Asia
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Area | 44,579,000 km2 (17,212,000 sq mi) (1st)[1] |
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Population | 4,560,667,108 (2018; 1st)[2][3] |
Population density | 100/km2 (260/sq mi) |
GDP (PPP) | $70.2 trillion (2022 est; 1st)[4] |
GDP (nominal) | $38 trillion (2022 est; 1st)[5] |
GDP per capita | $8,620 (2022 est; 4th)[6] |
Religions |
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Demonym | Asian |
Countries | 49 UN members, 1 UN observer, 5 other states |
Dependencies | |
Non-UN states | |
Languages | List of languages |
Time zones | UTC+2 to UTC+12 |
Internet TLD | .asia |
Largest cities |
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UN M49 code | 142 – Asia001 – World |
Asia (/ˈeɪʒə, ˈeɪʃə/ (listen)) is Earth's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It shares the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe, and the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa and Europe. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres (17,212,000 sq mi), about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population,[8] was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people[9] constitutes roughly 60% of the world's population.[10]
In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. It is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural, linguistic, and ethnic differences, some of which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish Straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas, separating it from Europe.[11]
China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power and attracted many to the east,[12][13][14] and for many the legendary wealth and prosperity of the ancient culture of India personified Asia,[15] attracting European commerce, exploration and colonialism. The accidental discovery of a trans-Atlantic route from Europe to America by Columbus while in search for a route to India demonstrates this deep fascination. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism (particularly East Asia) as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen.[16] Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, as well as many other religions.
Given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. It also has a mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot desert in the Middle East, temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in Siberia.
Definition and boundaries
Asia–Africa boundary
The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal.[17] This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa.
Asia–Europe boundary

The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on the Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BC.[18] During the Hellenistic period,[19] this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius,[20] Strabo[21] and Ptolemy.[22]
The border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics.[23] The Don River became unsatisfactory to northern Europeans when Peter the Great, king of the Tsardom of Russia, defeating rival claims of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire to the eastern lands, and armed resistance by the tribes of Siberia, synthesized a new Russian Empire extending to the Ural Mountains and beyond, founded in 1721. The major geographical theorist of the empire was a former Swedish prisoner-of-war, taken at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and assigned to Tobolsk, where he associated with Peter's Siberian official, Vasily Tatishchev, and was allowed freedom to conduct geographical and anthropological studies in preparation for a future book.
In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects.[24] The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, although it is sometimes placed further north.[23]
Asia–Oceania boundary
The border between Asia and the region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The Maluku Islands in Indonesia are often considered to lie on the border of southeast Asia, with New Guinea, to the east of the islands, being wholly part of Oceania. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of the various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process."[25]
Ongoing definition

Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks, being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to the cultural borders of its various types of constituents.[26]
From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them.[27] For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe, the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of the continent of Asia".[28]
Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass—Afro-Eurasia (except for the Suez Canal)—and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and a major part 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 Chersky Range) on the North American Plate.
Etymology
The idea of a place called "Asia" was originally a concept of Greek civilization,[29] though this might not correspond to the entire continent currently known by that name. The English word comes from Latin literature, where it has the same form, "Asia". Whether "Asia" in other languages comes from Latin of the Roman Empire is much less certain, and the ultimate source of the Latin word is uncertain, though several theories have been published. One of the first classical writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny.[30] This metonymical change in meaning is common and can be observed in some other geographical names, such as Scandinavia (from Scania).
Bronze Age
Before Greek poetry, the Aegean Sea area was in a Greek Dark Age, at the beginning of which syllabic writing was lost and alphabetic writing had not begun. Prior to then in the Bronze Age the records of the Assyrian Empire, the Hittite Empire and the various Mycenaean states of Greece mention a region undoubtedly Asia, certainly in Anatolia, including if not identical to Lydia. These records are administrative and do not include poetry.
The Mycenaean states were destroyed about 1200 BCE by unknown agents, though one school of thought assigns the Dorian invasion to this time. The burning of the palaces caused the clay tablets holding the Mycenaean administrative records to be preserved by baking. These tablets were written in a Greek syllabic script called Linear B. This script was deciphered by a number of interested parties, most notably by a young World War II cryptographer, Michael Ventris, subsequently assisted by the scholar, John Chadwick.
A major cache discovered by Carl Blegen at the site of ancient Pylos included hundreds of male and female names formed by different methods. Some of these are of women held in servitude (as study of the society implied by the content reveals). They were used in trades, such as cloth-making, and usually came with children. The epithet lawiaiai, "captives", associated with some of them identifies their origin. Some are ethnic names. One in particular, aswiai, identifies "women of Asia".[31] Perhaps they were captured in Asia, but some others, Milatiai, appear to have been of Miletus, a Greek colony, which would not have been raided for slaves by Greeks. Chadwick suggests that the names record the locations where these foreign women were purchased.[32] The name is also in the singular, Aswia, which refers both to the name of a country and to a female from there. There is a masculine form, aswios. This Aswia appears to have been a remnant of a region known to the Hittites as Assuwa, centered on Lydia, or "Roman Asia". This name, Assuwa, has been suggested as the origin for the name of the continent "Asia".[33] The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE.
