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Germanic Peoples

Germanic peoples

:This article is about modern Germanic peoples. For the history of Germanic peoples before the middle ages, see Germanic tribes. Germanic peoples are ethnic groups of Germanic origin, the linguistic, cultural, and racial descendants of the old Germanic tribes.

Groups

The normally used list of present-day Germanic peoples includes:
- Danes
- Dutch
- English
- Flemings
- Frisians
- Germans (including Ethnic Germans in other countries)
- Icelanders
- Norwegians
- People of German ancestry in Austria
- People of German ancestry in Switzerland
- Swedes
- Faroese
- Luxembourgians
- Liechtensteiners and their cultural descendants around the world, including large groups in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and Afrikaners and Anglo-Saxons of South Africa. A list of Assimilated Germanics (explained below) includes:
- French
- Italians
- Lowland Scots (including the Scottish Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands)
- Northern Irish
- Spaniards
- Portuguese
- Finnish

Assimilated Germanics

Not every genetic descendant of the old Germanic tribes considers themselves to be Germanic, for the simple reason that all people around the world tend to identify themselves more by their culture than by the combination of their genes. From the Migrations Period and forth, Germanic peoples are often referred to as quick to assimilate into foreign cultures. Established examples include the Romanized Norsemen in Normandy, and the societal elite in medieval Russia among whom many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen (a theory, however, contested by some Slavic scholars in the former Soviet Union, who name it the Normanist theory). The island of Great Britain is similarly considered an example of assimilation, where elements of the Germanic tribes called the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes merged with Celts and French-speaking Norsemen. Scotland is historically a country of mixed Germanic and Celtic culture and settlement; while the Scottish Highlands and Galloway were until recently more Celtic and akin to Celtic Ireland in its culture and Scottish Gaelic language, the Scottish Lowlands share their culture and language closely with its neighbour to the south and other Germanic peoples, speaking the Scots language. The Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, though a part of Scotland, were historically Scandinavian in culture, though they no longer speak their native language Norn as an influx of Lallans speaking lowland Scots resulted in its displacement. Ireland is also a country of mixed Germanic and Celtic culture, but for different reasons than Scotland. As with Scotland, Ireland had much Scandinavian settlement, both in Viking and Anglo-Norman colonies. Through centuries of British dominance, many parts of Ireland gradually developed a character that was more British than native Celtic, particularly in Ulster and Leinster. France saw a great deal of Germanic settlement, and even its namesake the Franks were a Germanic people. Entire regions of France (such as Alsace, Burgundy and Normandy) were settled heavily by Germanic peoples, contributing to their unique regional cultures and dialects. But most of the languages spoken in France today are Romance languages, while the people have a heavy Gallic substratum that predates Latin and Germanic settlement. Portugal and Spain also had some measure of Germanic settlement, due to the Visigoths and the Suevi (Quadi and Marcomanni), who settled permanently. The Vandals (Silingi and Hasdingi) were also briefly present, before moving on to North Africa, where they left no trace of Germanic settlement and were absorbed into the local population. Italy, especially the area north of the city of Rome, has also had a history of heavy Germanic settlement. Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths had successfully invaded and sparsely settled Italy in the 5th century AD. Most notably, in the 6th century AD, the Germanic tribe known as the Lombards entered and settled primarily in the area known today as Lombardy.

Problems with the concept

Even though this concept is frequently used, it is inherently problematic. The only straightforward criterion is language, as Germanic languages can be rather easily distinguished from other language groups. Ancestry and racial criteria, by contrast, are rather dubious because of the mixing of the ancient Germanic tribes with other people over the course of history, including the countries where Germanic languages are spoken today, as interbreeding with people not of Germanic origin was usually not prohibited and allowed gene flow throughout Europe. Cultural criteria are equally unclear: For example, the Germanic peoples of central Europe share many cultural similarities with neighbouring Slavic peoples or Latin peoples (depending on geographic proximity) which they do not share with Scandinavians or inhabitants of the British Isles. The inhabitants of the Alps have many unique cultural traits irrespective of their linguistic adherence. Some people believe that it is rather aribitrary to group peoples on the basis of the origin of their language with the ancient Germanic tribes (as it is done here), while the last 1500 years of history have influenced their culture to a much larger extent.

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/bloodofthevikings/genetics_results_01.shtml Germanic Roots of Great Britain], A Genetic Study
- [http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/countries.html Present Day Germanic Distribution] Category:Ethnic groups of Europe Category:Germanic peoples

Germanic tribes

The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. The Germanic tribes spoke mutually intelligible dialects and shared a mythology (see Germanic mythology) and storytelling, as is indicated by Beowulf and the Volsunga saga. One example of their shared identity is their common Germanic name for non-Germanic peoples,
- walhaz (plural of
- walhoz), from which the local names Welsh, Wallis, Walloon, Wallachia and Cornwall were derived. A second example of a recognized ethnic unity is the fact that the Romans knew them as one and gave them a common name, Germani, the source of our German and Germanic (see Etymology below). In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as that imposed forcibly by the Romans upon the peoples of Italy, the various tribes remained free, led by their own hereditary or chosen leaders.

Etymology of "German"

As the Germanic tribes never called themselves so, but the Romans first knew them as allies of the Celts, Germani is thought to be the Celtic name for them. However, there is also a Latin adjective germanus (<- germen, seed or offshoot), which has the sense of "related" or "kindred" and whence derives the Portuguese irmão and the Spanish hermano, "brother". If the proper name Germani derives from this word, it may refer to the Roman experience of the Germanic tribes as allies of the Celts. Another possible derivation is the one proffered by The Oxford Etymological Dictionary (1966 Edition), which relates the name to Old Irish gair, "neighbor", which actually means "near". The Welsh is ger. Considering the earliest historical relationship between the Germans and the Celts, "neighbor" ought perhaps to be interpreted as "ally." McBain's An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language relates the word to Irish gearr, "cut, short" (a short distance) and states the Proto-Celtic root to be
- gerso-s, further related to ancient Greek chereion, "inferior" and English gash. Here the etymological trail seems to recede into a prehistoric morass, but there is a good reason for this disappearing trail. English gash leads by one path or another to the Greek word character, which is an engraving for an identity sign of some sort. There is no clear root for this word. It could be an Indo-european root,
- khar-,
- kher-,
- ghar-,
- gher-, "cut", from which also Hittite kar-, "cut". Or, it could be a pre-Indo-European root, related perhaps to Egyptian kha-, "cut", or the Indo-European root could come from the pre-Indo-European root. The self names for the Germanics reveal something of a unity as well. The best known are the Deutsch/Dutch/Dietsch /Dansk words, which come from Indo-European
- teuta-, "tribe" or "people". Not all the Germanics use that word, but there is another, used by all, which is so obvious that it escapes notice: man. We read of the man first in the Germania of Tacitus (Chapter 2, Oxford text): :"Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est, Tuistonem deum terra editum. ei filium Mannum originem gentis conditoresque Manno tres filios adsignant..." :"They celebrate, in ancient songs, which are the only kind of memory and annals among them, Tuisto, the god brought forth from the earth, and assign to him a son, Mannus, the author, and three sons to Mannus, the founders, of the people..."

