Editors of the 'Region' template,
Wikipedia ought to take a more consistent approach to the naming conventions used for the regions of the African continent. Officially, they are Northern, Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central, and should be recognized accordingly.
Redirects are a useful way of accounting for 'popular' terms, but any work that purports to have encyclopedic worth needs to take a more rigorous approach. Take the use of 'America', for example, while most people do associate this with 'The United States of America', it is inaccurate on grounds of denotation, hence Wikipedia’s disambiguation page for it. Another good example is the distinction between 'South Africa', the country, and 'Southern Africa', the region.
Now aside from the official name of a Wikipedia page itself, users will always be at the utmost liberty to use any term they so choose and according to their personal style: Western Africa of West Africa, for instance, but Wikipedia should, at least, retain the best term for its official page designation.
I hope that this clarifies the rationale for making the names of the African regions more consistent... Lucidity 07:46, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Let me just voice my concern about the excess compartmentalization of the world in a manner that doesn't seem to resemble a single scientific approach. -- Shallot 20:40, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Is there any particular reason the following designations were not used?
I realize packing in every possible region is impossible, but I wager these usages are far more common than, for instance, Northeast Africa (and why Northeast instead of Horn of Africa) or North Asia (yet no Northeast Asia, which is a familiar zone to frequent flyers). - choster 5 July 2005 23:20 (UTC)
This is for disambig link repair, currently Congo is a disambig page, there is no page related to the geographic area "congo" to replace it with, only the countries Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it doesn't seem like either of those is appropriate but I could be wrong. cohesion | talk 01:31, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
Hello! To rectify the apparent imbalance in the categorising of various continents and subregions in this template (e.g., Europe/ Asia, yet Americas), I've reorganised it to consolidate Europe and Asia into Eurasia. Another way to do this is to separate out as follows:
I'm fine with either or, but a melange of the two doesn't make sense. Thanks! E Pluribus Anthony 12:07, 13 December 2005 (UTC)
This is a highly contraversial ethnic region with undefined borders. Basicaly it can occupy the entier galaxy r could be the size of a pea. Borders are determined by the artistic nature of the person drawing. Article displays the flag as well as other goodies of the proposed kurdish nation.
I hence believe its presence is inaproporate on this template. Put the kurdistan article in contrast with other articles and you will see what I mean. -- Cool Cat Talk| @ 18:06, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
Today I created the article Congo (region) mainly because I felt that it was missing from Template:Regions of the world. Only afterwards did I discover that Congo already exists, but that this article seems to restrict itself to dealing solely with the two Congos, and not the wider, vaguer subregion. What is the preferred option now: should Congo me merged with Congo (region) and redirect to Congo (disambiguation) instead? Please have your say here. Thanks.
And a related issue: I would argue that the UN designation Middle Africa - which currently redirects to Central Africa - is the least ambiguous name for the region, as listed at Template:Africa, just like Southern Africa is used to effectively disambiguate from South Africa. Please respond here. Thanks! // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 10:40, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
I've just reorganised the template according to a two-line system, where for each region X, the first line lists subregions identified by (usually primary) compass point; and the second line lists the other subregions (usually smaller than those on the first line). I think this helps prevent the template from becoming cluttered. What think ye? Regards, David Kernow 14:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
I have no sources to cite right off the top of my skull. Part of this crux lies in the definition of a (sub-)region: Many of the more informal terms used in public discourse on both formal and informal levels to describe a certain area have no set boundaries; they have only a core and an optional/arguable periphery. Nonetheless, these terms are used and they mean something to the jouranlists and politicians and artists who use them, and to their audiences. (Phew, my talk is getting increasingly philosophical here). And, on the other hand, some formally designated regions or clusters of states and other entities (such as Western Asia) remain poorly used in spite of their unequivocal, unbiased and descritive nature. // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 14:55, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Moreover, I'm unsure why Southern Asia was recently created distinct from South Asia – usage differentiating the two is unclear at best and this can only promote confusion. (This is different, however, from North America/ Northern America or South Africa/ Southern Africa ... where usage is generally distinct with cited examples.) Is there a reason why one article cannot deal with notions of both? One should redirect to the other and, without, objection, I will do this. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 15:29, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
Similarly, I'm of the very strong belief that – unless there's sufficient reason otherwise – all sub/regional articles (e.g., for continents) should be entitled at " cardinal directionern foo", not merely " cardinal direction foo" for consistency. Thoughts? E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 14:23, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Goodie. They could be further categorized as either A) continents, B) UN regions or C) other regions. The last category is the one most vulnerable to edit wars over what's in and what's left out. For example, why include the Baltic region while excluding the Barents region.
