Western

The term Western world, the West or the Occident (Latin occidens -sunset, -west, as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings dependent on its context (e.g., the time period, or the social situation). more...

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Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes the West will vary, expanding and contracting, in relation to various circumstances.
The historic West originated in the Mediterranean (ancient Greece and ancient Rome), but it came to include Central and Western Europe, although does include the whole of Europe as well as all of Russia (except during the U.S.S.R. era when considered part of the East).
Linguistically the frontier would run as far as the Indian Subcontinent. Since Columbus, the notion of the West has expanded to include the Americas, through much of Latin America's more pre-Western cultural influence. As well Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Africa are cultural hubs due to colonization. However during the Cold War the core of the West was often confined to N.A.T.O. countries.
In a political or economic context the term the "West" often includes developed nations such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Japan in particular is a founding member of the G8, is a democracy, has a high standard of living, high human development and is a major economic power.
In a world religious context, some would include those faiths acknowledging Abraham, however this umbrella's Islamic countries into the category as well. Western society has survived and evolved due greatly to the efforts of the Greeks, Romans, more recently the European empires, and more notably the British Empire. Generally speaking, the current consensus would locate the West in, at the very least, the cultures and peoples of the mainlands (Western) Europe, the two Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. There is debate as to whether Eastern Europe belongs to a category of its own, being neither western nor eastern, but somewhere in between both culturally and economically.

Historical divisions

The origins of the word "West" in terms of geopolitical boundaries started in the 1900s. Prior to this most humans would have thought about different nations, languages, individuals, and geographical regions, but with no idea of "Western" nations as we know it today. Many world maps were so crude and inaccurate before the 1800s that geographical and political differences would be harder to measure. Few would have access to good maps and even fewer had access to accurate descriptions of who lived in far away lands. Western thought as we think of it today, is shaped by ideas of the 1900s and 1800's, originating mainly in Europe. What we think of as "Western" thought today is defined as Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian culture, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and colonialism. As a consequence the term Western thought is at times unhelpful and vague, since it can define two separate (although related) sets of traditions and values: Firstly, the Christian (or Western Christian) moral tradition and religious values; Secondly, secular values, often with a rationalist anti-clerical tradition. Less acknowledged but equally as important was the influence of the Germanic cultures whose people overran Western Europe beginning in the fifth century AD and effectively became the rulers of Western Europe into the modern age, first in the form of the Goths and the Vandals and later in the form of the Franks who unified the West. In addition, many individuals throughout history do not easily fit into a false dichotomy of East or West.

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