<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The term Western world or "the West" (also on rare occasions called the Occident) can have multiple meanings depending on its context (e.g., the time period, or the social situation). Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes the West will vary, expanding and contracting. The historic West originated in the Mediterranean (ancient Greece and ancient Rome), but it came to include Central and Western Europe, although some would include the whole of Europe (except in terms of Church, i.e., Eastern Christianity), as well as perhaps all of Russia (except during the U.S.S.R. era). <b>Linguistically the frontier would run as far as India. </b>Since Columbus the notion of the West has expanded to include North America and South America, though much of Latin America has more pre-Western influence; later still, Australia and New Zealand. Yet during the Cold War the core of the West was often confined to N.A.T.O. countries.[1] Today, in a political or economic context, perhaps the West would also include, e.g., Japan, or Israel. In a world religious context, some would include those faiths acknowledging Abraham. Generally speaking, the current consensus would locate the West in, at the least, the cultures and peoples of Europe, the two Americas, and Australia.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->