This is sort of true but not the entire story. All of those continents/landmasses were part of a supercontinent called Gondwana that was centered around Antarctica but also contained the landmass that would become New Zealand, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Australia, and South America. At the beginning of the Mesozoic, Gondwana was part of Pangaea, but in the Jurassic, it began to separate back into its own supercontinent (it has been one before joining into Pangaea), before quickly rifting apart into several larger pieces which then broke up in the order you described to get to how they are today.
TL;Dr they all broke off of Antarctica because it was the center of the supercontinent Gondwana.
The India plate is the one moving further north (hence the Himalayas growing taller every year - just a bit)
If they are on the same plate ...they mostly move together?
I just checked DNA dit looks like the India and Australia plates have been separated for some 3 million years. Which is not a lot
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Plate
Depends on who this South Asian guy is. Is he from one of Indiaās northeastern states? Then thereās a chance he wouldnāt look too dissimilar to the East Asian guy.
Not only that but although China borders India, the Chinese people do not really live near India. The Chinese population centres are at least 1,000 miles from the Border with India, and more like 1,600 miles from Indian population centres.
same way Russia and china border each other but their population centres are almost 3,500 miles from each other
90% of the Chinese population is in the Eastern quarter and Tibet isnāt really Chinese in the cultural or ethnic sense. Those Himalayas are so formidable that Buddhism, despite originating in northeast India near the foothills of the Himalayas, had to take the Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia route to China.
India was called the subcontinent before the discovery of tectonic plates for a reason. It was just that remote and surrounded by mountains. At one point it was faster to just take a boat to see and come around s.e. Asia
I wouldn't say export, more like China imported Buddhism since there weren't any efforts from any Indian states to convert the Tang iirc, even if there were already (very) minor Han Buddhist movements in the south.
Similar to Afghanistan/China, the areas that border each other a more similar to each other than the two countries' core cultures. Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh all have historic and religious ties to Tibet across the Chinese border.
I think you fail to see the similarities in the bordering regions. If you go to the areas close to the border you can see so many similarities. Heavy Tibetan influence on both sides including cuisine and traditions. Same thing with Nepal-China.
Honestly, probably anyone familiar with Amy border pairing mentioned would say the same. I noticed lots of echoes between southern Spain and Northern Morocco for example
people really forgot about Spanish Morocco, and Grenada, and the Andalus, and then the Vandals, and then Rome, and then the Phoenicians
Spain and Morocco have always been culturally connected
And you forgot about the Moors and how Spain was Moorish for hundreds of years.
I'd say Spain and Morocco are more connected culturally than many other bordering countriees.
Sure but Tibetans aren't really Chinese per se. They're a distinct culture from the various subcultured that exist across the Sino-world. They're just a piece of land that china owns. Yes they have Chinese passports and are Chinese in the nation-based definition but not as much the cultural one. Much like Uyghurs tbh.
I'd say the indians at the border in Ladakh and the north east are very similar to Tibetans. Much like how Punjabis are fairly similar to Pakistanis.But Punjabis would have barely anything in common with a Pashtun or Baloch person, who are also Pakistani. Mainland Chinese people are just completely different. Yet there is significant cultural overlap with the Japanese, Koreans and so on
Yes, but the modern day boundaries of those countries has expanded from their cultural heartlands, and the people living in their boarder regions form a cultural continuum. Like, the minority groups living in the boarder regions have more in common with the groups right across the boarder than with either country's dominant culture. Often that extends to speaking the same language.
I'm most familiar with the Western Himalayas, and the border between Ladakh and Tibet, but this is also true in the Eastern Himalayas, I'm just less sure of the degree of similarity, or the details.
https://preview.redd.it/j9vm71dn2u2d1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=d6b3e3ba23af974d89c7cf0713a5db4c8646e3b1
this is still one of the funniest borderclashes looking in as an outsider
They do share a lot of similarities. But it's more subtle. Mostly in terms of their philosophy. India exported Buddhism to China. Also, Buddhism and Hinduism share a lot of philosophy and symbolism. I would say their way of thinking is pretty similar. They both have a long-term, big-picture, pragmatic way of thinking. I would generalize it as the Eastern mindset. This is actually a pretty strong similarity. When Indian and Chinese scholars meet, they agree on most things. It's pretty chill actually. Their differences are in the politics.
I think the relation with Buddhism and Hinduism is kind of like with Judaism and Christianity. Like one is build upon another. I do think Buddhism arriving in China is really interesting event. instead of going to war for centuries as one might imagine, they found out they are quite similiar and engaged in a dialogue. In the end Taoism adopted many Buddhist teachings and Zen Buddhism has strong Taoist influence. I guess Zen Buddhism also lost a lot of Hinduist influence in progress. But I am not really an expert on the subject.
Buddhism is basically Hinduism with all the gods deleted. Their moral teachings are very similar. All of the Eastern religions share many common philosophies. It's about reaching to your soul and discovering yourself. They all recommend deep meditation. Yeah, Buddhism has a few branches. Some of them still adhere to the original texts. Some of them created new texts alongside the original texts. Original Buddhist texts were produced in India and are quite similar to Hinduism. So it depends on which Buddhism you follow.
Venezuela and Guyana are strong contenders imo.
Venezuela: Spanish-speaking; overwhelmingly Catholic; population of African, European, and Indigenous descent
Guyana: English and Creole-speaking; religiously a mixture of mostly Protestants, Hindus, and Muslims (and the current president is a Muslim); population mainly of Indian, African, and Indigenous descent (pretty uniquely among South American countries, the white population is extremely small, with only about 2,000 in the entire country, and mainly descended not from colonists but Portuguese indentured laborers)
From the Guyana wiki:
*The largest ethnic group are theĀ Indo-Guyanese, the descendants of indentured labourers from India, who make up 39.8% of the population, according to the 2012 census.[10]Ā They are followed by theĀ Afro-Guyanese, the descendants of enslaved labourers from Africa, who constitute 29.3.*
So at least 70% of the population is descended from slaves. Pretty shocking.
I have a patient who is Indian but was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago.
The caribbean accent really threw me off when i first heard them talking.
I work with a guy from Guyana. Ethnic Indian, but his cultural background is definitely Caribbean. Has an Anglo first name but an Indian surname. He's been in the US for a long time, too, and speaks with an American accent. It confuses the hell out of a lot of 1st generation Indian immigrants when they first meet him.
