I. SIGNI GENTIUM EUROPAE et SIBERIAE GENTIUM | SYMBOLS OF THE EUROPEAN PEOPLES and main Siberian peoples

L’Europe se présente comme un grand cercle d'appartenance qui abrite près d’une centaine de peuples et un bon millier de régions historiques.
Elle forme une unité géographique, historique et humaine diversifiée, dont les essaimages historiques sur d'autres continents constituent un anneau de civilisation largement septentrional. Le corrélat de la diversité des peuples d'Europe est leur commune participation à la civilisation qu'ils ont créée, dans ses aspects matériels et immatériels.

Les peuples d’Europe forment un organisme vivant susceptible de métamorphoses à l’intérieur d’un cadre linguistique triparti : euskarien, indo-européen, ouralien.
L’articulation géographique et culturelle du continent dessine une Europe de l'Ouest, une Europe du Sud, une Europe du Nord, et une Europe de l'Est, autour d’une Europe centrale ou médiane : figure quinaire.

Historiquement les cultures populaires de l’Europe sont celles des Basques ou Euskariens, des Celtes (gaéliques et brittoniques), des Latins, the linguistic origin of the Romance-speaking peoples (Hispano-Romans, Aquitano-Romans, Southern Gallo-Latins, Northern Gallo-Latins, Balkano-Romans), the Germanic peoples (Continental, Scandinavian, Western), the Baltes, des Slaves (Western, Southern, Eastern), the Albanians, des Héllenes, des Finns (of the Baltic, Perm, and Volga regions), and the Ugric peoples.
Some peripheral linguistic groups include: the Ossetians, North Iranian-speaking descendants of the Alans; the Circassian Adyghe; the Nenets (Samoyeds, the third group of Uralic peoples, also present in Siberia); and Turkic-speaking communities (Tatars) as well as Mongolic-speaking groups (Kalmyks).

Naturally, the peoples mentioned here exhibit regional and local variations that administrative boundaries alone cannot adequately reflect. Over time, religion has contributed in highly varied ways to feelings of belonging. Aware of the diversity of situations—which do not affect the overall definition of European culture—we have limited ourselves to territorialized peoples, which does not exclude the contributions of dispersed groups, such as the Armenians, who for over a century have participated in the shared European culture. Cataloging all secondary identities in the manner of an ethnographer would have been arbitrary and prone to endless controversy.

These peoples, not all of whom have the same perception of their identity—but the great majority of whom define themselves by a distinct language (official in some places, marginalized or without status in others) and a particular history—must be regarded as diversified forms in themselves. While the traceability of linguistic roots is clear up to their current settlements, this should not obscure the fact that the territory of founding peoples has fluctuated over time—through expansions and retractions—as toponymy still bears witness. Ethnic definition does not exclude accumulated heritages.
From this perspective, one must also acknowledge that internal movements within the continent—driven by economic or political reasons, or by the attraction of urban centers of education or power—have always existed, without ever disrupting its general balance.

N.B.: Les mouvements migratoires internationaux à partir de la fin du vingtième siècle modifient ce tableau.

Nous avons consacré un chapitre spécial à la Sibérie-Siberia, Sibir.
Abritant un très grand nombre de peuples, dont certains de souche européenne, lieu de diffusion de populations paléolithiques vers l'ouest et l'est, elle constitue un tiers de l'Anneau septentrional.
D'où le titre de notre carte principale : THE EUROPEANS, Europenses, and main Subborean peoples of Siberia.

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