I won't speak to yr culture, but history, not thru "American" eyes but thru the lens of historic record.
Countless ethnic groups and subgroups, from Ibernians to Huns, all occupied different regions, negotiating & sometimes warring much like Native American tribes, until..
Countless ethnic groups and subgroups, from Ibernians to Huns, all occupied different regions, negotiating & sometimes warring much like Native American tribes, until..
...the Roman Empire swarmed over Europe from south to north, assimilating, decimating (killing 1/10), or exterminating ethnic groups in turn (remember the Iceni & Queen Boudicca! U have a fkn statue!). End result: less diverse groups under a Roman banner as the remnants of each.. 
...tribe/nation banded together to form their own regional identity (ex, Celts, Britons, Franks, Teutons, etc.) STILL made up of tribal units bc the Romans failed to completely exterminate tribal European values and systems.
And let's not forget the Moorish invasion of Spain.
And let's not forget the Moorish invasion of Spain.
...Or the Huns, Visigoths, or the Vandals that came north to raid, plunder, and destroy villages along the coast of southern and western Europe. Or the Scandinavians, from the far north coming south.
Every invasion involved battle, plunder, rape, and subjugation.
Every invasion involved battle, plunder, rape, and subjugation.
So to describe Europe as "groups of ppl moving around" is like saying the same of the United States, while ignoring war, genocide, & slavery. North and West Europe has suffered a series of invasions from east and south. The conquered ppl have never been treated as gracious hosts.
The Romans called tribal Europeans "barbarians," forced them into slavery, & at best treated them like second class citizens. Colonized Europe then proceeded to colonize most of the rest of the world, modernizing and developing it much like the Romans, but w/the same drawbacks.
Perhaps the royal families of Europe can be traced back to Rome, as w/Charlemagne (via mixing). Since Roman soldiers and settlers spread through the whole of the Empire, any given European is bound to have some trace of Roman blood except in the most remote and secluded places.
The history of Europe is a story of tribe v. empire.
Celtic women were landholders & never considered property in marriage. Virginity was not an expectation for marriage. Teutonic tribes appointed chieftains, but elders also gave counsel. Compare w Abrahamic religions.
Celtic women were landholders & never considered property in marriage. Virginity was not an expectation for marriage. Teutonic tribes appointed chieftains, but elders also gave counsel. Compare w Abrahamic religions.
Abrahamic religions considered women as property and taught infant genital mutilation (w/rabbi drinking infant's blood!). As Rome designed the Roman Catholic religion w/Hebraic traditions, Roman (and greater European) pagan traditions infiltrated the doctrine and calendar.
Virtually all freedoms enjoyed by the people of Eur today do not start w/Rome but indigenous non-Mediterranean Europe. Romans may have contributed advances in technology and expanded trade, but also established many of the societal norms that ppl now define as colonization.
So again: "groups of people moving around" Europe is a gross oversimplification. The refugees /being forced to emigrate/ north from Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, etc, amount to another invasion: this time sanctioned by EU gov'ts & masked as a peaceful situation. The iconic Trojan horse.
unroll svp merci
