Europe is described as less a continent and more "an appendix-an island ringed peninsula projecting into the Atlantic from the western end of Eurasia". It emerged about 100 million years ago. Salamanders, newts and toads, all of which still live in Europe, first appeared at this time. These amphibians survived the nuclear winter caused by the meteorite strike 65 million years ago that killed every creature on earth larger than a few kilograms. The shape of today's Europe emerged about 50 million years ago. Around about 34 million years ago, Europe and North America were connected by a land bridge. The first songbirds entered the continent 25 million years ago. "By the end of the Miocene about five million years ago, mountain-building, dramatic drops in temperature and lowering sea levels had created a Europe that was topographically broadly similar to the Europe of today." From 2.6 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago, ice dominated Europe. It is believed that a slight variation in the Earth's orbit caused the changes. Sea levels were 120-150 meters below today's. Britain was connected to the continent. Permafrost extended as far south as Provence. Approximately 400,000 years ago, Neanderthals came to Europe. They later would exist side-by-side with modern humans, with whom they share 99.7% of their DNA. There were probably never more than 70,000 Neanderthals at any point in time, and by 39,000 years ago, they were gone. Although humans had existed in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years, homo sapiens came to Europe as the Neanderthal was passing, although there was an overlap and a sharing of genes. It is believed the hybrid human with as much as 6% Neanderthal DNA* dominated the continent until 14,000 years ago. The arrival of humans on the continent meant the extinction of all the Megafauna already there, including the wooly mammoth about 10,000 yeas ago. Thirteen-thousand years ago, the population of Europe is believed to have been 410,000 and would have expanded from there because of animal husbandry, agriculture and the stabilization of the climate, i.e. the end of the Ice Age. As the population expanded throughout the continent, humans caused the extinction of all large mammals, leaving only the bison and moose to survive (barely and with considerable help) to today. Over the centuries, Asians on horses and invaders from the steppes spread throughout Europe. In time, every patch of ground was under the suzerainty of mankind. With Europeans discovering the sea route to America and sailing into Asia, a new era was begun. They began their role as colonizers of the planet. The French philosopher Montaigne summed up the consequences, "So many godly cities ransacked; so many nations destroyed and made desolate; so infinite millions of harmless people of all sexes, states, and ages massacred, ravaged, and put to the sword; and the richest , the fairest, and the best part of the world topsy-turvied, ruined, and defaced for the traffic of pearls and pepper." After a millennium of war on the continent, post-WW2 Europe is a more tranquil place and one where native indigenous wildlife are returning. There are more bears and wolves in Europe than in America. Today's continent is focused on taking better care of itself, after centuries of industrialization.
The book is well-written, but let's face, it's also very boring. For me, the Montaigne quote above has been worth the effort.
* today's percentage of neanderthal DNA in the modern European is just over 2%
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