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Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The region stretches from the Ural Mountains in the east to the borders of Poland and Romania. Most definitions include the countries of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine while less restrictive definitions also include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) appeared during the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century, which reflected to the territories of the Western Christianity. However, "European" as cultural term did not include the territories where the Orthodox Church represented the dominant religion until the 19th century.It represents a significant part of European culture; the main socio-cultural characteristics of Eastern Europe have historically been defined by the traditions of the Slavs and Greeks, as well as by the influence of Eastern Christianity as it developed through the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Another definition was created by the Cold War, as Europe was ideologically divided by the Iron Curtain, with "Eastern Europe" being synonymous with communist states constituting the Eastern Bloc under the influence of the Soviet Union.The term is sometimes considered to be pejorative, through stereotypes about Eastern Europe being inferior (poorer, less developed) to Western Europe; the term Central and Eastern Europe is sometimes used instead for a more neutral grouping.