What does OW mean in ACADEMIC & SCIENCE

The Old World is a term that describes the region of the world that was inhabited by humans prior to the discovery of America in1492. It includes most of Eurasia and Africa, plus all of their associated islands.

The countries considered part of the Old World include those that span Europe, Asia, North Africa, and some regions in North and West Africa. These include Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Greece, India, China, Japan and many other nations throughout those regions.

The discovery led to an influx of goods and resources from New World colonies to European powers in the Old World. This provided new sources for wealth to Europeans through goods such as sugar cane from Caribbean plantations or precious metals mined in South America. In addition to resources coming from the New World being traded within Europe it also had long-standing political implications as rival powers would compete for dominance over colonies further afield in what became known as imperialism.

Yes - there were several important distinctions between how people lived in societies across each world. For example while many civilizations across both worlds strove for technological advances such as agriculture or metallurgy in general terms before Columbus' arrival much less development had taken place on a large scale outside of Europe. Further although complex government systems were present prior to 1492 they were generally limited mainly just to larger nation-states.

Yes - religion remains an important part of life for many groups across Eurasia and Africa – religions such as Islam particularly dominate large parts of this region with much smaller communities devoted to Hinduism Buddhism Taoism and Judaism also found throughout it too. Other smaller denominations often exist depending on where one is located such as local animist religions found primarily on islands or even minority Christian sects.

Despite their differences certain aspects have been shared among folks from areas previously included within this area – for example many have similar cuisines which rely heavily on meat fish breads grains veggies herbs dairy products etc.– music has long been shared with characteristics seen amongst them all mainly varying based upon both location/time period but with some more global trends– language families can also be seen across these lands (i.e Arabic Indo-European etc.).

Traveling has become significantly easier over time due mainly due advancements made around transportation (such as cars trains planes buses etc.) allowing people traverse distances quickly which previously required weeks/months if not years! Other advances such as improved safety measures passportization/visas & increasing number open borders along different routes help facilitate travel further.

Significant historical events related to colonialism within this area include the voyages led by Christopher Columbus expanding Spanish dominion into Central & South America– Age Discovery & Expansion where Portugal furthered exploration into Eastern Atlantic Ocean– Dutch East India Company's control over much Southeast Asia– British Empire spanning sizable portions Europe Asia & Africa amongst other examples..