In geography and statistics, for more convenient handling of a huge amount of information, it is customary to single out large regions of the world that have common features in historical development, geographical location or economic condition. It is understood that such a division allows scientists and officials to more precisely apply measures to regulate and stimulate the economy, as well as pursue a responsible social policy.
Main regions of the world
The first and most obvious division is made with a cursory glance at the geographical and political map of the planet. Traditionally, countries are classified according to their position on the continents, but if such a division is not informative enough, then the regions of the world are further divided.
In some cases, like Australia or South America, economic regions are bordered by continents. There are two statistical regions on the North American continent - the North American region itself and the Central America region, the largest country of which is Mexico.
Europe as part of the world is divided into South, West, North, East and Central. Each European region has its own geographicaland historical features of development. In addition, languages belonging to different language groups and even families are spoken in different regions.
African cornucopia
On the African continent, experts identify five regions that differ from each other both in the conditions in which the political identity of the peoples inhabiting them was formed, and in the economic situation.
The North African region includes seven countries with unconditional international recognition, including Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia and South Sudan and Algeria. In addition, there is a disputed territory on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, whose sovereignty is not recognized by most countries - the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic.
Such a historical region of the world as West Africa includes eighteen states formed after the liquidation of colonial empires. Some of these countries, such as Nigeria, have a large area with a large population and population, while others, on the contrary, are a narrow strip along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
Regions of Central and East Africa share similar geographic characteristics but differ due to different sources of cultural influence. In East Africa, especially in the northern part, the influence of the Italian colonialists is still noticeable to this day, although they did not last long there. At the same time, Portuguese and French can still be heard in the western part of the continent, and in some countries French is consideredstate or official, as, for example, in Benin and Senegal.
The South African region occupies a very special place in relation to its neighbors. For a long time in the Republic of South Africa there were rules that forbade even the joint travel of whites and blacks in the same transport, and the main positions in the country were occupied by the descendants of European colonists. However, apartheid was officially banned in 1994, which led to a radical change in the internal situation in the country, from which Europeans began to leave en masse.
Crowded Asia
This part of the world is the most densely populated by people and has numerous ancient cultures. To an outside observer, it may seem that it is quite homogeneous. However, this is not at all the case. In the vastness of this continent, several large economic, geographical and cultural regions are distinguished at once, oriented to the cardinal points: Western, Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern and South-Eastern. Some researchers, paying attention to the geographical isolation of India, tend to consider it an independent ethnogeographical region with a rich cultural history.
Of course, in the Asian region, China traditionally has great influence, the population of which today reaches one billion two hundred million people, and economic development makes it the second country after the United States in terms of GDP.
Country and continent
Australia occupies a special place in the family of macro-regions - a spacious continent in the southern hemisphere, on the territory of whichthe country of the same name is located, the population of which is about twenty-four million people. This number of inhabitants, combined with a large territory, puts it on the top lines in the ranking of the least densely populated regions in the world.
However, as a macro-region, Australia is considered together with New Zealand and sometimes with the islands of Micronesia.
Two Americas
Both the Americas are marked by significant differences from their neighbors. In this part of the world, local cultures that are completely different from European ones have been formed from scratch.
On the lands of these continents, three regions are distinguished, with different economic and political structures - North American, South American and Central America. Each region is extremely crowded.