Classical antiquity

Latin Asia and Greek Ἀσία appear to be the same word. Roman authors translated Ἀσία as Asia. The Romans named a province Asia, located in western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey). There was an Asia Minor and an Asia Major located in modern-day Iraq. As the earliest evidence of the name is Greek, it is likely circumstantially that Asia came from Ἀσία, but ancient transitions, due to the lack of literary contexts, are difficult to catch in the act. The most likely vehicles were the ancient geographers and historians, such as Herodotus, who were all Greek. Ancient Greek certainly evidences early and rich uses of the name.[34]
The first continental use of Asia is attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE), not because he innovated it, but because his Histories are the earliest surviving prose to describe it in any detail. He defines it carefully,[35] mentioning the previous geographers whom he had read, but whose works are now missing. By it he means Anatolia and the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt.
Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names were "given to a tract which is in reality one" (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 Asies, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis.[36] In Greek mythology, "Asia" (Ἀσία) or "Asie" (Ἀσίη) was the name of a "Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia".[37]
In ancient Greek religion, places were under the care of female divinities, parallel to guardian angels. The poets detailed their doings and generations in allegoric language salted with entertaining stories, which subsequently playwrights transformed into classical Greek drama and became "Greek mythology". For example, Hesiod mentions the daughters of Tethys and Ocean, among whom are a "holy company", "who with the Lord Apollo and the Rivers have youths in their keeping".[38] Many of these are geographic: Doris, Rhodea, Europa, Asia. Hesiod explains:[39]
For there are three-thousand neat-ankled daughters of Ocean who are dispersed far and wide, and in every place alike serve the earth and the deep waters.
The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer) mentions two Phrygians (the tribe that replaced the Luvians in Lydia) in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian");[40] and also a marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος.[41] According to many Muslims, the term came from Ancient Egypt's Queen Asiya, the adoptive mother of Moses.[42]
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 Yellow River 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's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its 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. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people.[44]
The Black Death, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road.[45]
The Russian Empire began to expand into Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onwards. In the 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty. The Islamic Mughal Empire and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively.[46] The Empire of Japan controlled most of East Asia and much of Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Pacific islands until the end of World War II.
The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus.
Map of western, southern, and central Asia in 1885[47]
The map of Asia in 1796, which also included the continent of Australia (then known as New Holland).
Geography and climate

Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres (39,022 mi). Asia is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas.[11][48] 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. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe. Geographically, Russia is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation, both culturally and politically.
The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze River in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north.
Main regions
There are various approaches to the regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the UN statistics agency UNSD. This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories.[49]
- North Asia (Siberia)[a]
- Central Asia (The 'stans)
- Western Asia (The Middle East or Near East)
- South Asia (Indian subcontinent)
- East Asia (Far East)
- Southeast Asia (East Indies and Indochina)
Climate
Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere, and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan.
A survey carried out in 2010 by global risk analysis farm Maplecroft identified 16 countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Each nation's vulnerability was calculated using 42 socio, economic and environmental indicators, which identified the likely climate change impacts during the next 30 years. The Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, China and Sri Lanka were among the 16 countries facing extreme risk from climate change.[50][51][52] Some shifts are already occurring. For example, in tropical parts of India with a semi-arid climate, the temperature increased by 0.4 °C between 1901 and 2003. A 2013 study by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) aimed to find science-based, pro-poor approaches and techniques that would enable Asia's agricultural systems to cope with climate change, while benefitting poor and vulnerable farmers. The study's recommendations ranged from improving the use of climate information in local planning and strengthening weather-based agro-advisory services, to stimulating diversification of rural household incomes and providing incentives to farmers to adopt natural resource conservation measures to enhance forest cover, replenish groundwater and use renewable energy.[53]
The ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the world, however, ASEAN's climate mitigation efforts are not commensurate with the climate threats and risks it faces.[54]
Economy

Asia has the largest continental economy by both GDP Nominal and PPP in the world, and is the fastest growing economic region.[55] As of 2018, the largest economies in Asia are China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Turkey based on GDP in both nominal and PPP.[56] Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of the top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul. Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong.[57]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of China[58] and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very-high-growth nations in Asia include Israel, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.
According to economic historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, India had the world's largest economy during 0 BCE and 1000 BCE. Historically, India was the largest economy in the world for most of the two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output.[59][60][61][62] China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India.[63][64][65] For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined.[66] In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/US$. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.[67]

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2025.[68] By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world. Several trade blocs exist, with the most developed being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.
According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.[69] Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.
Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe. A particularly significant part of the Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade, is growing rapidly.[70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77]
In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. Last year Asia had toppled Europe.[78] Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At the end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people.[79]
Rank | Country | GDP (nominal, Peak Year) millions of USD | Peak Year |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 19,911,593 | 2022 |
2 | ![]() | 6,272,364 | 2012 |
3 | ![]() | 3,291,398 | 2022 |
4 | ![]() | 2,288,428 | 2013 |
5 | ![]() | 1,804,680 | 2022 |
6 | ![]() | 1,739,012 | 2022 |
7 | ![]() | 1,289,295 | 2022 |
8 | ![]() | 1,040,166 | 2022 |
9 | ![]() | 957,504 | 2013 |
10 | ![]() | 841,209 | 2022 |
Rank | Country | GDP (PPP, Peak Year) millions of USD | Peak Year |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 30,177,926 | 2022 |
2 | ![]() | 11,745,260 | 2022 |
3 | ![]() | 6,110,075 | 2022 |
4 | ![]() | 4,490,456 | 2021 |
5 | ![]() | 3,995,064 | 2022 |
6 | ![]() | 3,212,072 | 2022 |
7 | ![]() | 2,735,870 | 2022 |
8 | ![]() | 2,002,542 | 2022 |
9 | ![]() | 1,603,723 | 2022 |
10 | ![]() | 1,573,467 | 2022 |
Tourism
With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for the first time a city of a country from Asia (Bangkok) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 international visitors.[80]
Demographics
Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
1500 | 243,000,000 | — |
1700 | 436,000,000 | +0.29% |
1900 | 947,000,000 | +0.39% |
1950 | 1,402,000,000 | +0.79% |
1999 | 3,634,000,000 | +1.96% |
2016 | 4,462,676,731 | +1.22% |
Source: "UN report 2004 data" (PDF). The figure for 2018 is provided by the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects[2][3]. |
East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy.[81]
Nepal, a South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago.[81]
Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in the world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.[81]
Languages
Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.
