Western culture, also known asWestern civilization,European civilization,Occidental culture,Western society, or simplythe West, is theinternally diverse culture of theWestern world. The term "Western" encompasses thesocial norms,ethical values,traditional customs,belief systems,political systems,artifacts andtechnologies primarily rooted inEuropean andMediterranean histories. A broad concept, "Western culture" does not relate to a region with fixed members or geographical confines. It generally refers to the classical era cultures ofAncient Greece,Ancient Rome, andtheir Christian successors that expanded across theMediterranean basin andEurope, and later circulated around the world predominantly throughcolonization andglobalization.[1][2]
Historically, scholars have closely associated the idea of Western culture with the classical era ofGreco-Roman antiquity.[3][4] However, scholars also acknowledge that other cultures, likeAncient Egypt, thePhoenician city-states, and severalNear-Eastern cultures stimulated and influenced it.[5][6][7] TheHellenistic period also promotedsyncretism, blending Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures. Major advances in literature, engineering, and science shaped theHellenistic Jewish culture from which theearliest Christians and the GreekNew Testament emerged.[8][9][10] The eventualChristianization of Europe inlate-antiquity would ensure thatChristianity, particularly theCatholic Church, remained a dominant force in Western culture for many centuries to follow.[11][12][13][14]
Western culture continued to develop during the Middle Ages as reforms triggered by themedieval renaissances, theinfluence of the Islamic world viaAl-Andalus andSicily (including the transfer of technology from the East, andLatin translations ofArabic texts on science andphilosophy by Greek and Hellenic-influenced Islamic philosophers),[15][16][17] and theItalian Renaissance asGreek scholars fleeing thefall of Constantinople brought ancient Greek and Roman texts back to central and western Europe.[18]Medieval Christianity is credited with creating the modernuniversity,[19][20] the modern hospital system,[21] scientific economics,[22][23] andnatural law (which would later influence the creation ofinternational law).[24] European culture developed a complex range of philosophy,medieval scholasticism,mysticism andChristian andsecular humanism, setting the stage for theProtestant Reformation in the 16th century, which fundamentally altered religious and political life. Led by figures likeMartin Luther,Protestantism challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and promoted ideas ofindividual freedom andreligious reform, paving the way for modern notions ofpersonal responsibility and governance.[25][26][27][28]
TheEnlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries shifted focus toreason,science, andindividual rights, influencingrevolutions across Europe and the Americas and the development of modern democratic institutions. Enlightenment thinkers advanced ideals ofpolitical pluralism andempirical inquiry, which, together with theIndustrial Revolution, transformed Western society. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the influence of Enlightenmentrationalism continued with the rise ofsecularism andliberal democracy, while the Industrial Revolution fueled economic and technological growth. The expansion ofcivil rights and thedecline of religious authority marked significant cultural shifts. Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the concept ofpolitical pluralism,individualism, prominentsubcultures orcountercultures, and increasing culturalsyncretism resulting fromglobalization andimmigration.
The West as a geographical area is unclear and undefined. There is some disagreement about which nations should or should not be included in the category, when, and why. Certainly related conceptual terminology has changed over time in scope, meaning, and use. The term "western" draws on an affiliation with, or a perception of, a sharedphilosophy,worldview, political, and religious heritage grounded in theGreco-Roman world, thelegacy of the Roman Empire, and medieval concepts ofChristendom. For example, whether theEastern Roman Empire (anachronistically/controversially referred to as theByzantine Empire), or those countries heavily influenced by its legacy, should be counted as "Western" is an example of the possible ambiguity of the term. These questions[which?] can be traced back to the affiliation between theculture of ancient Rome and that ofClassical Greece, a persistentGreek East and Latin West language-split within theRoman Empire, and an eventual permanent splitting of the Roman Empire in 395 intoWestern andEastern halves. And perhaps, at its worst,[citation needed] culminating in Pope Leo III'stransfer of the Roman Empire from the Eastern Roman Empire to theFrankish KingCharlemagne in the form of theHoly Roman Empire in 800, theGreat Schism of 1054, and the devastatingFourth Crusade of 1204.
Conversely, traditions of scholarship aroundPlato,Aristotle, andEuclid had been forgotten in the Catholic west and were rediscovered by Italians from scholars fleeing the 1453 fall of theEastern Roman Empire.[18] The subsequentRenaissance, a conscious effort by Europeans to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of the Greco-Roman world, eventually encouraged theAge of Discovery, theScientific Revolution,Age of Enlightenment, and the subsequentIndustrial Revolution. Similarly, complicated relationships between virtually all the countries and regions within a broadly defined "West" can be discussed in the light of a persistently fragmented political landscape resulting in a lack of uniformity and significant diversity between the various cultures affiliating with this shared socio-cultural heritage. Thus, those cultures identifying with the West and with what it means to be "western" change over time as the geopolitical circumstances of a place changes and what is meant by the terminology changes.
It is difficult to determine which individuals or places or trends fit into which category, and the East–West contrast is sometimes criticized asrelativistic and arbitrary.[29][30][31][page needed] Globalization has spread Western ideas so widely that almost all modern cultures are, to some extent, influenced by aspects of Western culture. Stereotypical views of "the West" have been labeled "Occidentalism", paralleling "Orientalism"—the term for the 19th-century stereotyped views of "the East".
