EUROPE. 



515 



empire ; 1 elective, ecclesiastical monarchy, the Papal state ; 16 kingdoms: Great Britain and! 

 Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Hanover, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Wurtem 

 berg, BHvaris, Saxony, Sardinia, Naples, Greece, Spain, and Portugal ; 7 grand-duchies 

 Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxe-Weimar, Mecklenberg-Schwerin, Mecklenberg-Streliiz, 01 

 denburg, and Tuscany ; 1 electorate, Hesse-Cassel, the sovereign of which, though styled 

 grand-duke by the congress of Vienna, retains his former title of elector ; 11 duchies ; 15 

 principalities ; 1 landgraviate, Hesse-Homberg ; 1 lordship, Kniphausen, and 9 republics. 

 The last mentioned are mostly based on aristocratical principles. Of the other states it may 

 be observed, that in regard to government they are monarchies, bearing different designations, 

 merely in reference to the titles of the respective sovereigns. There are several provinces oi 

 countries which are also styled kingdoms, but do not form independent states : as the kingdora 

 of Norway, forming part of the Swedish monarchy ; that of Poland, in the Russian empire •, 

 of Hungary, in the Austrian empire, &c. 



A Map of a Part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in Ancient Times. 



20. History. The earliest historical notices, which we have of Europe, are derived from 

 the traditions of the Greeks, and relate to the settlement of various colonies from Asia and 

 Egypt on the southeastern coasts. These events appear to have taken place between 12 and 

 15 hundred years before the Christian era ; and the fable of Europa, a Phoenician princess, 

 from whom the name of this quarter of the world is said to have been derived, is no doubt 

 founded on fact. The Celts seem, at this time, to have occupied nearly the whole of Europe, 

 and to have been gradually driven westward by the encroachments of the Teutonic and Scla- 

 vonic races, until they have become nearly extirpated. The PhcEnicians, at an early period, 

 explored the coasts of the Mediterranean, passed out of the Pillars of Hercules, along the 

 Atlantic shores, to Britain, and probably even reached Denmark. The Greeks afterwards 

 followed in their course, and penetrated to the Baltic and vhe coasts of Norway. Under 

 Alexander, that brilliant people conquered a great part of Asia in the fourth century before 

 our era, but the Romans were the first to found a great European empire. From the Clyde 

 to the Hellespont, all southern Europe obeyed their imperial decrees. 