History

Origin

Mannus]] Regarding the question of ethnic origins, evidence developed by both archaeologists and linguists suggests that a people or group of peoples sharing a common material culture dwelt in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia during the late European Bronze Age (1000 BC-500 BC). This culture group is called the Nordic Bronze Age and spread from southern Scandinavia into northern Germany. The long presence of Germanic tribes in southern Scandinavia (an Indo-European language had probably arrived by 2000 BC) is also evidenced by the fact that no pre-Germanic place names have been found in this area. Linguists, working backwards from historically-known Germanic languages, suggest that this group spoke proto-Germanic, a distinct branch of the Indo-European language family. Cultural features at that time included small, independent settlements, and an economy strongly based on the keeping of livestock. Indo-European, ca 500 BC-60 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture]] The southward movement was probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia ca 600 BC - ca 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia (2-3 degrees warmer than today) deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave settlements. At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories. The Germanic culture grew to the southwest and southeast, without sudden breaks, and it can be distinguished from the culture of the Celts inhabiting the more southerly Danube and Alpine regions during the same period. The details of the expansion are known only generally, but it is clear that the forebears of the Goths were settled on the southern Baltic shore by 100 AD. According to some scholars, along the lower and middle Rhine, previous local inhabitants seem to have come under the leadership of Germanic figures from outside.

Collision with Rome

By the late 2nd century, B.C., Roman authors recount Gaul (modern France), Italy, and Iberia (modern Portugal and Spain) were invaded by migrating Germanic tribes, culminating in military conflict with the armies of the Roman Empire. Six decades later, Julius Caesar invoked the threat of such attacks as one justification for his annexation of Gaul to Rome. Julius Caesar, an ethnographic work on the diverse group of Germanic tribes outside of the Roman Empire.]] As Rome advanced her borders to the Rhine and Danube, incorporating many Celtic societies into the Empire, the tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as Germania, whose peoples were sometimes at war with the Empire, but who also engaged in complex and long-term trade relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with their neighbors to the south. The wars against the Cimbri and Teutoni whose military incursion into Roman Italy was thrust back in 101 BC were written up by Caesar and others as historical prototypes of a Northern danger for the Empire to be controlled. In the Augustean period there was - as a result of Roman activity as far as the Elbe River - a first definition of the "Germania magna": from Rhine and Danube in the West and South to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea in the East and North. Caesar's ethnographic excurses finally established the term Germania. The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe. In 9 AD a revolt of their subject Germanics headed by Arminius (decisive defeat of Quintilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest) ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine. At the end of the 1st century two provinces west of the Rhine called Germania inferior and Germania superior were established. Important medieval cities like Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Worms and Speyer were part of these Roman structures.

Migration Period

:Main article: Migration Period During the 5th century, as the Roman Empire drew toward its end, numerous Germanic tribes, under pressure from invading Asian peoples and/or population growth and climate change, began migrating en masse in far and diverse directions, taking them to England and as far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa. Over time, this wandering meant intrusions into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated with the dwindling amount of unoccupied territory. Wandering tribes then began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader, expanded outwards. A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe, and this continued to be how nations were formed. In Denmark the Jutes merged with the Danes, in Sweden the Geats merged with the Swedes. In England, for example, we now most often refer to the Anglo-Saxons rather than the two separate tribes.

Role of the Germanics in the Fall of Rome

Some of the Germanic tribes are frequently blamed in popular conceptions for the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century. Professional historians and archaeologists have since the 1950s shifted their interpretations in such a way that the Germanic peoples are no longer seen as invading a decaying empire but as being co-opted into helping defend territory the central government could no longer adequately administer. Individuals and small groups from Germanic tribes had long been recruited from the territories beyond the limes (i.e., the regions just outside the Roman Empire), and some of them had risen high in the command structure of the army. Then the Empire recruited entire tribal groups under their native leaders as officers. Assisting with defense eventually shifted into administration and then outright rule, as Roman traditions of government passed into the hands of Germanic leaders. Odoacer, who deposed Romulus Augustulus, is the ultimate example. The presence of successor states controlled by a nobility from one of the Germanic tribes is evident in the 6th century - even in Italy, the former heart of the Empire, where Odoacer was followed by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, who was regarded by Roman citizens and Gothic settlers alike as legitimate successor to the rule of Rome and Italy.

Culture

Italy.]] See: Germanic king, Germanic paganism The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes, the name of some of which is preserved:
- Angul — Angles (the Kings of Mercia, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, other Anglo-Saxon dynasties are derived from other descendents of Woden)
- Aurvandil — Vandals (uncertain)
- Burgundus — Burgundians
- Cibidus — Cibidi
- Dan — Danes
- Gothus — Goths
- Ingve — Ynglings
- Irmin — Irminones
- Longobardus — Lombards
- Saxneat — Saxons
- Valagothus — Valagoths

Conversion to Christianity

The Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals were Christianized while they were still outside the bounds of the Empire; however, they converted to Arianism rather than to orthodox Catholicism, and were soon regarded as heretics. The one great written remnant of the Gothic language is a translation of portions of the Bible made by Ulfilas, the missionary who converted them. The Lombards were not converted until after their entrance into the Empire, but received Christianity from Arian Germanic groups. The Franks were converted directly from paganism to Catholicism without an intervening time as Arians. Several centuries later, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionaries and warriors undertook the conversion of their Saxon neighbours. A key event was the felling of Thor's Oak near Fritzlar by Boniface, apostle of the Germans, in 723. Eventually, the conversion was forced by armed force, successfully completed by Charlemagne, in a series of campaigns (the Saxon Wars), that also brought Saxon lands into the Frankish empire.