Somephilosophers have questioned whether Western culture can be considered a historically sound, unified body of thought.[32] For example,Kwame Anthony Appiah pointed out in 2016 that many of the fundamental influences on Western culture – such as those ofGreek philosophy – are also shared by theIslamic world to a certain extent.[32][need quotation to verify] Appiah argues that the origin of the Western and Europeanidentity can be traced back to the 8th-century Muslim invasion of Europe viaIberia, when Christians would start to form a common Christian or European identity.[32][need quotation to verify] Contemporary Latin chronicles from Spain referred to the victors in theFrankish victory over theUmayyads at the 732Battle of Tours as "Europeans" according to Appiah, denoting a shared sense of identity.[33]
A former, now less-acceptable synonym for "Western civilisation" was "thewhite race".[34]
As Europeans discovered the extra-European world, old concepts adapted. The area that had formerly been considered theOrient ("the East") became theNear East as the interests of the European powers interfered withMeiji Japan andQing China for the first time in the 19th century.[35] Thus theSino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 occurred in the "Far East" while troubles surrounding thedecline of the Ottoman Empire occurred simultaneously in the Near East.[a] The term "Middle East" in the mid-19th century included the territory east of theOttoman Empire but west of China—Greater Persia andGreater India—but is now used synonymously with "Near East" in most languages.
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The earliestcivilizations which influenced the development of Western culture were those ofMesopotamia; the area of theTigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-dayIraq, northeasternSyria, southeasternTurkey and southwesternIran: thecradle of civilization.[36][37]Ancient Egypt similarly had a strong influence on Western culture.
Phoenician mercantilism and the introduction of the alphabetical script boosted state formation in the Aegean and current-day Italy and current-day Spain, spawning civilizations in the Mediterranean such asAncient Carthage,Ancient Greece,Etruria, andAncient Rome.[38]
TheGreeks contrasted themselves with both theirEastern neighbors (such as theTrojans inIliad) as well as their Northern neighbors (who they consideredbarbarians).[citation needed] Concepts of what isthe West arose out of legacies of theWestern and the Eastern Roman Empire. Later, ideas of the West were formed by the concepts ofLatin Christendom and theHoly Roman Empire. What is thought of as Western thought today originates primarily fromGreco-Roman and Christian traditions, with varying degrees of influence from theGermanic,Celtic andSlavic peoples, and includes the ideals of theMiddle Ages,the Renaissance,Reformation and theEnlightenment.[39]
During theGreco-Roman world, North Africa and the Western regions of the Middle East were integral parts of the Western civilization, due toHellenization and the direct cultural impact of the conquests of the Roman Empire. After the Roman conquests, the whole Mediterranean became essentially a Roman inland sea.[40]
While the concept of a "West" did not exist until the emergence of theRoman Republic, the roots of the concept can be traced back toAncient Greece. SinceHomeric literature (theTrojan Wars), through the accounts of thePersian Wars ofGreeks againstPersians byHerodotus, and right up until the time ofAlexander the Great, there was aparadigm of a contrast between Greeks and other civilizations.[41] Greeks felt they were the most civilized and saw themselves (in the formulation ofAristotle) as something between the advanced civilizations of theNear East (who they viewed as soft and slavish) and the wildbarbarians of most of Europe to the north. During this period writers like Herodotus andXenophon would highlight the importance of freedom in the Ancient Greek world, as opposed to the perceived slavery of the so-called barbaric world.[41]
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Alexander's conquests led to the emergence of aHellenistic civilization, representing a synthesis of Greek andNear-Eastern cultures in theEastern Mediterranean region.[42] The Near-Eastern civilizations ofAncient Egypt and theLevant, which came under Greek rule, became part of the Hellenistic world. The most important Hellenistic centre of learning wasPtolemaic Egypt, which attracted Greek,Egyptian, Jewish,Persian,Phoenician and evenIndian scholars.[43] Hellenistic science, philosophy,architecture,literature and art later provided a foundation embraced and built upon by theRoman Empire as it swept up Europe and theMediterranean world, including the Hellenistic world in its conquests in the 1st century BCE.
Following the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic world, the concept of a "West" arose, as there was a cultural divide between theGreek East and Latin West. The Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire consisted of Western Europe and Northwest Africa, while the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire consisted of theBalkans,Asia Minor,Egypt andLevant. The "Greek" East was generally wealthier and more advanced than the "Latin" West.[citation needed] With the exception ofItalia, the wealthiest provinces of the Roman Empire were in the East, particularly Roman Egypt which was the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italia.[44][45] Nevertheless, the Celts in the West created some significant literature in the ancient world whenever they were given the opportunity (an example being the poetCaecilius Statius), and they developed a large amount of scientific knowledge themselves (as seen in theirColigny Calendar).
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For about five hundred years, the Roman Empire maintained theGreek East and consolidated a Latin West, but an east–west division remained, reflected in many cultural norms of the two areas, including language. Eventually, the empire became increasingly split into a Western and Eastern part, reviving old ideas of a contrast between an advanced East, and a rugged West.
