Have a look a this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English and note that it is only since 1755 that there has been anything like standardised English spelling. Changes occur constantly - I know several people, for example, who still put the largely anachronistic hyphen in to-day.

One would have thought, WAV, that your love of a multi-cultural world could accommodate a few spelling differences which in all probability evolved quite naturally, the way that language tends to.