The "Old World" is a retronym used primarily by western civilizations to refer to Africa, Asia and Europe after Europeans made contact with the Americas, which they labeled the "New World". The ''Old World'' referred to that part of the world known to Europeans before encountering the Americas, and may also be called Afro-Eurasia or the ''World Island''.

Etymology

In the context of archaeology and world history, the term "Old World" includes those parts of the world which were in (indirect) cultural contact from the Bronze Age onwards, resulting in the parallel development of the early civilizations, mostly in the temperate zone between roughly the 45th and 25th parallels north, in the area of the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Persian plateau, Indian subcontinent and China. These regions were connected via the Silk Road trade route, and they have a pronounced Iron Age period following the Bronze Age. In cultural terms, the Iron Age was accompanied by the so-called Axial Age, referring to cultural, philosophical and religious developments eventually leading to the emergence of the historical Western (Hellenism, "classical"), Near Eastern (Zoroastrian and Abrahamic) and Far Eastern (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism) cultural spheres.

History

The concept of the three continents in the Old World, viz. Asia, Africa, and Europe, goes back to classical antiquity. Their boundaries as defined by Ptolemy and other geographers of antiquity were drawn along the Nile and Don rivers. This definition remained influential throughout the Middle Ages (see T and O map) and the Early Modern period.

Other names

The mainland of Afro-Eurasia (excluding islands or island groups such as the British Isles, Japan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and the Malay Archipelago) has been referred to as the "''World Island''". The term may have been coined by Sir Halford John Mackinder in ''The Geographical Pivot of History''.See Francis P. Sempa
"Mackinder's World."
''American Diplomacy'' (UNC.edu). Retrieved 8 September 2018. The equivalent of the Old World had names in some of its ancient cultures, including Midgard in Germanic cosmology and Oikoumene among the Greeks.

See also

* Eurocentrism * Afro-Eurasia

References

{{Western culture Category:Afro-Eurasia Category:Cultural regions Category:Geographical regions Category:Human geography Category:European culture Category:African culture Category:Asian culture Category:European colonisation in Africa Category:European colonisation in Asia Category:Country classifications Category:Cultural history Category:Age of Discovery