Search Results: Europe

Europe is a continent forming the westernmost part of the land mass of Eurasia and comprised of 49 sovereign states. Its name may come from the Greek myth of Europa, but human habitation of the region predates that tale, going back over 150,000...

The outbreak of plague in Europe between 1347-1352 – known as the Black Death – completely changed the world of medieval Europe. Severe depopulation upset the socio-economic feudal system of the time but the experience of the plague itself...

The arrival in Europe of the printing press with moveable metal type in the 1450s CE was an event which had enormous and long-lasting consequences. The German printer Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1398-1468 CE) is widely credited with the innovation...

The Mongol invasions of Russia and Eastern Europe occurred first with a brief sortie in 1223 CE and then again in a much larger campaign between 1237 CE and 1242 CE. The Mongols, seemingly coming from nowhere and quickly gaining a reputation...

Trade in raw materials and manufactured goods in ancient Celtic Europe was vibrant and far-reaching, particularly regarding the centre of the continent where there was a hub of well-established trade routes. As the Celts' territory expanded...

Trade and commerce in the medieval world developed to such an extent that even relatively small communities had access to weekly markets and, perhaps a day's travel away, larger but less frequent fairs, where the full range of consumer goods...

A map illustrating the political situation in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa around 1450, just before the fall of Constantinople, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II, the Conqueror, and the transformation...

A map illustrating the situation in Europe after the Peace of Westphalia was signed in Osnabrück and Münster between May and October 1648. The two treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War (initially a war between various Protestant and Catholic...

Europe during the most recent glacial, in which the ice sheets reached peak growth between c. 26.500 to c. 19,000 years ago. This is known as the Last Glacial Maximum. Sea levels were lower than today.

Artillery weapons in medieval Europe included the mounted crossbow (ballista) and single-arm torsion catapult (mangonel), both similar to ancient Roman machines. As armies battled further afield such as in the Byzantine Empire and against...