| The European continent was the scene of great
revolutions and human achievements, so the culture in
Europe has a great prominence. Europe, according to
the physical aspects and its geological formation, is
considered by many scientists as a continent that
corresponds to a peninsula of Eurasia. This means the
union of Asia and Europe itself,is located in the
northern hemisphere. Europe is constituted as a
continent due to historical events, because in this
territory there were the main cultural, political and
economic dispersions, which expanded its influence at an
international level.
For a characterization of the main events that occurred
in Europe, it is possible to highlight, mainly,
colonialism, imperialist expansion, the Roman and Greek
civilizations, the Renaissance, the French Revolution,
the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the first
economic block in the world. From the examples cited, it
is clear to realize that Europe was and still is the
stage of great human achievements.
The cultural separation occurred from two sides: on one
side is the Roman and Greek civilization, both
representatives of the Europe; the other side is the
Asian, Arab, Hindu and Chinese representatives. This was
a cultural separation and there is not so much physical
value, because what was taken into account were the
cultural, religious and economic disparities, unique to
each group.
Today, with the advanced stage of globalization, the
West has promoted great influence in the East, something
that rarely happened in the 19th century. Despite the
immense distribution of culture and knowledge from
Europe to the world, really those who emerged from
culture to both continents all left the East, for
example, Christianity.
European dominance in the world began during the 15th
and 16th centuries, through the search for the expansion
of its territory. This was possible through the great
navigation, in which it was necessary to extract wealth
in other continents to supply the needs of the market in
constant expansion, as the number of the population
grew. Because they developed the political and cultural
aspects internally, they managed to establish dominion
over other peoples, as they had knowledge in science,
military strategy and technologies.
It was precisely at this moment in history that the
expressions “civilized” and “wild” were created. These
denominations had the main purpose of differentiating
the Greco-Roman culture, also called classic and
Europeanized civilizations. However, this distinction
between two groups can now be identified. Just look at
the group of richest countries in the world, except the
United States and Japan, all are European.
In the European conception, the rest of the world is
limited to a “bed” of economic, environmental and social
exploitation, labor and the consumer market. The great
western European metropolises present works with a large
amount of gold and silver, acquired at the expense of
the work of slaves and natives from the exploitation of
the colonies. Today there is a great fortune in precious
stones kept in financial institutions.
Currently, the European Union represents an offensive
existence against American hegemony that has lasted
since the decline of socialism led by the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics which was ever the only one
to face the USA.
 Italy's Prehistory
Italy's prehistory is the country's history in the
Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age until around
the year 700 before our time. Traces have been found for
Neanderthal humans and for people from older Paleolithic
times. In the Middle Paleolithic period, the findings of
the abbeil and acheulene character are. The Aurignacien
culture is represented in Late Paleolithic times. A
statue of a naked woman - probably a fertility symbol -
and cave images are dated to 12–9. millennium BCE, that
is towards the end of the last ice age.
Stone Age
From Mesolithic times the climate has been relatively
constant. The use of the bow and arrow now made hunting
easier. The transition to the younger Stone Age
(Neolithic times) - with better tools, with grain
cultivation, animal husbandry and firmer village
communities - is set at 4000-3000 BCE. From now on,
central Italy has an ever-increasing diversity of
prehistoric cultures.
Important sites such as Molfetta in the south, Ripoli
in central Italy and others have given names to
archaeological cultural groups. At Lagozzo near Milan,
characteristic ceramics and spinning wheels and looms
have been found that tell about the fabrication of
textiles, dated to ca. 2800 or later. Remedello has
found 117 skeletal graves from the transition phase
between the younger Stone Age and the Bronze Age (c.
1800–1600 BCE). The dead are in a fetal position and
have brought with them flat axes, daggers and daggers in
copper and arrowheads of flint.
From this time we also have the so-called palafite or
pile-dwelling culture in Northern Italy, created by
immigrants from the north. They introduced burnt burial
in the urn, built villages on piles in lakes and were
hunters, fishermen and landowners. They kept livestock,
including horses, and perhaps used wagons. Cultural
groups in southern Italy show influence from the Aegean
area.
The bronze age
The most well-known Bronze Age cultures (c. 1600–1200
BCE) are the non-uniform, partially Eastern-influenced
Apennine culture along the mountain range of the same
name and the Northern Italian Territory culture, which,
among other things, in bronze work clearly points to the
Danube region (Hungary).
Terramare culture is named after "the fat earth" used
by farmers in the 19th century as fertilizers, and which
turned out to hide old settlements. The Terramar people
lived in round or oval cabins and represented a more
advanced material culture than the former. The Terramar
people also cremated their dead. A special type of past
memories are the rich rock carvings in Valcamonica,
which have their closest parallels in southern
Scandinavia.
The iron age
The Iron Age began in Italy just after 1000 BCE.
Among the more well-known cultural groups of this period
are the Villanova culture in Tuscany. The culture is
almost only known from grave finds, which among other
things have given us a number of round cabin models.
Hunting, animal husbandry and agriculture have been
dominant industries. The rich burial goods testify that
crafts such as forging and ceramics have been high.
Probably, the Villanova culture is regarded as a
continuation of the Terramare and Apennine culture,
regardless of immigration.
The beginning of the Iron Age, however, is linked to
the ever-increasing immigration of foreign tribes,
especially those who spoke Indo-European dialects. They
came rather smoothly than in great bumps; early
representatives were the Palafite and Terramar people.
Mixture of mutual influence modified both cultural types
and languages, however, making Indo-European the
dominant linguistic element throughout Italy.
When Greeks and Etruscans are exempted, the major
groups in Italy's population at the transition to
historical time are as follows: in northwestern
ligurians and in northeast venets and raets; in central
Italy the " Italic " tribes: the Tevere Latins,
faliskere and others, as well as further south the
so-called umbro-saber exchangers partly with strong
non-Indo-European elements: Sabines, Aequa, Mars, Volsk,
Vestin, fretaner and samnitter; further south south, who
did not originally speak Indo-European, jeopardy
(perhaps characterized by elements from Illyria) and
Sicily sickles. |
