By Hugh Thomas, History of European and World Civilisations Group Lead
Let’s start with a question: which are the three largest cities in Europe (answers below)?
Thinking about this question actually highlights several bigger questions:
- What do we mean by Europe?
- Where are its boundaries?
- What does this all mean for history, let alone modern politics?
The lack of a clear natural boundary to the east has made it easy for migrants from time immemorial to enter Europe, from what we now call Asia. For example, the names of major rivers that enter the Black Sea, the Don, Dnieper, Dniester, and Danube are all derived from the Indo/European word for river - “Danu” - which is still used in some Caucasian languages, and is also the name of both a Hindu and a Celtic river Goddess.
Modern geographers like to suggest that the Urals and the Ural river mark the Eastern end of Europe. This convention actually dates back to Catherine the Great, who was determined to make Russia a European country, annexed large parts of Poland and got a Swedish surveyor to give her the answer she wanted.
And today, to mark the Boundary between Europe & Asia there’s this post on the transSiberian railway. Hardly impressive, and clearly this boundary didn’t stop the Goths, the Mongols, or the Magyars. It even leads to the absurdity that part of Kazakhstan is technically in Europe!
The successive waves of migration are reflected in today’s complex pattern of languages, religions, alphabets & scripts across Europe. And modern research shows clearly how the admixture of DNA changes as one moves from west to east. But one thing unites us all: every European is descended from migrants and is essentially a mongrel.
As John Donne put it so well “No man is an island” – not even us Brits!
As you can see, the Civilisation Group looks beyond boring lists of Kings and Queens, which seem to have blighted many people’s memory of history, and looks at the broader picture.
Thus, this year, in addition to Europe, we have looked at:
- The extraordinary tussle in the 3rd century BCE between Persia (modern day Iran) and Greece - to which, incidentally, we owe the Elgin Marbles. (Persia destroyed the original Acropolis and what we see today is its replacement).
- How in the period we often call the Dark Ages in Europe, kingdoms thrived in Africa, and when the “richest man in the world” Mansa Musa, king of Mali travelled to Mecca he took 100 camels laden with about 15 tons of gold. Nothing like travelling light! (Another question: What would 15 tons be worth today?)
Looking ahead to December we will be learning about the Silk Roads to coincide with the excellent exhibition at the British Museum.
And in early 2025 we will be considering topics as varied as: the role plate tectonics played in shaping human history; how modern scientific research is enabling us to unravel the history of human evolution; and how we spread around the world, especially the Pacific.
History certainly doesn’t need to be boring!
Answers
Which are the three largest cities in Europe?
Largest European Cities (Source World Population Review 2024) ... Istanbul* 16.0m, Moscow 12.7m, Paris** 11.7m
*For those who argue only part of Istanbul is on the European side of the Bosphorus the WPR, like the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and the current Turkish Government regards it as a European city
** For information, London 9.7m. The definition of Paris that WPR uses is a generous one. If one uses the conventional definition of Paris, within the peripherique, then London is much bigger than Paris.
Value of ‘15 tons of Gold’ today?
Mansa Musa, king of Mali’s ‘loose change" for his trip amounted in today's value to $1,400bn. That's four times more than the total wealth of today's richest man, namely Elon Musk.