Monday 11 August 2014

Our World Tuesday, ABC Wednesday, E for Europe.

In Greek mythology Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story. 

 From  Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology: Europa - Mythweb

 Europa was gathering wildflowers in a seaside meadow when she came upon a beautiful white bull. This bull was uncommonly gentle and did not inspire fear. Decking its horns with flowers, Europa was at length emboldened to climb upon its back. Whereupon the bull - actually the god Zeus in disguise - took off at a trot and dove into the sea. Europa was carried off to the island of Crete, where she became the mother of King Minos.

This legend is always very attractive compared to the Europe we have to deal with now. As a true European I must know more of her history and countries. Just now I did a test about my knowledge  of the countries of this continent and I failed! 

The United States of Europe (sometimes abbreviated USE) or Federal Republic of Europe is an idea that was thought about a long time ago. The Romans tried to create one great empire , Napoleon tried it and so did Hitler.The problem is that the unification of Europe as a single sovereign federation of states, similar to the United States of America, is not possible as we have too many cultures, which are unique in themselves but cannot mix. All those 47 independant countries have their own governments. There are 7 kingdoms, some principalities and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The rest are republiques with a president. None of these countries wants to become part of another country and give up its language. There are so many languages, whereas the USA has only one common language. We have Dutch in the Netherlands as our main language, and most of us have to learn one or two foreign languages.English, German, French, Spanish or Italian. All of them with their own grammatical problems. Fortunately half of our neighbours in the south, the Flemish Belgians speak Flemish, which is very much like Dutch. We watch  the same programs on TV. The other half of the  Belgians speak French.

 The USA has one national flag and one national anthem. Europe has 47 national flags and 47 national anthems.

Well as you see there can never be a United States of Europe, but....we can and must work together, help each other and understand the foreign cultures.


 

 

  Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our  logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar. Thank you Team of O. W. T.!

 

 With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and thanks to Roger. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with E.

24 comments:

Sylvia K said...

A wonderful and fascinating, informative post for the day, Wil, as always!! Thank you for sharing this history, much of which I wasn't familiar with! Hope you have a great mew weel!!

Arija said...

Working and living together peacefully needs to be the goal of all nations but before that is possible, groups of nations need to learn to co-exist for the common good. While the Russian Bear is flexing it's muscles and the Middle East is in turmoil, it is doubly important to be understanding of our neighbours.

Roger Owen Green said...

the European Union will be the closest to the USE we'll get, I suspect.
ROG, ABCW

Anonymous said...

Can always count on your posts to teach me something new. In such a fascinating and easy-to-understand way. Geography and world history were not very well taught when I was in school -- I have much to learn!

Fun60 said...

We need to accept our differences before we can knit our similarities together.

carol l mckenna said...

So informative and wonderful historical post for OWT ~

artmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)

eileeninmd said...

Interesting post and information on the USE! It is and would be nice of everyone lived together peacefully.. Thanks for sharing, have a happy week!

Mike said...

Excellent. Nor should Europe ever want to be "united" like the USA. Keep the individual, local cultures and languages, etc. Better for everyone!


Iowa Voice

Leslie: said...

It is because of the different cultures that I am impressed with Europe and would love to visit more of its countries!

By the way, I love your new header photo!

Leslie
abcw team

Berowne said...

Always something interesting on your posts - thanks so much1

Anita Sabat said...

Thanks for sharing this info, Wil.
The legend of Europa is interesting.
Europe has so many nations & with distinct languages. Would love to visit.

Indrani said...

Again I learned something new!
Nice post for 'E'.

lotusleaf said...

Nice story about Europa.In India, we have 23 different languages, but one flag.

Hildred said...

Loyalty to one's culture is a pretty basic human emotion, but it would be wonderful if we all had respect for our neighbours and their differences and hatred and fear could be kept to a minimum!

ChrisJ said...

This is so interesting. At one time I thought I knew quite a lot about Europe, but there have been so many changes in the last one hundred years that I have seriously considered studying it all again. It's certainly very different today from that which I studied in school many years ago.

ellen b. said...

I need to see more of Europe. I tend to be partial to the U.K.
Because of my husband's work I have been able to visit Milan Italy but that is the only place on the European continent I have visited!

Ni de Aqui, Ni de Alla said...

Who knows, maybe one day Europe will be one big nation with many languages and cultures. Excellent post!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

They say with the rate of immigration, soon there will be more Muslims than Native Europeans in Europe.

Lmkazmierczak said...

Enjoyed your post...interesting comments too. The world is getting smaller now that practically everyone has internet access...I'm wondering if geological boundaries will go out of existence in the next 100 years.

Su-sieee! Mac said...

Very informative post for me. I didn't know that Europe is also known as the United States of Europe. Because I am of the U.S., it's difficult for me to think of our 50 states as being at all like 50 separate countries.
Take 25 to Hollister
The View from the Top of the Ladder

Rajesh said...

Wonderfully interesting post. Thanks for sharing.

EG CameraGirl said...

Working together doesn't always work smoothly but I believe most Europeans will want to stick together to make Europe a peaceful place to live. The U.S. and Canada don't ALWAYS agree but they can usually get along. Ans within Canada we have Quebec that sometimes claims it wants to leave our country but so far has not because it's to their advantage to stay connected to the rest of Canada.

Gattina said...

I think I am a real European (at least in my generation) I am German, but live since 55 years in Belgium. My husband is Italian. We speak German together but with our son French. He was born in Belgium and has both nationalities. German and Italian, but his "mothertongue" is French as he did his whole school career in French. Then he married a Dutch girl and my litle grandson has again two nationalities. He is Dutch and German as my son has opted for a German passport, the Italian one was too expensive and on the top Italians are always stopped at borders. He speaks English with his wife, learned Dutch because they live in Amsterdam and my Grandson speaks Dutch and French. Guess what we speak when we are all together ?? ENGLISH ! Because we don't speak Dutch, my DIL doesn't speak French ! But it works, lol !

Louisette said...

Interesting post and informatie,greeting from Belgium.
http://louisette.eklablog.com/mes-autres-blogs-p842116