From the time of Alexander the Great (theHellenistic period), Greek civilization came in contact with Jewish civilization. Christianity would eventually emerge from thesyncretism ofHellenic culture,Roman culture, andSecond Temple Judaism, gradually spreading across the Roman Empire and eclipsing its antecedents and influences.[46]
The Greek and Romanpaganism was gradually replaced by Christianity, first with its legalisation with theEdict of Milan and then theEdict of Thessalonica which made it theState church of the Roman Empire.Catholic Christianity, served as a unifying force in Christian parts of Europe, and in some respects replaced or competed with the secular authorities. TheJewish Christian tradition out of which it had emerged was all but extinguished, andantisemitism became increasingly entrenched or even integral to Christendom.[47][48] Much of art and literature, law, education, and politics were preserved in the teachings of the Church.
In a broader sense, theMiddle Ages, with its fertile encounter between Greek philosophicalreasoning and Levantinemonotheism was not confined to the West but also stretched into the old East. The philosophy and science of Classical Greece were largely forgotten in Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, other than in isolated monastic enclaves (notably in Ireland, which had become Christian but was never conquered by Rome).[49] The learning ofClassical Antiquity was better preserved in the Eastern Roman Empire. Justinian'sCorpus Juris Civilis Roman civil law code was created in the East in his capital of Constantinople,[50] and that city maintained trade and intermittent political control over outposts such asVenice in the West for centuries. Classical Greek learning was also subsumed, preserved, and elaborated in the rising Eastern world, which gradually supplanted Roman-Byzantine control as a dominant cultural-political force. Thus, much of the learning of classical antiquity was slowly reintroduced to European civilization in the centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
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After thefall of Rome, much ofGreco-Roman art, literature, science and even technology were all but lost in the western part of the old empire. However, this would become the center of a new West. Europe fell into political anarchy, with many warring kingdoms and principalities. Under the Frankish kings, it eventually, and partially, reunified, and the anarchy evolved intofeudalism.
The Medieval West referred specifically to the Catholic "Latin" West, also called "Frankish" duringCharlemagne's reign, in contrast to the Orthodox East, where Greek remained the language of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) was formed byAlcuin of York in the late 8th century during theCarolingian Renaissance, limited to the territories that practisedWestern Christianity at the time. "European" as a cultural term did not include much of the territories where the Orthodox Church represented the dominant religion until the 19th century.[53]
Much of the basis of the post-Roman cultural world had been set before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, mainly through the integration and reshaping of Roman ideas through Christian thought. TheEastern Orthodox Church founded manycathedrals,monasteries andseminaries, some of which continue to exist today.
After thefall of the Roman Empire, many of the classical Greek texts were translated into Arabic and preserved in themedieval Islamic world. TheGreek classics along withArabic science,philosophy and technology weretransmitted to Western Europe andtranslated into Latin, sparking theRenaissance of the 12th century and 13th century.[15][16][17]
Medieval Christianity is credited with creating the first modern universities.[19][20] The Catholic Church established a hospital system in medieval Europe that vastly improved upon the Romanvaletudinaria[54] and Greek healing temples.[55] These hospitals were established to cater to "particular social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to the historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse.[21] Christianity played a role in ending practices common among pagan societies, such as human sacrifice, slavery,[56] infanticide and polygamy.[57]Francisco de Vitoria, a disciple ofThomas Aquinas and a Catholic thinker who studied the issue regarding the human rights of colonized natives, is recognized by the United Nations as a father of international law, and now also by historians of economics and democracy as a leading light for the West's democracy and rapid economic development.[58]Joseph Schumpeter, an economist of the twentieth century, referring to theScholastics, wrote, "it is they who come nearer than does any other group to having been the 'founders' of scientific economics."[22]
The rediscovery of theJustinian Code in Western Europe early in the 10th century rekindled a passion for the discipline of law, which crossed many of the re-forming boundaries between East and West. In theCatholic orFrankish west,Roman law became the foundation on which all legal concepts and systems were based. Its influence is found in all Western legal systems, although in different manners and to different extents. The study ofcanon law, the legal system of the Catholic Church, fused with that of Roman law to form the basis of the refounding of Western legal scholarship.
FromLate Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, and onwards, while Eastern Europe was shaped by theEastern Orthodox Church, Southern and Central Europe were increasingly stabilized by theCatholic Church which, as Roman imperial governance faded from view, was the only consistent force in Western Europe.[59] In 1054 came theGreat Schism that, following theGreek East and Latin West divide, separated Europe into religious and cultural regions present to this day.
In the 14th century, the Renaissance starting from Italy and then spreading throughout Europe,[60] there was a massive artistic, architectural, scientific and philosophical revival, as a result of the Christian revival of Greek philosophy, and the long Christian medieval tradition that established the use of reason as one of the most important of human activities.[61] This period is commonly referred to as theRenaissance. In the following century, this process was further enhanced by an exodus of Greek Christian priests andscholars to Italian cities such asFlorence andVenice after the end of the Byzantine Empire with the fall of Constantinople.
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Until the Age of Enlightenment,[62]Christian culture took over as the predominant force in Western civilization, guiding the course of philosophy, art, and science for many years.[59][63] Movements in art and philosophy, such as theHumanist movement of the Renaissance and theScholastic movement of theHigh Middle Ages, were motivated by a drive to connectCatholicism with Greek and Arab thought imported by Christian pilgrims.[64][65][66] However, due to the division inWestern Christianity caused by theProtestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, religious influence—especially the temporal power of the Pope—began to wane.[67][68]
During the Reformation and Enlightenment, the ideas ofcivil rights,equality before the law,procedural justice, and democracy as the ideal form of society began to be institutionalized as principles forming the basis of modern Western culture, particularly in Protestant regions.
