Old World

"Old World" (Latin: Mundus vetustus) is a word for Afro-Eurasia. Europeans began using this term after 1493. That year, they learned about the Americas. Before this, they thought the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, all in the Eastern Hemisphere, were the whole world.

The term "Old World" helped people see the difference between these known continents and the "New World". The "New World" meant the newly found lands in the Western Hemisphere, like North and South America. This difference became important as more people explored and traded between the two parts of the world.

History

The term "Old World" refers to parts of Earth that shared cultural connections from the Bronze Age onward. This includes areas like the Mediterranean, North Africa, Mesopotamia, the Persian plateau, the Indian subcontinent, China, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. These places developed early civilizations and were linked by trade routes such as the Silk Road.

During this time, these areas entered the Iron Age, which came after the Bronze Age. This period also saw important cultural and religious changes, including the rise of philosophies and religions like Hellenism, Zoroastrian, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

Other names

The big land area of Afro-Eurasia, not counting islands like the British Isles, Japan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and the Malay Archipelago, is sometimes called the World Island. This name may have been first used by Sir Halford John Mackinder in his book The Geographical Pivot of History.