European ethnic groups

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The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe.

Ethno-Linguistic classifications

Further information: Languages of Europe

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 (though as Indo-European speakers, are still related to the other three) and the Hungarians (about thirteen million each). About 20-25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin. The population of the European Union, with some five hundred million residents, accounts for two thirds of the European population.

The largest ethnic groups of Europe are the Russians (with some 90 million settling in the European parts of Russia), followed by the Germans (76 million), French (63 million^[1]), Italians (58 million), English (45 million), Spanish (42 million), Poles (42 million) and the Ukrainians (41 million). Amongst the smallest are the people of Malta with a population of 400,200, 95.3% of which is ethnic Maltese^[2].

Europe has a population of about 2 million ethnic Jews (mostly also counted as part of the ethnic group of their respective home countries):

• Ashkenazi Jews (about 1.4 million, mostly German and Polish)
• Sephardi Jews (about 0.3 million, mostly French)
• Mizrahi Jews (about 0.3 million, mostly French)
• Italian Jews (some 50,000, mostly Italian)
• Romaniotes (some 6,000, mostly Greek)

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^[7]
• Chechens: over 2 million
• Abkhazians: est. 1 million
• Ossetians: approx. 600,000.

Indigeneity

Prehistoric populations

Further information: Prehistoric Europe, Eurasian nomads, and Indo-European expansion

The Basques are assumed to descend from the populations of the Atlantic Bronze Age directly. The Indo-European groups of Europe (the Centum groups plus Balto-Slavic and Albanian) are assumed to have developed in situ by admixture of early Indo-European groups arriving in Europe by the Bronze Age (Corded ware, Beaker people). The Finnic peoples are a blend of indigenous huntergatheres and migratic Uralic and indo-European groups.

Reconstructed languages of Iron Age Europe include Proto-Celtic, Proto-Italic and Proto-Germanic, all of these Indo-European languages of the centum group, and Proto-Slavic and Proto-Baltic, of the satem group. A group of Tyrrhenian languages appears to have included Etruscan, Rhaetian and perhaps also Eteocretan and Eteocypriot. A pre-Roman stage of Proto-Basque can only be reconstructed with great uncertainty.

Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only secure reconstruction is that of Proto-Greek (ca. 2000 BC). A Proto-Italo-Celtic ancestor of both Italic and Celtic (assumed for the Bell beaker period), and a Proto-Balto-Slavic language (assumed for roughly the Corded Ware horizon) has been postulated with less confidence. Old European hydronymy has been taken as indicating an early (Bronze Age) Indo-European predecessor of the later centum languages.

Historical populations

Further information: History of Europe

Provinces of the Roman Empire in AD 117.

Iron Age (pre-Great Migrations) populations of Europe known from Greco-Roman historiography, notably Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy and Tacitus:

• Aegean: Greek tribes, Pelasgians/Tyrrhenians and Anatolians.
• Balkans: Illyrians (list of Illyrian tribes), Dacians and Thracians.
• Italian peninsula: Italic peoples, Etruscans, Adriatic Veneti, Ligurians and Phoenician colonies.
• Western/Central Europe: Celts (list of peoples of Gaul), Rhaetians and Swabians.
• Iberian peninsula: Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula (Iberians, Lusitani, Aquitani, Celtiberians) and Basques.
• British Isles: Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland and Picts/Priteni.
• Northern Europe: Germanic peoples (list of Germanic peoples).
• Southern Europe: Sicani.
• Eastern Europe: Scythians, Sarmatians, Vistula Veneti, Lugii and Balts.

Historical immigration

Further information: Scythians, Huns, Turkic expansion, and Islamic conquests

The Great Migrations of Late Antiquity.

Map showing the three main political divisions around 800: The Carolingian Empire (purple), the Byzantine Empire (orange) and the Caliphate of Córdoba (light green). (Borders are approximate.)

Ethno-linguistic groups that arrived from outside Europe during historical times are:

• Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean, from about 1200 BC to the fall of Carthage after the Third Punic War in 146 BC.
• Iranian influence: Achaemenid control of Thrace (512-343 BC) and the Bosporan Kingdom, Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Ossetes.
• the Jewish diaspora reached Europe in the Roman Empire period, the Jewish community in Italy dating to before AD 70 and records of Jews settling Central Europe (Gaul) from the 5th century (see History of the Jews in Europe).^[8]
• The Hunnic Empire (5th century), converged with the Slavic migrations, contributing to the formation of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Avar Khaganate (c.560s-800), fused into the South Slavic states from the 9th century.
• the Magyars (Hungarians), an Ugric people, and the Turkic Pechenegs and Khazars, arrived in Europe in about the 8th century.
• the Arabs conquered Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, and Hispania.
• exodus of Maghreb Christians^[9]
• the western Kipchaks known as Cumans entered the lands of present-day Ukraine in the 11th century.
• the Mongol/Tatar invasions (1223-1480), and Ottoman control of the Balkans (1389-1878). These medieval incursions account for the presence of European Turks and Tatars.
• the Romani people arrived during the Late Middle Ages
• the Kalmyks arrived in Kalmykia in the 17th century.

