The History Of 'The Western World'
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2014
- The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident (from Latin: occidens "sunset, West"; as contrasted with the Orient), is a term referring to different nations depending on the context. There are many accepted definitions about what all they have in common.
The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, and the advent of Christianity. In the modern era, Western culture has been heavily influenced by the traditions of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Age of Enlightenment-and shaped by the expansive colonialism of the 15th-20th centuries. Before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian (Catholic-Protestant) countries and culture. Its political usage was temporarily changed by the antagonism during the Cold War in the mid-to-late 20th Century (1947--1991).
The term originally had a literal geographic meaning. It contrasted Europe with the linked cultures and civilizations of the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and remote Far East, which early-modern Europeans saw as the East. Today, this has little geographic relevance, since the United States and Canada are in the Americas, Russia expands to Northern Asia and Australia and New Zealand are part of Oceania.
In the contemporary cultural meaning, the phrase "Western world" includes Europe, as well as many countries of European colonial origin with substantial European ancestral populations in the Americas and Oceania
Western culture originated in the Mediterranean basin and its vicinity; Greece and Rome are often cited as its originators. Over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and west to include the rest of the Mediterraneanan and Black Sea coastal areas, conquering, absorbing, and being influenced by many older great civilizations of the ancient Near East (i.e., Phoenicia, Phoenician rooted Carthage, Mesopotamia and also Egypt). Later, they expanded to the north of the Mediterranean Sea to include Western, Central and Southeastern Europe. Christianization of Bulgaria (9th century), Christianization of Kievan Rus' (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus; 10th century), Christianisation of Scandinavia (12th century) and Christianization of Lithuania (14th century) brought the rest of European states to the Western civilisation.
Historians, such as Carroll Quigley in The Evolution of Civilizations, contend that Western civilization was born around 500 AD, after the total collapse of the Western Roman Empire, leaving a vacuum for new ideas to flourish that were impossible in Classical societies. In either view, between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Renaissance, the West (or those regions that would later become the heartland of the culturally "western sphere") experienced a period of first, considerable decline, and then readaptation, reorientation and considerable renewed material, technological and political development. This whole period of roughly a millennium is known as the Middle Ages, its early part forming the "Dark Ages", designations that were created during the Renaissance and reflect the perspective on history, and the self-image, of the latter period.
The knowledge of the ancient Western world was partly preserved during this period due to the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire and the institutions of the Catholic Church; it was also greatly expanded by the Arab importation of both the Ancient Greco-Roman and new technology through Arabs from India and China to Europe. Since the Renaissance, the West evolved beyond the influence of the ancient Greeks and Romans and the Islamic world due to the Commercial, Scientific, and Industrial Revolutions, and the expansion of the peoples of Western and Central European empires, and particularly the globe-spanning empires of the 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous times, this expansion was accompanied by Christian missionaries, who attempted to proselytize Christianity.
Generally speaking, the current consensus would locate the West, at the very least, in the cultures and peoples of Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Latin America. There is debate among some as to whether Latin America is in a category of its own. Also, there is debate among some as to whether Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is in a category of its own. An argument supporting Central and Eastern Europe being a part of the West is that Central European, Southeastern European and Baltic countries such as Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia are now part of the European Union and NATO, which mostly comprise Western countries. These countries were both heavily influenced by and influenced the Western World, and share sociological values and culture.
The Western world, or simply the West, refers to various nations, depending on the context, most often including at least part of Europe.
There are many accepted definitions, all closely interrelated.
The Western world is also known as the Occident (from Latin: occidens "sunset, West", as contrasted with Orient).
Ancient Greece and ancient Rome are generally considered to be the birthplaces of Western civilization, the former due to its impact on Western philosophy, democracy, science, and art, the latter due to its influence in governance, republicanism, law, architecture and warfare.
The West is also founded upon Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism, which is in turn founded upon Hellenism, Roman culture and Judaism.
The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in the theological, methodological, and emphatical division between the Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
In the modern era, Western culture has been heavily influenced by the traditions of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Age of Enlightenment-and shaped by the expansive imperialism and colonialism of the 15th to 20th centuries.
The term "the West" was originally literal, opposing Catholic Europe with the cultures and civilizations of the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the remote Far East, which early-modern Europeans saw as "the East".
The term "Western world" sometimes refers to Europe, and to areas of the planet whose human populations largely consist of ethnic Europeans, spread there through the Age of Discovery's Christian imperialism.
Great explanation 👍👍👍👍
Stella Maris Europe and its colonies in the Americas
If Greece was the birthplace of civilization then why isn't it mentioned in the bible and yet Macedonia is mentioned 29 times.
What about Latin America, Australia and Japan? Are they part of Western civilization?
Japan?
Arnold Teras Latin America is part of the west.
That is why is called Latin...Latin means the language spoken by the romans which are now Spanish, Italian, Portuguese!.
The western Civilization impact on Latin America is undeniable.
They have lusithanian and Spanish heritage.
They speak Portuguese, spanish and french.
The governments are pure roman code.
The enlightment ideas created the independence movements.
All republics were created by europeans.
Mostly Catholics.
Clearly western.
juan se hernandez ellos creen q japón deberia estar y no latam q porq es Rico, per El hecho de q lo sea no lo hace Occidental.
Lol