Religions
Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism respectively. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in the Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah—and later to Christians in the Old Testament, and to Muslims in the Quran—is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required the combined efforts of emperors and divinities to control.
Abrahamic
The Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druze faith,[82] and Baháʼí Faith originated in West Asia.[83][84]
Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel, the indigenous homeland and historical birthplace of the Hebrew nation: which today consists both of those Jews who remained in the Middle East and those who returned from diaspora in Europe, North America, and other regions;[85] though various diaspora communities persist worldwide. Jews are the predominant ethnic group in Israel (75.6%) numbering at about 6.1 million,[86] although the levels of adherence to Jewish religion vary. Outside of Israel there are small ancient Jewish communities in Turkey (17,400),[87] Azerbaijan (9,100),[88] Iran (8,756),[89] India (5,000) and Uzbekistan (4,000),[90] among many other places. In total, there are 14.4–17.5 million (2016, est.)[91] Jews alive in the world today, making them one of the smallest Asian minorities, at roughly 0.3 to 0.4 percent of the total population of the continent.
Christianity is a widespread religion in Asia with more than 286 million adherents according to Pew Research Center in 2010,[92] and nearly 364 million according to Britannica Book of the Year 2014.[93] Constituting around 12.6% of the total population of Asia. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion;[94] it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia and Georgia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion.[94] In the Middle East, such as in the Levant, Anatolia and Fars, Syriac Christianity (Church of the East) and Oriental Orthodoxy are prevalent minority denominations,[95] which are both Eastern Christian sects mainly adhered to Assyrian people or Syriac Christians. Vibrant indigenous minorities in Western Asia are adhering to the Eastern Catholic Churches and Eastern Orthodoxy.[94] Saint Thomas Christians in India trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[96] Significant Christian communities also found in Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia.[94]
Islam, which originated in the Hejaz located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, is the second largest and most widely-spread religion in Asia with at least 1 billion Muslims constituting around 23.8% of the total population of Asia.[97] With 12.7% of the world Muslim population, the country currently with the largest Muslim population in the world is Indonesia, followed by Pakistan (11.5%), India (10%), Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey. Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem are the three holiest cities for Islam in all the world. The Hajj and Umrah attract large numbers of Muslim devotees from all over the world to Mecca and Medina. Iran is the largest Shi'a country.
The Druze Faith or Druzism originated in Western Asia, is a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of figures like Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad and Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. The number of Druze people worldwide is around one million, with about 45% to 50% live in Syria, 35% to 40% live in Lebanon, and less than 10% live in Israel, with recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.[98]
The Baháʼí Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh. Since the middle of the 20th century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because Baháʼí activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities. Lotus Temple is a big Baháʼí Temple in India.
Indian and East Asian religions
Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of the material world. The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.
As of 2012, Hinduism has around 1.1 billion adherents. The faith represents around 25% of Asia's population and is the largest religion in Asia. However, it is mostly concentrated in South Asia. Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali, Indonesia. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.
Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (96%),[100] Thailand (95%),[101] Burma (80–89%),[102] Japan (36–96%),[103] Bhutan (75–84%),[104] Sri Lanka (70%),[105] Laos (60–67%)[106] and Mongolia (53–93%).[107] Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore (33–51%),[108] Taiwan (35–93%),[109][110][111][112] South Korea (23–50%),[113] Malaysia (19–21%),[114] Nepal (9–11%),[115] Vietnam (10–75%),[116] China (20–50%),[117] North Korea (2–14%),[118][119][120] and small communities in India and Bangladesh. The Communist-governed countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported.
Jainism is found mainly in India and in overseas Indian communities such as the United States and Malaysia. Sikhism is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantly in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. Taoism is found mainly in Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. In many Chinese communities, Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism, thus exact religious statistics are difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.
Japanese wedding at the Meiji Shrine
Hindu festival celebrated by Singapore's Tamil community
Bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
Catholic procession of the Black Nazarene in Manila
Druze dignitaries celebrating the Ziyarat al-Nabi Shu'ayb festival at the tomb of the prophet in Hittin
Christian Armenians praying at the Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat
Muslim men praying at the Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul
Modern conflicts


Some of the events pivotal in the Asia territory related to the relationship with the outside world in the post-Second World War were:
- The Partition of India
- The Chinese Civil War
- The Kashmir conflict
- The Balochistan Conflict
- The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in India
- The Korean War
- The French-Indochina War
- The Vietnam War
- The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
- The 1959 Tibetan uprising
- The Sino-Vietnamese War
- The Bangladesh Liberation War
- The Yom Kippur War
- The Xinjiang conflict
- The Iranian Revolution
- The Soviet–Afghan War
- The Iran–Iraq War
- The Cambodian Killing Fields
- The Insurgency in Laos
- The Lebanese Civil War
- The Sri Lankan Civil War
- The 1988 Maldives coup d'état
- The Dissolution of the Soviet Union
- The Gulf War
- The Nepalese Civil War
- The Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts
- The West Papua conflict
- The First Nagorno-Karabakh War
- The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
- The Indonesian occupation of East Timor
- The 1999 Pakistani coup d'état
- The War in Afghanistan
- The Iraq War
- The South Thailand insurgency
- The 2006 Thai coup d'état
- The Burmese Civil War
- The Saffron Revolution
- The Kurdish-Turkish conflict
- The Arab Spring
- The Arab–Israeli conflict
- The Syrian Civil War
- The Sino-Indian War
- The 2014 Thai coup d'état
- The Moro conflict in the Philippines
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- The Turkish invasion of Syria
- The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar
- The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- The Hong Kong protests
- The 2020 China–India skirmishes
- The 1969 inter-ethnic violence in Kuala Lumpur
Culture
![]() | This section needs expansion with: More information about general cultural topics other than Nobel prizes. You can help by adding to it. (June 2011) |
Nobel prizes
The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.
Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prize for literature include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1968), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (China, 2000), Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006), and Mo Yan (China, 2012). Some may consider the American writer, Pearl S. Buck, an honorary Asian Nobel laureate, having spent considerable time in China as the daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novels, namely The Good Earth (1931) and The Mother (1933), as well as the biographies of her parents for their time in China, The Exile and Fighting Angel, all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938.
Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi from India and Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".
Sir C.V. Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".
Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13.
Amartya Sen, (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Malala Yousafzai, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yasser Arafat, José Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Abdus Salam and Malala Yousafzai, (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories), Kim (South Korea), and Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).
In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitute people with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.
The Dalai Lama has received approximately eighty-four awards over his spiritual and political career.[121] On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1989.
Political geography
Symbol | Flag | Name | Population[2][3] (2018) | Area (km2) | Capital |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | Afghanistan | 37,171,921 | 652,864 | Kabul |
![]() | ![]() | Armenia | 2,951,745 | 29,743 | Yerevan |
![]() | ![]() | Azerbaijan[122] | 9,949,537 | 86,600 | Baku |
![]() | ![]() | Bahrain | 1,569,446 | 760 | Manama |
![]() | ![]() | Bangladesh | 161,376,708 | 147,570 | Dhaka |
![]() | ![]() | Bhutan | 754,388 | 38,394 | Thimphu |
![]() | ![]() | Brunei | 428,963 | 5,765 | Bandar Seri Begawan |
![]() | ![]() | Cambodia | 16,249,792 | 181,035 | Phnom Penh |
![]() | ![]() | China (PRC) | 1,427,647,786 | 9,596,961 | Beijing |
![]() | ![]() | Cyprus | 1,189,265 | 9,251 | Nicosia |
![]() | ![]() | East Timor | 1,267,974 | 14,874 | Dili |
![]() | ![]() | Georgia[122] | 4,002,942 | 69,700 | Tbilisi |
![]() | ![]() | India | 1,352,642,280 | 3,287,263 | New Delhi |
![]() | ![]() | Indonesia[122] | 267,670,543 | 1,904,569 | Jakarta |
![]() | ![]() | Iran | 81,800,188 | 1,648,195 | Tehran |
![]() | ![]() | Iraq | 38,433,600 | 438,317 | Baghdad |
![]() | ![]() | Israel | 8,381,516 | 20,770 | Jerusalem (disputed) |
![]() | ![]() | Japan | 127,202,192 | 377,915 | Tokyo |
![]() | ![]() | Jordan | 9,965,318 | 89,342 | Amman |
![]() | ![]() | Kazakhstan[122] | 18,319,618 | 2,724,900 | Nur-Sultan |
![]() | ![]() | Kuwait | 4,137,312 | 17,818 | Kuwait City |
![]() | ![]() | Kyrgyzstan | 6,304,030 | 199,951 | Bishkek |
![]() | ![]() | Laos | 7,061,507 | 236,800 | Vientiane |
![]() | ![]() | Lebanon | 6,859,408 | 10,400 | Beirut |
![]() | ![]() | Malaysia | 31,528,033 | 329,847 | Kuala Lumpur |
![]() | ![]() | Maldives | 515,696 | 298 | Malé |
![]() | ![]() | Mongolia | 3,170,216 | 1,564,116 | Ulaanbaatar |
![]() | ![]() | Myanmar | 53,708,320 | 676,578 | Naypyidaw |
![]() | ![]() | Nepal | 28,095,714 | 147,181 | Kathmandu |
![]() | ![]() | North Korea | 25,549,604 | 120,538 | Pyongyang |
![]() | ![]() | Oman | 4,829,473 | 309,500 | Muscat |
![]() | ![]() | Pakistan | 211,103,000 | 881,913 | Islamabad |
![]() | ![]() | Palestine | 4,862,979 | 6,220 | Ramallah (Jerusalem) (Disputed) |
![]() | ![]() | The Philippines | 106,651,394 | 343,448 | Manila |
![]() | ![]() | Qatar | 2,781,682 | 11,586 | Doha |
![]() | ![]() | Russia[123] | 145,734,038 | 17,098,242 | Moscow[124] |
![]() | ![]() | Saudi Arabia | 33,702,756 | 2,149,690 | Riyadh |
![]() | ![]() | Singapore | 5,757,499 | 697 | Singapore |
![]() | ![]() | South Korea | 51,171,706 | 100,210 | Seoul |
![]() | ![]() | Sri Lanka | 21,228,763 | 65,610 | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte |
![]() | ![]() | Syria | 16,945,057 | 185,180 | Damascus |
![]() | ![]() | Taiwan | 23,726,460 | 36,193 | Taipei |
![]() | ![]() | Tajikistan | 9,100,835 | 143,100 | Dushanbe |
![]() | ![]() | Thailand | 69,428,453 | 513,120 | Bangkok |
![]() | ![]() | Turkey[125] | 82,340,088 | 783,562 | Ankara |
![]() | ![]() | Turkmenistan | 5,850,901 | 488,100 | Ashgabat |
![]() | ![]() | United Arab Emirates | 9,630,959 | 83,600 | Abu Dhabi |
![]() | ![]() | Uzbekistan | 32,476,244 | 447,400 | Tashkent |
![]() | ![]() | Vietnam | 95,545,962 | 331,212 | Hanoi |
![]() | ![]() | Yemen | 28,498,683 | 527,968 | Sana'a |
Within the above-mentioned states are several partially recognized countries with limited to no international recognition. None of them are members of the UN:
Symbol | Flag | Name | Population | Area (km2) | Capital |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | Abkhazia | 242,862 | 8,660 | Sukhumi |
![]() | ![]() | Artsakh | 146,573 | 11,458 | Stepanakert |
![]() | ![]() | Northern Cyprus | 326,000 | 3,355 | North Nicosia |
![]() | ![]() | South Ossetia | 51,547 | 3,900 | Tskhinvali |
See also
References to articles:
- Subregions of Asia
Special topics:
- Asian Century
- Asian cuisine
- Asian furniture
- Asian Games
- Asia-Pacific
- Asian Para Games
- Asian Monetary Unit
- Asian people
- Eastern world
- Eurasia
- Far East
- East Asia
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia
- Central Asia
- Western Asia
- North Asia
- Fauna of Asia
- Flags of Asia
- Middle East
