A cultural region is a contiguous geographic area where cultures are similar, but not identical. It is a term used in both geography and anthropology to describe a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities. Such activities are often associated with an ethnolinguistic group and with the territory it inhabits. Specific cultures often do not limit their geographic coverage to the borders of a nation-state or to smaller subdivisions of a state. Cultural regions can be drawn in different ways depending on the particular aspect of interest, such as religion and folklore vs dress, or architecture vs language. There are multiple types of cultural regions, including:

• Formal cultural regions: These are areas that are inhabited by people who share one or more cultural traits, such as language or religion. These types of areas are mostly homogenous according to the cultural attributes that define them.

• Functional cultural regions: These are areas that share political, social, and/or cultural functions.

• Perceptual, or vernacular, cultural regions: These are areas that are perceived as real and existing by their inhabitants. They are based on spatial perception and are often associated with common religious and cultural associations with a specific area.

The concept of a cultural region was first mentioned in cultural anthropology, where it was defined as a geographic region that is characterized by a mostly uniform culture and cultural environment. The definition has not changed much since then. Cultural regions are important because they help us understand the similarities and differences between different groups of people and how they interact with each other.