Curated playlist
Cultural regions
- Arab worldMalta speaks a language descended from Arabic, yet it is not part of the Arab world.
- Western worldAustralia lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, yet almost no one disputes it belongs to the Western world.
- MesoamericaMesoamerica invented zero without using the wheel for work. Its societies had no large animals to pull loads.
- TibetTibet's army once seized the Chinese capital Chang'an for fifteen days. Tang forces and Uyghur allies then drove it out.
- AbkhaziaAbkhazia has two governments claiming the same ground. Only five UN member states call it independent.
- Left-bank UkraineLeft-bank Ukraine takes its name from a river, yet the name itself is far younger than the land it describes. The region lies in north-central and central Ukraine, on the eastern side of the Dnieper River. Before anyone used that label,…
- New WorldIn spring 1503, Amerigo Vespucci wrote a letter claiming he had found a new continent.
- Islamic worldThe phrase "Muslim world" was already in print by 1912. It grew from the anxieties of empire, not geography.
- Northern EnglandWhere does Northern England actually begin? Poet Simon Armitage says around Thirsk, which leaves Manchester out.
- Nordic countriesThe Nordic countries stretch across five time zones. In September 2021 just over 27 million people lived there.
- KoreaKorea was split in 1945 at the 38th parallel, meant as a temporary line. Two rival governments formed by 1948.
- ChristendomThe word Christendom was coined by one scribe in 9th-century southern England.
- Bible BeltThe name Bible Belt began as a journalist's jab in 1924. H. L. Mencken used it in the Chicago Daily Tribune.