Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture. The term was coined in the 1980s, referring to the notion of European exceptionalism, a worldview centred on Western civilisation, as it had developed during the height of the European colonial empires since the Early Modern period. The term became prevalent in the discourse during the 1990s, for instance in the context of decolonisation.