View source for Old World

{{short description|Synonym of Afro-Eurasia}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2013}}

[[File:LocationAfricaEurasia.png|thumb|{{leftlegend|#23600F|Old World|outline=white}}]]
[[File:Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei ante 1467 (7455943) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Map of the "Old World" (the 2nd-century [[Ptolemy world map]] in a 15th-century copy)]]
[[File:T and O map Guntherus Ziner 1472.jpg|thumb|right|This [[T and O map]], from the first printed version of [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]]'s ''[[Etymologiae]]'' ([[Augsburg]], 1472), identifies the three known continents (Asia, Europe and Africa) as respectively populated by descendants of ''Sem'' ([[Shem]]), ''Iafeth'' ([[Japheth]]) and ''Cham'' ([[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]]).]]

The "'''Old World'''" ({{Langx|la|Mundus vetus}}) is a term for [[Afro-Eurasia]] coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the [[Americas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/old-world?show=2&t=1417643287 |title=Old World |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=3 December 2014 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402221403/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/old-world?show=2&t=1417643287 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the [[Eastern Hemisphere]], previously thought of by the Europeans as comprising the entire world, with the "[[New World]]", a term for the newly encountered lands of the [[Western Hemisphere]], particularly the Americas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/new%20world |title=New world |publisher=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |access-date=2 April 2013 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402204654/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/New |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
In the context of [[archaeology]] and [[World history (field)|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 [[civilization]]s, mostly in the [[temperate]] zone between roughly the [[45th parallel north|45th]] and [[25th parallel north|25th]] parallels north, in the area of the [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean]], including [[North Africa]]. It also included [[Mesopotamia]], [[Iranian plateau|the Persian plateau]], the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[History of China#Ancient China|China]], and parts of [[Sub-Saharan Africa]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

These regions were connected via the [[Silk Road]] trade route, and they had 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 world|Western]] ([[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenism]], "[[classics|classical]]"), [[Near Eastern]] ([[Zoroastrian]] and [[Abrahamic]]) and [[Far Eastern]] ([[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Sikhism]], [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]]) [[cultural sphere]]s.

==Other names==
The [[mainland]] of [[Afro-Eurasia]] (excluding [[island]]s 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]]''.<ref>See Francis P. Sempa, [http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_14/sempa_mac2.html "Mackinder's World"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185750/http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_14/sempa_mac2.html |date=3 March 2016 }}. ''American Diplomacy'' (UNC.edu). Retrieved 8 September 2018.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Continents of the world|state=collapsed}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Indigenous peoples by continent}}
{{Western world}}
{{Eastern world}}
{{Portal bar|Geography}}

[[Category:16th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:Culture of Africa]]
[[Category:Afro-Eurasia]]
[[Category:Age of Discovery]]
[[Category:Country classifications]]
[[Category:Cultural history of Asia]]
[[Category:Cultural history of Europe]]
[[Category:Cultural regions]]
[[Category:Human geography]]