Why North Americans refer to only North America as Western World?

Question

What about Central and South America? Can someone give me an answer that would convince me that Central and South America are not in the west?

Answer 1

"Western World" was supposed to be used to refer to a civilization, the "Western civilization". It's not a geographical term. In that sense, South and Central America belong to the "Western World", for a number of reasons that I'll not enumerate here. Some North Americans, however, mistake the meaning of "Western World" with "developed world". That's the reason why they may not consider Central and South America as the Western World.

PS: note that Mexico is in North America, but in my answer I supposed that Mexico is not in North America.

Answer 2

Because many Americans (actually residents of the United States) believe North America to be the cultural center of the West, whether it is or not. I'm sure those living in Brazil probably feel the same. It's a historical fact cultural development travels north-to-south; all you need to do to believe that is to look at the rest of the world: Industry and large cities in the north, agriculture and smaller cities in the south. Culturally and economically central and South America are catching up to us, and it shows in the way they are making the same mistakes we did. While earlier in the 20th century the USA was the center of the West; I doubt if we can make that claim with the same authority in the 21st.

Answer 3

When I refer to the western world, I'm generally referring to places dominated by European culture. Since all of the Americas were once European colonies, that statement includes Central and South America.

Answer 4

Europe is also considered the Western world. The Western World is considered to be run by democracy. Some Central and South American nations are run by warlords and cannot be considered democratic.

Answer 5

The "western world" has come to indicate something other than geography. In modern times it actually indicates the state of a country's development. For instance, Australia is a western country because it is also a 'first world' country.