Although it was clear that Inazuma corresponds to Japan, people debate what exactly Sumeru corresponds to in the real world.
Based on the given information from versions 1 and 2, Sumeru appears to correspond to the geographic region spanning as far east as India and as far west as North Africa. Some say it corresponds to the so called SWANA region, encompassing Southwest Asia and North Africa. Although this vast territory roughly coincides with the Islamic world, not everything in Sumeru is based on Islamic influences.
For example, Sumeru also has some Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain influences, corresponding to the South Asian region. In Chinese, Sumeru is called 须弥 which is a Buddhist term referring to Mount Meru. Some people identify Mount Meru as being located in the Pamir mountains or Kashmir. This corresponds to a land at the confluence of China, Central Asia, and South Asia. But geographically, if Liyue represents China, then Sumeru represents what is west of China.
The names of some Sumeru NPCs also point to Persian influences as well in the region. There also appear to be Arabic influences in Sumeru as well. Some speculate that Cyno, who was featured in the Teyvat trailer, is based on Egyptian culture.
It should be noted that North Africa, the Levant, West Asia, Persia, and India all had their own cultures and histories before the Islamic Arabic empires that rose during the 7th century and after. Egypt has thousands of years of history before Islam. Persia also has its own history with the Persian Empire and Hellenic culture before the Arabs arrived. And of course South Asia and India has thousands of years of history with Buddhism and Hinduism before Islam arrived to the subcontinent. Even the Mesopotamia region, one of the oldest cradles of civilization, between the Tigris and Euphrates and within the Fertile Crescent, existed long before Islam. The Phoenicians also ruled North Africa before the Arabs came. So to encompass such a vast region with distinct histories and cultures is quite a task.
Also whereas Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma may be united by a similar language and culture, what is the common theme that binds Sumeru together? If one looks at SWANA, there are at least 2-4 distinct language families comprising the region: the Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) languages with Arabic being dominant and the Indo-Aryan languages (including Farsi, Hindustani, etc). If one wants to include even more of the Indian subcontinent, then Dravidian would be another family. But there is even one more language family: the Turkic languages as the region from India, Iran, to North Africa and West Asia has also seen the rise of various Turkic Islamic empires such as the Seljuk, Timurid, Mughal, and Ottoman empires. (Another acronym used in the press is MENA denoting Middle East + North Africa, but Sumeru seems to encompass more, including Central/South Asia.)
If there is any one thing binding such a huge and diverse region together, it would probably be a shared history and culture of Islam. That is including as far west as Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) and other parts of Europe that were at some point ruled by Muslims, whether via Berbers, Arabs, or other groups.
If there is a single country in the world that could be said to incorporate influences from all these various cultures, it would probably be Pakistan or even Afghanistan. These countries have influences from Arabic, Persian, and Indian cultures. Incidentally Pakistan also borders China in the same way that Sumeru borders Liyue. Of course, the geocultural region corresponding to Sumeru is quite vast to say that any single country can represent it all.
See Teyvat for more details.
One of the most ancient human civilizations is Sumer, located in Mesopotamia, founded on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers around modern Iraq. Part of Sumeru's inspiration derives from Sumer as well. Sumer existed from 4500-1900 bc. The Sumerian language is currently unclassified, with some believing it to be a language isolate. Sumer and Mesopotamia were later unified under Babylonian and Assyrian rule. Babylon is the namesake of the Gardens of Babylon. Mesopotamia is the civilization that spawned the legend of Gilgamesh, one of oldest pieces of literature in world history.
Cuneiform was used to write various languages in the Mesopotamian region, including Sumerian, Hittite, Akkadian, Aramaic, and old Persian. Akkadian and Aramaic are Afro-Asiatic languages (related to Arabic, Hebrew), whereas Hittite and Persian are Aryan languages (have a more eastern origin). Cuneiform is a logographic script, similar to the Chinese script and ancient Mayan glyphs.
