From Ural Mountains in the east to Cabo da Roca in the west, also including the Atlantic Islands to Iceland, and from Cape Nordkinn in the north to Sicily, Greece and sometimes Turkey in the south.

The shift of the boundary between the west and the east

The North-South Divide

Rivers: Danube, Thames, Rhine, Tiber

Plains: the Eastern Plain from east Germany through Poland to Russia, Eastern France, and Midland Plain in England

Climate

Demography, 80 million in around 1500 with 30 years of life expectancy, only recovered after 1500.

The Black Death in 1347-50, the Golden Age of bacteria

famine, infection, disease, numerous wars

Labor in need because of low population, leading to the process called enclosure and reversion to sheep farming by landowners

Manor, Lord's Manor House

• Most people were illiterate, and the local priest were selected and remained employed by the landlord
• the church is the social and religious center of the village
• The landlord had immense power called "Droits du Seigneur" (Seignorial Rights)