I have found the following conceptual framework of world civilizations by Jan Broek ("A Geography of Mankind" (1968,1973,1978), Jan O.M. Broek and John W. Webb) very useful.
A. Major civilizations:
1. Occidental (Christian)
2, Main Islamic (excluding SE Asia)
3. Indic (Hindu)
4. Sinic (East Asian)
B. Minor civilizations:
5. Southeast Asian
6. Meso-African (Negro-African, sub-Saharan African)
7. Southern Pacific (Melanesian-Polynesian)
"The Clash of Civilizations" by Samuel P. Huntington provides a more contemporary, more geo-political, framework, shown in the following map (map source: Wikipedia):
Broek's conceptual framework accommodates Huntington's nine civilizations, thus:
A, 4 Major Civilizations:
1. Christian
a. Western
b. Latin American
c. Orthodox
2. Islamic
3. Indic
a. Hindu
b. Buddhist
4. Sinic
a. Chinese-Korean-Vietnamese
b. Japanese
B. Minor Civilization:
5. Meso-African
A similar view of the major civilizations can be gained by examining the spread of the major religions.
(source)
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