In the context of cultural history, Lewis Mumford used the term "ecumene" in an academic sense in his work, "Technics and Civilization" (1934). William H. McNeill later popularized it in his "Rise of the West" (1963), suggesting that a single global ecumene emerged through the dominance of European political institutions, science, technology, and economic forms from the late 18th century onwards. One could argue that prior to the great voyages of discovery carried out by Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan, there were originally two separate ecumenes—one covering the Old World and one the New. The Spanish conquistadores fused these two ecumenes to form a single integrated "world system".