With its timeless landscapes and historic cities, it is tempting to think that not much has changed in Europe over the past couple of centuries. But these intriguing black and white photos taken during the early days of photography show that nothing could be further from the truth.

Click through this gallery to see just how different Europe was through the second half of the 19th century...

In 1838, Louis Daguerre was testing a rudimentary photographic technique that captured images on sheets of copper plate, a process that would become known as daguerreotype. He set up his equipment on Boulevard du Temple in Paris and unwittingly captured what is thought by many to be the first ever photograph of a person. Two, actually – a shoeshine and the man whose shoes he is shining. They appear alone in the bottom left of the image, but in reality the street was bustling with pedestrians and horse-drawn carts. The seven-minute exposure time needed for daguerreotype photos meant that everyone else disappeared into an artful blur.

When this photo of the Great Chartist Meeting on Kennington Common in London was taken on 10 April 1848, photography still required long exposure times. But the crowd was so transfixed by the calls for universal suffrage, secret ballots and other parliamentary reforms that photographer William Kilburn was able to capture the scene without it blurring into one. The Chartists were a mid-19th-century movement that aimed to secure political rights for the working classes. This particular gathering was so large that the Duke of Wellington was asked to call upon his experiences in the Napoleonic Wars to control the crowd.

Here we see two pifferari musicians posing in a rudimentary studio around 1855. The pifferari were a common sight in Rome around Christmas, when they came down from the mountains to supplement their incomes as shepherds by playing before shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The one on the left is playing a zampogna, an Italian instrument similar to bagpipes, while the one on the right is playing a piffero, a kind of oboe from which these wandering musicians took their name.

The Crimean War (1853-1856) saw British, French, Sardinian and Turkish troops battle to stop Russia expanding into the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. The Manchester publisher Thomas Agnew & Sons commissioned feted English photographer Roger Fenton to travel to Crimea and document the conflict. Here we see his assistant, Marcus Sparling, sitting on the van which they used as a travelling darkroom and living quarters during their four months in Crimea.

It was the first dedicated use of photography to document a war – and Fenton has gone down in history as the world's first war photographer. Fenton and Sparling attached themselves to the British army, capturing camp life, the aftermaths of battles and individual and group portraits of soldiers. Their mission was encouraged by the British government, which hoped that photographs like this one of the 8th Hussars gathered around cooking pots would reassure a worried public back home.

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Photography also helped convey the sheer scale of the war effort. Here we see a photo of Allied ships in the port of Balaclava, taken by James Robertson, who started photographing the war after Fenton left the front. Close to the key city of Sevastopol, it was an important supply port for British, French and Turkish forces in southern Crimea and the site of the ill-considered cavalry charge in 1854 that inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Jokkmokk sits on a bend on the Lule River deep in Swedish Lapland. It started life as winter quarters for the Sami – Indigenous peoples of northern Scandinavia famous for nomadic lifestyles and herding reindeer. It remains an important centre for Sami culture and every February hosts a winter market that has been held every year since 1605. Here we see two Sami herders outside the old Jokkmok church that was built in 1753. It was totally destroyed by fire in 1972 but rebuilt in the same style in 1976.

In 1846 Carl Zeiss opened a workshop for precision mechanics and optical instruments in Jena, southwest of Leipzig in Germany. He quickly built a strong reputation, particularly for microscopes, and soon he was shipping his goods around the world. Here we see foreman August Lober, sitting on the right, training apprentices in the workshop in 1864. Lober went on to become a partner in the company, which remains a leader in optical glass to this day.

The capture of Rome on 20 September 1870 effectively signalled the end of the decades-long Risorgimento – a series of battles and disputes that led to the unification of what we now know as Italy. This photo captures the decisive moment when soldiers from the Kingdom of Italy breached the walls of Rome at Portia Pia and captured the city. If you look closely, however, you’ll notice that it is not a single photo but rather a photo montage cobbled together just after the city had fallen – a technique that became quite fashionable in the latter half of the 19th century.