- Pan-Asianism
Lists:
- List of cities in Asia
- List of metropolitan areas in Asia by population
- List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
Projects
- Asian Highway Network
- Trans-Asian Railway
Notes
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- ^ Hindson, Edward E.; Mitchell, Daniel R. (1 August 2013). The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History. Harvest House Publishers. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-7369-4807-4.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 5 by Erwin Fahlbusch. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2008, p. 285.ISBN 978-0-8028-2417-2.
- ^ "Region: Asia-Pacific". Pewforum.org. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ C. Held, Colbert (2008). Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-429-96200-4.
Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.
- ^ Jha, Preeti (26 December 2007). "Guinness comes to east Delhi: Akshardham world's largest Hindu temple". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 28 December 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "CIA – The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka-2011". Department of Census and Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2005". US Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 8 November 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
- ^ "China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2006". US Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- ^ "China (includes Taiwan only): International Religious Freedom Report 2007". US Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- ^ "CThe World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "Chinese Han Nationality: Language, Religion, Customs". Travelchinaguide.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "Culture of North Korea – Alternative name, History and ethnic relations". Countries and Their Cultures. Advameg Inc. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ^ "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2009). "Background Note: North Korea". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ^ His Holiness's Teachings at TCV. "A Brief Biography – The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama". Dalailama.com. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d transcontinental country.
- ^ Russia is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, but is considered European historically, culturally, ethnically, and politically, and the vast majority of its population (78%) lives within its European part.
- ^ Moscow is located in Europe.
- ^ Turkey is a transcontinental country located mainly in Western Asia with a smaller portion in Southeastern Europe.
Bibliography
- Lewis, Martin W.; Wigen, Kären (1997). The myth of continents: a critique of metageography. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20743-1.
- Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John (1973). Documents in Mycenaean Greek (2nd ed.). Cambridge: University Press.
Further reading
- Embree, Ainslie T., ed. Encyclopedia of Asian history (1988)
- Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
- Kamal, Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi: Wordsmith, 2002,ISBN 978-81-87412-08-3
- Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
- Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen, eds. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. (6 vol. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002).
External links
- "Display Maps". The Soil Maps of Asia. European Digital Archive of Soil Maps – EuDASM. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- "Asia Maps". Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection. University of Texas Libraries. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- "Asia". Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- Bowring, Philip (12 February 1987). "What is Asia?". Eastern Economic Review. 135 (7). Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
Media files used on this page
Author/Creator: Dvortygirl, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Audio pronunciation of the term 'Asia' in United States English.
Possibly what the lost first map of the world by Anaximander looked like.
Map of Asi in « A new universal atlas of the world : on an improved plan ; consisting of thirty maps, carefully prepared from the latest authorities ; with complete alphabetical indexes » by Sidney Edwards Morse https://archive.org/details/newuniversalatla00mors
This 1885 map shows the region between Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, and British India, an area of intense imperial rivalry between the British and Russian Empires in the late-19th century. British possessions are colored in red and include British India, Cyprus, the Aden Protectorate (present-day Yemen), Socotra Island (Yemen), and the northern littoral of the Horn of Africa, which became the protectorate of British Somaliland (present-day Somalia) in 1888. The map shows railroad lines and submarine telegraph cables. The railroad network is at this time more developed in India and the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire than in the other areas shown on the map. Distances between major port cities are indicated in miles (one mile = 1.61 kilometers) on the telegraph lines and in the table showing distances between the Egyptian ports of Alexandria and Suez and the European ports of London, Marseilles, and Brindisi, Italy. The map is by Edward Stanford Ltd., a London map seller and publishing house established in 1853 by Edward Stanford (1827–1904), known for its London shop catering to famous explorers and political figures.
