ABSTRACT
Geographically, the most striking feature of East Asia is its relative isolation from the rest of the Eurasian land mass. The Himalayas and Indian Ocean divide it from South Asia, and the steppes and deserts of Central Asia separate it from West Asia. Most East Asians are members of the 'Mongoloid race', one of the principal racial categories that were widely employed to classify humankind. Language provides another lens through which to examine the peoples of East Asia. Linguists identify a number of world language families based on structural similarities among seemingly unrelated languages. China sat atop the multiple pyramids of suzerain relationships that defined East Asia's interstate order by virtue of its enormous size, central location, military power, economic attraction, and cultural brilliance. The principal socioeconomic divisions in East Asia before modern times were among the nomadic pastoralists of Inner Asia's steppes and deserts, the rice farmers of Southeast and Northeast Asia, and the hunter-fishers of the northern forests.
