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The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term Occident, which refers to the Western world.
In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the continent of Asia – loosely classified into Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and sometimes including the Caucasus. Originally, the term Orient was used to designate only the Near East, but later its meaning evolved and expanded, designating also Central Asia, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Far East.
The term oriental is often used to describe objects and (in a derogative manner) people coming from the Orient/eastern Asia.
Many ancient temples, including Paganism, Hindu temple, Buddhist temple, Jain temple, and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, were built with their main entrances facing the East. This tradition was carried on in Christian churches.
The opposite term "Occident" derives from the Latin language word occidens, meaning west (lit. setting < occidere "fall/set"). This term meant the west (where the sun sets) but has fallen into disuse in English, in favour of "Western world".
Over time, the common understanding of "the Orient" has continually shifted eastwards, as European people travelled farther into Asia. It finally reached the Pacific Ocean, in what Westerners came to call "the Far East". These shifts in time and identification sometimes confuse the scope (historical and geographic) of Oriental Studies. Yet there remain contexts where "the Orient" and "Oriental" have kept their older meanings (e.g., "Oriental spices" typically are from the regions extending from the Middle East to sub-continental India to Indo-China). Travellers may again take the Orient Express train from Paris to its terminus in the European part of Istanbul, a route established in the early 20th century.
In European historiography, the meaning of "the Orient" changed in scope several times. Originally, the term referred to Egypt, the Levant, and adjoining areas as far west as Morocco. During the 1800s, India, and to a lesser extent China, began to displace the Levant as the primary subject of Orientalist research, while the term also appears in mid-century works to describe an appearance or perceived similarity to "Oriental" government or culture, such as in Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, in which Napoleon, upon seeing the "oriental beauty" of Moscow, calls it "That Asiatic city of the innumerable churches, holy Moscow!", while in 1843 the American historian William Prescott uses the phrase "barbaric pomp, truly Oriental" to describe the court life of Aztec nobility in his history of the conquest of the Aztec Empire. As late as 1957 Karl Wittfogel included Rome and the Empire in his study of what he called Oriental Despotism, demonstrating the term still carries a meaning in Western thought that transcends geography. By the mid-20th century, Western scholars generally considered "the Orient" as just East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia. As recently as the early 20th century, the term "Orient" often continued to be used in ways that included North Africa. Today, the term primarily evokes images of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Brunei. "The Orient" being largely a cultural term, large parts of Asia—Siberia most notably—were excluded from the scholarly notion of "the Orient".
Equally valid terms for the Orient still exist in the English language in such collocations as Oriental studies (now Asian Studies in some countries).
The adjectival term Oriental has been used by the West to mean cultures, peoples, countries, Asian rugs, and goods from the Orient. "Oriental" means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation (especially when capitalized) for anything belonging to the Eastern world or "East" (for Asia), and especially of its Eastern Culture. It indicated the eastern direction in historical astronomy, often abbreviated "Ori".Robert Hooke. 1666. Drawing of Saturn in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society publication) Volume 1 In contemporary American English, Oriental usually refers to things from the parts of East Asia traditionally occupied by East Asians and most Central Asians and Southeast Asians racially categorized as "Mongoloid". This excludes Jewish diaspora, Indians, Arabs, and most other South or West Asian peoples. Because of historical discrimination against Chinese, Korean and Japanese, in some parts of the United States, some people consider the term derogatory. For example, Washington State prohibits the word "Oriental" in legislation and government documents and prefers the word "Asian" instead.
In more local uses, "oriental" is also used for eastern parts of countries such as Morocco's Oriental Region. "Oriental" may also be used as a synonym of "eastern", especially in Romance languages. Examples include the "oriental" and "occidental" provinces of Mindoro Island and Negros Island in the Philippines, and the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales. Between 1830 and 1962 the French Army used the term tenue orientale in reference to the distinctive indigenous uniforms of the various regiments (spahis, zouaves and tirailleurs) recruited in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Since the 19th century, "orientalist" has been the traditional term for a scholar of Oriental studies; however, the use in English of "Orientalism" to describe academic "Oriental studies" is rare: the Oxford English Dictionary cites only one such usage, by Lord Byron in 1812. "Orientalism" is more widely used to refer to the works of the many 19th-century artists who specialized in "Oriental" subjects and often drew on their travels to North Africa and Western Asia. Artists, as well as scholars, were already described as "Orientalists" in the 19th century. In 1978, the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said published his influential and controversial book, Orientalism, and used the term to describe a pervasive Western tradition, both academic and artistic, of prejudiced outsider interpretations of the Arab world and that has been shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and the 19th centuries.Nosal, K R. American Criticism, New York Standard, New York. 2002
"Asian" in Great Britain sometimes refers to people who come specifically from South Asia (in particular Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, and Afghanistan), since British Asians as a whole make up approximately 9.3% of the population within the United Kingdom, and people of an ethnically South Asian background comprise the largest group within this category. "Orientals" refers exclusively to people of East and Southeast Asian origin, who constitute approximately 0.7% of the UK population as a whole. Of these, the majority are of Chinese descent. Orient is also a word for the lustre of a fine pearl. orient: definition of orient in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved on 12 April 2014. Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been called "Pearl of the Orient" along with Shanghai. In the UK, and much of the commonwealth, it is not considered a pejorative term, with many East Asian people choosing to use it themselves - notably in the names of East Asian businesses such as restaurants and takeaway outlets.
People in the United Kingdom from Southwest Asia, Asia Minor and Near East are often referred to by the term, "Middle Eastern". These can include Arabs, Kurds, Turkish people, Assyrian people, West Asian Armenians, Yezidis, Egyptians (including Copts), Mandaeans, among others.
In some specific contexts, for example the carpet and rug trade, the older sense of "oriental" to cover not just East Asia but Central Asia, South Asia and Turkey may still be used; an Oriental rug may come from any of these areas.
This is particularly relevant when referring to lands and peoples not associated with the historic "Orient": outside of the former Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and Sasanian Empire (Persia), including the former Diocese of the Orient, as well as others lands sharing cultural legacies with the Oriental Orthodox churches and Oriental Catholic Churches. In contrast, regions of Asia further East, outside of the cultural domination of Abrahamic religions, do not share these same historical associations, giving way for the term "oriental" to have different connotations.
In 2016, President Barack Obama signed New York Congresswoman Grace Meng's legislation H.R. 4238 replacing the word with Asian American in federal law."APAs in the News/News Bytes: Legislation to Remove 'Oriental' From Federal Law Passes Senate, Pacific Citizen, May 20 – June 2, 2016, p. 4"
The term Oriental is also used as Uruguay's demonym, usually with a formal or solemn connotation. The word also has a deep historical meaning as a result of its prolonged use in the region, since the 18th century it was used in reference to the inhabitants of the Banda Oriental, the historical name of the territories that now compose the modern nation of Uruguay.
The term Asiaten (English: Asians) means Asian people in general. Another word for Orient in German is Morgenland (now mainly poetic), which literally translates as "morning land". The antonym "Abendland" (rarely: "Okzident") is also mainly poetic, and refers to (Western) Europe.
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