European agriculture.

Agriculture in Europe goes back to classical times. The development first of the Greek city-states, then of the Roman Empire, created urban centers that required substantial amounts of food to be imported from as far away as Egypt. In the year 2000 European agriculture was dominated by two major groups: the European Union (EU), with fifteen member states, and those European states outside the EU. The EU, which began with the Common Market created by the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, initially comprised France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. By the year 2000 it had expanded to include Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, and Austria.