HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
If you are interested in a specific geographic region, please click on the appropriate link in the description below.
In this section we learn human geography (as opposed to physical geography, which is a branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere). Here we learn about cultures, economies, and history of different areas of human communities.
We focus on countries and communities that many people do not pay much attention on. As a result, we exclude the two biggest economy of the world: USA and China (except when they are parties to a broader description of another area/country).
For simplicity, we divide geography into the following regions (in alphabetical order): (1) Asia, (2) Eurasian Steppe, (3) Europe, (4) Muslim region, and (5) rest of the world. This division is arbitrary and some of the regions can overlap. For example, the Muslim region consists of countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Similarly, Russia has a wide territory that covers Europe and Asia. Although the world is complexity and not neatly divided, we divide it for simplicity reasons.
(1) Asia
Asia occupies about 30% of Earth's total land area and its 4.7 billion people constitutes roughly 60% of the world population. This is a map of Asia:
(2) Eurasian Steppe (please click on the link at left to learn more about this region)
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the Steppes, is a strip of land across Asia and Europe. The Steppe had significant influence to historic events for millennia. The Steppe route is a predecessor not only of the Silk Road which developed during antiquity and the Middle Ages, but also of the Eurasian Land Bridge in the modern era. It has been home to nomadic empires and many large tribal confederations and ancient states throughout history, such as the Xiongnu, Scythia, Sarmatia, Avar, Sogdia, Xianbei, Mongol Empire, and Göktürk Khaganate. This is a map of the Great Steppe:
(3) Europe
Europe covers about 2% of Earth's surface and houses about 10% of the world population. It is the birthplace of the industrial revolution, which improved the standard of living of most people in the world. This is a map of Europe:
(4) Muslim Region
The Muslim region is a region consisting of Muslim-majority countries. As of 2015, 1.8 billion or about 24% of the world population are Muslims, although not all of them live in Muslim majority countries. This is a map of the Muslim region with countries in Southeast Asia removed because they are discussed in the Asia region:
