Why didn't Europe become a country, Zhihu?

China is a country with Huaxia-Han nationality as the main body. The same language and lifestyle of the same nation make China people tend to be unified in their hearts.

Although Europe was once unified in Roman times, there were too many nationalities, and there were cultural differences and conflicts of interest among them. Therefore, once unified Rome perished, it immediately fell apart.

The second is geographical reasons.

Although China is a vast mainland country, there are a large number of inland rivers that can sail directly. At the same time, China people have built a large number of canals, including the Grand Canal and Lingqu Canal, in history, which integrated the water system of the whole country.

Although Europe is surrounded by the ocean, there is no inland river to sail and no water system to connect the whole of Europe.

In the era when there was no railway in ancient times, rivers were the main channel to maintain commercial and cultural exchanges between regions, because land roads could not reach the carrying capacity and transportation speed of rivers.

The perfect river network makes the links between different regions in China much closer than those in Europe, and also makes it easier for China to remain unified.

The lack of inland rivers in Europe makes some powerful countries that may unify Europe only affect coastal areas, while inland areas are beyond their reach.

The third is cultural reasons.

China has a unified concept since ancient times, that is, the king's land is the king's land, and the king's land is the vassal's land. This cultural concept makes China people more willing to experience brutal civil war and realize national reunification during the separatist period.

Europeans, on the other hand, lack this cultural view. They practiced the feudal Lord system. The people are loyal to the lords, and the lords are loyal to the upper lords. Layers of enfeoffment divided the whole country and every region. The people only know the Lord, not the country, so it doesn't matter if the country is divided. Everyone follows the Lord.

The fourth is the economic reason, which is also the most important reason.

Since the reunification of Qin Dynasty, China has implemented private ownership of land, farmers and landlords own land, and land rights come directly from the state rather than individuals. This economic model makes the whole country in a unified state, and the division of the country will seriously affect the exercise of land ownership by farmers and landlords, which also makes China people more willing to maintain state consent.

Europe's economy is a feudal Lord system. This land belongs to the Lord. The land of the minor lords was enfeoffed by the major lords, and the land of the major lords was enfeoffed by the king. It has nothing to do with the country itself. Lords are only loyal to their superiors, not to the country, which leads to the fact that no matter what interests people or lords have to the country, the division and demise of the country will not affect their land rights, and only the survival of the loyal objects will affect their land.