Arabian Gulf; Arabian Peninsula; Himalaya Mountains; Persian Gulf
John Wilkes was a London publisher best known for his Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature (1801-28). Wilkes frequently worked with Samuel John Neele, the engraver of this hand-colored map of “modern Asia.” The map reflects late 18th-century European geographic conceptions and terminology. India is referred to as “Hindoostan,” while much of the interior is shown as comprised of “Western Tartary” and “Chinese Tartary.” “Tartary” was a designation applied by Europeans to those parts of Asia inhabited by nomadic Turkic and Mongol peoples. This map shows Tartary as stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
Author/Creator: Uri Sittan Tripo, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Backwaters of Kerala, India
Boy participating in horse race at Naadam in Mongolia
Author/Creator: chensiyuan, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
li jiang li river guilin yangshuo china 2011 karst raft
Author/Creator: Fred Schaerli, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
The Akkem Valley and mount Belukha
Author/Creator: Yasin Chaudhry, Licence: CC BY 3.0
Picture of Hunza Valley from Eagle Point
Author/Creator: Frédéric Ducarme, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Une vue aérienne de Veyofushi dans l'atoll de Baa, aux Maldives.
Author/Creator: John Romano D'Orazio, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
The Wadi Rum desert is a nature reserve in Jordan with breathtaking landscapes and characterized by its red sand
Author/Creator: Everjean (EverJean) from Antwerp, Belgium, Licence: CC BY 2.0
Traditional wedding ceremony at the Meiji-jingu
Traditional wedding at Meji-jingu
Author/Creator: William Cho, Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0
Singapore's Thaipusam Festival is rich with history and origin. Held in honour of the Hindu deity Subramaniam (Lord Murugan), Thaipusam is a day of prayer and thanksgiving for wishes granted and vows fulfilled.
Shots are straight off the cam with light sharpening.Author/Creator: No machine-readable author provided. Alwynloh assumed (based on copyright claims)., Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
A bar mitzvah takes place at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Author/Creator: denvie balidoy., Licence: CC BY 2.0
The procession of Black Nazarene in Manila, Philippines.
(c) Government Press Office (Israel), CC BY-SA 3.0
Druze dignitaries celebrating the Nebi Shueib festival at the tomb of the prophet in Hittim.
נכבדי קהילת הדרוזים חוגגים את חג נבי שועייב בקרב הנביא בחיטים
Photo:
Moshe Milner
(1946–) ![]() ![]() |
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Alternative names | Miylner, Moše; Milner, Mosheh; Moshé Milner; Milner, M.; Mîlner, Moše; Miylner, Mošeh | ||
Description | Israeli photographer צלם ישראלי |
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Date of birth | 1946 | ||
Location of birth | Germany | ||
Authority control |
Author/Creator: Shaun Dunphy from Lindfield, United Kingdom, Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0
Armenia - Day 2 - 19 September 2010. The religious centre of the Armenian Apostolic Church and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Armenia was the first known country to adopt Christianity as it's state religion (301 AD).
The thing that was very noticeable to me as a secular outsider was the sense of community, companionship and warmth in church services.Author/Creator: User:Darwinek, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Believers during prayers in Büyük Mecidiye Camii (Ortaköy Camii)
Author/Creator: Karan, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from coloured sand.
Flag of the United Kingdom, Union Jack or Union Flag in a 1:2 ratio (typical on British warships and also the rank flag of an admiral of the fleet).
Flago de la Kokosinsuloj, uzo ne oficiala
Flag of Abkhazia
Flag of South Ossetia
Author/Creator: Janwillemvanaalst, Licence: CC BY 4.0
Map of the most populous part of Asia showing a combination of physical, political and population characteristics, in Pseudo-Mercator projection, with legend, as per 2018. Compiled using QGIS and CC-0 Natural Earth geodata.
Author/Creator: Aotearoa, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
A map of possible definitions of the boundary between Asia and Europe.
Note that most of these lines are not referenced to any sources proposing them. The red line marked "A" is apparently the "Strahlenberg" definition commononly taught in Soviet-era Russia. See File:Historical Europe-Asia boundaries 1700 to 1900.png for a map which is actually based on references.
The modern mainstream definition used by the UN (see also this) are marked "B" (Urals and Ural River) and "F" (Caucasus watershed).
Lines C, D, E, G, H, I and J are currently without reference.
Red line - "Strahlenberg" border, allegedly also used by the International Geographical Union [1]
-
A: Ural Mountains-Emba River and Kuma Manych Depression (at Rivers Kuma, Manych and lower Don)
Orange lines - other variants of border:
-
B: Ural Mountains-Ural River (modern mainstream definition)
-
C: Yugorsky Strait Cape–Pay Khoy Mountains–Ural Mountains-Ural River
-
D: Ural Mountains-Kazakhstan Border
-
E: northern foothills of Caucasus
-
F: Lines on the Great Caucasus watershed (modern mainstream definition)
-
G: southern foothills of Caucasus
-
H: Meso-Caucasus at Rivers Rioni and Kura
-
I: Lines on the Lesser Caucasus and Rivers Araks and Kura
- J: former Soviet Union border
Author/Creator: Keepscases, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Afro-Eurasia, "The Old World", (orthographic projection) with national borders.
Author/Creator: Keepscases, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Afro-Eurasia, "The Old World", (orthographic projection) with national borders.