From the late 15th century to the 17th century, Western culture began to spread to other parts of the world through explorers and missionaries during theAge of Discovery, and byimperialists from the 17th century to the early 20th century. During theGreat Divergence, a term coined bySamuel Huntington[69] the Western world overcame pre-modern growth constraints and emerged during the 19th century as the most powerful and wealthy worldcivilization of the time, eclipsingQing China,Mughal India,Tokugawa Japan, and theOttoman Empire. The process was accompanied and reinforced by the Age of Discovery and continued into the modern period. Scholars have proposed awide variety of theories to explain why the Great Divergence happened, including lack of government intervention, high bridging social capital, geography, colonialism, and customary traditions.
TheAge of Discovery faded into theAge of Enlightenment of the 18th century, during which cultural and intellectual forces in European society emphasized reason, analysis, and individualism rather than traditional lines of authority. It challenged the authority of institutions that were deeply rooted in society, such as the Catholic Church; there was much talk of ways to reform society with toleration, science andskepticism.
Philosophers of the Enlightenment includedFrancis Bacon,René Descartes,John Locke,Baruch Spinoza,Voltaire (1694–1778),Jean-Jacques Rousseau,David Hume, andImmanuel Kant,[70] who influenced society by publishing widely read works. Upon learning about enlightened views, some rulers met with intellectuals and tried to apply their reforms, such as allowing for toleration, or accepting multiple religions, in what became known asenlightened absolutism. New ideas and beliefs spread around Europe and were fostered by an increase in literacy due to a departure from solely religious texts. Publications includeEncyclopédie (1751–72) that was edited byDenis Diderot andJean le Rond d'Alembert. TheDictionnaire philosophique (Philosophical Dictionary, 1764) andLetters on the English (1733) written byVoltaire spread the ideals of the Enlightenment.
Coinciding with the Age of Enlightenment was theScientific Revolution, spearheaded by Newton. This included the emergence ofmodern science, during which developments inmathematics,physics,astronomy,biology (includinghuman anatomy) andchemistry transformed views of society and nature.[71][72][73][74][75][76][excessive citations] While its dates are disputed, the publication in 1543 ofNicolaus Copernicus'sDe revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution, and its completion is attributed to the "grand synthesis" of Newton's 1687Principia.
TheIndustrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency ofwater power, the increasing use ofsteam power, and the development ofmachine tools.[78] These transitions began in Great Britain and spread to Western Europe and North America within a few decades.[79]
The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. Some economists say that the major impact of the Industrial Revolution was that thestandard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history, although others have said that it did not begin to meaningfully improve until the late 19th and 20th centuries.[80][81][82] The precise start and end of the Industrial Revolution is still debated among historians, as is the pace of economic and social changes.[83][84][85][86] GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the moderncapitalist economy,[87] while the Industrial Revolution began an era of per-capita economic growth in capitalist economies.[88] Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication of animals, plants[89] and fire.
The First Industrial Revolution evolved into theSecond Industrial Revolution in the transition years between 1840 and 1870, when technological and economic progress continued with the increasing adoption of steam transport (steam-powered railways, boats, and ships), the large-scale manufacture of machine tools and the increasing use of machinery in steam-powered factories.[90][91][92]
Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the concept ofpolitical pluralism,individualism, prominentsubcultures orcountercultures (such asNew Age movements) and increasing culturalsyncretism resulting fromglobalization and immigration. Western culture has been heavily influenced by the Renaissance, the Ages ofDiscovery and Enlightenment and theIndustrial andScientific Revolutions.[93][94]
In the 20th century,Christianity declined in influence in many Western countries, mostly in the European Union where some member states have experienced falling church attendance and membership in recent years,[95] and also elsewhere.Secularism (separating religion from politics and science) increased. Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western world, where 70% are Christians.[96]
The West went through a series of great cultural and social changes between 1945 and 1980. The emergent mass media (film, radio, television and recorded music) created a global culture that could ignore national frontiers. Literacy became almost universal, encouraging the growth of books, magazines and newspapers. The influence of cinema and radio remained, while televisions became near essentials in every home.
By the mid-20th century, Western culture was exported worldwide, and the development and growth of international transport and telecommunication (such astransatlantic cable and theradiotelephone) played a decisive role in modern globalization. The West has contributed a great many technological, political, philosophical, artistic and religious aspects to modern international culture: having been a crucible ofCatholicism,Protestantism, democracy, industrialisation; the first major civilisation to seek toabolish slavery during the 19th century, and the first to put to use such technologies assteam,electric andnuclear power. The West invented cinema, television, the personal computer, the Internet and video games; developed sports such as soccer,cricket,golf,tennis,rugby,basketball, andvolleyball; and transported humans to anastronomical object for the first time with the 1969Apollo 11Moon Landing.
In music, Catholic monks developed the first forms of modern Western musical notation to standardize liturgy throughout the worldwide Church,[97] and an enormous body of religious music has been composed for it through the ages. This led directly to the emergence and development of European classical music and its many derivatives. TheBaroque style, which encompassed music, art, and architecture, was particularly encouraged by the post-Reformation Catholic Church as such forms offered a means of religious expression that was stirring and emotional, intended to stimulate religious fervor.[98]
Thesymphony, concerto,sonata, opera, andoratorio have their origins in Italy. Manymusical instruments developed in the West have come to see widespread use all over the world; among them are the guitar, violin, piano,pipe organ, saxophone, trombone, clarinet,accordion, and thetheremin. In turn, it has been claimed that some European instruments have roots in earlier Eastern instruments that wereadopted from the medieval Islamic world.[99] The solo piano,symphony orchestra, and thestring quartet are also significant musical innovations of the West.