To make sense of the languages used in west Asia (because there were so many used in history), it is basically Afro-Asiatic, Greek, Persian (and their cousins), Caucasian, and later Turkic and Mongolic. There were so many Afro-Asiatic / Seimtic languages spoken in west Asia. Some went extinct, but the ones that survive today are mainly Arabic (spoken by ~400 million people) and Hebrew. Greek and Persian still exist today (though some of their cousins may have went extinct due to conquests, assimilation, etc.). Turkic is spoken in Turkey (in the past called Anatolia) and parts of Central Asia. Mongolic is spoken throughout parts of the steppe (like parts of Russia). And then there are the Caucasian languages (considered an isolate) spoken around the Caucausus mountains around north Iran and south Russia. The modern people of West Asia (Sumer) are a mix of these various groups.
Of these languages, Afro-Asiatic and maybe Caucasian and Persian have been around the region for a longer period of time. The Greek (and Hittite) language are more of an invasive language from the steppe (but even Persian could be said to be an invasive language from the steppe if you go as far back as the Scythians). And from modern history it is more obvious that the Turkic and Mongolic languages are invasive languages in the region.
But this is the migration pattern in the history of Eurasia: there are waves of invaders from the northern steppe that sweep into the southern settled civilizations. Even the Greeks, Persians, and Aryan people have a more steppe nomad origin and were like the Turkic and Mongol people 2000-4000 years before the Turks and Mongols made their name known to the world. The nomads invade the settled civilizations, assimilate and become one of the settled people over time, only to be invaded by a later generation of nomads from the steppe. And the cycle repeats as it had for the past several millennia: Scythians, Aryans, Huns, Turks, Mongols, all of these nomadic groups have an eastern origin and can trace their history back to Central Asia and north China. And if you count these nomads as part of the history of north China, then China has had a huge influence on the history of the entire Eurasian continent for the past thousands of years. Always has been.
China itself has a rough division of north and south Chinese. But basically, the north Chinese would either migrate south and become south Chinese or they would migrate outside and invade the west. To say Scythians, Aryans, Huns, Turks, Mongols are all examples of these north Chinese migrating out to settle in the west is not a stretch at all.
As for who are the 'original people' who lived in Sumer, this is still an unanswered question since scholars still do not know how to classify the Sumerian language.
Sumeru is the nation of wisdom, called prajna in Sanskrit. Wisdom itself is an important topic in the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. found in the Indian subcontinent.
Another important theme is knowledge or veda in Sanskrit. The Rigveda and Vedas comprise a body of ancient texts written in Sanskrit on Hinduism. The overall theme of Sumeru suggests that it is mainly based on India, with several characters having Arabic, Egyptian, Persian, etc. influences as well.
The 2.8 trailer provided a glimpse at Sumeru, featuring tropical greenery, rainforests, palm trees by the sea, etc. Another Sumeru trailer video showcased that Sumeru has both the tropical rainforests and vast deserts. The desert sands are located to Sumeru's west. These are similar to the dry climate, deserts and mountains that span Northwest India, Pakistan, Iran, and the Middle East and North Africa (including the Maghreb and Sahara). The rainforests seem to resemble the geography of tropical India a bit more. The tropical climate also appears to correspond to the monsoon climate of India as well. But such greenery is also seen near the banks of the Tigris-Euphrates around Iraq and the Nile river around Egypt. So the climate and biome seem to take some inspiration from the vast SWANA region.
The music (as presented in the trailers showed so far) also has influences from the SWANA region. As shown in the 3.0 special program, the sitar, bansuri, and oud are used in the music, giving a distinct cultural flavor. The sitar and bansuri are from India, and the oud is an Arabic name. This illustrates that the Sumeru region is a blend of Indian and Middle Eastern cultures.
There are several main language families widely used throughout the SWANA region: Afro-Asiatic/Semitic (including Arabic, Hebrew), Indo-Aryan (including Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, northern Indian languages), Dravidian (including Tamil, Telugu, southern Indian languages), Turkic (including Turkish, several Central Asian languages), and even Han-Tibetan (languages related to Han Chinese, Tibetan, used in northeast India, Nagaland, bordering China).
Arabic has a VSO structure. Indo-Aryan is generally SOV. Dravidian languages are also SOV but generally feature agglutination as well (similar to 'Altaic' class languages like Mongolian, Turkic, Korean, Japanese, etc). Turkic is also generally SOV and agglutinative, like other 'Altaic' class languages.
Note 'Altaic' refers to the Altai mountain range in northwest China. Altai means 'gold' in Mongolian and Turkic. There is a linguistic hypothesis that several languages share a common origin around this region, including Mongolian, Tungusic, Manchurian, Turkic, Korean, Japanese. All these languages are agglutinative and feature SOV word order, among other similarities and a shared deep historical relation to China. Still, some believe that this could be due to a sprachbund effect. Other scholars propose that the origin of the so-called 'Altaic' people could actually be in Northeast China, where the Mongol and Man people are from. The Tungusic and Korean people are also believed to have originated from Northeast China. Then over time these various groups migrated further and further west, to Central Asia and as far as Anatolia (modern Turkey). These groups are spread across the Eurasian steppe. During the Yuan dynasty, the Mamluks who ruled Egypt had a steppe Turkic origin. And the Ottoman empire that ruled over parts of Europe and the Mideast had Turkic origins too.
It is debated what language the Xiongnu people spoke. The Xiongnu inhabited the steppe during the Han dynasty. It does not appear that the Xiongnu language is related much to Turkic, Mongol, or other 'Altaic' languages. Some people believe the Xiongnu spoke a language similar to Han Chinese. After being conquered by the Han, many Xiongnu fled to the west and became known as the 'Huns' in Europe and Hunnites in Central and South Asia. The language used in Hungary belongs to the Uralic family, which is its own language family in North Eurasia.
This is a common feature of the northern steppe throughout Chinese history. The people in the north are mixed. They speak various different languages. After being conquered by Chinese, they flee to the west and establish their own empires in Europe, the Mideast, and South Asia. It happened with the Xiongnu/Huns and Gokturks (Khazars, Seljuks, Timurids, Mughal, Ottomans). Then the Mongols conquered everybody directly. The north is emblamatic of the Anemo element. It takes on various forms and over time blends in and assimilates with local cultures.
In India, there are three main language families: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Han-Tibetan. It is believed that Dravidian is native to India, existing before the Aryan migration into India around 4000 years ago. Dravidian includes classical languages such as Tamil that have played an important role in Indian culture and literature. When the Aryans migrated into India, they brought in the Sanskrit language, another classical language of India. A rough rule of thumb is that the Aryan languages are based in north India, while the Dravidian languages are in south India.
Although Dravidian and Altaic (including Turkic, Japanese, etc.) share common linguistic features such as agglutination and SOV word order, it is generally believed they are separate language groups. If anything, some people propose a relationship between Dravidian and various Austronesian and Austroasiatic languages used in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and even Madagascar. Austronesian languages include languages spoken in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Phillippines, Madagascar, and Oceania. The Austronesian people are believed to have originated from South China (around Taiwan) and then spread south and diffused throughout the Pacific and Indian oceans. Austronesian people generally have hg O, similar to most Han Chinese, and some linguists propose a common origin for Han-Tibetan and Austronesian languages. Austroasiatic refers to languages spoken in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal. But it is usually believed that these languages are a subset of Han-Tibetan as well. These speakers are also hg O and originated from South China. Although it is possible that Dravidian and Austronesian/Austroasiatic share linguistic features, it is believed they are separate families with separate origins.
The origin of Aryans is another interesting question. It is believed that the Aryan people originated from Central Asia and west/north China, before migrating further west and south into Europe, Iran, and India. So is this to say that the Aryans were originally Chinese? That is not a stretch at all. The genetic evidence is that many 'Aryan' speakers have hg R, and hg R and hg O (found in Han Chinese) have a common ancestor called hg K found in China. It is believed that hg K split into NOQR in north China and then spread throughout the world. There is also a lot of linguistic similarities (even cognates) between the Chinese languages and languages used in Europe (English) and India. Considering that the Xiongnu, Gokturks, and Mongols were also ethnic groups of China that made their way as far west as Europe, it is not too surprising that the Aryans and so-called 'Indo-Europeans' also originate from north China. The Han Chinese people themselves are believed to have a northern origin as well.
