Grasslands occur in many regions, such as the llanos of Venezuela, the pampas of Argentina, the cerrado and campos of Brazil, the steppes of central Asia, the veldt and savannas of Africa, and the grasslands of Australia.
Prairies are the grasslands found in the central part of the North American continent.
Rainfall decreases from east to west, resulting in different types of prairies, with the tallgrass prairie in the wetter eastern region, mixed-grass prairie in the central Great Plains, and shortgrass prairie towards the rain shadow of the Rockies. This is part of the tallgrass prairie region, sometimes called the true prairie, with the landscape dominated by grasses such as big bluestem and Indian grass as well as a large number of other species of grasses and wildflowers, the latter called forbs. The vegetation sometimes reaches a height of 10 feet or more. The first European settlers moving westward from the forests of the eastern United States encountered the prairies, which seemed like a vast ocean of grass. The wind caused waves on the surface of the shimmering grasses.