Languages


- Germanic languages

List of Germanic tribes


- Adrabaecampi, Alamanni, Ambrones, Ampsivarii, Angles, Angrivarii, Avarpi, Aviones
- Baemi, Banochaemae, Batavii or Batavi, Batini, Bavarii, Brisgavi, Brondings, Bructeri, Burgundiones, Buri (Germanic tribe)
- Calucones, Canninefates, Caritni, Chaedini, Chaemae, Chali, Chamavi, Charudes, Chasuarii, Chattuarii, Chauci, Cherusci, Chatti, Cimbri, Cobandi, Condrusi, Corconti
- Dani, Dauciones, Diduni, Dulgubnii
- Eburones, Eudoses
- Favonae, Firaesi, Fosi (Germanic tribe), Franks, Frisians, Fundusi
- Gambrivii, Geats, Gepidae, Goths
- Harii, Hasdingi, Helisii, Helveconae, Heruli, Hermunduri, Hilleviones
- Ingriones, Ingvaeones (North Sea Germans), Intuergi, Irminones (Elbe Germans), Istvaeones (Rhine-Weser Germans)
- Jutes, Juthungi
- Lacringi, Landi, Lemovii, Levoni, Lombards or Langobardes, Lugii
- Manimi, Marcomanni, Marsi (Germanic), Marsigni, Mattiaci, Mugilones
- Naharvali, Nemetes, Nertereanes, Nervii, Njars, Nuitones
- Ostrogoths
- Parmaecampi, Pharodini
- Quadi
- Racatae, Racatriae, Reudigni, Rugii, Ruticli
- Sabalingi, Saxons, Scirii, Segni, Semnoni, Sibini, Sidini, Sigulones, Silingi, Sitones, Suarini, Suebi, Suiones, Sugambri
- Tencteri, Teuriochaemae, Teutons, Treviri, Triboci, Tubantes, Tungri, Turcilingi
- Ubii, Usipetes, Usipi
- Vandals, Vangiones, Varini, Varisci, Visburgi, Visigoths
- Zumi Precautionary Note: These ethnic names were culled from a variety of ancient and mediaeval sources dating from the middle of the 1st millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD. They do not necessarily represent contemporaneous, distinct or Germanic-speaking populations. The peoples referenced do not necessarily have common ancestral populations. Some identities closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes. Some may not have spoken Germanic at all, but were bundled by the sources with the Germanic speakers. Some were undoubtedly of mixed culture. Some tribes may have assimilated to Germanic; others to other cultures from Germanic. Long-lasting ethnic identities changed population base and language over the centuries. As for genetic characteristics, they must be considered unrelated to these names. Apart from these limitations, it is probably safe to assume that, on the whole, most of these populations spoke some branch of Germanic and contributed to pools of descendants who currently live in the Germanic-speaking countries. Many of the names descend to modern place names. Some tribal maps of ancient Germany can be found at:
- [http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/germany/map.htm Germany of Tacitus]
- [http://www.reisenett.no/map_collection/historical/Ancient_Germania.jpg A speculative Findlay map of 1849] Note: these maps or any other maps represent an interpretation of the information available to the map-maker. Typically the ancients did not know or did not leave enough information for us to locate them exactly. The maps only give us a rough idea of the features and ethnic locations of ancient Germany. In addition, some of tribes, e.g. the Bastarnae are not identified as Germanic with any certainty and large areas in Central Europe the Germanic tribes probably only constituted a newly arrived minority among Slavs and remaining Celts. Wolfram (1990:91f), for instance, points out that the early Visigoths, called Tervingi also comprised many Taifalans (unknown origin) and Alans (Iranians). The Alans became so Gothicized that non-Germanic people considered them to be Goths.

Classification

The concept of "Germanic" as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198;query=section%3D%2341;chunk=section;layout=;loc=7.1.1], who distinguished a barbarian group in northern Europe similar to, but not part of, the Celts. Posidonius, to our knowledge, is the first to have used the name. By the 1st century A.D., the writings of Caesar, Tacitus and other Roman era writers indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into tribal groupings centred on:
- the rivers Oder and Vistula (Poland) (East Germanic tribes),
- the lower Rhine river (Istvaeones),
- the river Elbe (Irminones),
- Jutland and the Danish islands (Ingvaeones). The Istvaeones, Irminones, and Ingvaeones are collectively called West Germanic tribes. In addition to this those Germanic people who remained in Scandinavia are referred to as North Germanic. These groups all developed separate dialects, the basis for the differences among Germanic languages down to the present day. The divison of peoples into west-Germanic, east-Germanic, and north-Germanic was a 19th century hypothesis of linguists. Many Greek scholars only classified Celts and Scyths in the Northwest and Northeast of the Mediterranean and this classification was widely maintained in Greek literature until Late Antiquity. Latin-Greek ethnographers (Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Strabo) mentioned in the first two centuries AD the names of peoples they classified as Germanic along the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Danube, the Vistula and on the Baltic Sea. Tacitus mentioned 40, Ptolemy 69 peoples. Classical ethnography applied the name Suebi to many tribes in the first century. It appeared that this native name had all but replaced the foreign name Germanic. After the Marcomannic wars the Gothic name steadily gained importance. Some of the ethnic names mentioned by the ethnographers of the first two centuries AD on the shores of the Oder and the Vistula (Gutones, Vandali) reappear from the 3rd century on in the area of the lower Danube and north of the Carpathian Mountains. Modern scholarship has no explanation for the ethnic processes causing this continuity. For the end of the 5th century the Gothic name can be used - according to the historical sources - for such different peoples like the Goths in Gaul, Iberia and Italy, the Vandals in Africa, the Gepids along the Tisza and the Danube, the Rugians, Sciri and Burgundians, even the Iranian Alans. These peoples were classified as Scyths and often deducted from the ancient Getae (most important: Cassiodor/Jordanes, Getica approx. 550 AD).

The concept of Volk

In the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st there has been debate about exactly what "tribe" or "people" meant to these groups, whose fluidity and willingness to sometimes blend is seen while at the same time forced mergers as a result of war were taking place and the tribe as it had been known vanished. The late classical sources are especially clear in the matter of the blended nature of the Alamanni. The idea of a unified German people, or Volk, was expressed openly in print by 19th century Ethnic Nationalist writers and thinkers after the Napoleonic Wars. Such an identity, however, had existed more implicitly since the Middle Ages, helping to fuel the Protestant Reformation, when many Germanic lands pulled away religiously and politically from the Roman Catholic Church.

