Where an what is Europe? What is the idea of Europe and what ideas has Europe given birth to? This course will equip students with the tools to answer these and other questions about the forces and factors that made contemporary Europe and, in turn, enabled Europeans to make - for better or worse - the modern world. Students will be introduced to various understandings of "Europe" and the political, cultural and historical connotations they embody. We begin with a brief examination of Europe's roots in the ancient Mediterranean civilisations of Greece and Rome, followed by Christian Europe in the Middle Ages. We then turn to focus on the making of Europe in the Modern period. Through an exploration of key forces and movements, including the Renaissance, Reformation, Atlantic slave trade, Enlightenment, French Revolution, and rise of nations, we will come to understand the complexities and contradictions of "Europe" as a place, and idea, and a set of values. Students will come away from this course with a deep appreciation of Europe's heritage, the strands of unity and diversity within that heritage, and the ways in which it is contested, instrumentalised, and continuously reinvented in the present.