Cultures

The diverse tribal nations of California — Chumash, Wintu, Miwok, Ohlone, Yurok, Modoc, Achumawi, and many more.

8 entriesLiving culture

Klamath, Chinook, Tlingit, Quileute, Makah, Coast Salish — the peoples of the rain-soaked coast and inland plateaus.

3 entriesLiving culture

Navajo/Dine, Hopi, Zuni, Apache — the peoples of the desert Southwest and the Colorado Plateau.

7 entriesLiving culture

The Mexica empire of central Mexico — Tenochtitlan, the Templo Mayor, and the gods of the Fifth Sun.

5 entriesLiving culture

The Maya civilization of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Belize — from the Popol Vuh to the living Maya today.

3 entriesLiving culture

US regional myths, folk heroes, cryptids, and legendary places with deep cultural roots.

23 entriesLiving culture

Haida, Cree, Inuit, Mi'kmaq — the First Nations and Indigenous peoples of Canada.

2 entriesLiving culture

Haudenosaunee/Iroquois, Ojibwe, Anishinaabe — the peoples of the Great Lakes forests and waterways.

3 entriesLiving culture

Lakota, Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne — the peoples of the Great Plains and their sacred landscapes.

4 entriesLiving culture

Native Hawaiian — the Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands and their living spiritual traditions.

1 entryLiving culture

Cherokee, Creek/Muscogee, Seminole — the peoples of the American Southeast and their enduring traditions.

1 entryLiving culture

Cajun, Creole, Choctaw — the culturally layered peoples of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

1 entryLiving culture

The civilization of the Nile — pharaohs, pyramids, and a mythology spanning 3,000 years from the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic period.

5 entries

The mythology of the Hellenic world — Olympian gods, heroes, oracles, and the landscapes that shaped Western storytelling.

8 entries

The mythology and sacred geography of Rome — from the founding legend of Romulus to the temples and shrines of the eternal city.

4 entries

The mythological traditions of China — from the creation myths of Pangu and Nuwa to the sacred mountains and dragon kings.

5 entriesLiving culture

Shinto and Buddhist mythology of Japan — kami, creation gods, sacred mountains, and the spirit-haunted landscapes of the archipelago.

6 entriesLiving culture

Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology — the oldest written myths in human history, from the land between the rivers.

4 entries

The mythological traditions of the Indian subcontinent — from the Rigveda and the Mahabharata to the living worship of Shiva, Vishnu, and Devi.

7 entriesLiving culture

The mythology of the Celtic peoples — the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Fenian Cycle, and the sacred landscapes of Ireland and Britain.

5 entriesLiving culture

The mythology of the Viking Age and pre-Christian Scandinavia — Odin, Thor, Ragnarök, and the World Tree Yggdrasil.

7 entries

The Yoruba and broader West African spiritual traditions — the Orishas, Ifá divination, and the sacred groves of Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana.

5 entriesLiving culture

The Dreaming traditions of Australia's Aboriginal peoples — the oldest continuous cultures on Earth, spanning over 65,000 years.

3 entriesLiving culture

The mythology of the Inca Empire and the broader Andean civilizations — Inti the sun god, Pachamama, and the sacred peaks of the Andes.

5 entriesLiving culture

The mythology of ancient Persia and Zoroastrianism — Ahura Mazda, the eternal struggle of good and evil, and the Shahnameh.

3 entriesLiving culture

The shamanic and mythological traditions of Korea — mudang rituals, mountain spirits, and the founding myths of ancient kingdoms.

3 entriesLiving culture

The Hindu-Buddhist and animist traditions of mainland and maritime Southeast Asia — from the Khmer temples to the spirit houses of Thailand and the rice goddess of Bali.

5 entriesLiving culture

The mythological traditions of the Ashanti, Fon/Dahomey, and Igbo peoples — Anansi the spider, the Vodun spirits, the Alusi deities, and the sacred groves of Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria.

5 entriesLiving culture

The mythological and spiritual traditions of East Africa — the Maasai, Kikuyu, and Swahili peoples, the sacred peaks of Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, and the Great Rift Valley's origin stories.

5 entriesLiving culture

The navigators' mythology — Maui the trickster, Pele the volcano goddess, the sacred marae platforms, and the oral traditions that guided the greatest ocean voyages in human history.