The UN, as we know, divides the world thusly: World
It makes a careful point of noting that The continent of North America... comprises Northern America..., Caribbean..., and Central America. // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 15:47, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Currently the template has [[Southwest Asia|Western Asia]]. Is that correct? From reading the above I'm guessing the display text is set according to one preference/standard and the page name is set according to some other preference/standard. Can anyone clarify? Ewlyahoocom 13:09, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
I've been looking at the template:region and the template:continent and they seem similar enough that with a few additions to the region template, the continent template would become redundant and could be discontinued. The inspiring thought came when I saw Antarctica was a featured article and thought the other continents should be as well, and while browsing over Africa saw three geographic tables which just screamed "clean me up!" Xaxafrad 04:07, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
Isnt it superflouous to link to Latin America twice from the North AND South America regions? Is Central America "good" enough to have it's own category, or should it be deleted from one of the Americas? Geographically, I would place it in North, but culturally, in South. Any other thoughts? Xaxafrad 05:10, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
I have created a redesign at Template:Regions_of_the_world/Temp as an attempt to solve the UN/not-UN debate and also to make the template a bit easier to use. The location pictures have had been sacrificed for space but most people know where Africa is anyway. Thoughts? Comments? Andeggs 16:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
How about having two templates that link to each other, one that follows the UN/non-UN distinction and the current template? {{ Hidden}} could then be used to offer users the option to see/use either or both. I'd also retain the location pictures as they help distinguish which set of links to read through to find a particular subcontinent/region/etc. Regards, David Kernow 00:18, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
At the risk of pushing this too far and making myself a few enemies, I have created one last design for your consideration. This incorporates both the UN system and the desire to have the world's continents included. It also includes the world's oceans which are unduly missing lacking in the current template.
Most fundamentally I have removed all non-UN links. This is radical but I think it's the only way of keeping a hold on this template which just seems to grow without limit. How can we justify including Benelux and not Kazakh Steppes? Guinea (region) and not North China Plain? Levant and not Midwestern United States? The only way is through dispute on this talk page (e.g. over Congo (region)) which is prone to domination by conservatives. If large informal regions deserve a mention then this page should be linked to and improved (as suggested by others above).
There are limits to all designs of this nature but I think the ones in Temp3 are manageable. Most significantly I believe sticking points remain over the handling of Latin America and Northern America. My argument is that we should strive for a neat, workable navigation template by overcoming these problems rather than lumbering on with the current unworkable, biased and down-right ugly version. ;-) Andeggs 15:43, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
Weighing in rather late regarding this, I don't see what the problem is with the current template: aesthetics aside (which I don't necessarily agree with), it is navigable, functional, structured, yet inclusive. How is the current template unworkable? The proposed Temp3 template, and predecessors, are too simplistic and create added problems. I share concerns expressed by others about the exclusion or the consolidation of the Americas (like, where is North America, which differs from Northern America) while splitting out Europe/ Asia – that isn't biased?
In summary: the current version may not be ideal, but the proposed versions are even less palatable. However, I also thank Andeggs etc. in efforts to improve the template. A the 0th | talk | 10:35, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
As well, I think the suggestion to include oceans is a great idea! I will incorporate this into the current template. A the 0th | talk | 10:40, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
A the 0th is a sockpuppet of E Pluribus Anthony as established by CheckUser (Thanks for wasting our time.) This does not make his/her arguments invalid but it does mean there is less opposition to the proposed redesign than first appears. Perhaps, indeed, it is ready to be implemented? Am I correct in thinking David Kernow and BigAdamsky support this? Cheers Andeggs 11:50, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
I replaced Northern America with North America. It doesn't make sense for this template to lack a link to North America, and the term "Northern America" is by comparison quite obscure. I am aware that including Central America and North America causes some overlap of coverage, but it would be even worse to leave out the article at North America. I believe that including North, Central, and South America on the template is the best configuration, with the fewest faults. -- Yath 06:28, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
I am adding a link to "North America" because the UN system also divides the Americas in North and South. Commonly a person will be looking for the most used division of the Americas, this includes North America also. If a person is looking for the another UN subdivision called "Northern America", they will find it there also. AlexCovarrubias 23:40, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
Exactly, I think its silly to have North and Northern America, or do you think we should include South and Southern America??, most people around the world divide the Americas/America, into 4 simple regions: North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, just because the UN includes the region called "Northern North America, doesn't mean that its the most appropriate way to divide it. Supaman89 20:51, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
I have no major problem with this template except the tacit assertion that these are THE regions of the world rather than just one classification among many. An encyclopedia, as wikipedia is supposed to be, has the potential to come across as authoritative and objective, and care should be taken, I think, to make sure readers know something like a list of regions of the world is a generalized classification scheme with a specific point of view, and that other equally valid systems exist.
