Curated category
Cultural regions
- Arab worldThe term Arab world refers to a geocultural region spanning West Asia and North Africa. It comprises 22 member states of the Arab League, though some…
- Western worldIn 395 AD, the Roman Empire formally split into a Western and an Eastern one, each with their own emperors, capitals, and governments.
- MesoamericaThe term Mesoamerica literally means middle America in Greek, yet it refers to a specific cultural zone rather than a simple geographic midpoint.
- TibetThe Tibetan Plateau rises to an average altitude of 16,000 feet above sea level. This vast highland region covers approximately 471,660 square miles across…
- AbkhaziaBetween the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia formed part of the ancient Kingdom of Colchis. Around the 6th century BC, Greek…
- New WorldThe Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci wrote a letter in the spring of 1503 that changed how Europeans understood their place on Earth.
- Islamic worldIn 610 CE, a merchant named Muhammad received his first revelation in the city of Mecca. This event marked the beginning of Islam as both a religion and a…
- Northern EnglandThe River Tees cuts through North Yorkshire, marking a line where some locals say the North truly begins. Others draw that boundary further south at the…
- Nordic countriesThe word Norden means the northern lands, a term used in North Germanic languages to describe a specific geographical and cultural area.
- KoreaHuman habitation of the Korean peninsula dates to 40,000 BC. The kingdom of Gojoseon was founded in 2333 BC according to tradition.
- ChristendomA scribe in southern England coined the word Christendom during the 9th century. This writer translated Paulus Orosius' book History Against the Pagians and…
- Bible BeltAmerican journalist H. L. Mencken first used the phrase Bible Belt in 1924. He wrote those words inside a column for the Chicago Daily Tribune that year.