One more key point is that Han-Tibetan languages are spoken throughout Northeast India, in places such as Nagaland and other provinces that border China. Han-Tibetan languages share a common origin with other Chinese languages. And given the border between China and India, it is not too surprising that there are many speakers of Han-Tibetan languages in northeast India as well as Nepal. In fact, the original Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama originated from Nepal/Northeast India and is believed to have been related to Han-Tibetan speakers, if not one himself. Han-Tibetan people tend to have hg O, which is widely found in North India and Nepal, so it is very likely that Siddhartha Gautam, the founder of Buddhism, had hg O as well. Given this, to say that the original Buddha was Chinese is no stretch at all. Even during the Qing dynasty, Nepal was a tributary within the Chinese system.
The script used in Sumeru appears to resemble a Brahmic script used in India. This gives further evidence that Sumeru is based on South Asia (with Arabic and Persian influences).
Within this vast SWANA region, there are two main types of scripts used: the Arabic script including its variants used in Iran, Pakistan, etc. and the Brahmic/Vedic family of scripts, including Devanagari (used for Sanskrit) and its many many variants, etc.
The Arabic-Persian script (and other scripts used in the Middle East like Hebrew) is written right to left. By contrast, the English language and most languages used in India (written in Brahmic alphabets) are written left to right. In Pakistan one of the main languages is Urdu, which is similar to Hindi used in North India. In fact, people sometimes say Hindi and Urdu are part of the same language called Hindustani. However, there are differences in the two. For one, Urdu is written in the Persian Arabic script (a variant adopted to Urdu) and is written right to left. On the other hand, Hindi is written left to right in the devanagari script. The Mughal empire (Islamic) saw the increased use of the Persian Arabic script to write Hindustani. The Mughals claimed descent from Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Then the British took over from the Mughals during the age of European imperialism. Then after WW2, Britain partitioned the British Raj into modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The divide was supposedly done along religious lines. Pakistan and Bangladesh are mostly Muslim, whereas India is supposedly less Muslim and more Hindu and other religions. But even then India has around 200 million Muslims.
Historically, Chinese has been written right to left (like Arabic) and top to bottom. It is only after the Qing dynasty that Chinese started being written left to right like the European languages, also as a part of the introduction of western knowledge and Marxism. But the Chinese language is very flexible. It can be written in many different orders, either left to right or right to left and even up to down, simply because of the nature of the pictographs.
Speaking of India, Iran, and Central Asia, Buddhism used to be one of the dominant religions in these regions. Buddhism still exists to a degree in India, but in Iran and Central Asia, Islam has become more widespread. Even in India, Islam has become one of the more widespread religions after Hinduism. Islam even spread to parts of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia. But Buddhism still remains one of the most popular religions in China, East Asia, and other parts of Southeast Asia. So China is the retainer of the Buddhist culture, but Buddhism seemingly has left India. Why is that so?
Historically, Buddhism was very prevalent in India since ancient times to the Han and Tang dynasties. During the Tang, Islam began to rise, and there were many large Islamic empires that arose in the west as well. The Tang had many trade contacts with the Arabs and Muslims around Central Asia (which was a Tang protectorate at the time as a result of defeating the Gokturks). The Tang even fought a battle with the caliphate at Talas. When the Arabs conquered Iran, many Persian elites even fled to Tang China for refuge and lived as Chinese citizens. Before the Arab conquest, Iran had many other religions such as Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, etc. and Persia did not use the Arabic script. In history, they used Avestan scripts (and for a period they may have used some Greek during the reign of Alexander's empire).
