Europe and the World

Abstract

It is commonplace to say that the continent of Europe has a universal vocation. This has certainly been the case since the Renaissance, when the states of Europe were involved in a permanent struggle for hegemony, conquering the world and carving out colonial empires in their image, seeking to make them a part of themselves. For better or worse, Europe shaped the globe, mapping out a Eurocentric vision of the world extending no further than the Sublime Porte. This was true until the present century, when the combined effects of power and discord led to repeated self-destruction.

As for Europe, it seems nobody knows where it got its name from, nor who gave it this name, unless we grant that it took it from Europa of Tyre, because in earlier days, just like the other two parts of the world, it did not have a name. Europa was most definitely an Asiatic, and never came to the country which the Greeks now call Europe; she merely travelled from Phoenicia to Crete and from Crete to Lycia.

Herodotus