Defining this continent is a slippery undertaking, but it is revealing to look at its evolution over the last 100 million years
How was Europe formed? How was its extraordinary history discovered? And why did Europe come to be so important in the world? For those, such as me, seeking answers, it is fortunate that Europe has a great abundance of bones – layer upon layer of them, buried in rocks and sediments that extend all the way back to the beginning of bony animals. It is where the investigation of the deep past began. The first geological map, the first palaeobiological studies, and the first reconstructions of dinosaurs were all made in Europe.
This history begins around 100 million years ago, at the moment of Europe’s conception – the moment when the first distinctively European organisms evolved. Earth’s crust is composed of tectonic plates that move imperceptibly slowly across the globe, and upon which the continents ride. Most continents originated in the splitting of ancient supercontinents. But Europe began as an island archipelago, and its conception involved the geological interactions of three continental “parents” – Asia, North America and Africa. Together, those continents comprise about two-thirds of the land on Earth, and because Europe has acted as a bridge between these landmasses, it has functioned as the most significant seat of exchange in the history of our planet.
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