The idea of Southernization came from the observation that "Southern" values and beliefs were becoming more important to the success of the government, reaching a climax in the 1990s, with a Democratic president and vice-president from the South, and Congressional leaders in both parties originating in the South. Some would agree that Southern values started to become more and more important in national elections through the early 21st century. American journalists started to use the term "Southernization" in the late 2000s to describe the political and cultural effects. Credit is given to the American South for different values and beliefs, including religious fundamentalism, and patriotism or nationalism. Other than the cultural influence, many would comply that the South had permeated the national political stage.
The routine known as southernization first began in Southern Asia. By the fifth century C.E., developments associated with southernization were present in India, from where they then spread to China, and to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. After 1200 they began to have an impact on southern Europe. These progressions included the discovery of bullion sources, the emergence of a new mathematics, the pioneering of trade routes, the trade in tropical spices, the cultivation of southern crops such as sugar and cotton, and the invention of various technologies. Indians also invented the concept of zero, which the Arabs eventually conveyed to the Europeans. What the West called Arabic numerals, the Arabs called Hindi numerals.
The term southernization is said to be correspondent to westernization. Westernization is associated with certain developments that first occurred in Western Europe. Those advances changed Europe and in the course of time, expanded to other places, changing them as well. In the same way, southernization changed Southern Asia, later spreading to other areas, which then also underwent a process of