What I mean is, this template's system is a fine system of (relatively large) regions from the point of view of Political geography. Of course there are other branches of geography (see Template:Geography topics). From the viewpoint of Cultural geography one might argue for different regions. I suspect most of the criticisms about this template relate to people approaching it from a political or a cultural point of view, as these are perhaps the two most common ways people think about the world and its regions. Some other common ways of thinking about the world and its regions include the viewpoints of Economic geography (example region, "NAFTA"), Environmental geography ("Amazon rainforest"), Biogeography ("ecoregions"), Geomorphology ("Appalachian Mountains"), Climatology ("the Horse latitudes"), and so on. And each of these points of view will result in radically different "regions of the world". Pfly 07:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Hy (first post here) I have been improving the articles Western Europe and Eastern Europe and I've been watching at this particular template. I'm afraid that many of the regions which are slowly appearing are slowly spoiling the whole template. I mean Latin Europe is at most a cultural region and not a geographical one. Then we have Latin America. Now we have Slavic Europe. How much longer until we have Celtic Europe, Germanic Europe, etc (and all the conflict that will appear?). If we add to that all the other cultures (on all the other continents) I predict a very bad time for this template. IMHO we should only keep the geographical regions and simply remove all the cultural ones. Hey, I like to be honest. Flamarande 12:43, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
"Eurasian" leads to the article Central Asia. What has Central Asia do to with European geography and/or culture? If you care to read the article Russia it says quite clearly that Russia is a transcontinental country (i.e.: a country with parts in both continents). I propose that either someone finds a better article and links it to (something to do with Europe) or failing that it should be removed altogether. Flamarande ( talk) 14:50, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
Central Asian places like Afghanistan, Tibet, and Xinjiang that have nothing to do with Europe should not be dubbed Eurasian. Please cite sources that actually refer to Central Asia and Eurasia interchangeably. I am reverting unref'ed edits. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 20:57, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
Neither Afghanistan, Tibet, or Xinjiang have been placed under Europe. Please actually read the map. 78.146.17.244 ( talk) 21:04, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
But those places are not Eurasian. By Central Asia being called Eurasia, you are calling those places Eurasian. Please cite sources indicating that Central Asia and Eurasia are used interchangeable. Until you do so, it is OR. If there are no cited sources in 24 hours, I will revert the edits once again. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 21:36, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
Some anon users insiste on introducing obviously WRONG and POV maps of Europe and Asia ( 83.220.200.110 - the one who first introduced the maps, now blocked for being an open proxy or zombie computer, coming from Opal Telecom, GB, 89.240.206.86 - coming from Opal Telecom, GB, the same anon as the precedent?; 78.146.17.244 - coming from Opal Telecom, GB, blocked for violating 3RR, 78.146.254.197 - coming from Cablesurf Network Equipment, Ireland)! Something must be done about this! The Ogre ( talk) 12:38, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
Asia(A) Location of Asia | Asia(B) |
Europe(A) | Europe(B) |
I strongly support the Expanded map for Europe, since it is much more detailed. I however am not so struck by the alternate Asia map, since it doesn't colour all Asia one colour. The Europe one has all "core" Europe one colour, and then a lighter shade for extended Europe. The Asia one seems to imply that only half of Asia is Asian. That is my thought on the matter anyway. Maltalia ( talk) 14:07, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I would in fact suggest possibly creating new maps entirely, which combine features of both A and B. It can still show Greater Europe etc, but be more accurate than the current map, since following the sources, some of the countries included in this map don't seem to fit with the " Greater Europe" concept. Maltalia ( talk) 16:37, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I strongly prefer the B maps, which show the geographical regions, just as they should. Compare the description of Europe: Bounded in the east by the Ural mountains etc. The A maps are political, and thus unsuited for this template's purpose. Plus, the Europe A map also includes Israel and Jordan, and Jordan isn't in Europe at all. The problem with Greater Europe is that there are plenty of definitions and hardly two people speaking of Greater Europe mean the same thing. Huon ( talk) 21:42, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
