Expressing the 'Top-Flex Identity!
The most important song associated with the culture of Iceland, “Á Sprengisandi” intends to utilize the land as an antagonist, thus appearing to personality the character. Because land is often hostile throughout much of Iceland, and particularly the interior regions, the tunes are often also tunes of despair and questioning whether life can remain a possibility within the scope of the island.
Though Iceland has traditionally focused on collective survival over private coupledom, the national identity had largely been gendered, as with the vast majority of national identities elsewhere. In the case of the island nation, however, many of the gender markers have largely been reference markers rather than role enforcers, as in the following demonstrations:
In Iceland, traditional family names are largely encouraged, and the national registry maintains a particular list of Icelandic names as to ensure the continued survival of the Old Norse variants of names relatively near their original forms without Danish, Norwegian, or other outside interference. Rather than allowing for family customs from elsewhere to be imported, the nation enforces Icelandic names and naming systems, with official prefixes as necessary:
The eth (ð) and thorn (þ) sounds are represented using the respective characters as listed in parentheses, with the eth being voiced and the thorn voiceless. For example, the following may be translated:
Even though traditional gender markers continue to appear in Icelandic names at large, the official policies throughout the island are generally amongst the most liberating for LGBTQIA+ communities and additional gender identities. While gender markers in contexts elsewhere determine behavioral and social expectations alike, the Icelandic gender roles are generally more attached to purely reference points and factual information.
Overall, the isolated island nation of Iceland is identified as largely associated with settlements on the periphery. Though Iceland 🇮🇸 is largely a coastal nation with high humidity, the east-central interior of the nation is largely associated with more of a cold-desert climate with semi-arid regions associated with the immediate vicinity.
The cold-desert region of Iceland has largely determined the name “Iceland” referring largely to the eastern side of the modern nation approaching the North Atlantic Ocean and the Seyðisfjörður area.
Within the following list attached to the post on overseas territories related to the European Union, the fully-integrated Outermost Regions will be in bold, while the Overseas Countries and Territories will be recorded in regular font and Special Cases will be recorded in italic:
Of the Overseas Territories of the sovereign states associated with the European Union (EU), only nine (9) territories are fully integrated within the economic partnership, while thirteen (13) additional territories are included in European Union sovereignty without integration.
The nine (9) regions fully integrated into the European Union despite relative distances are as follows:
Within the European Union, not all territories can be easily discernible relative to one another. Of particular significance are the territories of the Åland Islands 🇦🇽 (Finland), Büsingen am Hochrhein (Germany, entirely surrounded by Switzerland), Campione d’Italia (Italy, entirely surrounded by Switzerland), Ceuta (Spain), the Faroe Islands 🇫🇴 (Denmark), Heligoland (islands of Germany in the North Sea), Livigno (Italy), Melilla (Spain), Mount Athos (Greece), and the United Nations 🇺🇳 Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
For each of the Special Cases of the European Union listed above, the outlying areas result in distinct economical situations and outlooks, such as Büsingen am Hochrhein utilizing features of Switzerland as an exclave of Germany an Heligoland being located in an outlying area relatively near Germany within the North Sea.
Many of the special cases are purely geographical, such as the Shetland Islands being positioned at a fair distance from mainland Denmark and with closer geographical connections to the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, and the Hebrides further south. Additional geographical anomalies include Ceuta and Melilla, both claimed by Spain but located in Africa, as well as the enclaves of Switzerland of Büsingen am Hochrhein, Germany; and Campione d’Italia, Italy. Livigno, though not geographically separate from the regions elsewhere in Italy, is also highly representative of the outlying areas, with a greater level of autonomy from the Italian government.
For strictly political reasons, Mount Athos, Greece; and the United Nations 🇺🇳 Buffer Zone in Cyprus are also identified as Special Cases in the European Union, primarily since women—and females in general—are entirely prohibited in Mount Athos as a monastery and geopolitical tensions on the island of Cyprus continue to provide concerns about full integration of the island nation into the European Union.
Though under the sovereignty of France, one of the several core nations of Europe, the European Union, and the Eurozone, the French Overseas Territory of French Guiana shall not be considered part of Europe, though the same can also be stated with the remainder of the French Overseas. In the particular case of French Guiana, the area is significantly different from Metropolitan France, yet with the same national sovereignty and full integration with the modern nation. Even as a full department of France, the region remains less autonomous and more dependent on the European continent than Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia located elsewhere across the globe.
Unlike most of the South American continent, French Guiana continues to be fully integrated into the sovereign nation of France 🇫🇷, though transplanted overseas from Europe into South America and with Caribbean customs associated with the region. While the capital of French Guiana is located at Cayenne, Paris on the European mainland continues to maintain a level of influence in the entirety of the French Overseas Territories—even French Guiana.
With the Amazon located nearby to the south and west, the southern portion of French Guiana is very sparsely settled, if at all, with tropical diseases continuing to impact the entirety of the mainland nation. While the vast majority of the population of French Guiana resides along the coastal portion of the mainland of the territory, the general population continues to identify the region as strictly Caribbean, rather than continental, nonetheless.
Many world societies, especially in the former British colonies, may often conflate England with the entirety of the United Kingdom, mistaking the entire Union Jack for representing England in particular. However, the Union Jack actually contains symbolism for Scotland and Ireland as well, though the Irish symbol of Saint Patrick is very different from the modern Irish tricolor and often forms a geopolitical divide between the nations.
Even though England in general is often mistaken for representing the entirety of Great Britain, possibly even including Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom is also home to the aforementioned constituent country as well as Scotland and Ireland. While the Crown Dependencies are not technically part of the United Kingdom and have a very complicated status regarding sovereignty, modern treaties will often state terms such as “…and, where applicable, the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.”
Though England is already identified as the dominant country within the United Kingdom, not all portions of England are created equal, with Middlesex and the surrounding counties of East Anglia often identified as the “dominant” region within the country. On the west coast, approaching Wales, counties such as Shropshire are occasionally confused with Welsh territory, and Monmouthshire (Gwent) actually refers to Welsh territory that was once identified as English.
In a previous article, the modern Counties of Cornwall and Devon have been identified by county symbolism as being clearly distinct from much of the remainder of the national boundaries of England, which novaTopFlex has referred to as “England proper,” also excluding the northern counties of Cumberland and Northumberland as defying the English stereotypes and effectively identifying as frontier regions, along with select Scottish shires such as Berwickshire, Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Ayrshire.
Off the west coast of the constituent country of Scotland 🏴 within the United Kingdom, the associated islands can contain dramatic scenery and significant natural views and beauty. While the Inner Hebrides are already relatively notable for scenery, especially when associated with Ross and Cromarty, the Outer Hebrides may represent some of the most dramatic scenery in all of not just Scotland, but perhaps also all of the European continent, with striking similarities thanks to the geological connection with much of Atlantic Canada, now directly across the Atlantic Ocean and with the Viking influence of Leif Erikson throughout the region.
While the Inner Hebrides contain perhaps the most notable of the isles associated with Ross and Cromarty, the Isle of Skye, the Outer Hebrides can get significantly more dramatic, containing the Isles of Barra, Lewis and Harris, and the Uists, just to name a few. Beyond the aforementioned outlying and inlying islands, a number of additional islands, largely to the north of Buteshire and the Islands of the Clyde, may also be included within the Inner Hebrides, including the Isles of Islay, Jura, Mull, Tiree, and Coll, just to name a few.
Unfortunately, the previous post could not cover the entirety of the different subnational regions, but could only cover the specific regions of the British Isles and the Romance nations. This post is specifically dedicated to the nations of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Different languages often receive different diacritical marks, as appropriate to the orthographic customs of different spoken and written languages. Today, in the case of written languages, the orthography typically includes the Latin-based alphabet throughout the vast majority of the “Global North” world, especially representative of the European continent. The United States of America is the largest country in the world by population to clearly utilize the Latin alphabet, and Indonesia is second. Even though China, India, and other portions of the Asian continent continue to maintain distinct orthographic traditions beyond the Latin-based alphabet, the vast majority of the world elsewhere has established a presence on the Latin-based alphabet, with the alphabet often representing globalization before all other alphabetical systems could.
Perhaps the most important languages for each diacritical mark are the grave for French, Italian, and Scottish Gaelic; the acute for Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Icelandic; the diaeresis (umlaut) for German and Swedish; the circumflex for Portuguese, French, and Romanian; the slash in the Danish and Norwegian letter o-slash and the Polish letter l-slash; the ring above the A throughout the Scandinavian region; the tilde of Portuguese, French, and Estonian; the macron of Latvia and Lithuania; the cedilla of Portuguese and French; and many more accent marks depending on the linguistic requirements for a given country or region.
