Editing Western Europe (section)

===Classical antiquity and medieval origins===
[[File:Expansion of christianity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[East–West Schism|Schism of 1054 (East–West Schism)]] in [[Christianity]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |title=Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land |publisher=Rbedrosian.com |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610034842/http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |archive-date=10 June 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |title=home.comcast.net |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213233630/http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |archive-date=13 February 2013 }}</ref>]]

Prior to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted the newly developed [[La Tène culture]]. As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared between the mainly [[Koine Greek|Greek]]-speaking eastern provinces, which had formed the highly urbanised [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic civilisation]], and the western territories, which in contrast largely adopted the [[Latin]] language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of the [[Roman Empire]]. The [[Western Roman Empire]] and the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] controlled the two divergent regions between the 3rd and the 5th centuries.

The division between these two was enhanced during [[late antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages]] by a number of events. The [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Empire collapsed]], starting the [[Early Middle Ages]]. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Greek or [[Byzantine Empire]], survived and even thrived for another 1000 years. The rise of the [[Carolingian Empire]] in the west, and in particular the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]] between [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] and [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe.

After the [[Decline of the Byzantine Empire|conquest of the Byzantine Empire]], center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by the [[Muslim]] [[Ottoman Empire]] in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (which had replaced the [[Carolingian Empire]]), the division between Roman Catholic and [[Protestantism|Protestant]] became more important in Europe than that with Eastern Orthodoxy.

In [[East Asia]], Western Europe was historically known as {{lang|zh|taixi}} in China and {{lang|ja|taisei}} in Japan, which literally translates as the "[[Far West (Taixi)|Far West]]". The term Far West became synonymous with Western Europe in China during the [[Ming dynasty]]. The Italian Jesuit priest [[Matteo Ricci]] was one of the first writers in China to use the Far West as an Asian counterpart to the European concept of the [[Far East]]. In Ricci's writings, Ricci referred to himself as "Matteo of the Far West".<ref>{{cite book|first=Matteo|last=Ricci|others=Translated by Timothy Billings|title=On Friendship: One Hundred Maxims for a Chinese Prince|year=1610|orig-year=2009|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-14924-2|pages=19, 71, 87}}</ref> The term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.