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Jan van Eyck, among other renaissance painters, made great advances inoil painting, andperspective drawings and paintings had their earliest practitioners inFlorence.[100] In art, theCeltic knot is a very distinctive Western repeated motif. Depictions of the nude human male and female in photography, painting, and sculpture are frequently considered to have special artistic merit. Realisticportraiture is especially valued.
Photography and the motion picture as both a technology and basis for entirely new art forms were also developed in the West.
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The ballet is a distinctively Western form of performance dance.[101] Theballroom dance is an important Western variety of dance for the elite. Thepolka, thesquare dance, theflamenco, and the Irishstep dance are very well known Western forms offolk dance.
Greek andRoman theatre are considered the antecedents of modern theatre, and forms such asmedieval theatre,Passion Plays,morality plays, andcommedia dell'arte are considered highly influential.Elizabethan theatre, with playwrights includingWilliam Shakespeare,Christopher Marlowe, andBen Jonson, is considered one of the most formative and important eras for modern drama.
The soap opera, a popular culture dramatic form, originated in the United States first on radio in the 1930s, then a couple of decades later on television. The music video was also developed in the West in the middle of the 20th century. Musical theatre was developed in the West in the 19th and 20th Centuries, frommusic hall,comic opera, andVaudeville; with significant contributions from theJewish diaspora,African-Americans, and other marginalized peoples.[102][103][104]
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Western literature encompasses the literary traditions of Europe, as well as North America, Oceania and Latin America.[105]
While epic literary works in verse such as theMahabharata and Homer'sIliad are ancient and occurred worldwide, the prose novel as a distinct form of storytelling, with developed, consistent human characters and, typically, some connected overall plot (although both of these characteristics have sometimes been modified and played with in later times), was popularized by the West[106] in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of course, extended prose fiction had existed much earlier; both novels of adventure and romance in theHellenistic world and inHeian Japan. BothPetronius'Satyricon (c. 60 CE) and theTale of Genji byMurasaki Shikibu (c. 1000 CE) have been cited as the world's first major novel but they had a very limited long-term impact on literary writing beyond their own day until much more recent times.
Tragedy, from its ritually and mythologically inspired Greek origins to modern forms where struggle and downfall are often rooted in psychological or social, rather than mythical, motives, is also widely considered a specifically European creation and can be seen as a forerunner of some aspects of both the novel and of classical opera.
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Important Western architectural motifs include theDoric,Corinthian, andIonic orders ofGreek architecture,[107] and theRomanesque,Gothic,Renaissance,Baroque, andVictorian styles, which are still widely recognized and used in contemporary Western architecture. Much of Western architecture emphasizes repetition of simple motifs, straight lines and expansive, undecorated planes. A modern ubiquitous architectural form that emphasizes this characteristic is theskyscraper, their modern equivalent first developed in New York and Chicago. The predecessor of the skyscraper can be found in themedieval towers erected in Bologna.
Westernfoodways were, until recently, considered to have their roots in thecuisines of Classical Rome and Greece, but the influence of Arab andNear Eastern cuisine on the West has become a topic of research in recent decades. TheCrusaders, known mostly for fighting over holy land, settled in the Levant and acclimated to the local culture and cuisine.Fulcher of Chartres said "For we who were occidentals have now become orientals." These cultural experiences, carried back to France by notables likeEleanor of Aquitaine influenced Western European foodways. Many Oriental ingredients were relatively new to the Western lands. Sugar, almonds, pistachios, rosewater, and dried citrus fruits were all novelties to the Crusaders who encountered them in Saracen lands. Pepper, ginger and cinnamon were the most widely used spices of the European courts and noble households. By the end of the Middle Ages,cloves,nutmeg,mastic,galingale, and other imported spices had become part of the Western cuisine.[108]
Saracen influence can be seen in medieval cookbooks. Some recipes retain their Arabic names in Italian translations of theLiber de Coquina. Known asbruet Sarassinois in the cuisine of North France, the concept of sweet and sour sauce is attested to in Greek tradition whenAnthimus finishes his stew with vinegar and honey. Saracens combined sweet ingredients like date-juice and honey with pomegranate, lemons and citrus juices, or other sour ingredients. The technique of browning pieces of meat and simmering in liquid with vegetables is used in many recipes from theBaghdad cookery book. The same technique appears in the late-13th centuryViandier. Fried pieces of beef simmered in wine with sugar and cloves was calledbruet of Sarcynesse in English.[108]
A notable feature of Western culture is its strong emphasis and focus on innovation and invention through science and technology, and its ability to generate new processes, materials and material artifacts with its roots dating back to the Ancient Greeks. Thescientific method as "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses" was fashioned by the 17th-century ItalianGalileo Galilei,[110][111] with roots in the work of medieval scholars such as the 11th-centuryIraqi physicistIbn al-Haytham[112][113] and the 13th-century English friarRoger Bacon.[114]
By thewill of the Swedish inventorAlfred Nobel theNobel Prizes were established in 1895. The prizes inChemistry,Literature,Peace,Physics, andPhysiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.[115] The percentage of ethnically European Nobel prize winners during the first and second halves of the 20th century were respectively 98 and 94 percent.[116]
