. Additionally the cultures of the European colonial powers (Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France) exert a strong influence.

Pan-European identity refers to both the sense of personal identification with Europe, and to the identity possessed by 'Europe' as a whole. 'Europe' is widely used as a synonym for the European Union even though there are millions of people living on the European continent in non-EU states. The prefix pan implies that the identity applies throughout Europe, and especially in an EU context, 'pan-European' is often contrasted with national.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Europe

Since the High Middle Ages, most of Europe has been dominated by Christianity. There are three major denominations, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, with Protestantism restricted mostly to Germanic regions, and Orthodoxy to Slavic regions and Greece. Catholicism, while centered in the Latin parts, has a significant following also in Germanic, Slavic and Celtic regions.

Islam has some tradition in the Balkans (the European dominions of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th to 19th centuries), in Albania, Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkish East Thrace, as well as among the Tatars and Chechens of Russia. With 20th century migrations, Muslims in Western Europe have become a noticeable minority.

Judaism has a long history in Europe, but remains a small minority religion, with France (1%) the only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%.

In modern times, significant secularization has taken place, notably in laicist France in the 19th century and in Communist Eastern Europe in the 20th century. Currently, distribution of theism in Europe is very heterogeneous, with more than 80% in Poland, and less than 20% in the Czech Republic. On average, the 2005 Eurobarometer poll^[7] found that 52% of the citizens of EU member state that they believe in God.

References

Further reading

• Cole, J. W., Wolf, E. R., The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley, University of California Press; (1999), ISBN 978-0520216815.
• Dow, R. R., Bockhorn, O., The Study of European Ethnology in Austria, Progress in European Ethnology, Ashgate Publishing (2004), ISBN 978-0754617471.
• Jordan, T. G., The European culture area: A systematic geography (2nd ed.). New York: Harper and Row (1988).
• Parman, S. (ed.), Europe in the Anthropological Imagination, Prentice Hall (1998).

External links

• Ron Balsdon, The Cultural Mosaic of the European Union: Why National Boundaries and the Cultures Inside Still Matter

See also

• Pan-European identity
• Genetic history of Europe
• Caucasoid
• White people
• Ethnic groups of Russia
• Peoples of the Caucasus
• List of ethnic groups

•  • [ e] Indigenous peoples of the World by Continent
Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania