Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.
Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia—with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe—located to the east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Given its size and diversity, Asia—a toponym dating back to classical antiquity—is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people). The wealth of Asia differs very widely among and within its regions, due to its vast size and huge range of different ethnic groups, cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems.
Asia has been the historical birthplace of all major world religions.
Definition and boundaries
of Asia and surrounding landmasses.]]
The original distinction between Europe and Asia was made by the ancient Greeks. They used the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Kerch Strait, and the Sea of Azov as the border between Asia and Europe. The Nile was used as the border between Asia and Africa (then called Libya), although some Greek geographers suggested the Red Sea would form a better boundary. However the Nile was usually considered the border until the 15th century, when the boundary was changed to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Isthmus of Suez. At the same time, the border of between Asia and Europe became an issue, as the old boundaries did not extend to the arctic as previously thought. In the eighteenth century the Ural mountains were first suggested as the border, and by the nineteenth century this border had become the accepted divide. To connect this to the previous divide, the border was extended southwards from the mountains to the Ural river, after which it passed through the Caspian Sea and crossed the crest of the Caucasus, forming the widely accepted boundary used today. The border between Asia and Oceania is placed somewhere in the Malay archipelago, with islands belonging to Indonesia usually included in Asia, including the western half of New Guinea.
Some contentions about the borders still exist. Asia is the largest and most culturally diverse of the continents in the seven-continent system, and does not exactly match with conventional Asian cultural boundaries. especially in the United States after World War II. The term is sometimes used more narrowly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East, South Asia or Russia, but does include islands in the Pacific Ocean—a number of which may also be considered part of Australasia or Oceania, although Pacific Islanders are not considered Asian.
Some geographers do not consider Asia and Europe to be separate continents, as there is no logical physical separation between them. Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass–or of Afro-Eurasia: geologically, Asia, Europe and Africa comprise a single continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal) and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and most of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate, adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) on the North American Plate.
Etymology
The term "Asia" is originally a concept exclusively of
Western civilization. first attributed to
Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to
Anatolia or—in describing the Persian Wars—to the
Persian Empire, in contrast to
Greece and
Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one enormous and substantial land mass (
Europa,
Asia, and
Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of
Prometheus (i.e.
Hesione), but that the
Lydians say it was named after Asias, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe in
Sardis. Even before Herodotus,
Homer knew of two figures in the
Trojan War named
Asios; and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). In
Greek mythology, "Asia" (
Ἀσία) or "Asie" (
Ἀσίη) was the name of a
Nymph or
Titan goddess of
Lydia.
Usage of the term soon became common in ancient Greece, and subsequently by the ancient Romans. The ideas of Occidental (form Latin Occidens 'setting') and Oriental (from Latin Oriens for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern. The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under Tudhaliya I around 1400 BC.
History
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.
The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.
The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.
The Islamic Caliphate took over the Middle East and Central Asia during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe.
Political geography
Map of Asia
The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated. {| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;" |- style="background:#ececec;" ! Name of region andterritory, with flag ! Area(km²) ! Population(1 July 2008 est.) ! Population density(per km²) ! Capital |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Central Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 2,724,927 | style="text-align:right;"| 15,666,533 | style="text-align:right;"| 5.7 | Astana |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 198,500 | style="text-align:right;"| 5,356,869 | style="text-align:right;"| 24.3 | Bishkek |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 143,100 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,211,884 | style="text-align:right;"| 47.0 | Dushanbe |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 488,100 | style="text-align:right;"| 5,179,573 | style="text-align:right;"| 9.6 | Ashgabat |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 447,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 28,268,441 | style="text-align:right;"| 57.1 | Tashkent |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Eastern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,092 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,008,300 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,417.9 | - |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 377,835 | style="text-align:right;"| 127,288,628 | style="text-align:right;"| 336.1 | Tokyo |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 25 | style="text-align:right;"| 460,823 | style="text-align:right;"| 18,473.3 | — |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,565,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 2,996,082 | style="text-align:right;"| 1.7 | Ulaan Baatar |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 120,540 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,479,095 | style="text-align:right;"| 184.4 | Pyongyang |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 9,640,821 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,322,044,605 | style="text-align:right;"| 134.0 | Beijing |- | (Taiwan) | style="text-align:right;"| 36,191 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,170,321 | style="text-align:right;"| 626.7 | Taipei |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 