The East is considered as the home to Asia, Japan, China, India, as well as the Near, Middle and Far East regions. When we look to the East, we look to one of the most influential and diverse of cultures which helped make us into what we are today. Not only has The East given us many different social outlooks, but it has also been a major influence in mankind's philosophies and beliefs. It is also known as The Orient, a term given to it from the Latin word 'oriens', which means 'to rise'; hence we have labeled parts of the East as the Land of the Rising Sun.

The East was not always referred to as The Orient. It was in fact called that by the imperialistic Europeans and Americans of the 19th century, who looked upon the East as a region to take advantage of through trade and exploration. Whereas they considered the West to be forward thinking and practical, they looked upon the East to be old fashioned and even backward in its ways. Given that the East was so much richer in tradition and values, this attitude given by modern Western man could well be considered as dictatorial, and even just plain naïve!

The actual division of the East and the West was in fact nothing less than an element of early European culture. The early days of Christianity held the beliefs of the East with little if any serious regard. It was the crusades which developed and accentuated the differences between the East and the West. When the early Europeans colonized the Americas, the Eastern and Western boundaries were firmly established. When the term 'Oriental' was introduced, it was often used with a certain disdain with regard to Eastern religions, cultures, and racial backgrounds.

The history of The East has lasted over many generations, through the Bronze Age, as well as the early Iron Age. There can also be no doubt that the history of The East has played a hugely significant role in the development of art, literature, architecture, music, beliefs, and our cultural development. The Ancient Eastern civilizations predate classical antiquity, and we need to respect that fact! Without such civilizations, we would not have the world we live in today!

eastern culture........ ..... ..eastern beliefs