A group of people speaking the same language, practicing the same religion observing similar manners and customs, engaged in similar type of work and living in similar types of community or group is unified by similar cultural traits. This cultural group may be said to form a cultural region, or a cultural realm. A major cultural realm must satisfy two conditions.
1. There must be some aspects of culture or cultural entity pervading the area and
2. There must be differentiation of cultural features from their neighboring regions.
The major cultural realms, which could be identified, are as follows.
(a) The Polar realm
(b) The European realm
(c) The Anglo American realm
(d) The Dry realm
(e) The African realm
(f) The Oriental realm
(g) The Latin American realm
(h) The Australian realm
(i) The Pacific realm
(j) The Communist realms (disappeared for the most part in the 1990ies)
Even though these cultural regions are conspicuous, the boundaries are arbitrary. These are grouped as formal cultural regions. The outstanding common cultural traits form the bases of classification, still no two cultural traits have the same attributes. Therefore functional cultural region is easily identified because there will be organized existence of political, social or economic function. Each functional division covers culturally heterogenous groups. Third but less popular division is based on vernacular of perception.
The perception of a definite cultural region is vague, less organized and lack sharp boundary. The cultural region as if is today is the product of cultural evolution which is nothing but cultural diffusion either by expansion, by relocation or both. The emergence of man as a dominant cultural representative indicates that independent ideas had spread out from its origin of invention as well as individuals or group migrating from one place to another with their idea of invention. Therefore migration whether it is in the past or in the present is the means of cultural diffusion and emergence of a new cultural system.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.