See also


- Confederations of Germanic Tribes
- Germanic peoples for present day descendents
- Migration Period art

Further reading


- Beck, Heinrich and Heiko Steuer and Dieter Timpe, eds. Die Germanen. Studienausgabe. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 1998. Xi + 258 pp. ISBN 3-11-016383-7.
- Collins, Roger. Early medieval Europe. 300-1000. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan 1999. XXV + 533 pp. ISBN 0-333-65807-8.
- Geary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany. The creation and transformation of the Merovingian world. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1988. Xii + 259 pp. ISBN 0-195-04458-4.
- Geary, Patrick J. The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002. X + 199 pp. ISBN 0-691-11481-1.
- Herrmann, Joachim. Griechische und lateinische Quellen zur Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas bis zur Mitte des 1. Jahrtausends unserer Zeitrechnung. I. Von Homer bis Plutarch. 8. Jh. v. u. Z. bis 1. Jh. v. u. Z. II. Tacitus-Germania. III. Von Tacitus bis Ausonius. 2. bis 4. Jh. u. Z. IV. Von Ammianus Marcellinus bis Zosimos. 4. und 5. Jh. u. Z. Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1988 -1992. I: 657 pp. ISBN 3-05-000348-0. II: 291 pp. ISBN 3-05-000349-9. III: 723 pp. ISBN 3-05-000571-8. IV: 656 pp. ISBN 3-05-000591-2.
- Pohl, Walter. Die Germanen. Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte 57. München: Oldenbourg 2004. X + 156 pp. ISBN 3-486-56755-1.
- Pohl, Walter. Die Voelkerwanderung. Eroberung und Integration. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2002. 266 pp. ISBN 3-170-15566-0. Monograph, German.
- Todd, Malcolm. The Early Germans. Oxford: Blackwell 2004. Xii + 266 pp. ISBN 0-631-16397-2.
- Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press 1988. Xii + 613 pp. ISBN 0-520-6983-8.
- Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. Berkeley: University of California Press 1997. XX + 361 pp. ISBN 0-520-08511-6. Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies Category:Ancient peoples Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:History of the Germanic peoples ko:게르만족 ja:ゲルマン人



Cultural

:For other uses of Culture or Cultures, see Culture (disambiguation) The word culture, from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical orientations for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is a defining feature of the genus Homo.

Defining culture

Different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding - or criteria for valuing - human activity. Sir Edward B. Tylor wrote in 1871 that "culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society", while a 2002 document from the United Nations agency UNESCO states that culture is the "set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". http://www.unesco.org/education/imld_2002/unversal_decla.shtml UNESCO, 2002 While these two definitions range widely, they do not exhaust the many uses of this concept - in 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of more than 200 different definitions of culture in their book, Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions [Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952].

Culture as civilization

Many people today use a conception of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This idea of culture then reflected inequalities within European societies, and between European powers and their colonies around the world. It identifies "culture" with "civilization" and contrasts the combined concept with "nature". According to this thinking, one can classify some countries as more civilized than others, and some people as more cultured than others. Thus some cultural theorists have actually tried to eliminate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists like Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that has been thought and said in the world” (Arnold, 1960: 6), thus labeling anything that doesn't fit into this category as chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this way: "...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world". http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/nonfiction_u/arnoldm_ca/ca_all.html Arnold, 1882 In practice, culture referred to élite goods and activities such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute couture, museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word cultured described people who knew about, and took part in, these activities. For example, someone who used 'culture' in the sense of 'cultivation' might argue that classical music "is" more refined than music produced by working-class people such as punk rock or than the indigenous music traditions of aboriginal peoples of Australia. People who use "culture" in this way tend not to use it in the plural as "cultures". They do not believe that distinct cultures exist, each with their own internal logic and values; but rather that only a single standard of refinement suffices, against which one can measure all groups. Thus, according to this worldview, people with different customs from those who regard themselves as cultured do not usually count as "having a different culture"; but class as "uncultured". People lacking "culture" often seemed more "natural", and observers often defended (or criticized) elements of high culture for repressing "human nature". From the 18th century onwards, some social critics have accepted this contrast between cultured and uncultured, but have stressed the interpretation of refinement and of sophistication as corrupting and unnatural developments which obscure and distort people's essential nature. On this account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) honestly expresses a natural way of life, and classical music seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often portrays non-Western people as 'noble savages' living authentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted by the highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West. Today most social scientists reject the monadic conception of culture, and the opposition of culture to nature. They recognize non-élites as just as cultured as élites (and non-Westerners as just as civilized) - simply regarding them as just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers contrast the "high" culture of élites to "popular" or pop culture, meaning goods and activities produced for, and consumed by, non-élite people or the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)

Culture as worldview

During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse principalities, and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more inclusive notion of culture as "worldview". In this mode of thought, a distinct and incommensurable world view characterizes each ethnic group. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between "civilized" and "primitive" or "tribal" cultures. By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted and adapted the term culture to a broader definition that they could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to the theory of evolution, they assumed that all human beings evolved equally, and that the fact that all humans have cultures must in some way result from human evolution. They also showed some reluctance to use biological evolution to explain differences between specific cultures - an approach that either exemplified a form of, or legitimized forms of, racism. They believed that biological evolution would produce a most inclusive notion of culture, a concept that anthropologists could apply equally to non-literate and to literate societies, or to nomadic and to sedentary societies. They argued that through the course of their evolution, human beings evolved a universal human capacity to classify experiences, and to encode and communicate them symbolically. Since human individuals learned and taught these symbolic systems, the systems began to develop independently of biological evolution (in other words, one human being can learn a belief, value, or way of doing something from another, even if the two humans do not share a biological relationship). That this capacity for symbolic thinking and social learning stems from human evolution confounds older arguments about nature versus nurture. Thus Clifford Geertz (1973: 33 ff.) has argued that human physiology and neurology developed in conjunction with the first cultural activities, and Middleton (1990: 17 n.27) concluded that human "'instincts' were culturally formed". People living apart from one another develop unique cultures, but elements of different cultures can easily spread from one group of people to another. Culture changes dynamically and people can (must?) teach and learn culture, making it a potentially rapid form of adaptation to change in physical conditions. Anthropologists view culture as not only as a product of biological evolution but as a supplement to it, as the main means of human adaptation to the world. This view of culture as a symbolic system with adaptive functions, and one which varies from place to place, led anthropologists to conceive of different cultures as defined by distinct patterns (or structures) of enduring, arbitrary, conventional sets of meaning, which took concrete form in a variety of artifacts such as myths and rituals, tools, the design of housing, and the planning of villages. Anthropologists thus distinguish between material culture and symbolic culture, not only because each reflects different kinds of human activity, but also because they constitute different kinds of data that require different methodologies. This view of culture, which came to dominate between World War I and World War II, implied that each culture had bounds and demanded interpretation as a whole, on its own terms. There resulted a belief in cultural relativism; the belief that one had to understand an individual's actions in terms of his or her culture; that one had to understand a specific cultural artifact (a ritual, for example) in terms of the larger symbolic system of which it forms a part. Nevertheless, the belief that culture comprises symbolical codes and can thus pass via teaching from one person to another meant that cultures, although bounded, would change. Cultural change could result from invention and innovation, but it could also result from contact between two cultures. Under peaceful conditions, contact between two cultures can lead to people "borrowing" (really, learning) from one another (diffusion or transculturation). Under conditions of violence or political inequality, however, people of one society can "steal" cultural artifacts from another, or impose cultural artifacts on another (acculturation). Diffusion of innovations theory presents a research-based model for how, when and why people adopt new ideas. All human societies have participated in these processes of diffusion, transculturation, and acculturation, and few anthropologists today see cultures as bounded. Modern anthropologists argue that instead of understanding a cultural artifact in terms of its own culture, one needs to understand it in terms of a broader history involving contact and relations with other cultures. In addition to the aforementioned processes, migration on a major scale has characterized the world, particularly since the days of Columbus. Phenomena such as colonial expansion and forced migration through slavery became prominent. As a result, many societies have become culturally heterogeneous. Some anthropologists have argued nevertheless that some unifying cultural system bound heterogeneous societies, and that it offers advantages to understand heterogenous elements as subcultures. Others have argued that no unifying or coordinating cultural system exists, and that one must understand heterogeneous elements together as forming a multicultural society. The spread of the doctrine of multiculturalism has coincided with a resurgence of identity politics, which involve demands for the recognition of social subgroups' cultural uniqueness. Sociobiologists argue that observers can best understand many aspects of culture in the light of the concept of the meme, first introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins suggests the existence of units of culture - memes - roughly analogous to genes in evolutionary biology. Although this view has gained some popular currency, anthropologists generally reject it.

