Why do they call America the west and they have a Far East and a Middle East?

Question

Wouldn't it depend on which way you were going?

Idiots!***

Answer 1

America is divided up into sections as well. We have the East, Mid-west and West. Or, we could divide America by time zones, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific.

Answer 2

The Americas, West Indies and Greenland are in the Western Hemisphere, the half of the earth that lies to the west of the Prime Meridian. West being determined by the earths rotation. The term, west, is normally used in this day and age as a political term rather than a geographical one. People that live in the west (not capitalized) live in the New World (Western Hemisphere).

This is the reason that you have east, middle east and far east, notice these are not capitalized as they are political terms, not usually geographical terms. These countries and people are much more spread out; more land mass, than the Americas and a much more diverse group of nations, the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania). So to refer to someone from the middle east would be talking about, for instance, people of Arabic ancestry, the Moors and Visigoths. If I spoke of the far east then this would designate some other culture, the Chinese for instance.

I guess we could refer to ourselves as north west, middle west and south west. You get the idea.

Answer 3

Well, it used to be that Europe was the West and Asia was the East, with the Middle East being between the two and the Far East being very far east. If you disregard the American continent on a map, you can see that it works.

Now, America is discovered and colonized by Europeans. It's closer to Europe than it is to Asia, so it makes sense to include a very European US in the West along with Europe.

Answer 4

Have you heard of a meredian greenwhich. Its what scienties belived to be the centre point of earth. Since earth arec devided into 2 section which were longitutely and magnitutely that how the come up with those freaky idea of west, east, south and north. Nowadays people through out the world were taught that places to the west part of this lines is known as westren region ,while the one on the east is called eastern. but the things is do they spell it west or waist or waste????

Answer 5

It all has to do with the International Date Line or the Zero longitude..

Answer 6

becuz its the way it is....columbus dicover the americas by sailing west and thats y its call the west

Answer 7

Well, it is all very ethnocentric that we westerners look at the world that way.

Answer 8

Not only that, but what about the Midwest?

Answer 9

all in relation to europe