Old historical maps. Source: Bremen University Library Stores History: Maps from the 14th to early 20th centuries Type: digital camera photography
Author/Creator: Milenioscuro, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Locator map of the Asia province in the Roman Empire (125). Extracted from File:Roman Empire 125 political map.svg
Author/Creator: Roylee, Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5
Personally drew in routes myself using MS Paint and references: http://www.silkroadproject.org/silkroad/map.html and http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-jostenge/banas.htm. This image does not include silk routes to Karakorum. Free On-line Map: http://www.freeworldmaps.net ... ancient Silk Road routes
Himalaya from the International Space Station. In addition to looking heavenward, NASA helps the world see the Earth in ways no one else can. Astronauts on board the International Space Station recently took advantage of their unique vantage point to photograph the Himalayas, looking south from over the Tibetan Plateau. The perspective is illustrated by the summits of Makalu [left (8,462 metres; 27,765 feet)], Everest [middle (8,848 metres; 29,035 feet)] , Lhotse [middle (8,516 metres; 27,939 feet)] and Cho Oyu [right (8,201 metres; 26,906 feet)] -- at the heights typically flown by commercial aircraft.
Map:Asia , subregion as delineated by United Nations geographic classification scheme, except *:
- Russia in
- territories geographically, wholly or partially, in Eastern Europe,
- territories geographically, wholly or partially, in
- Russia in
- wilayah secara geografi, keseluruhan atau sebahagian, di Eastern Europe,
- wilayah secara geografi, keseluruhan atau sebahagian, di
- Russische Teile
- Südeuropa oder Nordafrika liegenGebiete, die ganz oder teilweise in Osteuropa,
- Melanesien liegenGebiete, die ganz oder teilweise in
Author/Creator: chensiyuan, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Singapore skyline panorama aerial view day 2010 central business district downtown core boat quay supreme court of singapore
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: PD
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence:
Flag of Iran. The tricolor flag was introduced in 1906, but after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 the Arabic words 'Allahu akbar' ('God is great'), written in the Kufic script of the Qur'an and repeated 22 times, were added to the red and green strips where they border the white central strip and in the middle is the emblem of Iran (which is a stylized Persian alphabet of the Arabic word Allah ("God")).
The official ISIRI standard (translation at FotW) gives two slightly different methods of construction for the flag: a compass-and-straightedge construction used for File:Flag of Iran (official).svg, and a "simplified" construction sheet with rational numbers used for this file.
Author/Creator: BerryJ, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This is a photo of a monument in Thailand identified by the ID
(c) Marcelo.garza, CC-BY-SA-3.0
Created by Marcelo Garza from Data on Wikipedia's "World Population" article.
Author/Creator: Neil Ward, Licence: CC BY 2.0
Church of the Nativity
Author/Creator: Muhammad Mahdi Karim; edited by jjron, Licence: GFDL 1.2
Pilgrims performing Tawaf (circumambulating) the Kaaba. This picture was taken from the gate of Abdul Aziz
Author/Creator: Juthani1, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
This is a picture of the Yogi Hraday Kamal, a lotus shaped sunken garden, at the Akshardham complex in Delhi, India
Author/Creator: LBM1948, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Main temple [Bakan], reflected on the northern reflection pond of Angkor Wat. Siem Reap, Cambodia
APO/February,54,A31dA refugee special train at Ambala Station. The carriages are full and the refugees seek room on top.Photo Number:-37164
Napalm bombs explode on Viet Cong structures south of Saigon in the Republic of Vietnam
Wounded civilians arrive at a hospital in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war.
Author/Creator: Hf9631, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
2019年6月反對逃犯條例修訂草案遊行,攝於金鐘軍器廠街口,望軒尼詩道。
Author/Creator: Jakub Hałun, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Hong Kong island seen from Kowloon
Author/Creator: Lycander Arc, Licence: CC BY 3.0
Asia, recoloured version of Asia map pastel plain.png by User:Tsui
Coat of Arms of the Taliban regime.
Author/Creator: http://yeraguyn.com/2010/04/zinanshan/, Licence: CC0
The coat of arms of Armenia (the escutcheon only).
Emblem of Azerbaijan
Emblem of Bhutan — used by the Parliament of Bhutan, first established in 2007.
Author/Creator: extracted from the flag of Brunei, provided at the Open Clip Art website., Licence: CC0
Emblem of Brunei.
Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
- Depicting: a Golden sword atop two ceremonial bowls, above it is the sacred "Aum", below is a laurel wreath and the Royal Order. The Arms is supported by two creatures, a gajasingha and a singha, they are holding two five-tiered royal umbrellas. Atop the arms is the Royal crown with rays of light emitting from it. Below is a ribbon with the words in Khmer script: ព្រះចៅ ក្រុង កម្ពុជាPreah Chau Krong Kampuchea: "King of the Kingdom of Cambodia".
National emblem of the People's Republic of China
Author/Creator: Borb, modified by User:Di (they-them) and User:thespoondragon, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
The shield from the coat of arms of Cyprus
Author/Creator: Government of East Timor, Licence: CC0
Shield of the coat of arms of East Timor.
Author/Creator: User:Rastrelli F, Licence: CC0
The coat of arms of Georgia (escutcheon only).
The National w:Emblem of India is derived from the time of the Emperor Ashoka. The emblem is a replica of the Lion of Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The Lion Capital was erected in the third century BC by Emperor Ashoka to mark the spot where Buddha first proclaimed his gospel of peace and emancipation to the four quarters of the universe. The national emblem is thus symbolic of contemporary India’s reaffirmation of its ancient commitment to world peace and goodwill. The four lions(one hidden from view ) – symbolising power, courage and confidence- rest on a circular abacus. The abacus is girded by four smaller animals—Guardians of the four directions: The Lion of the North, The Horse of the West, The Bull of the South and The Elephant of the East. The abacus rests on a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration. The motto 'Satyameva Jayate' inscribed below the emblem in Devanagari script means 'truth alone triumphs'.