While Scotland 🏴 is not a strictly Nordic country, centuries of rule by the Norwegians and other historic Nordic groups north of the Teutonic peoples have resulted in special Nordic treatment for the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, and the Counties of Caithness and Sutherland, all from north to south. To the west are the Inner and Outer Hebrides, including notable islands such as the Isles of Skye, Barra, and the Uists, just to name a few.
Today, the Nordic Cross is featured as the most prominent feature on the flags of Shetland and Orkney, while the Flag of Caithness adds a galley to symbolize the county atop the flag design. Sutherland also adds additional symbols, further deviating the flag design from the general Nordic cross.
The following content will contain the English-language names, national flags, and English-language national capitals for each sovereign state on the European continent:
While the State of Maine may not have any obvious cultural similarities with the African continent, nor even share the history of brutal treatment of slaves with Africa for much of overlapping history except possibly at the very beginning, the State of Maine is, oddly enough, the closest U.S. State to Africa as a continent. Unsurprisingly, though this refers to a different portion of the State of Maine, it is also the closest state in the Contiguous United States to the continent of Europe, though when Canada enters the discussion, the island of Newfoundland is significantly closer to the European continent still.
Unlike the European Union 🇪🇺, the Eurozone 💶, or even the Schengen Area or European Economic Commission, the European continent is not about national and international politics as much as about the geographic features associated with the continent. While Iceland 🇮🇸 is technically at the fault line dividing the European and North American plates, the entire nation is often identified by society as entirely European. On the contrary is Greenland 🇬🇱, technically claimed by the Kingdom of Denmark with a relatively higher level of autonomy than the subdivisions of the Danish mainland. Though Denmark 🇩🇰 is firmly located within the European continent, Greenland is physically located within North America. The Faroe Islands 🇫🇴, also claimed by the Kingdom of Denmark, however, are firmly located within the European continent, as with the nearby Shetland and Orkney Islands of Scotland 🏴.
The insular nations of the European continent, including the different portions of the continent, include the open Atlantic countries of Iceland 🇮🇸, Ireland 🇮🇪, and the United Kingdom 🇬🇧, the last of which includes England 🏴, Scotland 🏴, Wales 🏴, and Northern Ireland. While not technically included within the United Kingdom proper, the British Crown Dependencies are Jersey 🇯🇪, Guernsey 🇬🇬, and the Isle of Man 🇮🇲. In the case of Guernsey 🇬🇬, Sark 🇨🇶 is a separate isle that is included within the Channel Islands crown dependency.
Within the Mediterranean Sea, the nations most commonly associated with Europe include Malta 🇲🇹 and Cyprus 🇨🇾, the latter of which is disputed with the United Nations 🇺🇳 Buffer Zone on Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
The Scandinavian and greater Nordic regions of the European continent include, but are not limited to, the peninsular countries of Norway 🇳🇴 and Sweden 🇸🇪. While Denmark 🇩🇰 is not on the Scandinavian Peninsula, the nation is often considered part of the region nonetheless, with a shared heritage and centuries of cultural similarities with the former two.
Though not part of Scandinavia proper, the Nordic country of Finland 🇫🇮 is also typically included and the three Baltic nations—Estonia 🇪🇪, Latvia 🇱🇻, and Lithuania 🇱🇹—are also often included as such nations prefer to avoid association with Russia, the enemy nation to the east.
In addition to the above countries, the insular Nordic countries are also often considered within Northern Europe, namely Iceland 🇮🇸 and the Faroe Islands 🇫🇴 (within Denmark).
Apart from the British Isles and much of Northwest Europe already mentioned, the countries often mentioned and taught about first in the western world, and especially from a British-centric (or even Americanist) perspective include Portugal 🇵🇹, Spain 🇪🇸, France 🇫🇷, Germany 🇩🇪, Switzerland 🇨🇭, Austria 🇦🇹, and Italy 🇮🇹. Also within the region, though much less commonly known or taught about, are the microstates, though Belgium 🇧🇪 and the Netherlands 🇳🇱 are not considered microstates. The true microstates of the region include Andorra 🇦🇩, Monaco 🇲🇨, Vatican City 🇻🇦, San Marino 🇸🇲, Luxembourg 🇱🇺, and Liechtenstein 🇱🇮.
