World Subregions

Australia and New Zealand

Two settler states, a continent and an archipelago, far from everywhere

Central America

The volcanic isthmus, plus a Mexico most people file elsewhere

Central Asia

The five stans, landlocked between Russia, China, and Iran

Eastern Africa

Rift valleys, great lakes, and half a billion people

Eastern Asia

China, Japan, the Koreas, Mongolia — a quarter of humanity

Eastern Europe

Ten states across the great plain, and Russia dwarfing them all

Melanesia

The big, dark islands of the southwest Pacific

Micronesia

Two thousand tiny islands scattered over an ocean

Middle Africa

The rainforest heart of the continent, drained by the Congo

Northern Africa

The Saharan tier of the continent, facing the Mediterranean

Northern America

The continent's northern half, and a category that excludes Mexico

Northern Europe

The Nordics, the Baltics, and the British Isles in one box

Polynesia

The many islands, and the greatest navigation feat in history

South-Eastern Asia

A mainland peninsula and 25,000 islands between two oceans

Southern Africa

Five states at the tip of the continent, built on rock and drought

Southern Asia

Two billion people below the Himalayas, plus Iran

Southern Europe

Three peninsulas, one sea, and the roots of the West

The Caribbean

A sea, an archipelago, and thirteen states that share a history

Western Africa

Sixteen states on the great bulge, from desert to rainforest

Western Asia

The UN's bureaucratic name for most of the Middle East

Western Europe

Nine wealthy states from the North Sea to the Alps