West Europe

The Middle of the Earth, one of the twelve divisions of the globe, encompasses Africa down to its subcontinent, the lands and seas of the Mediterranean Basin and the Red Sea, the Canary Islands, and the Cape Verde Islands.

The northwestern boundary extends from south-central Germany along the Swiss border, encompassing all Swiss cities except Basel. It then separates southern France from northern France, continues through Spain, and divides Portugal at Setúbal, marking a north-south division within both countries. The boundary then extends into the Atlantic Ocean, where it distinguishes Madeira (a Portuguese territory) from the Canary Islands (ruled by Spain).

The northeastern boundary separates Alpine Austria from the rest of the country, then moves through the Balkans, roughly following the borders between:

• Hungary and Slovenia,
• Serbia and Croatia,
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo,
• Bulgaria and North Macedonia,
• Turkey-in-Europe and Greece.

From there, the line continues through western Turkey and Cyprus, dividing Syria and most of Lebanon from Israel and most of Jordan, and marking the separation between western and eastern Arabia.

The southeastern boundary follows the historic division between North and South Yemen, then extends through eastern Africa, delineating Mozambique from Zambia.

HistoryAtlas contains 18,610 entries for the Middle of The Earth from the Paleolithic period to 1899.

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The Atlantic World, a pentagonal region encompassing one twelfth of the Earth, includes the Azores, Madeira, northwestern Europe (including western Denmark and western Norway), the British Isles, the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, eastern and central North America, the northern section of Hispaniola, and several smaller island groups, notably Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos.

The eastern boundary, marked at 10° east longitude, divides Scandinavia into Eastern and Western sections, with Western Scandinavia oriented toward the North Atlantic and Eastern Scandinavia centered on the Baltic Sea Basin. This boundary also aligns with the historical eastern border of West Germany (1949–1990), before terminating in south-central Germany at its junction with the neighboring region to the southeast.

The western boundary, at 110° west longitude, cuts through Canada, separating the northern districts of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories from Alberta and Saskatchewan, approximately 75 miles south of the Alberta-Saskatchewan-Montana junction (48.1896851°N)—the northernmost point of the neighboring world to the southwest.

The southwestern boundary follows the division between the upper and lower Mississippi River Basin, then extends eastward into the Atlantic Ocean just south of Jacksonville, Florida, before terminating in northwestern Hispaniola.

HistoryAtlas contains 18,139 entries for The Atlantic World from the Paleolithic period to 1899.

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The Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) sees many changes in the environment, encompassing several glacial and interglacial periods that greatly affect human settlement.

In addition to populations in Europe expanding from southern refugia (especially the Franco-Cantabrian region) after the last glacial maximum, evidence also exists for various northern refugia.

Southern and eastern Britain are linked to continental Europe at this time by a wide land bridge allowing bands of hunter-gatherers to move freely, following herds of animals, or supporting themselves by fishing.

The current position of the English Channel is a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries that will later become the Thames and Seine.

The Clactonian flint tool industry develop at sites such as Barnfield Pit in Kent during the period of relatively warm climate from around three hundred thousand to two hundred thousand years ago.

The period produces a rich and widespread distribution of sites by Paleolithic standards.

Clactonian tools are made by Homo erectus rather than modern humans.

Uncertainty over the relationship between the Clactonian and Acheulean industries is still unresolved.

Prehistory of the Netherlands: A Landscape Shaped by Water

The prehistory of the region that is now the Netherlands was largely shaped by the sea and rivers, which continuously shifted the low-lying geography over millennia. The dynamic interplay of water and land influenced human settlement patterns, with early inhabitants gravitating toward higher ground as the landscape evolved.

Early Human Presence: Neanderthal Traces near Maastricht

• The oldest known human traces in the region belong to Neanderthals, whose presence dates back approximately 250,000 years.
• These remains have been discovered in higher, more stable soils near Maastricht, an area less affected by the flood-prone terrain of the lowlands.
• The Neanderthals likely adapted to a changing environment, utilizing the resources of rivers and forests for survival.

A Landscape in Constant Flux

Throughout prehistory, the region’s geological and climatic changes played a crucial role in shaping early habitation:

• Glacial and interglacial periods altered sea levels, periodically expanding and contracting habitable land.
• The Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt rivers created fertile but unstable floodplains, influencing settlement choices.
• Rising sea levels and sediment deposits led to the formation of peat bogs and coastal dunes, features that would later define the Dutch landscape.

These early environmental factors set the stage for the later development of prehistoric cultures, as humans adapted to a land in flux, balancing the challenges of water management with the rich resources provided by the rivers and coastlines.

Part of the skull of a nine-year old child from the Grotte du Lazaret (English: Cave of Le Lazaret), a cave now in the eastern suburbs of the French town of Nice and now overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, suggests that either Homo heidelbergensis or a proto-Neanderthal group occupied it almost two hundred thousand years ago.

The Lazaret cave dwellers evidently represent a transitional form between Homo erectus and more advanced species of early humans.

The Neanderthals move into Europe around 150,000 BCE.

The game-hunting occupants of the Grotte du Lazaret (English: Cave of Le Lazaret), now in the eastern suburbs of the French town of Nice and now overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, dating to about this time, make tents, probably of animal hides stretched over a wooden framework, with the tent entrances facing away from the cave opening.

A wolf skull is situated inside the doorway of each tent.

The Moderns are taller, more slender, and less muscular than the Neanderthals, with whom they share—perhaps uneasily—the Earth.

Though their brains are smaller in overall size, they are heavier in the forebrain, a difference that may allow for more abstract thought and the development of complex speech.

Yet, the inner world of the Neanderthals remains a mystery—no one knows the depths of their thoughts or how they truly expressed them.

Homo sapiens sapiens apparently spreads rapidly from sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara Desert and into the Near East, where the new species flourishes by 88,000 BCE.

The rapid expansion of anatomically modern humans out of Africa, beginning around 60,000 years ago, appears to coincide with the development of new stone tool-making techniques.

These innovations, which define the Upper Paleolithic period, distinguish the stone tool culture of Homo sapiens sapiens from the previously similar technologies of Neanderthals and other archaic human groups.

Key advancements include:

• The production of long, narrow flake tools, known as blades, which could be fashioned into a variety of specialized tools,
• The emergence of bone and ivory artifacts, and
• The eventual development of clothing, often sewn together and adorned with beads.

These technological advancements likely played a crucial role in the success and adaptability of early modern humans as they spread across new environments.