Located to the east of Italy are numerous South Slavic nations, many descended from the former Yugoslavia, as well as Greece 🇬🇷 further to the south. The Slavic nations in question include Slovenia 🇸🇮, Croatia 🇭🇷, Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦, Serbia 🇷🇸, Kosovo 🇽🇰 (disputed; claimed as Serbian territory by Serbia), Montenegro 🇲🇪, North Macedonia 🇲🇰, and Bulgaria 🇧🇬. Bulgaria was never included within Yugoslavia, though the other South Slavic nations have been included.
At the crossroads of numerous separate yet clearly related cultural traits, such as the eastern edge of Catholicism and the western end of the Slavs, include such nations as Poland 🇵🇱, Czechia 🇨🇿, Slovakia 🇸🇰, Hungary 🇭🇺, and Romania 🇷🇴. Though only the first three are truly Slavic nations, Romania in particular is identified as part of the Slavic sprachbund, with influence to the Romance language of the nation from numerous Slavic nations, both to the north and to the south.
Within the eastern edge of the European continent is an undefined regional definition, with the most westerly of the listed nations firmly considered European while many others are disputed with Asia in particular. Such nations include Moldova 🇲🇩, Belarus 🇧🇾, Ukraine 🇺🇦, Russia 🇷🇺, and Türkiye 🇹🇷 and may reasonably also include the nations of Kazakhstan 🇰🇿, Georgia 🇬🇪, Armenia 🇦🇲, and Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, though even that specific area can get particularly complicated.
The British Overseas Territories are generally located within different continental definitions, with the Cayman Islands 🇰🇾, the Turks and Caicos Islands 🇹🇨, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla 🇦🇮, Montserrat 🇲🇸, and Bermuda 🇧🇲 considered North America; the British Indian Ocean Territory 🇮🇴 possibly considered Africa; and Gibraltar 🇬🇮 and Akrotiri and Dhekelia firmly considered part of the European continent.
For the French Overseas Territories, not a single territory outside of “Metropolitan” France 🇫🇷 can be considered part of Europe, and even Corsica is considered part of France itself (Sardinia is a nearby island considered part of Italy 🇮🇹 itself similarly). The territories in North America include Saint Pierre and Miquelon 🇵🇲, Guadeloupe 🇬🇵, Martinique 🇲🇶, and Saint Martin, while French Guiana 🇬🇫 is firmly located within the South American continent (though identifying as Caribbean internally). Mayotte 🇾🇹 and Réunion 🇷🇪 remain possessions within insular Africa, and numerous other islands are also claimed within Oceania. The collectivities within Oceania that continue to be identified as French are New Caledonia 🇳🇨 and French Polynesia 🇵🇫.
Though the Netherlands today represent the European continent, the Dutch continue to claim numerous possessions within insular North America, namely Aruba 🇦🇼, Curaçao 🇨🇼, Bonaire 🇧🇶, Sint Maarten 🇸🇽, and Sint Eustatius.
Within the nations of Portugal and Spain are associated claims of territories to either nation. While neither nation is known for continuing to claim overseas collectives to this day, Portugal 🇵🇹 remains notable for claiming Madeira and the Azores Islands while Spain 🇪🇸 remains notable for claiming the Canary Islands 🇮🇨. In either case, however, the islands are more often considered African than European, or at least islands off the coast of Africa first. Morocco 🇲🇦 and Western Sahara 🇪🇭 are often nearby, though the latter remains involved in a border dispute commonly represented on the map of Africa. Spain also claims the possessions of Ceuta (opposite the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar 🇬🇮) and Melilla, both located on the African continent and often contested with neighboring Morocco.
The boundaries set between Europe and Asia may not necessarily be a well-defined measure. In most of the following cases, a mix of signals, from cultural traits to traditional heritage markers, shall be identified as accurately and as appropriately as reasonably possible:
Definitely identified as within the European continent are Belarus 🇧🇾 and Ukraine 🇺🇦. Both of the aforementioned countries prefer the name “Eastern Europe,” though the Baltic countries further to the north do not. In the Baltic context, the preferred name is “Northern Europe,” including Estonia 🇪🇪, Latvia 🇱🇻, and Lithuania 🇱🇹. Though Finland 🇫🇮 is identified along with Hungary 🇭🇺 as having Asian heritage markers centuries and millennia in the past, geographically, both of the aforementioned nations are firmly within the European continent.
