al-Hasani
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- Feb 1, 2013
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@MarkusS
@ptldM3
You two had a very strange discussion.
There are hundreds of definitions of Europe. Be it religious, cultural, ethnic etc. There is not even a consensus about the borders of Europe always.
In my own view Europe can be divided into 4 major parts.
The Roman influenced part of Europe which speaks Romance languages or which is majority Catholic. Then there is the Byzantine part which is mostly Orthodox Christian and whose influences are Greek. Then the Anglo-Saxon/Germanic part which overlaps which the Roman influenced part of Europe.
Then fourthly you have everything in between.
In border regions those different groups interlope which each other.
As partially Western European I can tell you that there is a big cultural difference between an Western European (or European as a whole) and a Russian. This is bound in history and because Russia was mostly isolated from European influences to a great deal.
Russians (here I refer to Slavic Russians) are mostly of a "European" (whatever that is genetically) origin though and so is their appearance outside of the Mongol/Turkic/Asiatic influence.
Culturally there is a huge difference between Mediterranean cultures and civilizations and the European part of Russia. That there can be no doubt about and the differences would be even greater had the Imperial family of Russia not been German and thus under German influence culturally, militarily, scientifically etc.
Yet I would still consider Russians (as a people) to be Europeans. Or at least Slavs not different from Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians (this has already been established by genetic tests). There is virtually no difference between those 4 peoples.
My two cents when reading parts of your hilarious discussion.
@Gabriel92
Mistral : la Russie appelle la France à « remplir ses obligations »
Russia is desperate it seems!
Interesting. I have a hard time believing that statistic though. Maybe they have another interoperation of what it means to be European just like there are different interpretations of what it means to be an Middle Eastern person or an African? For instance I doubt that Egyptians want to have much (let alone have) in common with Congolese people despite living on the same continent.
There is a difference between culture (which is ever evolving), geography (which is also evolving hence all the population movements. For instance what stops Europeans from moving to Africa in the millions and ultimately colonize it if we presume that all Africans died tomorrow?) and genetics (which are also ever evolving mind you).
My view of Europe is more based on culture, the civilizations that shaped that part of the world and geography and to a lesser extent genetic affinity. Yet the average Italian or Southern European has in general more in common with a person from ME than he has with a Finn if you look at history, geographic proximity and to some extent culture.
@ptldM3
You two had a very strange discussion.
There are hundreds of definitions of Europe. Be it religious, cultural, ethnic etc. There is not even a consensus about the borders of Europe always.
In my own view Europe can be divided into 4 major parts.
The Roman influenced part of Europe which speaks Romance languages or which is majority Catholic. Then there is the Byzantine part which is mostly Orthodox Christian and whose influences are Greek. Then the Anglo-Saxon/Germanic part which overlaps which the Roman influenced part of Europe.
Then fourthly you have everything in between.
In border regions those different groups interlope which each other.
As partially Western European I can tell you that there is a big cultural difference between an Western European (or European as a whole) and a Russian. This is bound in history and because Russia was mostly isolated from European influences to a great deal.
Russians (here I refer to Slavic Russians) are mostly of a "European" (whatever that is genetically) origin though and so is their appearance outside of the Mongol/Turkic/Asiatic influence.
Culturally there is a huge difference between Mediterranean cultures and civilizations and the European part of Russia. That there can be no doubt about and the differences would be even greater had the Imperial family of Russia not been German and thus under German influence culturally, militarily, scientifically etc.
Yet I would still consider Russians (as a people) to be Europeans. Or at least Slavs not different from Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians (this has already been established by genetic tests). There is virtually no difference between those 4 peoples.
My two cents when reading parts of your hilarious discussion.
@Gabriel92
Mistral : la Russie appelle la France à « remplir ses obligations »
Russia is desperate it seems!
Interesting. I have a hard time believing that statistic though. Maybe they have another interoperation of what it means to be European just like there are different interpretations of what it means to be an Middle Eastern person or an African? For instance I doubt that Egyptians want to have much (let alone have) in common with Congolese people despite living on the same continent.
There is a difference between culture (which is ever evolving), geography (which is also evolving hence all the population movements. For instance what stops Europeans from moving to Africa in the millions and ultimately colonize it if we presume that all Africans died tomorrow?) and genetics (which are also ever evolving mind you).
My view of Europe is more based on culture, the civilizations that shaped that part of the world and geography and to a lesser extent genetic affinity. Yet the average Italian or Southern European has in general more in common with a person from ME than he has with a Finn if you look at history, geographic proximity and to some extent culture.
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