The West is credited with the development of thesteam engine and adapting its use into factories, and for the generation ofelectric power.[117] The electricalmotor,dynamo,transformer,electric light, and most of the familiar electrical appliances, were inventions of the West.[118][119][120][121] TheOtto and theDieselinternal combustion engines are products whose genesis and early development were in the West.[122][123]Nuclear power stations are derived from the firstatomic pile constructed in Chicago in 1942.[124]
Communication devices and systems including thetelegraph, the telephone, radio, television,communications andnavigation satellites, mobile phone, and the Internet were all invented by Westerners.[125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132] Thepencil,ballpoint pen,Cathode ray tube,liquid-crystal display,light-emitting diode, camera,photocopier,laser printer,ink jet printer,plasma display screen andWorld Wide Web were also invented in the West.[133][134][135][136][137]
Ubiquitous materials including aluminum, clear glass,synthetic rubber,synthetic diamond and the plasticspolyethylene,polypropylene,polyvinyl chloride andpolystyrene were discovered and developed or invented in the West. Iron and steel ships, bridges and skyscrapers first appeared in the West.Nitrogen fixation andpetrochemicals were invented by Westerners. Most of theelements were discovered and named in the West, as well as the contemporaryatomic theories to explain them.[138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145]
Thetransistor,integrated circuit, memory chip, firstprogramming language and computer were all first seen in the West. Theship's chronometer, thescrew propeller, thelocomotive, bicycle,automobile, and airplane were all invented in the West.Eyeglasses, thetelescope, themicroscope andelectron microscope, all the varieties ofchromatography,protein andDNA sequencing,computerised tomography,nuclear magnetic resonance,x-rays, and light, ultraviolet and infraredspectroscopy, were all first developed and applied in Western laboratories, hospitals and factories.[citation needed]
In medicine, the pureantibiotics were created in the West. The method of preventingRh disease, the treatment ofdiabetes, and thegerm theory of disease were discovered by Westerners. The eradication ofsmallpox, was led by a Westerner,Donald Henderson.Radiography,computed tomography,positron emission tomography andmedical ultrasonography are important diagnostic tools developed in the West. Other important diagnostic tools ofclinical chemistry, including the methods ofspectrophotometry,electrophoresis andimmunoassay, were first devised by Westerners. So were thestethoscope, theelectrocardiograph, and theendoscope.Vitamins,hormonal contraception,hormones,insulin,beta blockers andACE inhibitors, along with a host of other medically proven drugs, were first used to treat disease in the West. Thedouble-blind study andevidence-based medicine are critical scientific techniques widely used in the West for medical purposes.[citation needed]
In mathematics,calculus, statistics,logic,vectors,tensors andcomplex analysis,group theory,abstract algebra andtopology were developed by Westerners.[146][147][148][149][150][151][152] In biology,evolution,chromosomes,DNA,genetics and the methods ofmolecular biology are creations of the West. In physics, the science ofmechanics andquantum mechanics,relativity,thermodynamics, andstatistical mechanics were all developed by Westerners. The discoveries and inventions by Westerners inelectromagnetism includeCoulomb's law (1785), the firstbattery (1800), the unity ofelectricity and magnetism (1820),Biot–Savart law (1820),Ohm's law (1827), andMaxwell's equations (1871). Theatom,nucleus,electron,neutron andproton were all unveiled by Westerners.[citation needed]
The world's most widely adopted system of measurement, theInternational System of Units, derived from themetric system, was first developed in France and evolved through contributions from various Westerners.[153][154]
In business, economics, and finance,double entry bookkeeping, credit cards, and thecharge card were all first used in the West.[155][156]
Westerners are also known for their explorations of the globe andouter space. The first expedition tocircumnavigate the Earth (1522) was by Westerners, as well as the first journey to the South Pole (1911), and the first Moon landing (1969).[157][158] Thelanding of robots on Mars (2004 and 2012) and on anasteroid (2001), theVoyager 2 explorations of the outer planets (Uranus in 1986 andNeptune in 1989),Voyager 1's passage into interstellar space (2013), andNew Horizons' flyby ofPluto (2015) were significant recent Western achievements.[159][160][161][162][163]
The roots of modern-day Western mass media can be traced back to the late 15th century, whenprinting presses began to operate throughout wealthy European cities. The emergence of news media in the 17th century has to be seen in close connection with thespread of the printing press, from which the publishingpress derives its name.[164]
In the 16th century, a decrease in the preeminence ofLatin in its literary use, along with the impact of economic change, the discoveries arising from trade and travel, navigation to theNew World, science and arts and the development of increasingly rapid communications through print led to a rising corpus of vernacular media content in European society.[165]
After the launch of the satelliteSputnik 1 by the Soviet Union in 1957, satellite transmission technology was dramatically realised, with the United States launchingTelstar in 1962 linking live media broadcasts from the UK to the US. The first digital broadcast satellite (DBS) system began transmitting in US in 1975.[166]
Beginning in the 1990s, the Internet has contributed to a tremendous increase in the accessibility of Western media content. Departing from media offered in bundled content packages (magazines, CDs,television and radio slots), the Internet has primarily offered unbundled content items (articles, audio and video files).[167]
The native religions of Europe werepolytheistic but not homogenous – however, they were similar insofar as they were predominantlyIndo-European in origin.Roman religion was similar to but not the same asHellenic religion – likewise forindigenous Germanic polytheism,Celtic polytheism andSlavic polytheism. Before this time many Europeans from the north, especially Scandinavians, remained polytheistic, though southern Europe was predominantly Christian from the 5th century onwards.