6 entriesLiving culture

The pre-Christian mythology of the Slavic peoples — Perun the thunder god, Veles the underworld lord, Baba Yaga, and the sacred groves and springs of Eastern Europe.

5 entries

The indigenous mythologies of the Amazon Basin — the Yanomami, Kayapo, Shipibo, and Desana peoples, the jaguar shamans, ayahuasca visions, and the spirit-saturated rainforest.

6 entriesLiving culture

The megalith builders of the British Isles, creators of Stonehenge, Newgrange, and thousands of dolmens — a culture obsessed with aligning stone to sky and earth.

2 entries

The world's earliest settled communities and shrine builders, creators of Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük — revolutionary transformations of human society.

2 entries

The holy sites of Judaism: the Jerusalem Temple, the Western Wall, the Caves of the Patriarchs — where the covenant between God and the Jewish people was established.

3 entriesLiving culture

Sacred sites of the Christian tradition: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Golgotha, Bethlehem, Canterbury, and Santiago de Compostela.

4 entriesLiving culture

The holy sites of Islam: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and the sacred mosques where over 1.8 billion Muslims direct their prayers.

3 entriesLiving culture

The rock-carving desert traders of Arabia, builders of Petra and masters of desert water engineering and long-distance trade networks.

1 entry

The geoglyph makers of Peru's southern coast, creators of massive figures only visible from the sky — spider, hummingbird, whale, and condor.

1 entry

The myths and folklore of Scotland: the Loch Ness Monster, selkies, kelpies, and the Celtic heritage of the Highlands and Islands.

2 entriesLiving culture

The peoples of Southern Africa: Shona, Zulu, Sotho, and Tswana traditions centered on ancestral veneration, the supreme creator Mwari, and Great Zimbabwe.

1 entryLiving culture

The older school of Buddhism, practiced in South and Southeast Asia, centered on individual enlightenment and the preserved Pali Canon.

4 entriesLiving culture

The Matter of Britain: the legends of King Arthur, Merlin, the Knights of the Round Table, and the quest for the Holy Grail.

1 entry

The Great Vehicle tradition of Buddhism, emphasizing the bodhisattva path and enlightenment for all beings, practiced across East Asia, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

1 entryLiving culture

Sri Lanka's Theravada Buddhist tradition, preserving one of the world's oldest continuous Buddhist lineages since the 3rd century BCE, with the Pali Canon and ancient monastic orders intact.

1 entryLiving culture

Vajrayana Buddhism in Bhutan, the 'Land of the Peaceful Dragon,' where Guru Rinpoche established tantric Buddhism in the 8th century and it remains the foundation of national identity and governance.

1 entryLiving culture

The remarkable Neolithic civilization of the Orkney Islands, builders of Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, and Maeshowe — some of Europe's oldest and most sophisticated monuments.

2 entries

The faith and traditions of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, centered on sacred monasteries, icons, and the theological legacy of Byzantine and Slavic Christianity.

1 entryLiving culture

The megalithic builders of Brittany, creators of the Carnac Stones and the densest concentration of megaliths in the world — an extraordinary Neolithic civilization.

1 entry

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church — one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world, tracing its roots to the 4th century CE. Ethiopia claims descent from Solomon and Sheba, and the Church of Our Lady of Zion in Aksum claims to house the Ark of the Covenant.

1 entryLiving culture

The great medieval empires of Mali and their predecessors created Timbuktu, one of the world's great centers of Islamic learning. The Mali Empire controlled vast trade routes across the Sahara and Niger River, accumulating legendary wealth through gold and salt commerce.

1 entryLiving culture

Sites of profound importance to understanding human origins and the deep evolutionary heritage of our species. Cradles of humankind where fossils reveal our ancestors' emergence.

1 entry

Pre-Woodland North American cultures of the Archaic period (c. 8000-1000 BCE) who built monumental earthworks and established sophisticated trade networks long before agriculture.

1 entry

The civilizations that built Constantinople — first the Christian Roman Empire, then the Ottoman sultans who transformed it into Istanbul.

1 entryLiving culture

The Theravada Buddhist civilization of Myanmar — the builders of Bagan, Mandalay, and the Shwedagon Pagoda.

1 entryLiving culture