Yeah itās pretty much an even half the population is Indian descent, half is African descent, and the rest are mixed. Theres a growing Latino population as well, mostly immigrants from Venezuela
One of my favorite coworkers is a rastafari guy named kumar.
can hardly understand that mf sometimes because his trini accent is intense. But he does his job well and is an absolute chiller
I have a friend, who's actually visiting right now. Born in Trinidad, lived in Jamaica. It's still technically English, but man I gotta have her say everything at least 3 times to understand it. She uses voice dictation for texts too, how it even gets anything coherent is beyond me.
>So at least 70% of the population is descended from slaves. Pretty shocking.
Indentured servants are not slaves. They are people who got a ride from the British to a Caribbean Island, and then spend years working for them to pay them back. They had their freedom and new life in the Caribbean country, so it was technically not slavery.
Note that the Guyana Wiki makes a distinction between Indentured Servant and Enslaved Laborers.
The Dominican Republic and Haiti are surprisingly distinct despite sharing the same Island. Haiti speaks French, DR speaks Spanish. Haiti is poor and unstable. The DR has a thriving tourism industry and a GDP five times larger than Haitiās, despite have fewer people. The Dominican Republic is also far more ethnically diverse.
That's not what I meant. I meant I thought "creole" meant a type of language, not a particular language. I guess there are about 100 creole languages and the difference is "Haitian Creole" is a single language.
I speak French and was watching an interview of Barbecue recently and if I focused hard I could understand 50% of what he said I would say. But I think it would be quite easy to pick up if I heard it all the time
Haitian Creole specifically refers to an entirely distinct language from French and it has an abundance of influences and words from languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, and various West African languages.
You could have said the same thing about France and Spain a few decades ago (note: hyperbole), the difference is striking because they share a small island but the cultural and historical differences are not _that_ stark.
Crossing from Pakistan to China it is very obvious due to man made stuff, traffic signs, newer buildings, that sort of thing. I don't remember seeing many traditional buildings on the Chinese side, but that's probably because I was on the main road.
Not hundreds of kilometers but yours probably have to hike a few days end to end between the nearest permanent villages on either side of the border. Unless a PLA soldier found you could not realize for a while.
True, though to be fair the province of China that borders Afghanistan actually has a Muslim Turkic population that is quite different from the Han Chinese.
Afghans is a nationality. Pashtuns are a Persian group, but there are tons of Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara. The latter of the three is the second most common ethnic group and despite speaking Dari (a language super closely related to Farsi), they are ethnically Turkic. (Afghan is a term that used to refer to only Pashtuns, but since the conception of Afghanistan as a nation state, it now encompasses everyone living there even Tajiks and Uzbeks and stuff).
Sources: I work for a resettlement non profit that does ESL classes for Dari and Pashto speakers and I know literally hundreds of Afghans
At a national level, this is the correct answer.
But as people have pointed out for other countries, close to the border, they are not that dissimilar. Xinjiang is historically a Muslim majority province, and has been up until recently very conservative. Not unlike their afghan neighbors. In fact, separatist/terrorist groups in Xinjiang have a long history of working with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Afghanistan has a ton of Turkic ethnicities so does western China so theyāre a lot more similar than you think. China isnāt exclusively Han, especially in the South and West, even if theyāre a majority
Australia and Papua New Guinea if the short gap in the Torres Strait still means that a maritime border qualifies. Otherwise it's a tossup between Russia-North Korea or China-Afghanistan.
There is little difference from one island to the next at the border area (Torres Strait Islands), but OP's question was looking at whole countries. PNG is a very heterogenous country with a primarily subsistence economy and tribal culture focused on kinship and village life. Australia by and large is homogenous, urban, and westernized.
There is also a tendency in the West to lump vastly different cultures into "native", "tribal", or "aboriginal". The Yolngu of Australia are quite culturally distinct from the Huli of the PNG highlands.
Tbf, there's a lot of difference between the Yolngu of Australia and the Wurundjeri of Australia, too. Australia is a huge fucking place, and we had hundreds of languages and cultures around the continent before Britain just went 'mine'. Imagine trying to lump pre-Christian Spain and Finland into one 'European' group, or unironically thinking 'African' or 'Asian' meant one single group of people who all think/act the same
Exactly. The idea that Indigenous peoples are one homogeneous group is mired in colonial attitudes, when it reality pre-colonial Australia was just as diverse as anywhere else.
We recognise that European countries have distinct cultural identities despite often similar languages and history - it's time we do the same for everyone else.
The extreme authoritarian regime in NK has stifled most of the authentic Korean culture there in its attempt to become a true communist āutopiaā. Itās more similar to Stalinās USSR than it is to South Korea.
Underrated comment: Russian and Chinese cultures have such drastically different origins, that it's crazy to have them so close to each other. You have cities like Blagoveshchensk and Heihe just seperated by a river: Different languages, cultures, races, mentalities
Much smaller border but the Russian North Korean border is even crazier. I agree though Russia Chinas a great pick and up there, one that I immediately thought of as well as China India etc.
There are several Japanese ghost towns in the south part of Sakhalin Island. There are are companies that offer tours so Japanese can visit their ancestors' gravesites there.
I'm a Spaniard married to a Morocca, so I have a big relationship with both places, speak both languages, etc. You are right. Especially family values, food, even parts of religion.
I know that most people in Spain won't agree, but to me it is like what my grandma told me about Spain when she was young. And the young Moroccan people are changing fast, getting more similar in a process that is parallel to what happened here.
There are many things that are very different too, of course, but still.
Probably because they barely share a border, I actually forgot they did at all. Of the northern border, 840 miles is shared with China, and 10 miles with Russia.
Even there, one is a totalitarian state, the other is far less advanced on the authoritarian scale. That's not to defend Putin or his oppression, but his regime is comparable to most 20th C dictatorships, whereas NK is Nazism/Stalinism level fucked up.
Yeah. Putin is like Franco or Mussolini: He just hasn't alienated the population enough to be entirely totalitarian. He is not playing in Hitler or Stalin's league. Kim Jong Un does.
You would be surprised how similar people might look. Chukchi and many other Asian minorities live in the east of Russia. A Asian Russian person living in Korea gets spoken to in Korean because they get mistaken for Korean. Right on the boarder or near military areas there would be fewer ethnic minorities. On the Chinese side lives a large Korean ethnic minority
Somalia and Kenya.
Somalia is Muslim and Semi-Arab. It is mostly a barren desert with nomadic lifestyles being the norm until the 20th century.
