43 Striking Facts You Didn’t Know About Europe

Teens in the United States and Europe have similar levels of sexual activity. However, European teens are more likely than U.S. teens to use contraceptives generally and to use the most effective methods. They, therefore, have substantially lower pregnancy rates.

27. Until they were discovered in Australia, black swans were known in Europe as a metaphor for something that could not exist.

28. Jesus’ foreskin is called the “Holy Prepuce” and several European churches have claimed to be in possession of it and that it has miraculous powers.

29. Pantone 448 C, the “world's ugliest color” according to research, is used by many European countries on their tobacco products to dissuade people from smoking.

30. Unlike most bronze sculptures of Roman emperors, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was not melted down during the Middle Ages because Europeans of that time thought it was a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome.

Dutch people, currently the tallest population in the world, actually used to be the shortest population in Europe just 150-200 years ago.

32. As McDonald’s came to the former Communist nations of Eastern Europe, it became a point of national pride to have one, even being included in football chants to taunt those countries who didn't yet have a McDonalds.

33. In many Nordic cities, parents leave their children unattended in buggies in town, for long periods of time, while they have coffee or go shopping.

34. In most of Europe, the dates from 5th October 1582 to 15th October 1582 don't exist due to the change from Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

35. Irish Monks and Scholars were instrumental in contributing to the spread of Christianity in Britain and continental Europe. Irish missions had such a profound influence in Germany and the Frankish Empire that Ireland became known as the ''Isle of Saints and Scholars'' to continental Europeans.

A million Europeans were enslaved by North African slave traders between 1530 and 1780.

37. France used to be in the same time zone as Britain but during the German occupation the time zone was changed to Central European Time and it remained unchanged.

38. In 1315, a small change in climate caused a great famine in Northern Europe which was so grim that one day even the king of England was left without bread.

39. Vatican City is unable to join the European Union because the EU requires that all member states must be free-market democracies.

40. So many men died in World War I that serious proposals were made to bring back polygamy. One German expert estimated that Europe had 10 million more women than men, and stated that unless farmers and others were allowed two wives, “30-40% of German women will remain spinsters.”

In pre-modern Europe, Outlaw or Outlawry, was one of the harshest punishments available and put the criminal outside of any legal protections, subject to persecution, murder etc. by anybody. It was considered a death sentence but not carried out by the state.

42. Historians have found that European queens have been associated with a 27% increase in wars compared to European kings.

43. Rosacea, a skin disease found mainly in those of Northern European descent and also known as ‘The Curse of the Celts’, is actually an evolutionary adaptation acquired by ancestral Celtic people to fend off bacteria during seasonal periods of low ultraviolet levels.