We live in a shrinking world where civilisations are colliding into each other and people from all over the world are encountering former strangers as neighbours. So we need to understand each other's history and culture. 

To help with this deeper appreciation of the huge variety of humankind, here is a simple description of the basic features of five of the greatest current world civilisations - the Sino-sphere, Japano-sphere, Islamo-sphere, Euro-shere and Anglo-sphere. 

Alan Macfarlane is a retired Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, he is also a life long fellow of King's College, Cambridge