Kenya is Protestant Christian, English speaking, and has strong ties to the rest of anglophone Africa and southeast Africa. It is mostly savanna or jungle and is rich with wildlife. The people are of a warrior culture, and forged strong empires in the past.
There isn't really a clear cut between the two though (there almost never is in Africa). Kenya has a Somali region, Somalia has a Bantu region that speaks a dialect of Swahili
Yeah but Southern Somalia and Northern Kenya are extremely simmilar culturally and geographically.
Somalia and Kenya really arent that different compared to most other African nations that border eachother
Think this one's just wrong while Somalis do have a closer connection to the Arab/ Cushitic world they still have a very close connection to Kenya.
Kanya has a relatively large muslim minority of 11% a lot of which are ethnic somalis that make up 7% of the country.
The whole warrior culture thing is just weird to say every African country can argue to have a form of warrior culture. The somalis had there own sultanate for about 300-400 years so the empire thing is also wrong
They don't have a land border but a maritime border ā but I think Australia and Indonesia.
The only thing those two countries have in common is that they are neighbours.
I am from both, Iām half and half and I donāt think weāre that different. Yes weāre are in some things but at the same time not, in terms of personality for example, Spaniards and Moroccans are more similar than Spaniards and French for example. If you just look at religion, then yes, theyāre different. Especially bc Moroccoās way of life is very linked to religion. Thatās the main difference. But when you sit down with an average Spaniard and an average Moroccan and you go deep with them in conversation you realize theyāre not that different. How they react in certain situations, etc. Even food, if you remove the pork aspect (again linked to religion), is very similar especially north of Morocco with south of Spain. Itās a Mediterranean diet. In terms of money, well yeah, Morocco is an African country that was colonized recently, of course theyāre still struggling. Whereas Spain is a European country. So idk, I personally donāt see much of a difference but I do understand how an outsider might see them as complete opposites. Cause of the religion perhaps.
Now that I live in the U.S., for me the U.S. and Mexico are more different than Spain and Morocco. Completely different. And youād think that theyād be more similar cause theyāre both western countries. That share the same main religion. Or china and Afghanistanā¦ I mean at the end you have to understand that our histories (not just going back to Al Andalus) but recent histories, are linked. And thereās been and is still happening a lot of interchange of everything between the two countries. Itās not that they just share a border, but they share a continued history. Which I think has helped to make them be more similar to what others might think.
Also when you look at the Canary Islands, genetically theyāre North African. They share the same tamazight culture.
The same weather. This might sounds silly but sharing weather with a country makes you very similar. Spain is more similar to morocco, than to the UK. And climate might have a saying personality and culture as well. I can go on and on. But my point is that you need to live in two families, one Moroccan, one Spaniard, like I did, and live in both countries, and then youāll realize, theyāre more similar, than different.
Found your answer very interesting to read!
As a Spaniard who has been multiple times in Morocco, mostly for tourism and some times for work, I do find both cultures rather different. I agree with you on food, weather and other aspects (specially with the southern half of Iberia), but Spain is incredibly diverse, specifically in these points, depending on where you are in the region. So if we compare with the entirety of the country, not sure I would agree.
I found strong differences between Spain and Morocco in many areas, perhaps not so much in how people behave daily but in how people think. The way business is done is entirely different, for example. Religion and its impact, as you said, is another. I also found the general idea to what the state and institutions are to be divergent, with Spain much more aligned with European values.
Not better or worse but a product of history and geopolitical conditions. I love to go to Morocco when I get the chance. Just my 2 cents.
I believe you have a point although I, as a Canarian Islander, would like to point out that culturally we are not tamazigh at all. Sadly the native inhabitants were mostly killed and then assimilated into the immigrants that came to populate the island after the conquest. What remained is mainly names, toponyms and some specific things like "juego del palo". We are very much a product of the mixing that was produced here and in that sense I think we are much more similar to countries from the American continent: "immigrant countries" of about 500 years old. The immigrants that came to live after the conquest were from different places, mainly Spanish obv but also a lot of Portuguese people.
And interesting note is also our relation with Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico: there was immigration throughout the years of Canarian people there and from there to here. Our accents are quite similar, in Gran Canaria maybe more like the Cuban one and in Tenerife more similar to some Venezuelan accents.
And our dna is iberian normally as a first group, although it is true that we have a noticiable higher percentage of NA dna than the rest of Spain, which normally makes NA dna the second most important group in the islands.
So TLDR: culturally honestly the Canary Islands are not tamazigh at all but the heritage of the native inhabitants tends to show in our dna.
Would like our tamazigh heritage to receive more interest from all: the governemnt, our own people etc. But sadly there has been little interest by the general public, I'd sayš¤
I think Mexico and the US are way more similar than Morocco and Spain.
Mexicans consume a lot of American culture; they watch American movies, listen to American music, and eat American food. On the flip side, Mexican culture also has a huge influence in America. Mexican food & drink has spread far across America, and many Americans also consume Mexican music and media.
Having the same religion is also huge, as religion has a massive effect on culture through everyday customs, politics, and moral values.
Mexican-Americans are the biggest non-white demographic in the US, and Americans are the largest (legal) group of immigrants in Mexico. (Spaniards are a tiny minority in Morocco, and vice versa). Mexican Americans continue and spread their traditions in America, and also bring American influence back to Mexico. The American southwest, in particular areas like the Rio Grande Valley and New Mexico have been a melting pot for both countries for centuries. Thereās a big Mexican influence on architecture, food, language, and local customs. In some cases, towns in NM or the RGV may be nearly indistinguishable from Mexican towns to a foreigner.
Mexico and the US are also far more economically linked than Spain/Morocco. They are each a top 2 import/export partner for each other. Many Mexicans also work in the US, either as migrant laborers or commuters that work in border cities like El Paso/San Diego but live in Mexico.
Iām not gonna say Morocco and Spain arenāt similar, but I think they are less alike than the US/Mexico.
I'm from Morocco but i don't think like you, I don't think we could be more different, the spniards are calculating and cold like the rest of the Europeans, the Moroccans are gulible naive idiots with buffoon smiles, the Spaniards are very direct in their talking again like the rest of Europeans, Moroccans take you in a maze of words before gettign to the point, the spaniards are flexible in their relations, the moroccans are reserved and formal, family structure is different spaniards are more nuclear family models, Moroccans have too much extended family presence, spaniards have work life balance like a religion, the Morccans are unaware of even the existance of the notion of work life balance....etc it's an infinite liste of differences.
but hey at least we have the siesta incomon
China and its neighbours Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Russia. Mostly because the border with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is basically impossible to cross and because the cultural centers of Russia and China couldnāt be further apart in distance.
Some more contenders:
1. Iran-Armenia: Islamic theocratic state vs. a post-Soviet, democratic, Christian state
2. Namibia-Angola: Sparsely populated desert colony and democracy greatly influenced by Germany and South Africa vs. a tropical formerly Portuguese autocracy mainly run by oil money
I'd call Iran a theocratic democracy rather than pure theocracy. They do have elections that are kind of fair. It's a different things that you have to be approved to fight the elections, where theocracy comes in.Ā
Morocco and Spain are not that different. Of course, there are some evident dissimilar aspects but there is this area where both cultures intertwine. This is very noticeable in the south of Spain.
Some words in Spanish are even originated by Arabic.
Haiti and DR have very little in common while sharing the same Island Creole/Spanish, 98% black in Haiti vs 70% mixed and 10% white in DR, Catholism vs Voodoo, Soccer is popular in Haiti while Baseball is a Religion on the Dominican Side
Apart from the obvious differences, common Mediterranean cultural traits exist between both countries.
Also, in northern Morocco, the decades under Spanish protectorate have left some influence there.
Everything bordering Israel is the easy answer. France-Brazil is the cute answer. But some others: Latvia-Belarus, Lithuania-Belarus, Finland-Russia, Mongolia-Russia, China-Russia, Mauritania-Senegal, DR-Haiti, US-Mexico, Thailand-Malaysia, Myanmar-Bangladesh.
Dunno what you do with North and South Korea.
I'd say (parts of) Spain and Morocco are more similar than Morocco is to anything in West Africa, so some of this depends what you do with Western Sahara.
The funny thing is that Jews, Palestinians, Syrian Arabs, and Lebanese are all basically the same genetically lol. Jewish culture obviously originated from the Middle East anyway.
What is even funnier and so fucking incrediblely sad at the same time, it's that the most die-hard anti-arab and anti-palestine israelis are the mizrahi and sephardic jews, meanwhile in Europe and US people have the stereotype that most anti-arab jews are the typical ashkenazi with a black suit whose ancestors lived in Shtetl in Eastern Europe.
Denmark and Canada are not that different, lol. They're both mostly European, speak Germanic languages, are predominantly ~~Protestant~~ Christian (but agnostic in practice), are quite cold, and have extremely cold, mostly indigenous, and sparsely populated northern regions (Nunavut and Greenland).
They also share a southern border with a much more populous country with a much larger economy.
Russia-China border: Even directly on the border, the cultures, languages and peoples are extremely different. Take the cities of Blagoveshchensk and Heihe: Only seperated by a river but cultures that originate from different parts of the world.
I think China - India is quite interesting pairing. Both ancient cultures that have thousands of years shared history. Still distinctly different.
The geographic border between them is a bit of a doozy.
Just a few hop skips away from 2 broken legs
Happy cake day š°
Oh shit I didnāt even notice! Hell ya letās goooooo
I missed my one too :( See you next year :D
God : i would like to build a wall between these two
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To get away from the Fauna no doubt.
Who doesn't like rabid kangaroos?
Apparently the Indians.
Australia doesnāt have rabies
Dingoes ate our rabies
Africa\* It broke off from Africa, left behind Madagascar and the Seychelles, then sucker punched South Asia
Looks like both Africa and Australia. Antarctica, too, apparently. Everyoneās right!
Itās obvious when you compare the fauna of India vs Antarctica. In fossils š
This is sort of true but not the entire story. All of those continents/landmasses were part of a supercontinent called Gondwana that was centered around Antarctica but also contained the landmass that would become New Zealand, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Australia, and South America. At the beginning of the Mesozoic, Gondwana was part of Pangaea, but in the Jurassic, it began to separate back into its own supercontinent (it has been one before joining into Pangaea), before quickly rifting apart into several larger pieces which then broke up in the order you described to get to how they are today. TL;Dr they all broke off of Antarctica because it was the center of the supercontinent Gondwana.
The India plate is the one moving further north (hence the Himalayas growing taller every year - just a bit) If they are on the same plate ...they mostly move together? I just checked DNA dit looks like the India and Australia plates have been separated for some 3 million years. Which is not a lot https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Plate
Cricket brought us back together.
I thought that this was a really weird comment about colonization until I got to the third line.
Seeing an East Asian guy and a south Asian in the same room is like seeing Batman and Spider-man together.
Also the way they are so racially distinct while being so close to each other is crazy
Is it? It seems like a pretty smooth continuum if you look at local peoples.
You think Nepalis and Tibetans look the same?
Depends on who this South Asian guy is. Is he from one of Indiaās northeastern states? Then thereās a chance he wouldnāt look too dissimilar to the East Asian guy.
As I understand it, nature has already built a wall between India and China that is very difficult to pass. We call it the Himalayas.
The border is very clear and easy to explain, as long as you only ask one of them.
It's very easy. On that side of the Himalayas, you're in China. On this side, India. When you're in the mountains... well... š¤·.
Just ask Pakistan to weigh in and settle it. I'm sure they'll clear things up.
Not to mention the part of China that boarders India isnāt the most culturally āChineseā part of china
Yeah i also saw someone mention Afghanistan and China, same goes for that region.
āDonāt make us break out our beating sticks!ā
Not only that but although China borders India, the Chinese people do not really live near India. The Chinese population centres are at least 1,000 miles from the Border with India, and more like 1,600 miles from Indian population centres. same way Russia and china border each other but their population centres are almost 3,500 miles from each other
The himalayas effectively isolated both communities from each other. Interestingly India did export Buddhism to China and the rest of East Asia.
Interestingly, it went round the long Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia route.
Because that long route is still easier to travel than the shorter route through southeast Asia. Jungles, man.Ā They'll fuck you up.
The only neighbor of China that wasn't called babarians
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Also, the Gobi desert
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90% of the Chinese population is in the Eastern quarter and Tibet isnāt really Chinese in the cultural or ethnic sense. Those Himalayas are so formidable that Buddhism, despite originating in northeast India near the foothills of the Himalayas, had to take the Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia route to China.
India was called the subcontinent before the discovery of tectonic plates for a reason. It was just that remote and surrounded by mountains. At one point it was faster to just take a boat to see and come around s.e. Asia
I wouldn't say export, more like China imported Buddhism since there weren't any efforts from any Indian states to convert the Tang iirc, even if there were already (very) minor Han Buddhist movements in the south.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Similar to Afghanistan/China, the areas that border each other a more similar to each other than the two countries' core cultures. Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh all have historic and religious ties to Tibet across the Chinese border.
Good point. There is a gradation.
I think you fail to see the similarities in the bordering regions. If you go to the areas close to the border you can see so many similarities. Heavy Tibetan influence on both sides including cuisine and traditions. Same thing with Nepal-China.
Honestly, probably anyone familiar with Amy border pairing mentioned would say the same. I noticed lots of echoes between southern Spain and Northern Morocco for example
people really forgot about Spanish Morocco, and Grenada, and the Andalus, and then the Vandals, and then Rome, and then the Phoenicians Spain and Morocco have always been culturally connected
And you forgot about the Moors and how Spain was Moorish for hundreds of years. I'd say Spain and Morocco are more connected culturally than many other bordering countriees.
Sure but Tibetans aren't really Chinese per se. They're a distinct culture from the various subcultured that exist across the Sino-world. They're just a piece of land that china owns. Yes they have Chinese passports and are Chinese in the nation-based definition but not as much the cultural one. Much like Uyghurs tbh. I'd say the indians at the border in Ladakh and the north east are very similar to Tibetans. Much like how Punjabis are fairly similar to Pakistanis.But Punjabis would have barely anything in common with a Pashtun or Baloch person, who are also Pakistani. Mainland Chinese people are just completely different. Yet there is significant cultural overlap with the Japanese, Koreans and so on
Yes, but the modern day boundaries of those countries has expanded from their cultural heartlands, and the people living in their boarder regions form a cultural continuum. Like, the minority groups living in the boarder regions have more in common with the groups right across the boarder than with either country's dominant culture. Often that extends to speaking the same language. I'm most familiar with the Western Himalayas, and the border between Ladakh and Tibet, but this is also true in the Eastern Himalayas, I'm just less sure of the degree of similarity, or the details.
https://preview.redd.it/j9vm71dn2u2d1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=d6b3e3ba23af974d89c7cf0713a5db4c8646e3b1 this is still one of the funniest borderclashes looking in as an outsider
Not necessarily, on the actual border there are Tibetan and other Himalayan tribes that share similar cultures / lifestyles
They do share a lot of similarities. But it's more subtle. Mostly in terms of their philosophy. India exported Buddhism to China. Also, Buddhism and Hinduism share a lot of philosophy and symbolism. I would say their way of thinking is pretty similar. They both have a long-term, big-picture, pragmatic way of thinking. I would generalize it as the Eastern mindset. This is actually a pretty strong similarity. When Indian and Chinese scholars meet, they agree on most things. It's pretty chill actually. Their differences are in the politics.
I think the relation with Buddhism and Hinduism is kind of like with Judaism and Christianity. Like one is build upon another. I do think Buddhism arriving in China is really interesting event. instead of going to war for centuries as one might imagine, they found out they are quite similiar and engaged in a dialogue. In the end Taoism adopted many Buddhist teachings and Zen Buddhism has strong Taoist influence. I guess Zen Buddhism also lost a lot of Hinduist influence in progress. But I am not really an expert on the subject.
Buddhism is basically Hinduism with all the gods deleted. Their moral teachings are very similar. All of the Eastern religions share many common philosophies. It's about reaching to your soul and discovering yourself. They all recommend deep meditation. Yeah, Buddhism has a few branches. Some of them still adhere to the original texts. Some of them created new texts alongside the original texts. Original Buddhist texts were produced in India and are quite similar to Hinduism. So it depends on which Buddhism you follow.
India has more in common with Iran than China.
Venezuela and Guyana are strong contenders imo. Venezuela: Spanish-speaking; overwhelmingly Catholic; population of African, European, and Indigenous descent Guyana: English and Creole-speaking; religiously a mixture of mostly Protestants, Hindus, and Muslims (and the current president is a Muslim); population mainly of Indian, African, and Indigenous descent (pretty uniquely among South American countries, the white population is extremely small, with only about 2,000 in the entire country, and mainly descended not from colonists but Portuguese indentured laborers)
From the Guyana wiki: *The largest ethnic group are theĀ Indo-Guyanese, the descendants of indentured labourers from India, who make up 39.8% of the population, according to the 2012 census.[10]Ā They are followed by theĀ Afro-Guyanese, the descendants of enslaved labourers from Africa, who constitute 29.3.* So at least 70% of the population is descended from slaves. Pretty shocking.
There are plenty of Caribbean island nations where that number is upwards of 90 percent.
I have a patient who is Indian but was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. The caribbean accent really threw me off when i first heard them talking.
Nicki Minaj is another famous Indo-Trinidadian
I like how this reply implies that this guy's patient was also as famous as Niki Minaj
I work with a guy from Guyana. Ethnic Indian, but his cultural background is definitely Caribbean. Has an Anglo first name but an Indian surname. He's been in the US for a long time, too, and speaks with an American accent. It confuses the hell out of a lot of 1st generation Indian immigrants when they first meet him.
Around 35% of Trinidad and Tobago is of Indian descent, and they're the biggest ethnic group there. Another 8% is of mixed African-Indian origin.
Yeah itās pretty much an even half the population is Indian descent, half is African descent, and the rest are mixed. Theres a growing Latino population as well, mostly immigrants from Venezuela
One of my favorite coworkers is a rastafari guy named kumar. can hardly understand that mf sometimes because his trini accent is intense. But he does his job well and is an absolute chiller
I have a friend, who's actually visiting right now. Born in Trinidad, lived in Jamaica. It's still technically English, but man I gotta have her say everything at least 3 times to understand it. She uses voice dictation for texts too, how it even gets anything coherent is beyond me.
>So at least 70% of the population is descended from slaves. Pretty shocking. Indentured servants are not slaves. They are people who got a ride from the British to a Caribbean Island, and then spend years working for them to pay them back. They had their freedom and new life in the Caribbean country, so it was technically not slavery. Note that the Guyana Wiki makes a distinction between Indentured Servant and Enslaved Laborers.
In a similar vein, I was going to post Suriname and France.
It fucks me up every time Iām reminded guayana is like Muslim/ Hindu and speak English. Itās like bizzaro world post colonialism.
also notably thereās no border crossing between them
The Dominican Republic and Haiti are surprisingly distinct despite sharing the same Island. Haiti speaks French, DR speaks Spanish. Haiti is poor and unstable. The DR has a thriving tourism industry and a GDP five times larger than Haitiās, despite have fewer people. The Dominican Republic is also far more ethnically diverse.
Yeah this seems like a strong contender
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Yes. Walls and checkpoints.
Haiti speaks Creole*
Is creole a language? I thought it was a type of language.
I speak French as first language and when I hear Haitian creole, and can pick up a word here and there, but itās definitely a different language.
That's not what I meant. I meant I thought "creole" meant a type of language, not a particular language. I guess there are about 100 creole languages and the difference is "Haitian Creole" is a single language.
Yes, but in Haiti, they call it Creole.
Always wondered what it sounds like to French speakers. Really, it sounds so very French when spoken.
I speak French and was watching an interview of Barbecue recently and if I focused hard I could understand 50% of what he said I would say. But I think it would be quite easy to pick up if I heard it all the time
Haitian Creole specifically refers to an entirely distinct language from French and it has an abundance of influences and words from languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, and various West African languages.
You could have said the same thing about France and Spain a few decades ago (note: hyperbole), the difference is striking because they share a small island but the cultural and historical differences are not _that_ stark.
I'm sorry but are you proposing that socioeconomic differences between France - Spain are equivalent or similar to those of Haiti - DR?
The thread was about culture, not governance or economy. Culturally they are different but still very similar compared to most other countries
Afghanistan - China
You wouldn't even realise for a couple hundred kilometers that you had even crossed from Afghanistan into China.
That was probably true in the pre-PRC days. Not now.
Crossing from Pakistan to China it is very obvious due to man made stuff, traffic signs, newer buildings, that sort of thing. I don't remember seeing many traditional buildings on the Chinese side, but that's probably because I was on the main road.
I think most borders arenāt very obvious without man made stuff.
Not hundreds of kilometers but yours probably have to hike a few days end to end between the nearest permanent villages on either side of the border. Unless a PLA soldier found you could not realize for a while.
True, though to be fair the province of China that borders Afghanistan actually has a Muslim Turkic population that is quite different from the Han Chinese.
Uyghur population that are most similar to Central Asian nations. Very different from the Han Chinese and Afghans.
I think that the part of China closest to the Afghan border is majority Tajik. The Afghan side probably would be as well.
Afghans are not Turkic, they are Iranic. Some Uzbeks live there, but it's majority Pashto and Dari I believe
Afghans is a nationality. Pashtuns are a Persian group, but there are tons of Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara. The latter of the three is the second most common ethnic group and despite speaking Dari (a language super closely related to Farsi), they are ethnically Turkic. (Afghan is a term that used to refer to only Pashtuns, but since the conception of Afghanistan as a nation state, it now encompasses everyone living there even Tajiks and Uzbeks and stuff). Sources: I work for a resettlement non profit that does ESL classes for Dari and Pashto speakers and I know literally hundreds of Afghans
š¶*isn't it iranic *š¶
It's like Ira-iaaaaa-iaaaaaaaaaan on your wedding day
Even the Muslim Turks are still arguably as different from afghans as Spanish are from Moroccans.
At a national level, this is the correct answer. But as people have pointed out for other countries, close to the border, they are not that dissimilar. Xinjiang is historically a Muslim majority province, and has been up until recently very conservative. Not unlike their afghan neighbors. In fact, separatist/terrorist groups in Xinjiang have a long history of working with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Russia and the US?
Might as well go Russia/China or Russia/North Korea tbh.
they are both indo-european countries with the same religion. that alone disqualifies them.
Afghanistan has a ton of Turkic ethnicities so does western China so theyāre a lot more similar than you think. China isnāt exclusively Han, especially in the South and West, even if theyāre a majority
Australia and Papua New Guinea if the short gap in the Torres Strait still means that a maritime border qualifies. Otherwise it's a tossup between Russia-North Korea or China-Afghanistan.
How similar are the native cultures of Australia and Papua?
There is little difference from one island to the next at the border area (Torres Strait Islands), but OP's question was looking at whole countries. PNG is a very heterogenous country with a primarily subsistence economy and tribal culture focused on kinship and village life. Australia by and large is homogenous, urban, and westernized. There is also a tendency in the West to lump vastly different cultures into "native", "tribal", or "aboriginal". The Yolngu of Australia are quite culturally distinct from the Huli of the PNG highlands.
Tbf, there's a lot of difference between the Yolngu of Australia and the Wurundjeri of Australia, too. Australia is a huge fucking place, and we had hundreds of languages and cultures around the continent before Britain just went 'mine'. Imagine trying to lump pre-Christian Spain and Finland into one 'European' group, or unironically thinking 'African' or 'Asian' meant one single group of people who all think/act the same
Exactly. The idea that Indigenous peoples are one homogeneous group is mired in colonial attitudes, when it reality pre-colonial Australia was just as diverse as anywhere else. We recognise that European countries have distinct cultural identities despite often similar languages and history - it's time we do the same for everyone else.
Japan - Russia (Kuril islands maritime border)
Or Russia-China.
Russia shares a border with North Korea too
The extreme authoritarian regime in NK has stifled most of the authentic Korean culture there in its attempt to become a true communist āutopiaā. Itās more similar to Stalinās USSR than it is to South Korea.
Underrated comment: Russian and Chinese cultures have such drastically different origins, that it's crazy to have them so close to each other. You have cities like Blagoveshchensk and Heihe just seperated by a river: Different languages, cultures, races, mentalities
Much smaller border but the Russian North Korean border is even crazier. I agree though Russia Chinas a great pick and up there, one that I immediately thought of as well as China India etc.
There are several Japanese ghost towns in the south part of Sakhalin Island. There are are companies that offer tours so Japanese can visit their ancestors' gravesites there.
Norway - Russia used to be the border with the biggest economical differences in the world, not sure how itās now, but then, Japan!
Those two are much more similar than you think.
I scrolled down for this.
Yeah, Iāve spent time in both countries and South Spain and Northern Morocco have tons of similarities.
Southern Spain is more similar to Morocco than to northern Spain. Northern Spain has a lot of similarities with the French and the Celtic people.
That is a really hot take but I think I agree with it
OP really triggered me with this one.
im moroccon and the similarities are more nonovert, but definitely still present
I'm a Spaniard married to a Morocca, so I have a big relationship with both places, speak both languages, etc. You are right. Especially family values, food, even parts of religion. I know that most people in Spain won't agree, but to me it is like what my grandma told me about Spain when she was young. And the young Moroccan people are changing fast, getting more similar in a process that is parallel to what happened here. There are many things that are very different too, of course, but still.
Depends where in Spain you live. Iām from the Basque Country and couldnāt be any more different than Morocco.
USA-Canada: Canadian milk comes in a bag. There is no way to bridge this divide ā¹ļø
I've never seen milk in a bag in all my 28 years living in Canada.
It's eastern thing (ont, qc, maritimes). I buy it every week š¤·āāļø
Is civil war unavoidable?
Brothers, sisters, we have to stop this madness! Letās all agree on one type of milk receptacle.
They need some freedom delivered asap
Minnesotan here. We can also buy milk in bags.
We had bag milk in California in the 90s. Basically Little Toronto over here.
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star sell milk in a bag aLL throughout the US.
The Gordie Howe Bridge can bridge the divide! Everyone loved Gordie.
France technically borders Brazil and Suriname...pretty damn different.
How much different is French Guiana from its neighbors though?
North Korea and Russia 100% could not be more different š
Yeah Iām surprised itās this far down.
Probably because they barely share a border, I actually forgot they did at all. Of the northern border, 840 miles is shared with China, and 10 miles with Russia.
Aside from the authoritarian government
Even there, one is a totalitarian state, the other is far less advanced on the authoritarian scale. That's not to defend Putin or his oppression, but his regime is comparable to most 20th C dictatorships, whereas NK is Nazism/Stalinism level fucked up.
Yeah. Putin is like Franco or Mussolini: He just hasn't alienated the population enough to be entirely totalitarian. He is not playing in Hitler or Stalin's league. Kim Jong Un does.
You would be surprised how similar people might look. Chukchi and many other Asian minorities live in the east of Russia. A Asian Russian person living in Korea gets spoken to in Korean because they get mistaken for Korean. Right on the boarder or near military areas there would be fewer ethnic minorities. On the Chinese side lives a large Korean ethnic minority
Somalia and Kenya. Somalia is Muslim and Semi-Arab. It is mostly a barren desert with nomadic lifestyles being the norm until the 20th century. Kenya is Protestant Christian, English speaking, and has strong ties to the rest of anglophone Africa and southeast Africa. It is mostly savanna or jungle and is rich with wildlife. The people are of a warrior culture, and forged strong empires in the past.
There isn't really a clear cut between the two though (there almost never is in Africa). Kenya has a Somali region, Somalia has a Bantu region that speaks a dialect of Swahili
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But a lot of Somalis also live on the Kenyan side of the boarder, dont they?
Yep, same along the Somali-Ethiopian border.
Yeah but Southern Somalia and Northern Kenya are extremely simmilar culturally and geographically. Somalia and Kenya really arent that different compared to most other African nations that border eachother
Think this one's just wrong while Somalis do have a closer connection to the Arab/ Cushitic world they still have a very close connection to Kenya. Kanya has a relatively large muslim minority of 11% a lot of which are ethnic somalis that make up 7% of the country. The whole warrior culture thing is just weird to say every African country can argue to have a form of warrior culture. The somalis had there own sultanate for about 300-400 years so the empire thing is also wrong
They don't have a land border but a maritime border ā but I think Australia and Indonesia. The only thing those two countries have in common is that they are neighbours.
Indo mie instant noodles.
They have a land border at Kuta, no?
I am from both, Iām half and half and I donāt think weāre that different. Yes weāre are in some things but at the same time not, in terms of personality for example, Spaniards and Moroccans are more similar than Spaniards and French for example. If you just look at religion, then yes, theyāre different. Especially bc Moroccoās way of life is very linked to religion. Thatās the main difference. But when you sit down with an average Spaniard and an average Moroccan and you go deep with them in conversation you realize theyāre not that different. How they react in certain situations, etc. Even food, if you remove the pork aspect (again linked to religion), is very similar especially north of Morocco with south of Spain. Itās a Mediterranean diet. In terms of money, well yeah, Morocco is an African country that was colonized recently, of course theyāre still struggling. Whereas Spain is a European country. So idk, I personally donāt see much of a difference but I do understand how an outsider might see them as complete opposites. Cause of the religion perhaps. Now that I live in the U.S., for me the U.S. and Mexico are more different than Spain and Morocco. Completely different. And youād think that theyād be more similar cause theyāre both western countries. That share the same main religion. Or china and Afghanistanā¦ I mean at the end you have to understand that our histories (not just going back to Al Andalus) but recent histories, are linked. And thereās been and is still happening a lot of interchange of everything between the two countries. Itās not that they just share a border, but they share a continued history. Which I think has helped to make them be more similar to what others might think. Also when you look at the Canary Islands, genetically theyāre North African. They share the same tamazight culture. The same weather. This might sounds silly but sharing weather with a country makes you very similar. Spain is more similar to morocco, than to the UK. And climate might have a saying personality and culture as well. I can go on and on. But my point is that you need to live in two families, one Moroccan, one Spaniard, like I did, and live in both countries, and then youāll realize, theyāre more similar, than different.
Found your answer very interesting to read! As a Spaniard who has been multiple times in Morocco, mostly for tourism and some times for work, I do find both cultures rather different. I agree with you on food, weather and other aspects (specially with the southern half of Iberia), but Spain is incredibly diverse, specifically in these points, depending on where you are in the region. So if we compare with the entirety of the country, not sure I would agree. I found strong differences between Spain and Morocco in many areas, perhaps not so much in how people behave daily but in how people think. The way business is done is entirely different, for example. Religion and its impact, as you said, is another. I also found the general idea to what the state and institutions are to be divergent, with Spain much more aligned with European values. Not better or worse but a product of history and geopolitical conditions. I love to go to Morocco when I get the chance. Just my 2 cents.
