f. Cultural Patterns. 2001. The Encyclopedia of World History

The Encyclopedia of World History. 2001.


f. Cultural Patterns

European cultural influence spread less rapidly than its diplomatic, economic, and political influence. Christian missions fanned out to Asia and Africa in the late 19th century, from both western Europe and the United States. Only small minorities of Asians converted, but in some Pacific islands the impact was greater. A larger minority of Africans began to be attracted to Christianity by 1900.	1
The influence of European secular culture was in many ways greater. European nationalism helped shape nationalist movements in Latin America, in the Arab lands and Turkey, and in India. European sports, like English soccer football, began to spread widely around 1900, as did new cultural technologies such as filmmaking. European science gained attention from intellectuals in various parts of Asia and Latin America, although Europe and the United States essentially shared innovation in science and technology (See Technological Developments, 1800–1914). Contacts with other parts of the world also affected European culture; visual artists, particularly, gained inspiration from African and East Asian artistic traditions.	2


The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.