50 Interesting Facts About Europe’s Present and Past

Several European countries dealt with their rabies problem by air-dropping vaccinated chicken heads for wild foxes to eat.

2. The plague solved an overpopulation problem in 14th century Europe. In the aftermath wages increased, rent decreased, wealth was more evenly distributed, diet improved and life expectancy increased.

3. Witches in parts of medieval Europe were weighed. A witch had to be almost weightless to fly on a broom. So nobody was found guilty of witchcraft at the weigh house in Oudewater in Netherlands.

4. A German architect named Herman Sörgel devoted his whole life to promoting his grand scheme of damming and draining the Mediterranean to create vast amounts of land and to unite Europe and Africa into one supercontinent named Atlantropa. He proposed that it would generate huge amounts of electricity and the newly dried land would provide shelter, employment, and food to people.

5. There's a Buddhist majority republic in Europe called Kalmykia. It is part of Russia. Many inhabitants are ethnically Mongolian and its capital features several beautiful Buddhist temples.

Blond hair in humans developed only 11,000 years ago as an evolutionary response to the lack of sunlight in Northern Europe to enable more Vitamin D synthesis.

7. About 95% of the people of European origin can trace their maternal roots to one of the seven women who lived between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago.

8. Between 1993 and 2008, the same DNA was discovered at 40 different crime scenes in Europe, leading to the investigation of the “Phantom of Heilbronn”, which turned out to be a woman working in a cotton swab factory who inadvertently contaminated the swabs with her own DNA.

9. Some European countries have a “Freedom to Roam Law", which means that you can freely go into private land for recreation as long as you don’t cause any problems.

10. The Giant Tortoise did not receive a scientific name for over 300 years due to the failure of the delivery of specimens to Europe for classification due to their great taste. Every single one of the specimens was eaten on the voyage back by sailors, even by Charles Darwin.

Belarus is the last country in Europe that still uses the death penalty. The convicts are shot in the back of the head with a silenced PB-9 pistol. The whole procedure, starting with the announcement about denied appeals and ending with the gunshot, lasts no longer than two minutes.

12. Heels were first made by the Persian cavalry to keep stability while shooting arrows. It later became popular in Europe as a masculine symbol until 1630 when women followed the fashion.

13. The euro currency was designed featuring images of fictitious bridges to represent architectural styles throughout time in Europe. They had to be careful not to feature one country over the others, but the Netherlands then went on to build these bridges printed on Euro.

14. In 552 A.D. two monks successfully smuggled silkworm eggs in their walking sticks from China to the Byzantine Empire, essentially ending the silk monopolies of China and Persia, and bringing silk manufacturing to Europe.

15. Mandatory right-hand traffic was introduced in Europe by Napoleon with the aim of deterring sword fighting on horseback, and because the traditional left-hand traffic was seen as aristocratic. Since he never conquered Britain, left-hand driving would remain there.

Approximately 75% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant. The 25% of people who aren't are generally of North European descent.

17. Adolf Hitler was the first European leader to ban human zoos, a popular attraction in Europe where exotic peoples were paid to be on exhibit for onlookers, with recreated habitats and shows. Belgium was the last to ban them, in 1958.

18. In 1755 a massive earthquake hit Lisbon, Portugal on a major Catholic holiday, destroying the city's churches while sparing its brothels. Tens of thousands of worshipers were killed. The event profoundly shook the belief in a merciful God and the power of the church across Europe.

19. Jewish communities had lower death rates during the 14th century Plague due to their hygienic practices. This in part inspired a wave of anti-Semitic violence in Christian Europe, where some communities attributed the pandemic to a Jewish conspiracy.

20. Lions inhabited many areas of Europe until they were hunted to extinction around 100 B.C.

In the 1700s, when tomatoes were introduced to Europe, they were thought to be poisonous because people died after eating them. The real issue was people using pewter plates and the acidity of tomatoes leached lead out of them causing lead poisoning.

22. One man’s gene from 4000-6000 years ago contributes to approximately 50% of the male population in 11 European countries.

23. An average Chinese consumer has only 70g of chocolate a year while the average European consumer has 7kg.

24. Despite being universally considered as part of Europe due to cultural and geopolitical reasons, the island of Sicily in Italy is actually part of the African Tectonic Plate.

25. All the “ancient” crystal skulls of Central America were actually created in Europe during the 19th century. The Brazilian quartz deposit the skulls are made of was unknown during ancient times and likely crafted in the 19th-century German workshop renowned for crafting objects of Brazilian quartz.