Culture as values, norms, and artifacts

Another common way of understanding culture sees it as consisting of three elements: # values # norms # artifacts. (See Dictionary of Modern Sociology, 1969, 93, cited at [http://www.info.gov.hk/coy/eng/report/doc/Youth_Statistical/2002/app/Chp6_Cultural_Capital.pdf]) Values comprise ideas about what in life seems important. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist of expectations of how people will behave in different situations. Each culture has different methods, called sanctions, of enforcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm; norms that a society enforces formally have the status of laws. Artifacts — things, or material culture — derive from the culture's values and norms. Julian Huxley gives a slightly different division, into inter-related "mentifacts", "socifacts" and "artifacts", for ideological, sociological, and technological subsystems respectively. Socialization, in Huxley's view, depends on the belief subsystem. The sociological subsystem governs interaction between people. Material objects and their use make up the technological subsystem. [http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~aforsber/ccsf/culture_defined.html] As a rule, archeologists focus on material culture whereas cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic culture, although ultimately both groups maintain interests in the relationships between these two dimensions. Moreover, anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded.

Culture as patterns of products and activities

In the early 20th century, anthropologists understood culture to refer not to a set of discrete products or activities (whether material or symbolic) but rather to underlying patterns of products and activities. Moreover, they assumed that such patterns had clear bounds (thus, some people confuse "culture" with the society that has a particular culture). In the case of smaller societies, in which people merely fell into categories of age, gender, household and descent group, anthropologists believed that people more-or-less shared the same set of values and conventions. In the case of larger societies, in which people undergo further categorization by region, race, ethnicity, and class, anthropologists came to believe that members of the same society often had highly contrasting values and conventions. They thus used the term subculture to identify the cultures of parts of larger societies. Since subcultures reflect the position of a segment of society vis a vis other segments and the society as a whole, they often reveal processes of domination and resistance. The 20th century also saw the popularization of the idea of corporate culture - distinct and malleable within the context of an employing organization or of a workplace.

Culture as Symbols

The symbolic view of culture, the legacy of Clifford Geertz (1973) and Victor Turner (1967), holds symbols to be both the practices of social actors and the context that gives such practices meaning. Anthony P. Cohen (1985) writes of the "symbolic gloss" which allows social actors to use common symbols to communicate and understand each other while still imbuing these symbols with personal significance and meanings. Symbols provide the limits of cultured thought. Members of a culture rely on these symbols to frame their thoughts and expressions in intelligible terms. In short, symbols make culture possible, reproducible and readable. They are the "webs of significance" in Weber's sense that, to quote Pierre Bourdieu (1977), "give regularity, unity and systematicity to the practices of a group...".

Culture as stabilizing mechanism

Modern cultural theory also considers the possibility that (a) culture itself is a product of stabilization tendencies inherent in evolutionary pressures toward self-similarity and self-cognition of societies as wholes, or tribalisms. See Steven Wolfram "A new kind of science" on iterated simple algorithms from genetic unfolding, from which the concept of culture as an operating mechanism can be developed, and Richard Dawkins "The extended phenotype" for discussion of genetic and memetic stability over time, through negative feedback mechanisms, such as Wikipedia.

Cultural change

Cultures, by predisposition, both embrace and resist change dependence of culture traits. For example, men and women have complementary roles in many cultures. One sex might desire changes that affect the other, as happened in the second half of the 20th century in western cultures. Cultural change can come about due to the environment, to inventions (and other internal influences), and to contact with other cultures. For example, the end of the last ice age helped lead to the invention of agriculture, which in its turn brought about many cultural innovations. In diffusion, the form of something moves from one culture to another, but not its meaning. For example, hamburgers, mundane in the United States, seemed exotic when introduced into China. "Stimulus diffusion" refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention in another. Diffusions of innovations theory presents a research-based model for why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas, practices, and products. "Acculturation" has different meanings, but in this context refers to replacement of the traits of one culture with those of another, such as happened to certain Native American tribes and to many indigenous peoples across the globe during the process of colonization. Related processes on an individual level include assimilation (adoption of a different culture by an individual) and transculturation.

Propagating culture

Insofar as culture grows and changes naturally within human society, it requires little or no formal propagation. Families or age-based peer-groups will instinctively foster (and develop) their own cultural norms. But few cultures act in such a laissez faire manner. Most societies develop some sort of religion or similar basis for inculcating and preserving established or "correct" cultural behavior. And many societies take the task of education out of the hands of priests and shamans and place it on a wider footing, so that the young (at least) gain a practical and emotional identification with a standardised version of their nurturing culture. Groups of immigrants, exiles, or minorities often form cultural associations or clubs to preserve their own cultural roots in the face of a surrounding (generally more locally-dominant) culture. Thus the world has acquired many Garibaldi Clubs, Pushkin Societies, and underground schools. On a broader scale, many countries market their cultural heritage internationally. This occurs not only in the promotion of tourism (importing money), but also in cultural development abroad (exporting ideas). Note the roles of cultural attachés in embassies and the function of specific organizations devoted to propagating the mother-culture, its language and its ideologies abroad, for example the work of:
- the Alliance française
- the British Council
- the Fulbright Program
- the Goethe-Institut
- the Instituto Cervantes

Cultural studies

Cultural studies developed in the late 20th century, in part through the re-introduction of Marxist thought into sociology, and in part through the articulation of sociology and other academic disciplines such as literary criticism. This movement aimed to focus on the analysis of subcultures in capitalist societies. Following the non-anthropological tradition, cultural studies generally focus on the study of consumption goods (such as fashion, art, and literature). Because the 18th- and 19th-century distinction between "high" and "low" culture seems inappropriate to apply to the mass-produced and mass-marketed consumption goods which cultural studies analyses, these scholars refer instead to "popular culture". Today, some anthropologists have joined the project of cultural studies. Most, however, reject the identification of culture with consumption goods. Furthermore, many now reject the notion of culture as bounded, and consequently reject the notion of subculture. Instead, they see culture as a complex web of shifting patterns that link people in different locales and that link social formations of different scales. According to this view, any group can construct its own cultural identity.

