Culture regions

Harder to define, perhaps, are culture regions. A culture region is a geographic area that shares common cultural elements. These could include elements such as language, architecture, foodways, economic systems, music, ethnicity, or religion. A culture region can be as small as a few square miles, such as Harlem in New York City, or can encompass millions of square miles, "like the Islamic culture region that encompasses millions of square miles of North Africa and Southwest Asia" (Heatwole, 2006).

Culture regions contain diverse elements, as well. Many other religions are practiced in the Islamic culture region referenced above (although Islam is the main shared cultural element). In an area this vast, there are many other cultural differences such as language, dress, architecture, foodways, and race and ethnicity.

Culture regions are rarely static. They are always changing due to migration, new technologies, global commerce, disasters (e.g., prolonged drought), or other factors.