-firm support for the B maps as per above. The A maps aren't even good quality, the grey and greens are not consistent across the map. The bitmap editors the user was using "smeared" the colors so that the colors got off. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 22:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
Compared to other regions here, Middle East is incredibly biased, controversial, ambiguous and subjective term. It's simply not in the same league with terms like Europe, Asia, Africa. I'm going to remove it. -- Mttll ( talk) 17:20, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
Can we please add the Middle East Back? Think we should also differentiate Central American from the rest of North America, as well as the Caribbean
Polar gets on this template, Arctic and Antarctic, but what about antiPolar? The Tropics and surrounding subtropics ? 70.24.244.248 ( talk) 13:04, 23 December 2011 (UTC)
I would like to propose Caucasus be added to this template alongside Middle East under both the Europe and Asia headings. sephia karta | dimmi 19:27, 20 May 2012 (UTC)
We should have either 7 regions (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Polar Regions, South America), or 6 regions (Africa, Australia, Eurasia, North America, Polar Regions, and South America), or 5 regions (Africa, Americas, Australia, Eurasia, and Polar Regions). But having Americas as one entity and Eurasia as two different is not justified as physiographically Eurasia is a single continent and landmass, but North America and South America are two different landmasses. FonsScientiae ( talk) 20:33, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
These are two distinct regions, not subregions of one and the same region, and should be listed separately as Arctic and Antarctic at the region level. We don't need any grouping of regions like 'Polar regions' in this template.
I'm pretty sure Maryland is not a part of Asia. Or at-least the Maryland that is linked is not in Asia but the United States. As pointed out by FoulCoke on reddit.com/r/maryland 108.45.74.6 ( talk) 02:42, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
This template is too much. It's a big unwieldy mess that in trying to include EVERYTHING has become meaningless and hard to navigate. Suggest it gets wound back to its former size and just be a normal template. --- Merbabu ( talk) 10:41, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
Geography Template‑class | ||||||||||||||
|
Editors of the 'Region' template,
Wikipedia ought to take a more consistent approach to the naming conventions used for the regions of the African continent. Officially, they are Northern, Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central, and should be recognized accordingly.
Redirects are a useful way of accounting for 'popular' terms, but any work that purports to have encyclopedic worth needs to take a more rigorous approach. Take the use of 'America', for example, while most people do associate this with 'The United States of America', it is inaccurate on grounds of denotation, hence Wikipedia’s disambiguation page for it. Another good example is the distinction between 'South Africa', the country, and 'Southern Africa', the region.
Now aside from the official name of a Wikipedia page itself, users will always be at the utmost liberty to use any term they so choose and according to their personal style: Western Africa of West Africa, for instance, but Wikipedia should, at least, retain the best term for its official page designation.
I hope that this clarifies the rationale for making the names of the African regions more consistent... Lucidity 07:46, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Let me just voice my concern about the excess compartmentalization of the world in a manner that doesn't seem to resemble a single scientific approach. -- Shallot 20:40, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Is there any particular reason the following designations were not used?
I realize packing in every possible region is impossible, but I wager these usages are far more common than, for instance, Northeast Africa (and why Northeast instead of Horn of Africa) or North Asia (yet no Northeast Asia, which is a familiar zone to frequent flyers). - choster 5 July 2005 23:20 (UTC)
This is for disambig link repair, currently Congo is a disambig page, there is no page related to the geographic area "congo" to replace it with, only the countries Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it doesn't seem like either of those is appropriate but I could be wrong. cohesion | talk 01:31, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
Hello! To rectify the apparent imbalance in the categorising of various continents and subregions in this template (e.g., Europe/ Asia, yet Americas), I've reorganised it to consolidate Europe and Asia into Eurasia. Another way to do this is to separate out as follows:
I'm fine with either or, but a melange of the two doesn't make sense. Thanks! E Pluribus Anthony 12:07, 13 December 2005 (UTC)
This is a highly contraversial ethnic region with undefined borders. Basicaly it can occupy the entier galaxy r could be the size of a pea. Borders are determined by the artistic nature of the person drawing. Article displays the flag as well as other goodies of the proposed kurdish nation.
