  An interpretation is suggested that a spontaneous compactification of
space-time can be regarded as a topological defect in a higher-dimensional
Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) theory. We start with $D$-dimensional EYM theory in
our present analysis. A compactification leads to a $D-2$ dimensional effective
action of Abelian gauge-Higgs theory. We find a "vortex" solution in the
effective theory. Our universe appears to be confined in a center of a
"vortex", which has $D-4$ large dimensions. In this paper we show an example
with $SU(2)$ symmetry in the original EYM theory, and the resulting solution is
found to be equivalent to the "instanton-induced compactification". The
cosmological implication is also mentioned.