98,480 | style="text-align:right;"| 49,232,844 | style="text-align:right;"| 490.7 | Seoul |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Northern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 17,075,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 142,200,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 26.8 | Moscow |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Southeastern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 5,770 | style="text-align:right;"| 381,371 | style="text-align:right;"| 66.1 | Bandar Seri Begawan |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 676,578 | style="text-align:right;"| 47,758,224 | style="text-align:right;"| 70.3 | Naypyidaw |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 181,035 | style="text-align:right;"| 13,388,910 | style="text-align:right;"| 74 | Phnom Penh |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 15,007 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,108,777 | style="text-align:right;"| 73.8 | Dili |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,919,440 | style="text-align:right;"| 230,512,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 120.1 | Jakarta |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 236,800 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,677,534 | style="text-align:right;"| 28.2 | Vientiane |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 329,847 | style="text-align:right;"| 27,780,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 84.2 | Kuala Lumpur |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 300,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 92,681,453 | style="text-align:right;"| 308.9 | Manila |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 704 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,608,167 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,545.7 | Singapore |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 514,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 65,493,298 | style="text-align:right;"| 127.4 | Bangkok |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 331,690 | style="text-align:right;"| 86,116,559 | style="text-align:right;"| 259.6 | Hanoi |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Southern Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 647,500 | style="text-align:right;"| 32,738,775 | style="text-align:right;"| 42.9 | Kabul |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 147,570 | style="text-align:right;"| 153,546,901 | style="text-align:right;"| 1040.5 | Dhaka |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 38,394 | style="text-align:right;"| 682,321 | style="text-align:right;"| 17.8 | Thimphu |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 3,287,263 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,147,995,226 | style="text-align:right;"| 349.2 | New Delhi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 300 | style="text-align:right;"| 379,174 | style="text-align:right;"| 1,263.3 | Malé |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 147,181 | style="text-align:right;"| 29,519,114 | style="text-align:right;"| 200.5 | Kathmandu |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 803,940 | style="text-align:right;"| 167,762,049 | style="text-align:right;"| 208.7 | Islamabad |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 65,610 | style="text-align:right;"| 21,128,773 | style="text-align:right;"| 322.0 | Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte |- | colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | Western Asia: |- | | style="text-align:right;"|29,800 | style="text-align:right;"|3,299,000 | style="text-align:right;"|280.7 | Yerevan |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 86,660 | style="text-align:right;"| 8,845,127 | style="text-align:right;"| 102.736 | Baku |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 665 | style="text-align:right;"| 718,306 | style="text-align:right;"| 987.1 | Manama |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 9,250 | style="text-align:right;"| 792,604 | style="text-align:right;"| 83.9 | Nicosia |- | | style="text-align:right;"|69,700 | style="text-align:right;"|4,636,400 | style="text-align:right;"| 65.1 | Tbilisi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 437,072 | style="text-align:right;"| 28,221,181 | style="text-align:right;"| 54.9 | Baghdad |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,648,195 | style="text-align:right;"| 70,472,846 | style="text-align:right;"| 42.8 | Tehran |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 20,770 | style="text-align:right;"| 7,112,359 | style="text-align:right;"| 290.3 | Jerusalem |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 92,300 | style="text-align:right;"| 6,198,677 | style="text-align:right;"| 57.5 | Amman |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 17,820 | style="text-align:right;"| 2,596,561 | style="text-align:right;"| 118.5 | Kuwait City |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 10,452 | style="text-align:right;"| 3,971,941 | style="text-align:right;"| 353.6 | Beirut |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 212,460 | style="text-align:right;"| 3,311,640 | style="text-align:right;"| 12.8 | Muscat |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 6,257 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,277,000 | style="text-align:right;"| 683.5 | Ramallah |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 11,437 | style="text-align:right;"| 928,635 | style="text-align:right;"| 69.4 | Doha |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 1,960,582 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,513,330 | style="text-align:right;"| 12.0 | Riyadh |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 185,180 | style="text-align:right;"| 19,747,586 | style="text-align:right;"| 92.6 | Damascus |- | | style="text-align:right;"| | style="text-align:right;"| | style="text-align:right;"| | Ankara |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 82,880 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,621,399 | style="text-align:right;"| 29.5 | Abu Dhabi |- | | style="text-align:right;"| 527,970 | style="text-align:right;"| 23,013,376 | style="text-align:right;"| 35.4 | Sanaá |- style="font-weight:bold;" | Total | style="text-align:right;"| 43,810,582 | style="text-align:right;"| 4,162,966,086 | style="text-align:right;"| 89.07 | |}
:Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia, and the Australian external territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are often associated with Asia. However, these are not present in the UN geoscheme.
place them in Europe, while others such as the CIA include them in Asia. All are included in European organisations such as the Council of Europe and are considered to be European, and thus eligible to join, by the European Union.}}
Category:Continents
