So what makes up Western Europe, the CIA defines western Europe as the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland. However, some people also take into consideration some of the surrounding countries as part of western Europe as well like Spain, Italy, and Portugal. So, depending on who we are talking to we can get mixed information on which countries are included in western Europe. This conversation can lead to many to a lot of back and forth on what part of Europe certain countries are but after some research it is safe to say that no one can really be wrong in this argument.
Either way there is a lot of history in his western Europe that has made way for a lot of things that we see today. We can look at language for example as many of us already know that the modern languages that we speak today has its roots in Greek and Latin which both came from Western Civilization in Europe. Most of the medical terminology is still spoken in these languages as these cultures have influenced the modern world. In addition to that when we even look at law we see Latin or Greek terms for certain things that is related to the legal system. Which is our lessons we see mentioned the fact that the very word Democracy which we currently live in the United States of American is a word from the Greeks where “Demos” means people and “Kratia” meaning power or rule so Democracy means ruled by the people which makes a lot of sense since we live in a democracy.
Being that there is so many different countries with many different backgrounds western Europe and Europe as a whole in general is a huge melting pot full of history from all over Europe where in one form or many others has shaped the way we do things and the way the many different countries do things as well. The European Union has sought to preserve the cultural heritage that they all share so they don’t get lost in history. Things like cinema and dance along with art and architecture are among the few things that they are fighting to protect so generations to come came know about the rich history that they have.
Full with history Europe has come a long way, a lot of the things that we have today and how we have shaped modern society have a lot to do with the history of Europe. Things like building great cities like new York for example can compare to the great city of Rome. Modern language to the very government that we live in today can go back and compared to Western Europe. We have to give thanks to there history as it helped shape ours and as we look towards the future we as they are need to preserve the history of our culture in order for the next generation and the generation after can see all of our magnificent accomplishments.
https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/modules/items/21654180
kbt5108 says
HI Edwin,
Thanks for the post. I too find it interesting that most of our language, law and medical terms are rooted in Latin especially considering that America was colonized by Britain and not the Greek. I’d also like to elaborate on the fact that you pointed out that the word democracy is rooted in Latin. I find this interesting because America was founded on by a Western European country but our government is rooted in Greek theory. I would say that most of this is due to the fact that most of the folks that came to America to colonize it came because they wanted to escape the repression of a monarchy. What makes this even more interesting is that we were very concerned with breaking repression but then went on to repress women and black for the first 150 years America was around.
Thank for sharing the information and you perspective on Western Europe and best of luck the rest of the semester.
Regards,
Kevin