Western culture at a fundamental level is influenced by theJudeo-Christian andGreco-Roman traditions.[168] These cultures had a number of similarities, such as a common emphasis on the individual, but they also embody fundamentally conflicting worldviews. For example, in Judaism and Christianity, God is the ultimate authority, while Greco-Roman tradition considers the ultimate authority to bereason. Christian attempts to reconcile these frameworks were responsible for the preservation ofGreek philosophy.[168] Historically, Europe has been the center and cradle ofChristian civilization.[169][170][171][172]
According to a survey byPew Research Center from 2011, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western world where 70–84% are Christians,[96] According to this survey, 76% of Europeans described themselves as Christians,[96][173][174] and about 86% of theAmericas' population identified themselves as Christians,[175] (90% in Latin America and 77% in North America).[174] 73% in Oceania self-identify as Christian, and 76% in South Africa are Christian.[96]
Eurobarometer polls about religiosity in the European Union in 2012 found that Christianity was the largest religion in theEuropean Union, accounting for 72% of the population.[176]Catholics are the largestChristian group, accounting for 48%, whileProtestants make up 12%,Eastern Orthodox make up 8% and other Christians make up 4% of the population respectively.[177] In addition,Non-believers/Agnostics account for 16%,[176]atheists account for 7%,[176] andMuslims account for 2% of the population respectively.[176] According to Scholars, in 2017, Europe's population was 77.8% Christian (up from 74.9% 1970),[178][179] these changes were largely largely ascribed to thecollapse of Communism andswitching to Christianity in the former Soviet Union andEastern Bloc countries.[178]
At the same time, there has been an increase in the share of agnostic oratheist residents in Europe that accounted for 18% of the European population in 2012.[180] In particular, over half of the population of theCzech Republic (79%) was agnostic, atheist or irreligious, compared to theUnited Kingdom (52%),Germany (25–33%),[181]France (30–35%)[182][183][184] and theNetherlands (39–44%).
As in other areas, theJewish diaspora and Judaism exist in the Western world.
There are also small but increasing numbers of people across the Western world who seek to revive the indigenous religions of their European ancestors; suchgroups includeGermanic,Roman,Hellenic,Celtic,Slavic, and polytheistic reconstructionist movements. Likewise,Wicca, New Age spirituality and otherneo-pagan belief systems enjoy notable minority support in Western states.
Sinceclassical antiquity, sport has been an important facet of Western cultural expression.[185][186]
A wide range of sports was already established by the time ofAncient Greece and the military culture and the development of sports in Greece influenced one another considerably. Sports became such a prominent part of their culture that the Greeks created theOlympic Games, which in ancient times were held every four years in a small village in thePeloponnesus calledOlympia. BaronPierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, instigated the modern revival of the Olympic movement. The first modern Olympic games were held atAthens in 1896.
The Romans built immense structures such as theamphitheatres to house their festivals of sport. The Romans exhibited a passion forblood sports, such as the infamousGladiatorial battles that pitted contestants against one another in a fight to the death. The Olympic Games revived many of the sports ofclassical antiquity—such asGreco-Roman wrestling,discus andjavelin.The sport ofbullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France, and some Latin American countries. It traces its roots to prehistoricbull worship andsacrifice and is often linked to Rome, where many human-versus-animal events were held. Bullfighting spread from Spain to its American colonies, and in the 19th century to France, where it developed into a distinctive form in its own right.[187]
Jousting and hunting were popular sports in the European Middle Ages, and the aristocratic classes developed passions for leisure activities. A great number of popular global sports were first developed or codified in Europe. The modern game ofgolf originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf isJames II's banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learningarchery.[188]
TheIndustrial Revolution that began in Great Britain in the 18th century brought increased leisure time, leading to more opportunities for citizens to participate in athletic activities and also follow spectator sports. These trends continued with the advent of mass media and global communication. The bat and ball sport ofcricket was first played in England during the 16th century and was exported around the globe via theBritish Empire. A number of popular modern sports were devised or codified in the United Kingdom during the 19th century and obtained global prominence; these includeping pong, moderntennis, association football,netball andrugby.[189]
Football (or soccer) remains hugely popular in Europe, but has grown from its origins to be known as theworld game. Similarly, sports such as cricket, rugby, and netball were exported around the world, particularly among countries in theCommonwealth of Nations, thus India and Australia are among the strongest cricketing states, while victory in theRugby World Cup has been shared among New Zealand, Australia, England, and South Africa.
Australian Rules Football, an Australian variation of football with similarities toGaelic football andrugby, evolved in the Britishcolony of Victoria in the mid-19th century. The United States also developed unique variations of English sports. English migrants took antecedents ofbaseball to America during the colonial period. The history ofAmerican football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Many games are known as "football" were being played at colleges and universities in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted byWalter Camp, the "Father of American football".Basketball was invented in 1891 byJames Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor working inSpringfield, Massachusetts, in the United States.Volleyball was created inHolyoke, Massachusetts, a city directly north of Springfield, in 1895.
