east Asia - capitalization of regions

boron

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I believe it should be east Asia and east Asians, not East Asia or East Asians, because "east" is not a part of a proper name. Right? The same with south India and such.
 
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Snick

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I believe that it should be "East Asia", because it refers to a specific region. If one were to write about the east side of Asia, it would be one thing, but East Asia is specific. Similarly one would write Southeast Asia, unless you wanted to write about the southeasterly part of Asia. The compass directions used to be capitalized, but that has fallen away; although some sources still suggest that.
 

boron

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I see almost everyone capitalizes them...so it seems East Asia is at least as officially recognized region as the Middle East.
 

Chachant

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Yes, it sounds like a region, whereas eastern Asia, for example, sounds more like the eastern part of Asia.
 

boron

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Official regions, countries or states to be capitalized (a mix up obtained after a random internet research):

North Asia or Northern Asia (meaning Russia), northwest Asia (not the official region), Northeast Asia (Japan, Koreas), East Asia or Eastern Asia, South Asia or Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia or Western Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia, Central Asia

North India (also Northern India?), Northeast India, South India (also Southern India?), West India or Western India, East India or Eastern India

Northern Europe (also North Europe?), Western Europe (also West Europe?), Southern Europe (also South Europe?), Eastern Europe (also East Europe?), Middle Europe or Central Europe

South Australia (a state), North Australia (a state), Western Australia (a state), Central Australia (a state), eastern Australia (not a state)

Australia and New Zealand

Melanesia

Micronesia

Polynesia

North America, South America, Middle America or Central America, Caribbean

the Near East, the Middle East or Mideast, the Far East

North Africa or Northern Africa, Northwest Africa, Northeast Africa, Southern Africa (a region), South Africa (a country), West Africa or Western Africa, East Africa or Eastern Africa, Central Africa or Middle Africa, Central African Republic (a country).

Any comments?
 
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AnWulf

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I would say it's your choice. For me east Asia is not a defined region. It's only an area. ... If it is a "region", I don't know where the boundaries are. Southeast Asia, OTOH, is well understood.

North America is a continent so it is a proper name. The region within the US that is often capitalized is the South. It's a well defined region with a history.

I don't usually capitalize east coast but many do. When I refer to east coast liberals or west coast moonbats, I don't usually capitalize them but many do. So I think it's up to how yu want to do it.
 
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Solunar

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I've always seen it capitalised in newspapers and magazine articles, so it's what I'm used to.

I think if you analyse it, if you were refering to the direction in the region, you would say "the east of Asia". By saying "East Asia", it becomes a collective name for the countries in the region.
 

veronie

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Capitalized. If it's a widely known region, it is a proper noun. "East Asia," "Middle East," "Southern California."

But if it is not a widely known area, then you would lowercase the compass coordinates -- "north Texas," "northeast Asia."

The main rule to keep in mind is whether the compass coordinate is functioning as part of the proper name/noun of the region, or whether it is really functioning as a coordinate, and not a proper noun.
 
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