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The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Siberian region; the Mediterranean Basin; North Africa; North Arabia; and Western, Central and East Asia. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions.
The term 'Palearctic' was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for zoogeographic classification.