Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering about 2.0 percent of the earth's surface. The only continent smaller than it is Australia; however, Europe is the third most-populous continent, after Asia and Africa, with a population of 710 million, about 11 percent of the world's population. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world.

Traditionally, Australia has been populated by European migrants, beginning with the English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh (see the First Fleeters on page 35). The 2006 Australian census shows 856,940 people who list their country of birth as England.

With the end of the two world wars and many dislocated peoples seeking a place to settle, Australia saw a much more varied European migration, initially with large numbers of Italian and Greek migrants. It is well known that Melbourne has the third-largest population of Greek people outside of Greece.

Since the demise of the White Australia policy, together with dramatic changes to Europe's boundaries and the collapse of communism, people from an unprecedented variety of countries have made Australia their home.

Russia is Europe's largest country by area and population and the Vatican is the smallest. Disintegration of the Iron Curtain and Eastern Block accelerated in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, culminating in the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Australia's history has, to a large extent, been tied to Europe's history, with the origins of western democratic and cultural traditions often being attributed to Ancient Greece.

In the 15th century, the 'age of discoveries' dawned in Portugal and then Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and England in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia.

Integration has been a theme in European relations since the end of the Second World War and has accelerated since the end of the Cold War.

For such a small continent, there is an amazingly diffuse spread of languages, which partly explains why so many Europeans can speak multiple languages, to the envy of many Australians.

From the 1890s through to the 1950s, Australia's immigration policy restricted non-Europeans from settling in Australia, with elements of this policy surviving until the 1970s. The post second world war reconstruction and expansion program saw many displaced Europeans coming to Australia immediately after the war, with 2 million people immigrating from Europe in the 20 years following the war. Whilst Australia's restriction on non-European immigration eased from the 1950s on, it wasn't until the 1970s that Australia made positive steps towards a truly multicultural immigration policy, with around 90,000 Indo-Chinese refugees being offered a home in Australia.

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