Eastern world

The Eastern world, also known as the East or historically the Orient, is an umbrella term for various cultures or social structures, nations and philosophical systems, which vary depending on the context. It most often includes Asia, the Mediterranean region and the Arab world, specifically in historical (pre-modern) contexts, and in modern times in the context of Orientalism. The Eastern world is often seen as a counterpart to the Western world.

The various regions included in the term are varied, hard to generalize, and do not have a single shared common heritage. Although the various parts of the Eastern world share many common threads, most notably being in the "Global South", they have never historically defined themselves collectively. The term originally had a literal geographic meaning, referring to the eastern part of the Old World, contrasting the cultures and civilizations of Asia with those of Western Europe (or the Western world).

Conceptually, the boundary between east and west is more cultural and historical, rather than geographical, as a result of which Australia and New Zealand, which were founded as British settler colonies, are typically grouped with the Western world despite being geographically closer to the Eastern world, while the Central Asian nations of the former Soviet Union, are grouped in the East. Other than much of Asia and Africa, Western Europe has absorbed almost all of the societies of the Americas, and Oceania into the Western world because of settler colonialism.

Countries such as the Philippines, which are geographically located in the Eastern world, may be considered Western in some aspects of their society, culture and politics due to immigration and historical cultural influences from the United States and Western Europe.

Overview

The Eastern world is a term that includes many different countries, cultures, and groups of people. It mostly refers to parts of Asia and sometimes the Mediterranean and Arab regions. The idea of an "East" and a "West" comes from European history and how they saw themselves compared to cultures far away from them.

In the past, Europeans used words like "Orient" for the East and "Occident" for the West. As Europe explored and settled in new lands, these ideas spread around the world. Some people in Europe thought of Asia as a single area with its own special ways, which they called the "Oriental" world. This idea was shaped by their own views on race, religion, and culture.

Culture

Eastern culture, also called Eastern civilization or Asian civilization, refers to the many different ways of living and thinking in the Eastern world. This includes ideas about right and wrong, old traditions, what people believe, how governments work, and the things people make and use. These ideas come mainly from the history of Asia.

There are different groups within Eastern culture, like the countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. These groups often mix their traditions. This mixing includes the spread of Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, the use of Chinese characters or Brahmic scripts, different languages, and the blending of foods and customs.