I hence believe its presence is inaproporate on this template. Put the kurdistan article in contrast with other articles and you will see what I mean. -- Cool Cat Talk| @ 18:06, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
Today I created the article Congo (region) mainly because I felt that it was missing from Template:Regions of the world. Only afterwards did I discover that Congo already exists, but that this article seems to restrict itself to dealing solely with the two Congos, and not the wider, vaguer subregion. What is the preferred option now: should Congo me merged with Congo (region) and redirect to Congo (disambiguation) instead? Please have your say here. Thanks.
And a related issue: I would argue that the UN designation Middle Africa - which currently redirects to Central Africa - is the least ambiguous name for the region, as listed at Template:Africa, just like Southern Africa is used to effectively disambiguate from South Africa. Please respond here. Thanks! // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 10:40, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
I've just reorganised the template according to a two-line system, where for each region X, the first line lists subregions identified by (usually primary) compass point; and the second line lists the other subregions (usually smaller than those on the first line). I think this helps prevent the template from becoming cluttered. What think ye? Regards, David Kernow 14:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
I have no sources to cite right off the top of my skull. Part of this crux lies in the definition of a (sub-)region: Many of the more informal terms used in public discourse on both formal and informal levels to describe a certain area have no set boundaries; they have only a core and an optional/arguable periphery. Nonetheless, these terms are used and they mean something to the jouranlists and politicians and artists who use them, and to their audiences. (Phew, my talk is getting increasingly philosophical here). And, on the other hand, some formally designated regions or clusters of states and other entities (such as Western Asia) remain poorly used in spite of their unequivocal, unbiased and descritive nature. // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 14:55, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Moreover, I'm unsure why Southern Asia was recently created distinct from South Asia – usage differentiating the two is unclear at best and this can only promote confusion. (This is different, however, from North America/ Northern America or South Africa/ Southern Africa ... where usage is generally distinct with cited examples.) Is there a reason why one article cannot deal with notions of both? One should redirect to the other and, without, objection, I will do this. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 15:29, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
Similarly, I'm of the very strong belief that – unless there's sufficient reason otherwise – all sub/regional articles (e.g., for continents) should be entitled at " cardinal directionern foo", not merely " cardinal direction foo" for consistency. Thoughts? E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 14:23, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Goodie. They could be further categorized as either A) continents, B) UN regions or C) other regions. The last category is the one most vulnerable to edit wars over what's in and what's left out. For example, why include the Baltic region while excluding the Barents region.
The UN, as we know, divides the world thusly: World
It makes a careful point of noting that The continent of North America... comprises Northern America..., Caribbean..., and Central America. // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 15:47, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Currently the template has [[Southwest Asia|Western Asia]]. Is that correct? From reading the above I'm guessing the display text is set according to one preference/standard and the page name is set according to some other preference/standard. Can anyone clarify? Ewlyahoocom 13:09, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
I've been looking at the template:region and the template:continent and they seem similar enough that with a few additions to the region template, the continent template would become redundant and could be discontinued. The inspiring thought came when I saw Antarctica was a featured article and thought the other continents should be as well, and while browsing over Africa saw three geographic tables which just screamed "clean me up!" Xaxafrad 04:07, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
Isnt it superflouous to link to Latin America twice from the North AND South America regions? Is Central America "good" enough to have it's own category, or should it be deleted from one of the Americas? Geographically, I would place it in North, but culturally, in South. Any other thoughts? Xaxafrad 05:10, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
I have created a redesign at Template:Regions_of_the_world/Temp as an attempt to solve the UN/not-UN debate and also to make the template a bit easier to use. The location pictures have had been sacrificed for space but most people know where Africa is anyway. Thoughts? Comments? Andeggs 16:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
How about having two templates that link to each other, one that follows the UN/non-UN distinction and the current template? {{ Hidden}} could then be used to offer users the option to see/use either or both. I'd also retain the location pictures as they help distinguish which set of links to read through to find a particular subcontinent/region/etc. Regards, David Kernow 00:18, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
At the risk of pushing this too far and making myself a few enemies, I have created one last design for your consideration. This incorporates both the UN system and the desire to have the world's continents included. It also includes the world's oceans which are unduly missing lacking in the current template.
Most fundamentally I have removed all non-UN links. This is radical but I think it's the only way of keeping a hold on this template which just seems to grow without limit. How can we justify including Benelux and not Kazakh Steppes? Guinea (region) and not North China Plain? Levant and not Midwestern United States? The only way is through dispute on this talk page (e.g. over Congo (region)) which is prone to domination by conservatives. If large informal regions deserve a mention then this page should be linked to and improved (as suggested by others above).