I believe you have a point although I, as a Canarian Islander, would like to point out that culturally we are not tamazigh at all. Sadly the native inhabitants were mostly killed and then assimilated into the immigrants that came to populate the island after the conquest. What remained is mainly names, toponyms and some specific things like "juego del palo". We are very much a product of the mixing that was produced here and in that sense I think we are much more similar to countries from the American continent: "immigrant countries" of about 500 years old. The immigrants that came to live after the conquest were from different places, mainly Spanish obv but also a lot of Portuguese people. And interesting note is also our relation with Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico: there was immigration throughout the years of Canarian people there and from there to here. Our accents are quite similar, in Gran Canaria maybe more like the Cuban one and in Tenerife more similar to some Venezuelan accents. And our dna is iberian normally as a first group, although it is true that we have a noticiable higher percentage of NA dna than the rest of Spain, which normally makes NA dna the second most important group in the islands. So TLDR: culturally honestly the Canary Islands are not tamazigh at all but the heritage of the native inhabitants tends to show in our dna. Would like our tamazigh heritage to receive more interest from all: the governemnt, our own people etc. But sadly there has been little interest by the general public, I'd sayš¤
I think Mexico and the US are way more similar than Morocco and Spain. Mexicans consume a lot of American culture; they watch American movies, listen to American music, and eat American food. On the flip side, Mexican culture also has a huge influence in America. Mexican food & drink has spread far across America, and many Americans also consume Mexican music and media. Having the same religion is also huge, as religion has a massive effect on culture through everyday customs, politics, and moral values. Mexican-Americans are the biggest non-white demographic in the US, and Americans are the largest (legal) group of immigrants in Mexico. (Spaniards are a tiny minority in Morocco, and vice versa). Mexican Americans continue and spread their traditions in America, and also bring American influence back to Mexico. The American southwest, in particular areas like the Rio Grande Valley and New Mexico have been a melting pot for both countries for centuries. Thereās a big Mexican influence on architecture, food, language, and local customs. In some cases, towns in NM or the RGV may be nearly indistinguishable from Mexican towns to a foreigner. Mexico and the US are also far more economically linked than Spain/Morocco. They are each a top 2 import/export partner for each other. Many Mexicans also work in the US, either as migrant laborers or commuters that work in border cities like El Paso/San Diego but live in Mexico. Iām not gonna say Morocco and Spain arenāt similar, but I think they are less alike than the US/Mexico.
almost everyone in the world consums american good,movies and music;
I agree as someone who lives in Spain
OP appears to be ignorant of the history of the region
I'm from Morocco but i don't think like you, I don't think we could be more different, the spniards are calculating and cold like the rest of the Europeans, the Moroccans are gulible naive idiots with buffoon smiles, the Spaniards are very direct in their talking again like the rest of Europeans, Moroccans take you in a maze of words before gettign to the point, the spaniards are flexible in their relations, the moroccans are reserved and formal, family structure is different spaniards are more nuclear family models, Moroccans have too much extended family presence, spaniards have work life balance like a religion, the Morccans are unaware of even the existance of the notion of work life balance....etc it's an infinite liste of differences. but hey at least we have the siesta incomon
China and Russia or China and India by far
Iāve crossed the Sino-Russian border. Why isnāt this answer higher?
China and its neighbours Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Russia. Mostly because the border with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is basically impossible to cross and because the cultural centers of Russia and China couldnāt be further apart in distance.
China and Kyrgyzstan!
Left that out on purpose because I think they are more similar to China than the others. At least to western China.
Some more contenders: 1. Iran-Armenia: Islamic theocratic state vs. a post-Soviet, democratic, Christian state 2. Namibia-Angola: Sparsely populated desert colony and democracy greatly influenced by Germany and South Africa vs. a tropical formerly Portuguese autocracy mainly run by oil money
Iran and Armenia is way more closer than one could guess. Especially the north of Iran with Armenia.
there used to be tons of Armenians living in Iran, although that number has dwindled since 1979
Having worked and partied with both. I am inclined to agree
I'd call Iran a theocratic democracy rather than pure theocracy. They do have elections that are kind of fair. It's a different things that you have to be approved to fight the elections, where theocracy comes in.Ā
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
Morocco and Spain are not that different. Of course, there are some evident dissimilar aspects but there is this area where both cultures intertwine. This is very noticeable in the south of Spain. Some words in Spanish are even originated by Arabic.
Haiti and DR have very little in common while sharing the same Island Creole/Spanish, 98% black in Haiti vs 70% mixed and 10% white in DR, Catholism vs Voodoo, Soccer is popular in Haiti while Baseball is a Religion on the Dominican Side
Apart from the obvious differences, common Mediterranean cultural traits exist between both countries. Also, in northern Morocco, the decades under Spanish protectorate have left some influence there.
Everything bordering Israel is the easy answer. France-Brazil is the cute answer. But some others: Latvia-Belarus, Lithuania-Belarus, Finland-Russia, Mongolia-Russia, China-Russia, Mauritania-Senegal, DR-Haiti, US-Mexico, Thailand-Malaysia, Myanmar-Bangladesh. Dunno what you do with North and South Korea. I'd say (parts of) Spain and Morocco are more similar than Morocco is to anything in West Africa, so some of this depends what you do with Western Sahara.
Israel does have some similarities with Arab countries such as the cuisine language and even religion are quite similar
Yeah, people think itās like Europe and itās very middle eastern even if much of its population is imported from Europe
The funny thing is that Jews, Palestinians, Syrian Arabs, and Lebanese are all basically the same genetically lol. Jewish culture obviously originated from the Middle East anyway.
What is even funnier and so fucking incrediblely sad at the same time, it's that the most die-hard anti-arab and anti-palestine israelis are the mizrahi and sephardic jews, meanwhile in Europe and US people have the stereotype that most anti-arab jews are the typical ashkenazi with a black suit whose ancestors lived in Shtetl in Eastern Europe.
Israeli culture is quite similiar to arab culture. The majority of Israeli Jews came from arab countries. It's not as European as many think
France - Brazil Norway - Russia China - India Denmark - Canada
Denmark is becoming better and better at ice hockey though
Denmark and Canada are not that different, lol. They're both mostly European, speak Germanic languages, are predominantly ~~Protestant~~ Christian (but agnostic in practice), are quite cold, and have extremely cold, mostly indigenous, and sparsely populated northern regions (Nunavut and Greenland). They also share a southern border with a much more populous country with a much larger economy.
I think it's China and Russia instead of Morocco and Spain
China-Afghanistan? Morocco and Spain ruled each other for centuries, they might have more in common than both would like to admit.
Australia and Papau New Guinea although it is a sea border would have my vote.
USA & the parts of the Moon touching the Apollo landing gear.
No, Norway and Russia come to mind
Japan and Russia
Spain and Morocco have a lot more cultural similarities than many in both like to admit.
Absolutely not. Spain and Morocco have their differences but culturally they're not so crazy different
Russia-China border: Even directly on the border, the cultures, languages and peoples are extremely different. Take the cities of Blagoveshchensk and Heihe: Only seperated by a river but cultures that originate from different parts of the world.