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Western culture has developed many themes and traditions, the most significant of which are:[citation needed]
the term "Western" — refer to the culture of classical antiquity that arose in Greece and Rome; survived the collapse of the Roman Empire; spread to western and northern Europe; then during the great periods of exploration and colonization of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries expanded to the Americas, Australia and areas of Asia and Africa; and now exercises global political, economic, cultural, and military power far greater than the size of its territory or population might otherwise suggest.
The Greeks provided the chromosomes of Western civilization. One does not have to idealize the Greeks to sustain that point. Greek ways of exploring the cosmos, defining the problems of knowledge (and what is meant by knowledge itself), creating the language in which such problems are explored, representing the physical world and human society in the arts, defining the nature of value, describing the past, still underlie the Western cultural tradition
Greekness was identified with freedom-spiritual and social as well as political-and slavery was equated with being barbarian, [...] 'democracy' was a Greek invention (celebrating its 2,500th anniversary in 1993/4) [...] an ancient culture, that of the Greeks — is both a foundation stone of our own (Western) civilization and at the same time in key respects a deeply alien phenomenon.
Had the Persians overrun all of mainland Greece, had they then transformed the Greek city-states into satrapies of the Persian Empire, had Greek democracy been snuffed out, there would have been no Greek theater, no Greek science, no Plato, no Aristotle, no Sophocles, no Aeschylus. The incredible burst of creative energy that took place during the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. and that laid the foundation for all of later Western civilization would never have happened. [...] in the years between 490 and 479 B.C.E., the entire future of the Western world hung precariously in the balance
In 1,200 years the tiny village of Rome established a republic, conquered all of the Mediterranean basin and western Europe, lost its republic, and finally, surrendered its empire. In the process the Romans laid the foundation of Western civilization. [...] The pragmatic Romans brought Greek and Hebrew ideas down to earth, modified them, and transmitted them throughout western Europe. [...] Roman law remains the basis for the legal codes of most western European and Latin American countries — Even in English-speaking countries, where common law prevails, Roman law has exerted substantial influence
Side by side with Christianity, the classical Greco-Roman world forms the sound foundation of Western civilization. Greek philosophy is also the origin for the methods and contents of the philosophical thought and theological investigation in Islam and Judaism
We have ample evidence that the Greek thinkers encountered and responded to many different cultures and ideologies. Consider, for example, the city of Miletus, which was the center of intellectual activity in sixth-century Ionia. Miletus bordered on the Lydian and, later, the Persian empires and had extensive dealings with these cultures.In addition, it had trading relations all over the Mediterranean and sent out numerous colonies to Egypt and Thrace. The Milesian thinkers thus encountered ideas and practices from all over the "known" world. In the Archaic period, the interaction of different peoples from Greece, Italy, Egypt, and the Near East created a cultural ferment that had a profound impact on Greek life and thought.
Knowledge of Egyptian art after the mid century led to Greek exploitation of the harder stone, their white island marble, for the first time, and the creation of figures at life size or more. We know these best—the kouroi and korai—as dedications and grave markers, but a prime use for monumental statuary must have been as cult images and it is at about this time that the temple-houses, oikoi, for these images begin to receive a monumental form and, again probably through inspiration from Egypt are decorated with architectural orders: first the Doric in homeland Greece, then the orientalizing Ionic in the East Greek world.
{{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)[...] the first recorded use of a word for Europeans as a kind of person, so far as I know, comes out of this history of conflict. In a Latin chronicle, written in 754 in Spain, the author refers to the victors of the Battle of Tours asEuropenses, Europeans. So, simply put, the very idea of a 'European' was first used to contrast Christians and Muslims.
[...] that one group of humans who used to refer to themselves as 'the white race' (and now, generally, call themselves by its more accepted synonym, 'Western civilization') [...].
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)it is fairly clear that up to 1800 or maybe 1750, no society had experienced sustained growth in per capita income. (Eighteenth century population growth also averaged one-third of 1 percent, the same as production growth.) That is, up to about two centuries ago, per capitaincomes in all societies were stagnated at around $400 to $800 per year.
[consider] annual growth rates of 2.4 percent for the first 60 years of the 20th century, of 1 percent for the entire 19th century, of one-third of 1 percent for the 18th century
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) No name is given to the transition years. The "Transportation Revolution" began with improved roads in the late 18th century.{{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Alhazen (or Al-Haytham; 965–1039 CE) was perhaps one of the greatest physicists of all times and a product of the Islamic Golden Age or Islamic Renaissance (7th–13th centuries). He made significant contributions to anatomy, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, ophthalmology, philosophy, physics, psychology, and visual perception and is primarily attributed as the inventor of the scientific method, for which author Bradley Steffens (2006) describes him as the "first scientist".
electrophorus volta.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)At the same time, then as the printing press in the physical technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was now born.
..for the Jews in twentieth-century Europe, the cradle of Christian civilization.
..for the Jews in twentieth-century Europe, the cradle of Christian civilization.
Europe is historically the cradle of Christian culture, it is still the primary center of institutional and pastoral energy in the Catholic Church...
Europe is historically the cradle of Christian culture, it is still the primary center of institutional and pastoral energy in the Catholic Church...
The Bible is the most globally influential and widely read book ever written. ... it has been a major influence on the behavior, laws, customs, education, art, literature, and morality of Western civilization.
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