There are limits to all designs of this nature but I think the ones in Temp3 are manageable. Most significantly I believe sticking points remain over the handling of Latin America and Northern America. My argument is that we should strive for a neat, workable navigation template by overcoming these problems rather than lumbering on with the current unworkable, biased and down-right ugly version. ;-) Andeggs 15:43, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
Weighing in rather late regarding this, I don't see what the problem is with the current template: aesthetics aside (which I don't necessarily agree with), it is navigable, functional, structured, yet inclusive. How is the current template unworkable? The proposed Temp3 template, and predecessors, are too simplistic and create added problems. I share concerns expressed by others about the exclusion or the consolidation of the Americas (like, where is North America, which differs from Northern America) while splitting out Europe/ Asia – that isn't biased?
In summary: the current version may not be ideal, but the proposed versions are even less palatable. However, I also thank Andeggs etc. in efforts to improve the template. A the 0th | talk | 10:35, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
As well, I think the suggestion to include oceans is a great idea! I will incorporate this into the current template. A the 0th | talk | 10:40, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
A the 0th is a sockpuppet of E Pluribus Anthony as established by CheckUser (Thanks for wasting our time.) This does not make his/her arguments invalid but it does mean there is less opposition to the proposed redesign than first appears. Perhaps, indeed, it is ready to be implemented? Am I correct in thinking David Kernow and BigAdamsky support this? Cheers Andeggs 11:50, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
I replaced Northern America with North America. It doesn't make sense for this template to lack a link to North America, and the term "Northern America" is by comparison quite obscure. I am aware that including Central America and North America causes some overlap of coverage, but it would be even worse to leave out the article at North America. I believe that including North, Central, and South America on the template is the best configuration, with the fewest faults. -- Yath 06:28, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
I am adding a link to "North America" because the UN system also divides the Americas in North and South. Commonly a person will be looking for the most used division of the Americas, this includes North America also. If a person is looking for the another UN subdivision called "Northern America", they will find it there also. AlexCovarrubias 23:40, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
Exactly, I think its silly to have North and Northern America, or do you think we should include South and Southern America??, most people around the world divide the Americas/America, into 4 simple regions: North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, just because the UN includes the region called "Northern North America, doesn't mean that its the most appropriate way to divide it. Supaman89 20:51, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
I have no major problem with this template except the tacit assertion that these are THE regions of the world rather than just one classification among many. An encyclopedia, as wikipedia is supposed to be, has the potential to come across as authoritative and objective, and care should be taken, I think, to make sure readers know something like a list of regions of the world is a generalized classification scheme with a specific point of view, and that other equally valid systems exist.
What I mean is, this template's system is a fine system of (relatively large) regions from the point of view of Political geography. Of course there are other branches of geography (see Template:Geography topics). From the viewpoint of Cultural geography one might argue for different regions. I suspect most of the criticisms about this template relate to people approaching it from a political or a cultural point of view, as these are perhaps the two most common ways people think about the world and its regions. Some other common ways of thinking about the world and its regions include the viewpoints of Economic geography (example region, "NAFTA"), Environmental geography ("Amazon rainforest"), Biogeography ("ecoregions"), Geomorphology ("Appalachian Mountains"), Climatology ("the Horse latitudes"), and so on. And each of these points of view will result in radically different "regions of the world". Pfly 07:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Hy (first post here) I have been improving the articles Western Europe and Eastern Europe and I've been watching at this particular template. I'm afraid that many of the regions which are slowly appearing are slowly spoiling the whole template. I mean Latin Europe is at most a cultural region and not a geographical one. Then we have Latin America. Now we have Slavic Europe. How much longer until we have Celtic Europe, Germanic Europe, etc (and all the conflict that will appear?). If we add to that all the other cultures (on all the other continents) I predict a very bad time for this template. IMHO we should only keep the geographical regions and simply remove all the cultural ones. Hey, I like to be honest. Flamarande 12:43, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
