This article is taken from
Figaro Histoire
“When Europe faced the great invasions”
.
Discover in this issue the history of the demographic, political and cultural upheavals that affected Europe from the 4th to the 10th century.
“When Europe faced the great invasions”.
fgrandclaude
The first millennium AD was, in Europe, that of great invasions.
Our continent has in fact been profoundly shaped by a succession of four major demographic upheavals: the
Völkerwanderung
(“migration of peoples”) of essentially German-speaking populations, concentrated between the 4th and 6th centuries;
an extraordinary diaspora of Slavic speakers across the European landscape shortly later;
Islamic Arab expansion into southern Europe, mainly in the 8th century;
finally, the dramatic period of the Vikings, in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Also read History: two essays on the fascinating world of the Vikings
Demographically, none of these population movements were certainly as fundamental as three other, older waves of migration – hunter-gatherers after the last ice age;
Near Eastern farmers from 6500 BC
AD;
a major influx from the western steppe around four millennia later.
A recent analysis…
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