Indigenous minorities

Further information: Definitions and identity of indigenous peoples

A Sami family in northern Scandinavia around 1900

In a more narrow sense of "indigenous peoples", ethnic minorities marginalized by historical expansion of their neighbour populations, Europe's present-day indigenous populations are relatively few, mainly confined to northern and far-eastern reaches of this Eurasian peninsula. Whilst there are numerous ethnic minorities distributed within European countries, few of these still maintain traditional subsistence cultures and are recognized as indigenous peoples, per se. The following groups can be considered "indigenous peoples" of Europe in this narrow sense:^[10]

• the northern indigenous peoples of Russia, marginalized by Russian expansion, mostly Finno-Ugric peoples such as the Komi and Mordvins of the western Urals, and Samoyedic peoples of the northern Russian Federation such as the Nenets.
• the Sami and the Kvens of northern Scandinavia (marginalized by Finnish and North Germanic expansion), formerly known as "Lapps" or "Lappish".
• the Basque people of southwest France and northern Spain (marginalized by Latin/Western Romance expansion) whose foundation may been 10,000 years ago according to some ethnological analysists.

European identity and culture

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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 has had a very broad influence on the rest of the world, basically due to the wide-spread practice and legacy of colonialism. The exchange has not all been one way, some European features have been drastically changed by imports from elsewhere. Popular European foods such as chips (frites or French fries) and rice are derived from products that are not European, but indigenous to South America and Southern Asia respectively. Nearly all of the Americas and all of Africa were European colonies at one time or another - though in earlier times, European nations often colonized each other. Or were even colonized by Non-Europeans - Arabs and North African Moors colonized the Iberian peninsula leaving, for example, a significant Arabic influence on the Spanish language.

Various parts of the Americas are also considered overseas territories of France which are considered integral parts of the French Republic. A large proportion of the population of the Americas are descended from European emigrants (in some cases fleeing harsh economic times or religious intolerance). As a consequence most people in the Americas speak languages that are to varying degrees, derived from European languages. These include Latin American Spanish, American English, Caribbean English, Brazilian Portuguese, Haitian Kreyol and Papiamento. There are still significant cultural, economic and political ties between the former European colonial nations (Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France) and the former colonies around the world.

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

Predominant religions in Europe      Roman Catholicism      Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy      Protestantism      Sunni Islam      Shia Islam      Buddhism (Kalmykia)

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, Romania, Greece and Georgia. 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. European Russia has the largest Muslim community, including the Tatars of the Middle Volga and multiple groups in the Caucasus, including Chechens, Avars, Ingush and others. With 20th century migrations, Muslims in Western Europe have become a noticeable minority.

Judaism has a long history in Europe, but is a small minority religion, with France (1%) the only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%. The Jewish population of Europe is comprised primarily of two groups, the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi. Ashkenazi Jews migrated to Europe as early as the 8th century, while Sephardi Jews established themselves in Spain and Portugal at least one thousand years before that. Jewish European history was notably affected by the Holocaust and resulting emigration in the 20th century.

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 95% in Poland, and less than 20% in the Czech Republic. The 2005 Eurobarometer poll^[11] found that 52% of EU citizens believe in God.

Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Europe

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

Further information: Asian Europeans

Further information: Afro-Europeans

Populations of non-European origin in Europe (approx. 25 - 30+ million, or approx. 3% to 4% [depending on definition of non-European origin], out of a total population of approx. 730 million):

• Middle East
  • Turks: approx. 6 million (outside of the Republic of Turkey), mostly in German speaking countries and the Balkans, but found in sizeable communities throughout Europe.
  • Armenians (sometimes considered European, see above): approx. 1.5 million. The largest communities are found in France, Russia, Ukraine and the UK.
  • Kurds: approx. 1.5 million, mostly in Germany and Sweden.
  • Aramean-Syriac people: approx. 130,000, mostly in Sweden.
  • Lebanese diaspora: especially in France, Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus and the UK.
• Africa
  • North Africans (Arabs and Berbers): approx. 5 million, mostly in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden
  • Horn Africans: approx. 200,000 Somalis,^[12] mostly in the UK, Netherlands and Scandinavia.
  • Sub-Saharan Africans (many ethnicities including Afro-Caribbeans and others by descent): approx. 5 million, mostly in the UK, France, the Netherlands and Germany.^[13]
• Latin Americans (mainly Mestizos): approx. 2.2 million, with the largest groups in Spain and Italy.^[14]
  • Plus Latin American Britons number around 1 million and are of European, African, Native South American and many other races.
  • Brazilians: 200,000 - 300,000 in the UK, around 70,000 in Portugal and Italy each
  • Chilean refugees escaping the Augusto Pinochet regime of the 1970s formed communities in France, Sweden, the former East Germany and the Netherlands.
• South Asians (many ethnicities): approx. 6 million, mostly in the UK but reside in smaller numbers in Germany and France.
  • Indians: Between 3 and 4 million, mostly in the UK
  • Pakistanis: approx. 1,000,000, mostly in the UK.
  • Tamils: approx. 250,000, predominantly in the UK.
  • Bangladeshi residing in Europe estimated at 200,000, the bulk live in the UK.
• East Asia
  • Chinese: approx. 1 million, mostly in France, the UK and the Netherlands.
  • Filipinos: approx. 500,000, mostly in the UK, France, Germany and Italy.
  • Japanese: ca. 100,000, mostly in the UK and a sizable community in Dusseldorf, Germany.
  • Southeast Asians of multiple nationalities ca. total 1 million, such as Indonesians in the Netherlands, Thais in the UK and Sweden,Vietnamese in former East Germany and Cambodians in France.