"Eurasian" leads to the article Central Asia. What has Central Asia do to with European geography and/or culture? If you care to read the article Russia it says quite clearly that Russia is a transcontinental country (i.e.: a country with parts in both continents). I propose that either someone finds a better article and links it to (something to do with Europe) or failing that it should be removed altogether. Flamarande ( talk) 14:50, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
Central Asian places like Afghanistan, Tibet, and Xinjiang that have nothing to do with Europe should not be dubbed Eurasian. Please cite sources that actually refer to Central Asia and Eurasia interchangeably. I am reverting unref'ed edits. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 20:57, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
Neither Afghanistan, Tibet, or Xinjiang have been placed under Europe. Please actually read the map. 78.146.17.244 ( talk) 21:04, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
But those places are not Eurasian. By Central Asia being called Eurasia, you are calling those places Eurasian. Please cite sources indicating that Central Asia and Eurasia are used interchangeable. Until you do so, it is OR. If there are no cited sources in 24 hours, I will revert the edits once again. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 21:36, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
Some anon users insiste on introducing obviously WRONG and POV maps of Europe and Asia ( 83.220.200.110 - the one who first introduced the maps, now blocked for being an open proxy or zombie computer, coming from Opal Telecom, GB, 89.240.206.86 - coming from Opal Telecom, GB, the same anon as the precedent?; 78.146.17.244 - coming from Opal Telecom, GB, blocked for violating 3RR, 78.146.254.197 - coming from Cablesurf Network Equipment, Ireland)! Something must be done about this! The Ogre ( talk) 12:38, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
Asia(A) Location of Asia | Asia(B) |
Europe(A) | Europe(B) |
I strongly support the Expanded map for Europe, since it is much more detailed. I however am not so struck by the alternate Asia map, since it doesn't colour all Asia one colour. The Europe one has all "core" Europe one colour, and then a lighter shade for extended Europe. The Asia one seems to imply that only half of Asia is Asian. That is my thought on the matter anyway. Maltalia ( talk) 14:07, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I would in fact suggest possibly creating new maps entirely, which combine features of both A and B. It can still show Greater Europe etc, but be more accurate than the current map, since following the sources, some of the countries included in this map don't seem to fit with the " Greater Europe" concept. Maltalia ( talk) 16:37, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I strongly prefer the B maps, which show the geographical regions, just as they should. Compare the description of Europe: Bounded in the east by the Ural mountains etc. The A maps are political, and thus unsuited for this template's purpose. Plus, the Europe A map also includes Israel and Jordan, and Jordan isn't in Europe at all. The problem with Greater Europe is that there are plenty of definitions and hardly two people speaking of Greater Europe mean the same thing. Huon ( talk) 21:42, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
-firm support for the B maps as per above. The A maps aren't even good quality, the grey and greens are not consistent across the map. The bitmap editors the user was using "smeared" the colors so that the colors got off. Thegreyanomaly ( talk) 22:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
Compared to other regions here, Middle East is incredibly biased, controversial, ambiguous and subjective term. It's simply not in the same league with terms like Europe, Asia, Africa. I'm going to remove it. -- Mttll ( talk) 17:20, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
Can we please add the Middle East Back? Think we should also differentiate Central American from the rest of North America, as well as the Caribbean
Polar gets on this template, Arctic and Antarctic, but what about antiPolar? The Tropics and surrounding subtropics ? 70.24.244.248 ( talk) 13:04, 23 December 2011 (UTC)
I would like to propose Caucasus be added to this template alongside Middle East under both the Europe and Asia headings. sephia karta | dimmi 19:27, 20 May 2012 (UTC)
We should have either 7 regions (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Polar Regions, South America), or 6 regions (Africa, Australia, Eurasia, North America, Polar Regions, and South America), or 5 regions (Africa, Americas, Australia, Eurasia, and Polar Regions). But having Americas as one entity and Eurasia as two different is not justified as physiographically Eurasia is a single continent and landmass, but North America and South America are two different landmasses. FonsScientiae ( talk) 20:33, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
These are two distinct regions, not subregions of one and the same region, and should be listed separately as Arctic and Antarctic at the region level. We don't need any grouping of regions like 'Polar regions' in this template.
I'm pretty sure Maryland is not a part of Asia. Or at-least the Maryland that is linked is not in Asia but the United States. As pointed out by FoulCoke on reddit.com/r/maryland 108.45.74.6 ( talk) 02:42, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
This template is too much. It's a big unwieldy mess that in trying to include EVERYTHING has become meaningless and hard to navigate. Suggest it gets wound back to its former size and just be a normal template. --- Merbabu ( talk) 10:41, 27 May 2017 (UTC)