While the Caucasus are often disputed between the claim to “Europe” and the claim to “Asia,” the continental boundaries are not a well-defined measure. While the Black Sea is typically identified within European history, the Caspian Sea is more important to the history of Central Asia. In the middle of the seas is a region that is realistically at the extreme northern edge of the Middle East, if at all. Usually, the nations identified within the Middle East (a Eurocentric designation, by the way) are firmly identified within the Asian continent, including, though not limited to, the Arabian Peninsula and the areas on either side of the Strait of Hormuz. For the Caucasus, the potentially Asian nations of the region may include Georgia 🇬🇪, Armenia 🇦🇲, and Azerbaijan 🇦🇿. While the Ural Mountains typically divide Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 into Europe and Asia, the western portion of Kazakhstan actually maintains Asian heritage markers similar to eastern Türkiye 🇹🇷. More obviously identified as Asian are the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan 🇹🇲, Uzbekistan 🇺🇿, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬, and the three Iranic countries extending toward South Asia.
Even though the nations to the north of Iran 🇮🇷 and Afghanistan 🇦🇫 alike may not necessarily be identified as within the Middle East, the Caucasian Mountains are often identified as on the boundary though predominantly Asian while the regions north of Afghanistan are typically identified as Central Asia. Apart from the aforementioned Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, the national boundaries of Tajikistan 🇹🇯 are also related to the boundary zone of the Middle Eastern area, though only loosely identified as such.
Portugal 🇵🇹 is the westernmost country in the European mainland, even further west than the western extent of Galicia within neighboring Spain 🇪🇸. While both share the Iberian Peninsula and possibly with the Pyrenees of Andorra 🇦🇩 occasionally included, the cultural traits of each nation are quite distinct, not just across borders, but often internally so as well. For Portugal, the southern part of the nation is quite far from the vast majority of the Portuguese population, and the same is generally true regarding Spain. However, the Portuguese culture relies on proximity to the ocean, whereas the Spanish culture often does not.
Though both Portugal and Spain have Mediterranean climate areas within the Iberian Peninsula, Spain extends into a mostly semi-arid region on the European continent and contains the driest areas within the entire continent. While common wisdom may suggest that no such desert exists in Europe, a small section located in Spain may be considered desert in proper terms.
Both Spain and Portugal face the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. However, Spain also has coastlines expanding in nearly every direction, with the obvious exception of the Pyrenees Mountains along the borders with Andorra 🇦🇩 and France 🇫🇷. The siesta culture is usually only in select parts of Spain and typically a cultural trait associated with the summer months, while Portugal lacks a similar cultural trait. Perhaps the seafaring identity of Portugal plays a major role in distinguishing the nation from neighboring Spain to the east and northeast.
The Netherlands is notable in the modern European Union because of the significant legacy regarding access to the water as well as regarding the culture of land reclamation. While Amsterdam serves as the national capital, additional notable locations include Rotterdam and The Hague (Den Haag), as well as numerous smaller locations scattered throughout the nation. Regarding the smaller locations, Eindhoven and Maastricht are each located in the southeast, with Maastricht being the southernmost mid-sized national city in the Netherlands, at a latitude similar to Brussels further west and located within a province bordering the Walloon region of Belgium through Liège. Leiden is yet another locale identified within the Netherlands as a particularly formal location, largely because of the history of trade and access to the coast further south in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands matches the flag colors of numerous other flags across the globe, using the colors red, white, and blue. These three colors are also pan-Slavic colors as seen on the Russian flag; however, the Dutch flag colors are in the order of red, white, and blue, from top to bottom. For Russia, the colors are white, blue, and red from top to bottom, and for numerous other countries, such as Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Czechia, and Slovakia, these three colors are at least the primary colors of the national identity. In each of the immediately aforementioned cases, red, white, and blue are representative of Slavic pride and identity.
Though the Order of Malta and the Maltese nation may each serve complicated yet complementary stories, Maltese communications are very Arabized yet also very Christian, using effectively the same script as the Italian language. As a side effect, Maltese people write from left to right, rather than from right to left as in nearby Algeria 🇩🇿 or Tunisia 🇹🇳. Even the Maltese flag 🇲🇹 is quite interesting, sitting at the crossroads between Christianity ✝️ and Islam ☪️ and with strong Muslim heritage even despite being a relatively Christian nation.
Chad and Romania have nearly identical flags, though Chad is a nation split between the Sahara and the Sahel in Africa while Romania is a nation associated with Southern Europe that prefers not to be associated with Eastern Europe to distance the nation from neighboring Ukraine and nearby Russia. Though Romania is, of course, Romanian, Chad is a victim of the Age of Imperialism, first with the Arab spread of Islam toward the Sahara, followed by the French colonization of the nation impacting the Sahel.
