Difference between revisions of "East-Central Europe"

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==Perspective of arthistorians==
 
==Perspective of arthistorians==
==Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s (Hoptman+Pospiszyl eds.)==<ref>Laura Hoptman and Tomas Pospiszyl (eds.), Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2002</ref>
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====Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s (Hoptman+Pospiszyl eds.)==== <ref>Laura Hoptman and Tomas Pospiszyl (eds.), Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2002</ref>
  
 
==Perspective of historians==
 
==Perspective of historians==

Revision as of 23:48, 2 June 2008

Perspective of arthistorians

====Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s (Hoptman+Pospiszyl eds.)==== [1]

Perspective of historians

East-Central Europe (or Middle Europe, Median Europe, fr. Europe médiane) – a term defining the countries located between German-speaking countries and Russia[2][3]. Those lands are situated “between two”: between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures[4]. Median Europe is opposed to the Western and Eastern Europe, is one of the “Three Europes”[5].

Differing from ideas of Eastern Europe and Central Europe, the concept is based on different criteria of distinction and has different geographical spread.[6]. In addition, countries of Central Europe and of Eastern Europe belong to two different cultural circles[7][8].

Definitions

Paul Robert Magocsi

East Central Europe according to Paul Robert Magocsi

(Canadian professor of history and political science)
Magocsi described this region in this work Historical Atlas of East Central Europe. He distinguished 3 main zones:

  • The northern zone, located between the Baltic Sea (@north) and the alignment Ore Mountains-Sudetes-northern Carpathians-Prut river (@south) and the Dnieper (@east). The countries located by the author in this zone are: former East Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine (west of the Dnieper river) and Moldova.
  • The Alpine-Carpathian zone, located on the south of the northern zone, bordered in the south by the rivers Kupa-Sava-Danube. This area roughly coincides with the former Habsburg Empire (minus Galicia) before the mid 19th century and the Danubian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia). The countries located by the author in this zone are: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia (north of the Kupa-Sava rivers), Serbia (Vojvodina) and notheast Italy.
  • The Balkan zone, located on the south of the Alpine-Carpathian zone and matching with the Balkan peninsula. The countries located by the author in this zone are: Croatia (south of the Kupa-Sava rivers), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Central Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and European Turkey.

Oscar Halecki

(1891-1973; Polish historian, social and Catholic activist; expert on medieval history of Poland and Lithuania, and history of Byzantine Empire.)
Oscar Halecki, who distinguished four regions in Europe (Western, West Central, East Central and Eastern Europe) defined East-Central Europe as a region from Finland to Greece[9], the eastern part of Central Europe, between Sweden, Germany, and Italy, on the one hand, and Turkey and Russia on the other[10]. According to Halecki, in the course of European history, a great variety of peoples in this region created their own independent states, sometimes quite large and powerful; in connection with Western Europe they developed their individual national cultures and contributed to the general progress of European civilization[11].

Charles Ingrao

(American professor of history; specialization Early Modern Europe, Habsburg and Central European History)
Charles Ingrao wrote a historical perspective of Central Europe from the Habsburg point of view.[12] He associates Central Europe with the nations comprising Austria-Hungary, both geographically and culturally. Ingrao suggests that the cultural imprint of the Habsburg rule over these nations is deeply rooted within their respective identities. Some of these nations were divided between the nation-states and the Habsburgs; Ingrao thus points out to the Italian-, Romanian- and Serbian questions. The peoples comprising the Dual Monarchy were the following (Census 1910):[13] Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Ruthenians, Romanians, Croats, Slovaks, Serbs, Slovenes and Italians.

Michael Foucher

Michael Foucher[14] defined Middle Europe as an intermediate geopolitical space between the West and Russia, a space of historical transitions between these two organizational poles; political and territorial heirs imposed from the East, i.e. Kremlin; nowadays streamlining process imposed by the West.. According to this author, the following sub-regions form Median (Middle) Europe:

  • in the North – Central Europe stricto sensu (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia)
  • in the South – Romania, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Albania, the region “overflows towards Ukraine and Belarus”
  • Greece is cited as not being a part of Median Europe but playing an important role there

United Nations

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) was set up to consider the technical problems of domestic standardization of geographical names. The Group is composed of experts from various linguistic/geographical divisions that have been established at the UN Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

  • Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia Division[15]: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
  • East Central and South-East Europe Division[16]: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,Greece, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.
  • Romano-Hellenic Division[17]: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Holy See, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.[18]
  • Baltic Division[19]: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

References

  1. Laura Hoptman and Tomas Pospiszyl (eds.), Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Easterns and Central European Art Since the 1950s, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2002
  2. Palmer, Alan (1970)The Lands between: A History of East-Central Europe Since the Congress of Vienna, New York: Macmillan
  3. J. Kłoczowski (ed.), Central Europe Between East and West, Lublin 2005, ISBN 83-85854-86-X
  4. François Jarraud [1]
  5. F. Braudel, Preface to Szucs J., Les trois Europes, Paris 1990
  6. I. Loucas, The New Geopolitics of Europe & The Black Sea Region, Naval Academy, UK National Defence Minister’s Staff, p. 8 [2]
  7. Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1996 ISBN 0-684-84441-9
  8. Milan Kundera, The tragedy of Central Europe, New York Review of Books, 26 April 1984, pp.33-8
  9. O. Halecki, The limits and divisions on European history, Sheed&Ward, New York 1950, p. 120
  10. O. Halecki, Borderlands of Western Civilization: A History of East Central Europe, Fordham University (1952, 1980) (online)
  11. O. Halecki, Borderlands of Western Civilization: A History of East Central Europe, Fordham University (1952, 1980) (online)
  12. Ten Untaught Lessons about Central Europe-Charles Ingrao
  13. Anstalt G. Freytag & Berndt (1911). Geographischer Atlas zur Vaterlandskunde an der österreichischen Mittelschulen. Vienna: K. u. k. Hof-Kartographische. "Census December 31st 1910"
  14. M. Foucher (dir.), Fragments d’Europe – Atlas de l’Europe mediane et orientale, Paris, 1993, p. 60
  15. United Nations Statistics Division - Geographical Names and Information Systems
  16. United Nations Statistics Division - Geographical Names and Information Systems
  17. United Nations Statistics Division - Geographical Names and Information Systems
  18. United Nations Statistics Division - Geographical Names and Information Systems
  19. United Nations Statistics Division - Geographical Names and Information Systems