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How to write a history of Europe: Europe, Europes, Eurasia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2006

PETER BURKE
Affiliation:
Emmanuel College, St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge CB2 3AP, UK. E-mail: upb1000@cam.ac.uk

Abstract

This article looks at the history of European culture from three angles, those of European uniqueness, European variety and European consciousness. The first section discusses the question of whether the fundamental unit of study, for cultural as well as economic historians, is not Eurasia. The second section is concerned with cultural divisions within Europe, with Europes in the plural. It asks whether it is more illuminating to distinguish two Europes (like Leopold von Ranke), or three (like Jenő Szűcs), or even five (like Hugo Hassinger), and examine both centripetal and centrifugal forces in early modern history. The final section deals with the history of the idea of Europe, or more exactly with the rise of consciousness of being European, as it is revealed in early modern histories, geographies, journals and newspapers.

Type
History of Europe
Copyright
Academia Europaea 2006

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