State emblem of Indonesia is called Garuda Pancasila. The main part of the coat of arms is the golden mythical bird Garuda with a shield on its chest and a scroll gripped by its leg bears the national motto: "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika", roughly means "Unity in Diversity". The shield's five emblems represent Pancasila, the five principles of Indonesia's national philosophy. The numbers of feathers was meant to symbolize the date of Indonesian Proclamation of Independence; 17 feathers on each wings, 8 tail feathers, 19 upper tail feathers (under the shield, above the tail), and 45 neck feathers; all symbolize 17-8-1945; 17th August 1945. Garuda Pancasila was designed by Sultan Hamid II of Pontianak, and was adopted as national coat of arms on February 11, 1950.
State emblem of the Islamic Republic of Iran. U+262B, stylized version of Arabic script of Allah (الله, with the central lam shaped to look like a sword.) The emblem is also an overlaid rendering of La Ilaha Illa Allah (There is only one God and that is 'Allah'). The exact shape of the emblem and an algorithmic ruler-and-compass construction is described in the national Iranian standard at IRANIAN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC FLAG, ISIRI 1, 1371, 3rd edition, March 1993 in Persian. The emblem was designed by Hamid Nadimi, and was officially approved by Ayatollah Khomeini on May 9, 1980.
Flag of Israel. Shows a Magen David (“Shield of David”) between two stripes. The Shield of David is a traditional Jewish symbol. The stripes symbolize a Jewish prayer shawl (tallit).
The State Emblem of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Emblem of Laos since 1991. This is/was a work-in-progress of the English Wikipedia Graphics Lab.
Flag of Laos
Coat of Arms of the Maldives
Flag of Maldives. The colours used are Pantone 186 C for red and Pantone 348 C for green.
Variant of the State Seal of Myanmar
The new emblem of Nepal after the amendment of the constitution on June 13, 2020.
Emblem of North Korea
The coat of arms of Pakistan
Coat of arms of Palestine -- standard pan-Arab "Eagle of Saladin" with shield of the flag, and holding a scroll with the word filastin فلسطين (Palestine).
Author/Creator: Ssolbergj, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
The coat of arms of the Philippines.
Emblem of Qatar.
Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation
Emblem of Saudi Arabia
National emblem of Sri Lanka
Author/Creator: Ssolbergj, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
The escutcheon from the coat of arms of Syria. Has no official status in this isolated form.
It is easy to put a border around this flag image
The national emblem of the Republic of China (ROC). Slightly different from Party Emblem of Kuomintang.
National Emblem of Thailand, depicting a dancing Garuda with outstretched wings. The Garuda symbolizes the government and people of Thailand, as Lord Vishnu symbolizes King of Thailand.
The national flag of Kingdom of Thailand since September 2017; there are total of 3 colours:
- Red represents the blood spilt to protect Thailand’s independence and often more simply described as representing the nation.
- White represents the religion of Buddhism, the predominant religion of the nation
- Blue represents the monarchy of the nation, which is recognised as the centre of Thai hearts.
Turkey has no official coat of arms, this star and crescent is being used on passports, ID cards, driving licences, embassy signs, seal of the presidential office, seal of the TBMM and the seal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Emblem of Turkmenistan with realistic image of the horse (Yanardag with white spots on its legs). This version is used in present on 2012 http://tax.gov.tm/. Colors are in accordance with the Regulations about the State Emblem of Turkmenistan on August 25, 2003, clause 3 (Russian text - http://base.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=25217).
Emblem of the United Arab Emirates (from 2008)
Emblem of Vietnam
Emblem of Yemen. From http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/search/93446021/113560.html
Coat of arms of Abkhasia
The national emblem of the Artsakh Republic, a de-facto state in the Caucasus.
The national emblem of the Artsakh Republic, a de-facto state in the Caucasus.
Author/Creator:
- derivative work: Pbroks13 (talk)
- New-TRNC-coa.GIF: Expatkiwi
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Coat of Arms.
Coat of arms of South Ossetia
Author/Creator: Martin23230, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Orthographic map of Africa with colonial borders, except Somalia.
Author/Creator: Heraldry, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Antarctica (orthographic projection)
Author/Creator:
- Australia_(orthographic_projection).svg: Ssolbergj
- derivative work (colouring in New Guinea, same shade as Australia): Avenue (talk)
Map highlighting the continent of Australia-New Guinea. Includes Australia (including Tasmania) and New Guinea (including eastern portion of Indonesia (Aru Islands)) and mainland provinces of Papua New Guinea) south/east of Lydekker Line (delimiting continental shelf)
Map of Europe. The continental boundary to Asia as indicated is the standard convention following the Caucasus crest, the Ural River and the Urals Mountains to the Sea of Kara
Author/Creator: Bosonic dressing, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
North America: orthographic projection with the addition of national borders, based on File:United States (orthographic projection).svg
Author/Creator: by Luan


South America (orthographic projection)
Author/Creator: Martin23230, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Orthographic map of the Americas with national borders added
Author/Creator: Keepscases, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Eurasia (orthographic projection)
Author/Creator: Ch1902, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Orthographic map of the Australasian part of Oceania: Australia, New Guinea, Island Melanesia, and New Zealand, but excluding the Maluccas.
"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000 kilometres (18,000 mi). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Author/Creator: Heraldry, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
North America (orthographic projection)
Author/Creator: Brocken Inaglory, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Sea Storm in Pacifica, w:California