Sample list of cultures

Cultures of contemporary countries and regions

Main article: List of national culture articles.

Contemporary local cultures


- Culture of New York City
- Culture of Stockholm
- Culture of Sydney

Other contemporary cultures


- Cassette culture
- Deaf culture
- Drug culture
- Esperanto culture
- Hacker culture
- Queer culture
- Underground culture
- Working-class culture
- Youth culture

Historic cultures


- Assyro-Babylonian culture
- Clovis culture — pre-historic in North America and Central America from about 13,500 years ago
- Indus Valley Culture
  - Cemetery H culture
- La Tene culture — from the Iron Age in parts of Europe
- Natufian culture — in the Mediterranean more than 10,000 years ago
- Paideia — Classical Greek culture
- Romanitas — Roman Imperial culture
- Weimar culture
- Western culture

See also


- Acculturation
- Cross-cultural communication
- Cultural bias - cultural diversity - cultural evolution - cultural imperialism
- Culture theory - Culture war - Culture jamming
- Dominator culture
- European Capital of Culture — city chosen by the European Union for a year at a time to showcase its cultural life
- Kulturkampf — a specific cultural fight in 1870s Germany
- Organizational culture
- World Values Survey
- Free Culture Movement

References


- Arnold, Matthew, Culture and Anarchy, 1882. Macmillan and Co., New York. Online at [http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/nonfiction_u/arnoldm_ca/ca_titlepage.html].
- Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. 1977.
- Cohen, Anthony P. The Symbolic Construction of Community. Routledge: New York, 1995 (1985).
- Geertz, Clifford. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York. ISBN 0465097197.
- Hoult, Thomas Ford, ed. (1969). Dictionary of Modern Sociology. Totowa, New Jersey, United States: Littlefield, Adams & Co.
- Kroeber, A. L. and C. Kluckhohn, 1952. Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
- Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
- [http://anthro.palomar.edu/tutorials/cultural.htm Cultural Anthropology Tutorials], Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marco, California, United States, as of December 12, 2004.
- UNESCO, "[http://www.unesco.org/education/imld_2002/unversal_decla.shtml UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity]", issued on International Mother Language Day, February 21, 2002.

External links


- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-72 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] "Cultural Development" in Antiquity
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-73 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] "Culture" and "Civilization" in Modern Times
- [http://samvak.tripod.com/class.html Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations], by Dr. Sam Vaknin zh-min-nan:Bûn-hoà ja:文化 simple:Culture

Danish nation

:This article is about Danes as an ethnic group. For information about residents or nationals of Denmark, see demographics of Denmark. For information on the breed of dog see Great Dane The term Dane may refer to:
- People with a Danish ancestral or ethnic identity, whether living in Denmark, emigrants, or the descendents of emigrants.
- Members of the Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, a former Danish province.
- Anyone whose mother tongue is Danish.
- Nationals or citizens of Denmark, which also includes a German minority in South Jutland as well as recent non-European immigrants and their descendents (see: Demographics of Denmark). This article refers to the two definitions, ethnic Danes and their descendents plus the minority in Germany.

Danes in Denmark

Almost1 5 million ethnic Danes live in Denmark today. The Danes are a Scandinavian ethnic group, and are the descendents of the Norse - better known as Vikings - along with Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, and Faroese. The average Dane enjoys a comfortable standard of living. See also History of Denmark. A minority of approx. 50,000 Danes live in Southern Schleswig in Germany, a former Danish territory, forming around 10% of the local population. In Denmark, the latter group is often referred to as De danske syd for grænsen (literally: the Danes south of the (Danish-German) border).

The Danish Nation in a political context

Det danske folk (The Danish nation) as a concept, played an important role in 19th century ethnic nationalism and refers to self-identification rather than a legal status. Use of the term is most often restricted to a historical context; the historic German-Danish struggle regarding the status of the Duchy of Schleswig vis-à-vis a Danish nation-state. It describes people of Danish nationality, both in Denmark and elsewhere. Most importantly, ethnic Danes in both Denmark proper and the former Danish Duchy of Schleswig. Excluded from this definition are people from the formerly Norwegian Faroe Islands and Greenland as well as members of the German minority as well as members of other ethnic minorities. The term should not be confused with the legal concept of nationality, Danske statsborgere (Danish nationals) i.e. individuals holding Danish citizenship.

References


- 1 [http://www.dst.dk/asp2xml/external/external.asp?title=Nyt%20fra%20Danmarks%20Statistik:%C2%A0Nr.%20478,%208.%20november%202005&ancestor=Gratis%20statistik&file=/asp2xml/PUK/udgivelser/get_file.asp?id=8062&show=pdf Danmarks Statistik] (pdf in Danish) reports that Denmark, per October 1st, 2005, has 461,614 inhabitants of foreign inheritance out of 5,425,420 total inhabitants. That amounts to an estimate of 4,963,806 ethnic Danish people on October 1st, 2005. .
- 2 The [http://www.euroamericans.net/dane.htm# 2000 American census] reports that the United States, in the 2000 census, has 1,430,897 inhabitants of Danish ancestry.
- 3 The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gl.html#people CIA World Factbook] reports that Greenland, in a July 2005 estimate, has 56,375 inhabitants. The share of Danes was in 2000 estimated to be just below 12%. Taking for granted that the two ethnic groups have developed equally from 2000 to 2005, this adds up to an estimate just below 6765 Danish people in July 2005. Category:Ethnic groups of Europe Category:Germanic peoples ja:デーン人

Dutch people

The Dutch are the inhabitants of the Netherlands. During the 5th century this region was populated by Franks and Saxons from Lower Saxony. The Dutch are therefore often regarded as a Germanic people.

History

The Dutch people are historicaly affiliated to all West Germanic peoples, such as the English and German peoples, and less so to North Germanic peoples (Danes, Norwegians, Swedes and Icelanders). Ethnic affiliation is strongest between the Dutch people and the Flemish and Frisian peoples. The Frisian people, who speak their own language and live in Friesland (a province of the Netherlands), have had some influence on Dutch culture, especially in the western Netherlands. Flemish culture has had some influence on Dutch culture in the southern Netherlands. Dutch people, especially those in the eastern Netherlands also have a strong correlation with people living in the German Bundesland of Lower Saxony.