Statistics

• The United Kingdom is home to the following large diasporas
  • 750,000 Sikhs, the largest number outside of India
  • 900,000 Pakistanis, second largest overseas community on earth
  • Over 1.6 million Indians make up the highest percentage of Indians in the Western world
  • 800,000 – 3 million Nigerians, the largest number outside of Nigeria
  • 450,000 Iraqis, the largest number in the Western World
  • Many Caribbean nations have their largest diasporas in the UK (including Barbados, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda)
  • Many former Asian colonies have their largest diasporas in the UK (including Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia)

European diasporas

Further information: History of colonialism

Nations and regions outside of Europe with significant populations of European ancestry^[15]:

Historical

• Antiquity
  • North Africa (Vandals)^[16]
  • Asia Minor (Galatians)^[17]
  • Tarim Basin (possibly Tocharians)^[18][19]
  • Egypt (Greeks in Egypt)^[20]
  • India (Indo-Greeks)^[21]

• Middle Ages
  • Asia Minor (Slavs)^[22]
  • Greenland (Greenland Vikings)^[23]
  • Kingdom of Jerusalem (Franks) - 25-35% of the population^[24][25]

Contemporary

Further information: History of colonialism and Greater Europe

Nations and regions outside of Europe with significant populations of European ancestry ^[26]:

• Africa (see Whites in Africa)
  • South Africa (Whites in South Africa) - 9.6% of the population^[27]
  • Namibia - 6% of the population^[28]
  • Réunion (Franco-Réunionnaise) approx. 25% of the population^[29]
  • Zimbabwe (Whites in Zimbabwe)
  • Botswana^[30]
  • Kenya (Whites in Kenya)
  • Algeria (Pied-noir)
  • Mauritius (Franco-Mauritian)
  • Swaziland - 3% of the population^[31]
  • Morocco^[32]
  • Tunisia^[33]

• Asia
  • India (Anglo-Indian)
  • Sri Lanka (Burghers)
  • Siberia (Russians)^[34]
  • Kazakhstan (Russians in Kazakhstan, Germans of Kazakhstan) - 30% of the population
  • Uzbekistan^[35]
  • Kyrgyzstan^[36]
  • Turkmenistan^[37]
  • Tajikistan
  • Hong Kong^[38]
  • Singapore (Eurasians in Singapore)
  • Philippines - 10% of the population. Filipino mestizos, Filipino-Eurasians and European immigrants mainly from United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Spain.

• The Middle East
  • Israel
  • Lebanon

• North America
  • Greenland - 12% of the population^[39]
  • Canada - 80% of the population ^[40]
  • United States of America (European American) - 75.1% of the population, including Hispanic/Non-Hispanic Whites
  • Mexico^[41] (White Mexican) - 9-15% of the population ^[42] and 60% as Mestizos.^[43]

• Central America, the Caribbean and South America (see White Latin American)
  • Argentina (White Argentine) - 97% of the population ^[44]
  • Bahamas - 12% of the population^[45]
  • Barbados (White Barbadian) - 4% of the population^[46]
  • Bermuda - 34.1% of the population^[47]
  • Bolivia - 15% of the population ^[48]
  • Brazil (White Brazilian) - 53.7% of the population ^[49]
  • Chile
  • Colombia - 20% of the population ^[50]
  • Costa Rica
  • Cuba - (White Cuban) 65% of the population^[51]
  • Dominican Republic - 16% of the population ^[52]
  • Ecuador - 7% of the population^[53]
  • El Salvador - 9% of the population^[54]
  • French Guiana - 12% of the population^[55]
  • Martinique - 5% of the population^[56]
  • Nicaragua - 17% of the population^[57]
  • Panama 10% of the population^[58]
  • Puerto Rico approx. 80% of the population ^[59]
  • Peru - 15 % of the population ^[60]
  • Trinidad and Tobago approx. 0.6% of the population
  • Venezuela - 20 % of the population
  • Uruguay - 88% of the population ^[61]

• Oceania (see Europeans in Oceania)
  • Australia - 89.3% of the population
  • New Zealand (New Zealand European) - 78% of the population
  • New Caledonia (Caldoche) - 34.5% of the population
  • French Polynesia - 10% of the population^[62]
  • Hawaii - 41.26% of the population
  • Guam - 6.9% of the population^[63]

National diasporas:

Further information: List of diasporas

References