Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Occident (Abendland)
(2,518 words)

1. Concept

Like “Orient” (cf. Orientalism), the term “Occident” shifted in meaning in the course of early modern global cultural contact and encounters between the so-called Christian West and Islam, and of European expansionism and colonialism, from a geographical term without political freight to a value category of cultural politics. Derived from the Latin occidens [sol] (“setting [sun]”), it originally denoted the evening and …

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König, Hans-Joachim and Repgen, Konrad, “Occident (Abendland)”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 09 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_024995>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200128



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