The slight differences between Indonesia and Monaco are associated with the significant geographical separation between the two nations. While Monaco is certainly European, Indonesia is generally Asian and Melanesian further east. Monaco is represented in emoji form with a more European shade of red, while Indonesia is generally more vibrant and less of a crimson red.
The Pyrenees are a mountain range associated with Spain, France, and the microstate of Andorra in between. The southern side of the Pyrenees is associated with Catalonia in Spain, while the northern side is associated with Occitania in France. The Spanish flag, like the Portuguese flag, contains an emblem appropriate to the nation, though the color scheme for Spain is red, then yellow, then red, from top to bottom. Andorra also contains an Andorran emblem on the national flag, differentiating the nation from Moldova, Romania, and even Chad—all of which maintain the same color scheme as one another: blue, yellow, red, from left to right. And finally, France is the plainest of the flags, blue, white, and red from left to right.
Andorra, as mentioned previously, is not unique for having a flag with such a color scheme. The other countries are Romania, Chad, and Moldova: 🇷🇴 🇹🇩 🇲🇩 🇦🇩
Spain is located near the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea, as Portugal to the west is entirely located to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar. As such, much of Spanish identity is influenced by the Mediterranean, though interestingly the driest part of the Mediterranean region by geography. More typically associated with the Mediterranean region, of course, are nations such as Italy, Portugal, or Greece, though the Spanish presence on the Mediterranean is also of significance. Perhaps the most iconic of the influences south of Catalonia along the Mediterranean is the region including Valencia, as the regional culture is effectively continuous with the culture associated with the aforementioned Catalonia and even Occitania up into France further north.
Galician influences are also to be represented and factored into the discussion of the cultural traits and differences between Spain and Portugal. However, much of the Spanish interior is accurately depicted as semi-arid and relatively hot, though not necessarily comparable to the Sahara. In comparison, Portuguese culture and heritage are generally more influenced by the more lush and green territory claimed by Portugal, where the national identity is a seafaring identity and where the Portuguese are often depicted as unable to withstand distance from the ocean in any direction.
International musical traditions, especially for Europe and Asia, have become of particular interest and importance for novaTopFlex, particularly the European side of the traditions, since different cultural traits are more obviously related to one another, especially within the Latin side of the region. Beyond just the British Isles, novaTopFlex has also identified personal and communal interests in the musical tunes of the European mainland from all directions.
When regarding Russian musical interests, please note that Russia is a Slavic nation and as such should be regarded as European, even well into the Asian continent. However, additional Asian influences have traditionally existed even in spite of the Russian imperialist craze, including Siberian and potentially Mongolic influences in the east and even Uralic influences in central longitudes. As one travels east in Russia, the population density dramatically dwindles, as most of the national population lives on the European side of the nation.
Since the vast majority of the modern world is dictated by the European continent, the vast majority of nations to be featured shall be focused on the Global North, including Europe as well as the former colonies perceived as more prestigious in the modern context. Unfortunately, the exploitation in modern capitalism is often associated with such Global Northern countries, while the Global Southern countries are often the recipients of the exploitation, unfortunately. Within the Global Northern context, beginning with what society perceives as the “origin” and what the Western world perceives as “safe” countries, based on heritage families:
The Global North may often include numerous Asian countries and regions, though many of the countries listed below are often considered either culturally distinct or entirely hostile to the Western world:
Within the Central Asian region, sometimes including the Middle East, the Arab world and the numerous Arab realms are often debated between the Middle East being considered the Global North and North Africa considered part of the Global South. The Arab nations typically associated with the Middle East and sometimes with the Global North begin near the Suez Canal and continue throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The nations typically associated with the “Global North” in the Arab world are listed below, often notable for sharing economic “success” stories with the Global North at large:
Each of the aforementioned nations is at least partly identified as included within the “Middle East,” assuming a Eurocentric world model. However, culturally related nations in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent include:
The quintessential nations of Central Asia, many of which are deemed hostile to the Western world yet also of which include the Caucasian Mountains, include:
The true Oriental countries of East Asia often refer to the following nations:
Southeast Asia often refers to most of the nations located to the south of the People’s Republic of China east of Bhutan:
While the Philippines 🇵🇭 may not typically be included within the definition of Southeast Asia nor Oceania, the nation is often associated with a mix of cultural traits associated with both continental clusters. Firmly within Oceania is where the cultural traits are often significantly more difficult to decipher:
novaTopFlex 