Wouldn’t it be fun if we could be explorers?   We could travel throughout the world visiting new places and learning about how people live in communities very different from our own.  How exciting that would be!

When we travel around the world we find people of all different cultures.  Sometimes, if we visit a certain place, we will find all of the people of that place to be very much alike.  Many times however, we will find people of very different cultures living together in the same community. 

We don’t have to travel very far to find one of the best examples of many different cultures living together.  New York City is well known for a great variety of people.  New York City has a large Latino and African American population.  There are also large numbers of Asian and Arab Americans living in the city.  In fact, you could find people from just about any place in the world living in New York City!

Maybe you have heard this before: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” These words are written at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty in the New York City harbor.  This statement is very important.  In the 1800's, millions and millions of immigrants came to America.  This statement shows how America welcomed people from all over the world.  Many of these families settled right in New York City, and their descendants are still living there today.  This is why there are people of so many cultures living together in New York City.

New York City is certainly not the only city where we see such a mix of cultures.  In fact, most cities in the United States have people from different backgrounds.  This is also true of many major cities around the world.  If we travel to the continent of Europe, and visit London, England, we will find a community made up of many different cultures.  We would find the same thing in Paris, France.  On the continent of Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong are cities with great cultural mixes.

There are still communities in the world, however, that do not have much variety in cultures.  These communities tend to be much smaller than the cities that have many cultures. If we visit one of these places, we would find that people are very much alike.  There can be many different reasons for this. One reason that a community might not have different cultures could be its location.  For example, in communities where the environment is very harsh, the people tend to be the same.  If we travel way up to the northern part of Canada, we find the Territory of Nunavut (noon –uh- voot).  Most of Nunavut’s people are Inuit.  We do not see many different cultures living together in the small towns of Nunavut.  Not many people migrate to Nunavut because of the cold, harsh climate.

The government could also be the reason for the lack of different cultures.  On the continent of Asia, there is a place where we do not find people of different cultures living together.  The city of Mecca, in the country of Saudi Arabia does not welcome different cultures.  Only people who are Muslim can live in Mecca.  In fact, the government of Saudi Arabia does not even allow people who are not Muslim to visit Mecca.