Figure 7.12:
The origin and diffusion of five major world religions. Christianity and Islam, the two great proselytic monotheistic faiths, arose in Semitic southwestern Asia and spread widely through the Old World. Hinduism and Buddhism both originated in the northern reaches of the Indian subcontinent and spread throughout southeastern Eurasia. Taoic religions originated in East Asia, relocated with Chinese and Japanese presence regionally and more recently diffused to North and South America.