This photo of a woman from Alsace in traditional costume was probably taken by Adolphe Braun in the 1870s. The flamboyant headdress was known as a Schlupfkapp, and was in effect just a giant ribbon tied in a bow. Some measured a staggering 14 inches (35cm) wide. The way a Schlupfkapp was worn could also indicate the wearer's religious beliefs – Protestants tended to be more understated, while Catholics were more ostentatious. At the start of the 1870s Alsace was part of France – but not for long.

The Franco-Prussian War barely lasted a year, but it changed the face of Europe. Victory for a coalition of German states headed by Prussia led to the creation of a unified Germany, while the soundly defeated French had to cede Alsace-Lorraine to the new German Empire. Here we see the aftermath of the brutal four-month Siege of Paris shortly after it ended on 28 January 1871, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in ruins.

Incredible 'then and now' photos of the worlds greatest cities

This photo, taken on 1 February 1871, shows Prussian troops among the ruins of Fort Issy near Versailles. With the war lost, France had to pay an indemnity of five billion francs and cover the costs of the German occupation until it was paid. The final insult came when King William I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor at Versailles, the former palace of the kings of France. The annexation of Alsace-Lorraine also gave rise to a deep desire for revenge among the French – helping pave the way for the First World War.

The distinctive ox carts that populated Madeira towards the end of the 19th century were based on carts from northeastern Portugal – with one major difference. They had sled rails instead of wheels, and were dragged around by oxen to transport goods around Funchal, the archipelago's capital and largest city. Sometime around 1880, when this photo was taken, wicker chairs were added and a peculiarly Madeiran taxi service was born, driven by ox-drivers dressed in white with field boots and straw hats.

Early photography in Europe took advantage of technology that was brand new – but the scenes it captured were often anything but. This scene in the Ligurian hilltop town of Ceriana could date from almost any year since the stone town was founded in medieval times. The robust cotton material used in the villagers' clothing had been manufactured in nearby Genoa since the 16th century. And mules and donkeys had always been the best beasts of burden at coping with the region's rugged mountain paths.

The tiny village of Puchberg am Schneeberg, just 50 miles (80km) from Vienna in Austria, has a similar quality. Taken around the same time as the Ceriana photo, this image captures a timeless scene too, but this time a distinctly alpine one. In 1897 a cog railway was built to whisk people up the brooding Schneeberg mountain seen here in the background. This photo was taken over a decade earlier, so these two gentlemen would still have had to walk.

The Czech writer Franz Kafka was a troubled existentialist with a distinctly dark outlook on the world. His famous novel The Trial so perfectly captured the hopelessness of being tangled in an uncaring web of bureaucracy that it coined a new phrase: Kafkaesque. Here’s young Franz in Prague in 1888, aged five. He's posing for what was known as a cabinet card, and looking distinctly un-Kafkaesque.

Flamenco is said to have been brought to Seville by gypsies in the 15th century, and to this day is regarded as the purest expression of the Andalusian soul. Its popularity skyrocketed in the middle of the 19th century with the introduction of cafes cantantes – 'singing cafes' – like this one captured by Spanish photographer Emilio Beauchy. In 2010, UNESCO named flamenco among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

As strange as it seems today, dog-drawn carts were a common sight in Belgium and the Netherlands in the 19th century. They were pulled by two or more dogs and transported everything from milk and cheese to vegetables and poultry. The Belgian army even used dogs to pull machine guns. This milk maid, seen here being inspected by a policeman, would have got up at dawn to milk her cows, loaded the milk onto the wagon and then driven into town to sell it.

Lisbon’s impressive natural harbour was the starting point for many of the navigators who set off to the New World in the 16th century, and many of the grand buildings in the city were built thanks to the great treasures they brought back. But by the time this photo was taken the city’s golden age had long passed, and the once-gilded squares had become dishevelled markets where fishwives haggled over single reals, the Portuguese currency at the time.

