THE EUROPEAN PEOPLES HISTORY

The European peoples are the totality of ancient and actual population that settled in Europe since remote time. But how many people live in Europe? At the beginning of XXI century AD, we can enlist tens of ethnic groups related to their own national state or to ancient or recent autonomies formed during the whole history of European integration. These peoples are part of biggest groups to which are referred the European languages spoken today or in the past and often share a common origin site and time of migration towards Europe.

The first settlements of humanity in Europe had been the Neanderthal specie during paleolithic age: they were able in using the fire to cook the meat of animals hunted or the food picked in Nature and in doing sacrifical rites. They existed simultaneously with the Cro-Magnon specie and others little groups spreaded all around Europe and Asia too, coming probably from North Africa or Atlantis lands. They disappeared quite at the same time (around 30.000 years ago) cause of a new ice age or the settlement of the Homo Sapiens specie coming from Middle East or the Persian Plateau area, who populated in particular the Mediterranean region and the Center-Eastern Europe lands up to the Baltic area. When that ice age ended (the "Gravettian epoch") a new people coming the from Arctic area entered in Europe territory carrying a mature artistic level you can admire in the "Paleolithic Venus" statue or at the Lascaux and Altamire murales sites: when a new ice age came in 17.500 BC circa, emerged the settlements of the Paleoarctic peoples in the Kola peninsula and in Groenland area that were relatives to the Ugric and Uralic peoples standind in North Siberian area.

That was the epoch that mythology knows as "Gigantomachy" or the Axe age that had began the indoeuropean epic signed by the iperborean tradition centered in Greece with new populations coming from East: they were the European peoples related to the Olympiad Gods who settled in the Aegean and Ionian seas area, along the coasts and on the isles, called "Pelasgians" or Ionians or Peloponnesians groups commonly included in the Greeks peoples. The myth even narrows about the Atlantis destruction (that probably happened around 11.000 BC) caused by the unfreezing of Antarctic (end of the Wurmian apoch) that formed the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black seas and pushed the hero Hellen towards the Parnassus mount, were the Greek civilty had its religious centre in the temple dedicated to Apollo god! At that age probably humanity "got out the caves" (the waters rose up of more than 50 meters!) and entered the European History by adopting the Sun cult that developed its conscience: some of them moved towards the Scandinavian Escude passing before the waters separated it from the Iperborean area, the central Europe plain and the Britain archipelago.

Meantime, the Northern Europe went under water and ice while the southern mountain chains of Pirenees, Alps, Appennini, Dinarics Alps, Balkans and the Pindo block emerged and became a perfect "road" for the new people coming from Anatolia, who populated and gave birth to the historical European peoples of the Danubians, Illyrians, Alpines, Italics and Iberians. Some time after another flowing of people descended from the Caucasus towards Scythia and went on over the German-Sarmatic plain up to the Baltic seas coasts and the Western Europe plains: they were the Germans.

That moment signed the European history forever: while old Europeans people still were living in the western side of continent such as the "Megalitichs" and in northern as the reindeer hunters, the Neolitich age started with the agricultural and breeding civilty imported from Anatolia and Middle East area by the southern people settled in the Danube valley (around 8500 BC), from were they moved towards Greece, Mediterranean coasts and Alps region, while another group populated parts of the German and British heighs. Those peoples shared the "Antigua Mater" civilty (near to the ancient Venus cult or dedicated to Aphrodite goddess? read this article) and created the different material cultures of: the "Enterbolle" (or Funnelbecker) in Skania and North Germany area; the "Almagra pottery" in Andalusia region; the "Printed cardium pottery" in Italy and Adriatic and western Mediterranen coasts; the "Eastern linear" of Baden in Mittleurope area; the "old Europe" and "Greek-Balkan" ones in Balcanic-Greek and Danubian area; finally the "Bell beaker" joined to the previous megalithic culture in the Atlantic area.

A new wave of European peoples arrived in the Bronze age: they were the Indoeuropeans, divided into the Celts, Slavs and Balts families still living in Europe nowadays. This happened after 4500 BC when mythology tells the affirmation of the Arya civilty: the northern European peoples standing on the Scandinavian Escude were pushed to travel towards Asia (the "trasveral migration") up to the Indian-Persian plateau where they could develop a new culture indipendent from the Middle East Caldean-Egyptian one and come back along the socalled "Aryan Belt" through Scythian plains. In that area they standed for some epoch sharing cultural elements with Scythians and started the "Kurgan" (or "single grave") civilty of the warriors on horses and cars: a set of common uses and language named Yamnaya successively spreaded along through the Germanic-Sarmatic plains carrying the Indoeuropean peoples up to the Baltic and North seas coasts, in Russia and Poland lands, in centre Europe and from there to the Hispanic peninsula and Britain archipelago where they mixed with the peoples previously settled. That new group of European peoples brought the European languages nowadays spoken in the continent, that belong to the Indoarian family spreaded in India, in Iran and the Stan countries, started the "urnfield culture" typical of the late european bronze age when metallurgy and weapons arts developed and enhanced the agricultural and breeding actvities.

Around XIII century BC new peoples came from East: they were the socalled "Sea Peoples", met by all the Iron age civilty in Mediterranean and Middle East area, and the "Dorians" who settled in Greece, forcing Ionians to move on the Anatolic coasts and founding the firsts european kingdoms and dinasties: at that point, mythology mixed with history in the events of European peoples that started the history of European integration as narrowed in my book and gave sense to United Europe idea.

The last groups of European peoples settlement were the Finno-Ugric (probably the returning of the most ancient population seen at the beginning) that formed the Fenni and the Magyars peoples speaking a common language member of the Indoeuropean family, happened in VIII century AD concomitantly with the immigration of the Bulgars in Balcanic area, who came probably from the originary area of the indoeuropean civilty in centrl Asia. At that time, the peoples settled in Scandinavia and called "Vikings" started their blitz alla around Europe and changed the course of European history, following the great movements of Germans and Goths happened in V century AD just before Slavs occupied permanently the Eastern Europe lands and all together became part of the Empire expansion.

It is possible to understand better this issue by watching at the following schemes:

Scheme of the European peoples