Atlantic Europe

[1][2] Physical geographers label this biogeographical area as the European Atlantic Domain, part of the Euro-Siberian botanic region.

[4] Archaeologists have noted that the prehistoric peoples of Atlantic Europe presented common traits, as shown by artifacts, artistic and architectural styles found in the region which attest to at least some form of trade and/or cultural link.

This refers to an industry mainly based on the west coast of France and Brittany but which clearly had links with societies in Iberia and Britain, as evidenced by products such as the carp's tongue sword and the end winged axe, which were widely bought and sold along the routes of the Atlantic seaways.

Geographers also mention the influence of the natural environment in the construction of a similar cultural landscape along the western European coasts.

This idea would be further developed from the 1950s onwards by authors such as P. Flatrès, Emyr Estyn Evans, A. Bouhier, Meynier, J. García Fernández, Patrick O'Flanagan, Richard Bradley, Barry Cunliffe, Carlos Ferrás Sexto and Xoán Paredes, among others.

On the other hand, an article published in the American Journal of Genetics indicates – after including samples from different regions within European countries – a shared ancestry throughout the Atlantic zone, from northwest Iberia (Galicia) to western Scandinavia, that dates back to end of the last Ice Age.