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The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
 and Australasia
Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes ....
. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world
World

World is a common name for the planet Earth seen from a human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general....
 as consisting only of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, and Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 (collectively, the Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
). The term "New World" should not be confused with "modern world"; the latter generally refers to a historical period, not a landmass
Landmass

A landmass is a large continuous area of landform. Although it may be most often written as one word to distinguish it from the usage 'land mass' to mean the measure of a land area, it is also used as two words....
.
493, Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
 returned to Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 from his first voyage to the Americas, and on 1 November that year Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera was an Italy-born historian of Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the Age of Exploration. He wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central America and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters...
 referred to Columbus in a letter as the discoverer of "the New World" (novi orbis).






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The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
 and Australasia
Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes ....
. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world
World

World is a common name for the planet Earth seen from a human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general....
 as consisting only of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, and Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 (collectively, the Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
). The term "New World" should not be confused with "modern world"; the latter generally refers to a historical period, not a landmass
Landmass

A landmass is a large continuous area of landform. Although it may be most often written as one word to distinguish it from the usage 'land mass' to mean the measure of a land area, it is also used as two words....
.

Origin

In 1493, Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
 returned to Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 from his first voyage to the Americas, and on 1 November that year Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera was an Italy-born historian of Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the Age of Exploration. He wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central America and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters...
 referred to Columbus in a letter as the discoverer of "the New World" (novi orbis). In another letter a year later he again referred to "the New World" (orbo novo). In 1516, Martyr published a work whose title began De orbe novo ("On the New World").

In 1524, the term was also used by Giovanni da Verrazzano in a record of his voyage that year along the coast of what would later become the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

Currently, one might speak of the "New World" in a historical
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
 context when discussing the voyages of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
, the Spanish conquest of Yucatán
Spanish conquest of Yucatán

The Spanish conquest of Yucat?n was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish Empire conquistadores against the Mesoamerican chronology Maya civilization states and polity, particularly in the northern and central Yucat?n Peninsula but also involving the Maya polities of the Guatemalan highlands region....
, and other events contemporaneous to the term; additionally, the term "New World" is sometimes used in a biological
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 context, when one speaks of Old World and New World species.

While the term "New World" always encompasses the Americas, Australia may only be described as "New" in certain contexts. In a biological context, Australia is neither New World nor Old, as flora
Flora

In botany, flora has two meanings. The first meaning, flora of an area or of time period, refers to all plant life occurring in an area or time period, especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life....
 and fauna
Fauna

File:Fauna.pngFauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoology and paleontology use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g....
 differ markedly from those of Eurasia
Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
, Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 and the Americas.

See also

  • Columbian Exchange
    Columbian Exchange

    The Columbian Exchange has been one of the most significant events in the history of world ecology, agriculture, and culture. The term is used to describe the enormous widespread exchange of plants, animals, foods, human populations , communicable diseases, and ideas between the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere hemispheres that oc...
  • Colonialism
    Colonialism

    Colonialism is the extension of a nation's sovereignty over Territory beyond its borders by the establishment of either settler or exploitation colony in which Indigenous people populations are direct rule, Population transfers, or Genocide....
  • Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage
    Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage

    Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage to the New World was written by Christopher Columbus on February 15, 1493, on board the caravel Ni?a at sea with a postscript written on March 14 when he arrived back into port at Lisbon, Portugal....
  • Western Hemisphere
    Western Hemisphere

    The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
  • Eastern Hemisphere
    Eastern Hemisphere

    The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180? longitude....
  • Imperialism
    Imperialism

    Imperialism has two meanings; one describing an action and the other describing an attitude.#Action: Imperialism is the practice of extending the power, control or rule by one country over areas outside its borders....
  • Colonization of the Americas
  • Americas
    Americas

    The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....