World Geography / Unit 7: Europe and Russia
7.4 History and Culture
Notes
- Ancient Greece (democracy, philosophy) and Rome (law, roads, Latin) shaped Europe. The Roman Empire spread Latin, which became French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (Romance languages).
- The Renaissance (about 1300s-1600s) revived art and learning; the Reformation split Christianity into Catholic and Protestant churches. Eastern Europe and Russia have large Orthodox communities.
- The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 1700s.
- World War I and World War II began in Europe. The Cold War divided Europe by the Iron Curtain; the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
- Language families: Germanic (English, German), Romance (French, Spanish), Slavic (Russian, Polish).
Practice
Which group of languages comes mostly from Latin?
French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese descend from Latin.
Where did the Industrial Revolution begin?
Coal, iron and textile inventions fueled early industry in Britain.
The Soviet Union ended in
Fifteen republics became independent countries, including Russia and Ukraine.
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