<P> A witch - hunt is a search for persons labelled "witches" or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic or mass hysteria . The classical period of witch - hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America took place in the Early Modern period or about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 100,000 executions . Including illegal and summary executions it is estimated 200,000 or more "witches" were tortured, burnt or hanged in the Western world from 1500 until around 1800 . The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century . In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch - hunts have been reported from Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today . </P> <P> The wide distribution of the practice of witch - hunts in geographically and culturally separated societies (Europe, Africa, India, New Guinea) since the 1960s has triggered interest in the anthropological background of this behaviour . The belief in magic and divination, and attempts to use magic to influence personal well - being (to increase life, win love, etc .) are human cultural universals . </P>

Where did the term witch hunt come from
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