During the An Lushan rebellion, the Tang even enlisted Arab soldiers to help quell the rebellion. Over time, many Arabs, Persians, Muslims came to settle in China, notably in the ancient capital of Chang'an, one of the major hubs of the Silk Road. After the collapse of the Tang, several more Turkic empires rose in the west and Middle East. The Turks helped spread Islam further around in this region, eventually establishing the Seljuk, Timurid, and later the Mughal empire (which had Mongol influences as well). And thus Islam became more and more prevalent in the Central and South Asian regions. As for why Hinduism stayed and not Buddhism as much in India, that is an interesting question left to further research.
Before the Yuan dynasty, Central Asia and western China were still largely Buddhist. The Western Liao emperors maintained Chinese culture, the script, and Buddhism in the west and even defeated the Seljuks at one point in Central Asia. After the Mongol empire and the Chagatai Khanate was established, Islam began to be adopted more in Central Asia. During the Mongol conquests, many Muslims from the west (Arabs, Persians, even Turks, etc.) helped fight in the Mongol armies and eventually settled in various Chinese cities. At the same time, many Chinese also helped fight in the Mongol armies and helped build cities in Central Asia and the Middle East (such as in the seige of Baghdad, after which the Han Chinese general Guo Kan served as governor of Baghdad). The Mongol empire saw the mass migration of people along the Silk Road between Europe, the Middle East, and China. One such consequence was the increased settlement of Muslims in western China and Central Asia.
Because the subsequent Ming dynasty failed to take over west China and the Chagatai Khanate, Islam just developed more and more in the west. If the Ming were able to take over the west, then maybe Buddhism may have been retained there. But the Ming failed.
It was not until the Qing dynasty that the western part was once again reunited with China and Islam was further integrated into Chinese culture. In China, Islam is sometimes called Qingzhen (清真) as the term involves seeking truth. Seeking truth incidentally happens to be a major theme in Sumeru, also related to vedas and prajna in India. So Sumeru does have its own cultural harmony.
Before Europe, the USA, Five Eyes, the Anglosphere, and the modern sense of the 'west' arose, the region of Sumeru represented what traditionally has been China's 'west': including the regions of Central Asia, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Even in the Arabic classic, Aladdin lives in a city of China (probably around western China and Central Asia). This is to illustrate the sheer expanse of territory encompassing this cultural region. During the Mongol Empire, the region from China to West Asia was indeed unified in a single empire. The ties between China and the west go back millennia, from Buddhism during the Han, Islam during the Tang, the Mongol Empire, and so on.
The 'west' also features prominently in Chinese culture and literature, particularly the story of Xuanzang's legendary journey to the west during the Tang dynasty. Xuanzang (Tang Sanzang), one of the most reputed Chinese Buddhists and translators in history, embarked on his journey from Tang China through Central Asia to India (天竺) to collect and translate Buddhist scriptures, helping form much of the modern Buddhist canon in Chinese. The history between China and the West runs deep, in culture, religion, trade, knowledge along the Silk Road, just like how Liyue and Sumeru are connected in Teyvat.
For more info on the history of the west in connection to China, see Western Regions.
Some countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia are Islamic and thus have influence from the Sumeru region. However, Southeast Asia as a region is more like a nexus for cultural fusion, a melting pot that has historically been influenced by China and India as well. Before Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism were primary religions in the region, and to this day Buddhism remains the main religion in several ASEAN countries. Islam started to grow in Southeast Asia after the Mongol naval invasions that spread more Islamic culture through the region.
Not every region in Earth may necessarily fall squarly into one of the seven regions of Teyvat. After all, where would something like Antarctica be placed? Some may even overlap and be considered part of several regions or at least have influences from several regions.
Sumeru is teeming with references to different religions, the main ones being: Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Manichaeism.