See also


- Demographics of the Netherlands Category:Ethnic groups of Europe Category:Dutch society Category:Germanic peoples Category:Tall Nations

English people

:This article is about the English as an ethnic group. For information about residents or nationals of England, see demographics of England. The English people are an indigenous European ethnic group originating in the lowlands of Great Britain and are drawn from a composite population descended from a combination of Romano-Celts and Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

History

The English as an ethnic group can trace their heritage back to the Anglo-Saxons (or Old English), who between the 5th and 7th centuries, after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire, came to occupy most of lowland Britain (although a lack of documentation from the Dark Ages means few individuals can prove such descent). The name of the area known as England derives from this settlement. The tribes participating in this conquest of Britain include the Angles, the Jutes, the Saxons, the Franks, and the Friesians. At one time it was widely believed that the Anglo-Saxons supplanted the Celtic populations. Recent genetic studies are contradictory. One suggests the Anglo-Saxons may have established political and cultural dominance over the Celts and intermarried with them. In particular, analyses performed upon the mitochondrial DNA of modern day English suggest that any continental admixture from the period of Germanic invasions would have been almost exclusively derived from the male line, suggesting a process of intermarriage between male invaders and female indigenous Celts. However, a recent Y chromosome analysis of people from the British Isles, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Friesland and the Basque Country has revealed that some areas of England have a higher Germanic (Danish/German/Frisian) component in the male line of descent than others. Germanic Y chromosomes are at their highest concentrations in York and Norfolk, here the Germanic male sex chromosome occurs in about 60% of men, with indigenous Y chromosomes comprising about 40%. The research connot distinguish between Danish (the presumed source of Danish-Viking settlers to East and Northern England), North German (Anglo-Saxon) and Frisian (Anglo-Saxon) Y chromosomes. The study cloncludes these data are consistent with the presence of some indigenous component in all British regions. See Anglo-Saxons for more detail. A further settlement of Danes occurred during the 9th century in northern and eastern England. Some British ethnic groups, notably the Cornish and the Cumbrians have a noticeably less diluted connection to the pre-Anglo-Saxon ancient Britons; As a result of this, some Cornish claim not to be English but Cornish. A further influence on the English language is from Scandinavian culture, particularly in the north of England. This is most pronounced in York, formerly the Danish settlement of Jorvik. These groups had a noticeable impact on the English language, for example the modern meaning of the word dream is of Scandinavian origin. Additionally place names that include thwaite and by are Scandinavian in origin. English language The Anglo-Saxons established several kingdoms, commonly referred to as the Heptarchy. These were united in the early 9th century under the overlordship of Wessex, forming what would eventually become the modern nation state of England. These kingdoms were then subjected to a series of raids, conquest and settlement by Vikings originating from Denmark from the 9th century onwards. The Treaty of Wedmore gave the Danes dominion over territory north and east of a line between London and Chester called the Danelaw and represented the beginning of a of period of acceptance and assimilation of the Danes. Most notably, this period saw the rise of Alfred the Great. The only king in English history to receive 'the great' appended to his name. Alfred was king of the region of Wessex which effectively held off the Danish conquest of what would later become England. Wessex grew from a relatively small kingdom in the South West to the complete annexing of all remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms not in the Danelaw. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought English and Danish rule to an end, and began a diminished period, both culturally and socially for the native inhabitants. The new Norman French elite began a scorched earth policy against the rebellious Anglo-Danish population north of the Humber during the winter of 1069-70, which became known as The Harrying of the North. The English existed as a subject class for about 300 years with the aristocracy speaking French until a full assimilation was made by the time of Chaucer , in the late 1300s. By this time a large number of French words had been added to the English language. During Britain's centuries as a major colonial power, people migrated from all over Britain's sphere of influence to England, leaving a small, but noticeable mark on English culture. Also, and sporadically for much of its history as a recognisable political entity England has had a significant Jewish population.

Culture

Contribution to humanity

The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals have included the scientists and inventors Isaac Newton, Francis Crick, Abraham Darby, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Frank Whittle and Tim Berners-Lee; the poet and playwright William Shakespeare, the novelists Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Orwell, the composer Gustav Holst, and the explorer James Cook (for a complete list of famous English people see List of English people). English philosophers include Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Michael Oakeshott and Roger Scruton. The English language is now the world's unofficial lingua franca, and the jury system (used in a few non-anglo-saxon countries in the world) is an English innovation. English common law is also the foundation of legal systems throughout the English speaking countries of the world, and the English Parliament had an influence on the operation of most democratic governments created after 1651. The English have, through overseas colonisation in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, created several major world nations. These include what are now called the United States of America, Canada (the English part), Australia, and New Zealand, and also the language and institutions of such diverse nations as Jamacia, South Africa, Belize, and a number of others.

Language

All English people traditionally speak the English language, a member of the West Germanic language family. The only other language traditionally spoken is Cornish, a Celtic language originating in Cornwall spoken by about 3500 people. More recently immigrants from the British Commonwealth and elsewhere have brought other languages to England which are used privately as a home language. Such languages include Bengali, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese.

Religion

Ever since the break with the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, the English have been predominantly a Protestant people, a historical legacy that many scholars have argued resulted in the development of a relatively liberal political culture. Today, most English people practicing organized religion are affiliated to the Church of England or other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism and Methodism. At the 2001 Census, a little over 37 million people in England & Wales professed themselves to be Christian. Jewish immigration since the seventeenth century means that there is a fully assimilated Jewish English minority mostly in urban areas. 252,000 Jews were recorded in England & Wales in the 2001 Census; however this represents a decline of about 50% over the previous 50 years, caused by emigration and intermarriage, and the long-term future of the community is a matter of some concern to community leaders. The gradual assimilation of migrants from India and Pakistan since the 1950s means that there is a growing group of people who are culturally English and practise Islam (818,000), Hinduism (467,000), or Sikhism (301,000). The 2001 census also revealed that 15% of the population claim no religion.

Sport

England, like the other nations of the United Kingdom, competes as a separate nation in many international sporting events. The English Football (soccer), Cricket and Rugby teams have contributed to an increasing sense of English identity. Supporters today (2005) carry the cross of St George, whereas twenty years ago only the British Union Jack would be seen.

