Orient
Sign in to savethumb|Ancient Orient of the Roman Empire and its ecclesiastical order after the [[Council of Chalcedon, 451|300x300px]] The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term Occident, which refers to the Western world.
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"Orient" is a historical term referring to the Eastern world, traditionally used in contrast to Europe and the Western world (called the "Occident"). The term matters because it has been fundamental to how Western societies have historically understood and categorized the geography, cultures, and civilizations of the East.
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Article
12 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History of the term
- Current usage
- British English
- American English
- China
- Uruguay
- German
- See also
- Notes
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Ancient Orient of the Roman Empire and its ecclesiastical order after the [[Council of Chalcedon, 451|300x300px]] The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term Occident, which refers to the Western world.
In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the continent of Asia – loosely classified into Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and sometimes including the Caucasus. Originally, the term Orient was used to designate only the Near East, but later its meaning evolved and expanded, designating also Central Asia, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Far East.