The first German submarine was constructed in Schleswig-Holstein by Wilhelm V Bauer in 1850 and named 'Der Brandtaucher'. It was developed to attack the Danish warships blockading the harbour of Kiel during the First Danish-German War, but sank during trials. This photo was taken around 1890, shortly after the wreck was discovered, raised and put on display outside the Kiel Naval Academy.

Until the Roman emperor Diocletian decided to build his retirement home there in AD 295, Split, on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, had been a rather unassuming fishing village. It then became, in effect, a citadel, with towering 82-foot-high (25m) walls, lavish royal apartments and extensive accommodation for servants and an armed garrison. This complex dominates the city’s harbour to this day, no more so than when this photo was taken in 1890 when Split was a largely ignored outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The spectacular Las Palmas Carnival is one of the oldest festivals in the Canary Islands. It is thought to have begun in the 16th century as an attempt to emulate the famous masquerade balls held in Venice. Catalan immigrants, on the other hand, introduced 'gigantes', towering figures that were paraded through the streets and were often based on historical or mythological characters. This photo from 1891 shows participants gathering for the 'cabalgata' (main parade), accompanied by several stern-looking gigantes.

In 1863, a royal succession crisis saw Christian IX succeed the childless Frederik VII as king of Denmark. His German background and accent did not initially endear him to the Danish people, but over the course of his long reign they came to respect his frugal ways and moral fortitude. 1892 saw the 50th anniversary of his marriage to Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, his double second cousin. Here we see the king and queen in Hojbro Plads in Copenhagen as part of celebrations held across the country.

Meet Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, oceanographer and humanitarian who led multiple expeditions to the Arctic at the end of the 19th century. In 1893 he set out for the North Pole on his ship Fram (pictured), a vessel designed to be lifted by ice rather than crushed by it. Nansen’s outlandish plan was that the ship would freeze in the ice and drift to the North Pole of its own accord. He didn't reach the North Pole, but he did reach a latitude of 85° 57' N – the furthest north anyone had ever been at the time.

On 21 May 1871 Europe's first mountain railway made its inaugural ascent up Mount Rigi near Lucerne. The steam-powered train set off from Vitznau, taking passengers to a lookout offering panoramic views across 13 lakes and, on a clear day, 24 of the 26 Swiss cantons (regions). Tourists flocked to the area and by the time this photo was taken around 1895 more than 100,000 passengers were enjoying the view each year.

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens between 6 and 15 April 1896. Most of the foreign participants were college students or members of athletics clubs attracted by the novelty of the event, and Hungary was the only country to send a national team. Here we see the opening ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in 330 BC and had fallen into disrepair. A wealthy Egyptian-Greek, Georgios Averoff, paid for it to be restored with white marble especially for the 1896 Games.

In 1866 Baron Wilhelm von Tegetthoff defeated numerically superior Italian forces in the Battle of Lissa – one of the first ever engagements between ironclad ships. His reward? A 12-foot (4m) bronze statue of himself atop a towering 36-foot (11m) column that sits at the centre of Praterstern in Vienna. Praterstern has always been one of the busiest junctions in the city, particularly in 1898 when this photo was taken and the city’s population had jumped to more than 1.3 million people.

The French impressionist Claude Monet was so captivated by the canals and windmills around Zaandam that he produced 25 paintings and nine sketches during his visit in 1871. This evocative photo was taken by British photographer James Batkin, who was clearly similarly enamoured when he toured the area in 1898. With its dreamy wooden buildings and restored windmills, Zaandam remains a popular day trip from nearby Amsterdam.

When this photo was taken of France’s famous Mer de Glace glacier at the very start of the 20th century, it stretched down the slopes of Mont Blanc all the way to the valley floor in Chamonix. Tourists like those seen here travelled from all over Europe to be transfixed by this 'sea of glass'. Mer de Glace remains the largest glacier in France but is sadly retreating at an alarming pace. Scientists estimate that the glacier is melting at a rate of around 131 feet (40m) a year.

Now see what Europe’s most famous attractions looked like before tourism