Old World

"Old World" (Latin: Mundus vetustus) is a term for Afro-Eurasia that Europeans started using after 1493. This was the year they learned about the existence of the Americas. Before this discovery, Europeans thought the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, all located in the Eastern Hemisphere, were the entire world.

The term "Old World" helped people make a clear contrast between these familiar continents and the "New World", which referred to the newly found lands in the Western Hemisphere, especially North and South America. This distinction became very important as exploration and trade between the two parts of the world grew.

History

The term "Old World" refers to the parts of Earth that had 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 regions developed early civilizations and were linked by trade routes such as the Silk Road.

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

Other names

The main land part 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 might have been first used by Sir Halford John Mackinder in his book The Geographical Pivot of History.