Symbols

Union Jack The English flag is a red cross on a white background, commonly called the Cross of St George adopted after the crusades. Saint George, famed as a dragon-slayer, is also the patron saint of England. The three golden lions or leopards on a red background was the banner of the kings of England derived from their status as Duke of Normandy and is now used to represent the English national football team and the English national cricket team. The Tudor rose and the English oak are also English symbols. "God Save The Queen" is widely regarded as England's unofficial national anthem; however, other songs are sometimes used, including "Land of hope and glory" (used as England's anthem in the Commonwealth Games), "Jerusalem" and "I Vow to Thee, My Country."

Identity

England and Wales were united in the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1543, in 1707 England and Wales formed a union with Scotland, and in 1800 Ireland was joined to the existing union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although most of Ireland achieved independence in 1922 as the Irish Free State. A new 'British' identity was developed through the nineteenth century, to some extent overlaying regional identities. The English, along with the other peoples of the British Isles found their old identities undermined in favour of a new British national identity. The 1990s saw the beginning of a gradual reclamation and reformation of English identity. For several decades nationalist movements had existed in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Cornwall but England had no counterpart. Partly in response to devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the rise in general of nationalism in the Celtic fringe some English people now question what it is to be English and its relationship with being British. Some English nationalist parties have been created, their following however remains small, but are growing as many English people are beginning to resent their loss of identity. see English nationalism.

References

# The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html#people CIA World Factbook] reports that in the 2001 UK census 92.1% of the UK population were in the White ethnic group, and that 83.6% of this group are in the English ethnic group. The UK Office for National Statistics[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/uk.asp] reports a total population in the UK census of 58,789,194. A quick calculation shows this is equivalent to 45,265,093 people in the English ethnic group. However this number may not represent self-defined ethnic group. The number who described their ethnic group as English in the 2001 UK census has not been published by the Office for National Statistics. #The [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=D&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=D&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false 2000 US census] shows 24,515,138 persons claiming English ancestry. This figure is likely to be an underestimate of the true number with English ancestry as some people will not have been aware of their English ancestry, or will have chosen not to mention it. According to [http://www.euroamericans.net/euroamericans.net/english%20census.htm EuroAmericans.net] the greatest population in a single state was 2,521,355 in California, and the highest percentage was 29.0% in Utah. # The [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B85E1EB3A2BC274ACA256D39001BC337?Open Australian Bureau of Statistics] reports 6.4 million people of English ancestry in the 2001 Census. Up to two ancestries could be chosen. Recent increases in the number who identify as Australian suggest that this number is an underestimate of the true number with English ancestry. [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B85E1EB3A2BC274ACA256D39001BC337?Open]. #[http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/ETO/Table1.cfm?Lang=E&T=501&GV=1&GID=0 2001 Canadian Census] gives 1,479,520 respondents stating their ethnic origin as English as a single response, and 4,499,355 including multiple responses, giving a combined total of 5,978,875. # The [http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2001-ethnic-groups/default.htm 2001 New Zealand census] reports 34,074 people stating they belong to the English ethnic group. The 1996 census, which used a slightly different question[http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/change-in-ethnicity-question.htm], reported 281,895 people belonging to the English ethnic group. #[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-48PV5SH-12&_coverDate=05%2F27%2F2003&_alid=339895807&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000049116&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=949111&md5=9edf5ce1c39d4139af4c01733282fa82 A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles]; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.

See also


- Anglosphere
- English language
- Anglo-Saxon
- Culture of England
- Immigration to the United Kingdom
- Population of England - historical estimates

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] Articles on England and the English
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Information on England
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator's Atlas] Map of England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1689955.stm Viking blood still flowing]; BBC; 3 December, 2001.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2076470.stm English and Welsh are races apart]; BBC; 30 June, 2002.
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/64.asp UK 2001 Census] showing 49,138,831 people from all ethnic groups living in England.
- [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/04/23/ncen23.xml Tory MP leads English protest over census]; The Telegraph; 23 April 2001.
- [http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200104%5CFor20010423f.html On St. George's Day, What's Become Of England?]; CNSNews.com; 23 April, 2001. Category:Ethnic groups of the United Kingdom Category:Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups of Europe

Flemings

Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen) are inhabitants of Flanders (the northern half of Belgium), the present-day French département of Nord and the southern part of the Dutch province of Zeeland known as Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.

Culture

At first sight, Flemish culture is defined via its language the Dutch, shared with the people in the Netherlands. Indeed, a Flemish literature as such does not exist. Books written by Flemings and by Dutchmen are read all over the Dutch-speaking world. That most readers are able to distinguish the fine differences in vocabulary does not make any difference. In a wider sense, Flemings read many books written in other languages: not only English (dominating scientific and professional literature), but also French, and reasonable quantities of other literary production. For students, the intellectual norm in Flanders means learning two or even three foreign languages. That openness, and the mainly Anglo-Saxon orientation is a rather recent phenomenon as, half a century ago, Flanders was heavily dominated by French culture, which now only is a honorable second. Proficiency in English has greatly improved during the last half century, whereas proficiency in French has decreased somewhat. Proficiency in other languages widened, and improved, although some companies complain about an seemingly eternal lack of sufficient German-speakers. Looking more closely, one notes some other typical cultural characteristics: On average, Flemings have a greater respect for hierarchy than most Dutch, Englishmen and 'Nordic' peoples. In this respect, Flemish culture is more a Latin culture then an Anglo-Saxon/Germanic one. In terms of intellectual discourse, Flemings appear more Anglo-Saxon again, preferring a down-to-earth, factual (and sometimes boring) style. One might say the Flemings prefer a Cartesian discourse more than contemporary France. The somewhat more confrontational nature of Flemish politics is probably related to the fact that initially, Flemings were massively discriminated against by the official Belgian institutions who had deliberately chosen to use French exclusively in all public life, whereas Dutch was dominant in the Belgian population, but nearly absent from the nobility and haute-bourgeoisie who dominated early political life. Although the vast majority of discriminations have since disappeared, the few remaining ones (like the widespread discrimination against Flemings by the medical emergency services in Brussels which has recently been acknowledge for the first time by a prominent French-speaking minister, Rudy Demotte) still have a clear influence on political life in Flanders. Many Flemings also tend to be nationalist, as is illustrated by the success of the Vlaams Belang party, notably in Antwerp, Flanders' largest city, where they routinely are the largest party (33% of the votes in 2000).

Language

:Main article: Flemish language The official language of Flanders is Dutch. The Flemish versions of Dutch are different in usage (comparable to American vs. British English) and in intonation. A Fleming can easily spot a Dutchman even when speaking a mere sentence and vice versa. Dialects tended to be very strong, and particular to every locality. Since World War II, the influence of radio, television, and with more people moving out of their region of birth, the use of the original dialects tends to decrease, and to fade away. Differences between the regional dialects erode, and new types of i