In history there have been many other religions in the Sumer region. And these have influenced the creation of many modern gods and myths in the western regions. For example, the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite was based on the Phoenician goddess Astarte, also the East Semitic goddess Ishtar. Astarte / Ishtar was then based on the Sumer goddess Inanna, the Mesopotamia goddess of love, also worshipped in ancient Iran as Anahita by the Aratta civilization as well as the Sumerians and Akkadians. Sumer is the first known civilization with writing in the Mesopotamia region (modern Iraq). And ultimately even Greek gods trace their roots to Sumerian religions.
So then what counts as 'western culture'? Is it just Greco-Roman culture? If so, then the roots of Greek culture are found further east (in Asia, Sumer). Is it Aryan culture? The Aryan people also originate further east. Is it Christian culture? Christianity was founded in modern-day Israel/Palestine, so in fact three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) originate from the Middle East. Is it the Latin/Greek alphabets? These were derived from mideastern writing systems such as Phoenician and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Even the territory of Alexander's empire was mostly in the east. Based on the above, it appears that much of 'western culture' originates in Asian culture.
For these reasons, it is not much of a surprise that histories on the 'western culture' usually begin in Asia, the east or mideast with the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Sumer, and Persia. The foundation of much of the 'western culture' (American and European culture) is actually in Asia. In China, the historical definition of the 'west' has been much simpler: it just refers to anything to the west of China. Viewed this way, the above is less of a paradox.
Sumer and Egypt are the oldest civilizations in the world (along with China, India), dating as far back as 4500-2000 bc in written history. In Greek culture (considered one of the oldest 'European' cultures), written records appear in the 8th century bc. But before that, there was Phoenicia, Hittites, and Middle Eastern civiliations related to Sumer and Egypt. Before Greek culture, there was basically no European written culture: it was just Sumerian and Egyptian culture. And Greek culture ultimately borrowed from Phoenician script and Sumerian religion, so much so that it is not much of an exaggeration to say that Greek culture is almost like a Middle Eastrern culture and that Alexander's empire was an Asian / Middle Eastern empire.
Even Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Book of Kings, 1010 AD) wrote that Alexander (Iskandar / Sikandar in Perso-Arabic script) descended from a Persian father (rather than Greek parents). According to the story, in a peace treaty between Greece and Persia, the Greek King Filqus / Philip's daughter Nahid married the Persian King Darab. Nahid was extremely beautiful, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Alexander. Alex was then raised as Philip's heir and would grow up to defeat Darius, Darab's son with another wife. (In Greek records, Alex was born to Philip II and Olympias.) If anything this represents history's attempt to bring Alexander closer east or show that he had a more Asian or eastern origin, which may actually be true considering the historical migration of Hittites, Aryans, Alans, Scythians from east to west. Ferdowsi's legend involving Nahid and Alexander also provides some foundation and insight into the Genshin character Nahida as well as the guardian-protector relationship between Nahida and Cyno.
And considering recent history, Greece was actually part of the Middle Eastern Turkish Ottoman empire for centuries until it gained independence in 1821 (around the time of the Opium wars). The modern conception that Greece is a part of the 'European' or 'Western' culture is more an artifical product of recent politics and history of the past 200 years, enforced by American hegemony and exceptionalism (the USA's imperial goal being to expand and grab as much territory east of Europe as possible and claim that it is all part of American / western culture, for the geopolitical and cultural purpose of maintaining a unified American empire).
Perhaps that Sumer and Egypt have much longer histories is reflected in how Cyno of Sumeru has a ridiculously long burst duration of 18s (one of the longest of any burst dps in Genshin).
A number of new characters appear in the latest Sumeru preview trailer (July 29, 2022):
And then there is Nahida (纳西妲): the dendro archon, youngest of the archons after the previous dendro archon Rukkhadevata perished.
The previous dendro archon goes by the name Rukkhadevata (रुक्खदेवता), which means 'tree goddess' (rukkha is tree, devata is goddess, similar to the root divine or devas in English). In Hinduism, Rukkhadevata is worshipped as a Yakshini, goddess of wealth, and guardian deity. Yakshinis are the female counterparts of the Yakshas (Xiao is a yaksha). It would be interesting if Xiao has any interactions with the lore of Sumeru and yakshas given his background.