Western civilization traces its roots back to Europe and the Mediterranean. It is linked to the  Roman Empire and with Medieval Western Christendom which emerged from the Middle Ages to experience such transformative episodes as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, scientific revolution, and the development of liberal democracy. The civilizations of Classical Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as early Christendom, are considered seminal periods in Western history; cultural contributions also emerged from the pagan peoples of pre-Christian Europe, and from the civilizations in the Ancient Near East. Western civilization has spread to produce the dominant cultures of modern North America, South America, and Oceania, and has had immense global influence in recent centuries in many ways.