What is a 'Region 1' dvd player?

i just get Alfie (the original) on dvd & when i put it in my dvd player, next my brothers PS2, we got one and the same message "Regional Restrictions". then i looked at the Alfie crust & in fine print at the bottom it say that this is a region 1 disc made to be compatible w/ region 1 dvd players. what does that mean?!
Answer:    Not merely are we using wiki to answer questions in a minute but we aren't even copying and pasteing them correctly, tisk tisk. Region codes are assigned to major countries, in attendance are roughly 9 common region codes and I unquestionably don't know them all by heart but region 1 is US/Canada and 2 is Europe.

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DVD's and DVD players are coded next to regions. If you buy a disk in Europe or another place it will not work on a player bought within the USA or Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_...