Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents – they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia, located primarily in the eastern The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180° longitude. It is also used to refer to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia, vis-à-vis the Western Hemisphere, which includes the Americas. In addition, it may be used in a and northern hemispheres The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator. Earth's northern hemisphere contains most of its land area and most of its human population. It covers 8.6% of the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7]'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 As of 12 May 2010, the human population of the world is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6,820,400,000. The United Nations estimated the Earth's human population to be 6,800,000,000 in 2009. The world population has been growing continuously since the end of the Black Death around 1400. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.[2]

Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass A landmass is a large continuous area of land. Although it may be most often written as one word to distinguish it from the usage "land mass"—the measure of land area—it is also used as two words of Eurasia Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface (36.2% of the land area). Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia (with Eurasia being a portmanteau of the two), concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are — with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the — located to the east of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa. The northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfik at the city of Suez. Ismailia lies on its west, east East is a direction in geography. It is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is opposite of west and perpendicular to north and south of the Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia. The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly and south of the Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region (or the Kuma-Manych Depression The Kuma–Manych Depression , is a geological depression in southwestern Russia that separates the Russian Plain (north) from the Fore-Caucasus (south). It is named after Kuma and Manych rivers)[3] and the Caspian The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 (143,200 sq mi) (Not including Garabogazköl Aylagy) and a volume of 78,200 km3 (18,800 cu mi). It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) and is bounded by and Black Seas The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters.[4] It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east, on the south by the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian subcontinent; on the west by East Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean . It is the only ocean to be named and on the north by the Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying. Given its size and diversity, Asia — a toponym Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Toponymy is distinct, though often confused with etymology, dating back to classical antiquity Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Greek and Roman literature (such as Aeschylus, Ovid, Homer and others) flourished — is more a cultural concept Human geography is an interdisciplinary field combining approaches from academic geography with the traditional subject matter of social science, thus emphasizing population issues such as tourism, urbanisation, and so on incorporating a number of regions Region is most commonly a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region may be seen as a collection of smaller units or as one part of a larger whole (as in "the New England region of the United States"). Regions can be defined by physical characteristics, human and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography[3][5] (see Subregions of Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population. Chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia – with the western, Asian people Asian people or Asiatic people is a demonym for people from Asia. However, the use of the term varies by country and person, often referring to people from a particular region or subregion of Asia. Though it may be based on residence, it is also often considered an ethnicity or just race). Furthermore, the rather arbitrary separation between Asia and Europe reveals the euro-centric and racially based nature of the concept of continents; where Europe is inhabited only by caucasians White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin. Rather than a straightforward description of skin color, the term white also functions as a color term for race, often referring narrowly to people claiming ancestry exclusively from Europe and Asia inhabited by a heterogenous group of 'others'.[6]

The wealth of Asia differs very widely among and within its regions Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population. Chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia – with the western, due to its vast size and huge range of different cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems. In terms of nominal GDP, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is has the largest economy on the continent and the second largest This article includes a list of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product , the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. The GDP dollar estimates presented here are calculated at market or government official exchange rates in the world World is a common name for the sum of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth. In purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity is a theory of long-term equilibrium exchange rates based on relative price levels of two countries. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century and was developed in its modern form by Gustav Cassel in 1918. The concept is founded on the law of one price; the idea that in absence of transaction terms, however, China b. ^ Simple characterizations of the political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible has the largest economy in Asia and the second largest There are three lists of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product (the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year). The GDP dollar estimates given on this page are derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations in the world.

Contents

Etymology

The term "Asia" is originally a concept exclusively of Western civilization Western culture refers to cultures of European origin.[7] The peoples of ancient Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Persians, Arabs etc.) never conceived the idea of Asia, simply because they did not see themselves collectively. In their perspective, they were vastly varied civilizations, contrary to ancient European belief.[7]

The word Asia originated from the Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of word Ἀσία,[8] first attributed to Herodotus Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC). He was born in Caria, Halicarnassus (modern day Bodrum, Turkey). He is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain (about 440 BC) in reference to Anatolia Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the western two-thirds of the Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, Georgia to the northeast, the Armenian Highland to the east, Mesopotamia to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea or — in describing the Persian Wars — to the Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire , also known as the Persian Empire, was the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also known as the Medo-Persian Empire, which encompassed the combined territories of several earlier empires, in contrast to Greece Greece (English: /ˈɡriːs/ ; Greek: Ελλάδα, Elláda, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen); Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellás, IPA: [helːás]), also known as Hellas and officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Ellīnikī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on and Egypt Egypt (pronounced /ˈiːdʒɪpt/ ; Arabic: مصر‎ Miṣr, pronounced [misˤɾ] ( listen); Arabic: مِصْر Miṣr [ˈmisˤɾ]; Egyptian Arabic: مَصْر Maṣr [ˈmɑsˤɾ]; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, kīmi; Egyptian: 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 Kemet), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one enormous and substantial land mass (Europa Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story, as Kerényi points out "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages, Asia Asia or Clymene in Greek mythology was a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, the wife of the Titan Iapetus, and mother of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius. Hesiod gives the name as Clymene in his Theogony but Apollodorus (1.8) gives instead the name Asia as does Lycophron (1411). It is possible that the name Asia became preferred over, and Libya Libya is the name given to both a region of North Africa (Ancient Libya) and a daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt, in both Greek and Roman mythology, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of human-kind known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals. Zeus then punished him for his crime by having him bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day (i.e. Hesione In Greek mythology and later art, the name Hesione refers to various mythological figures, of which the Trojan princess Hesione is known most), but that the Lydians Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian say it was named after Asias, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe in Sardis Sardis, also Sardes , modern Sart in the Manisa province of Turkey, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, one of the important cities of the Persian Empire, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times. As one of the Seven churches of Asia, it was addressed. Even before Herodotus, Homer Homer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. The ancient Greeks generally believed that Homer was an historical individual, but most scholars are skeptical: no reliable biographical information has been handed down from classical antiquity, and the poems themselves knew of two figures in the Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. "The Iliad" named Asios Aeneas • Aesepus • Agenor • Alcathous • Amphimachus • Anchises • Andromache • Antenor • Antiphates • Antiphus • Archelochus • Asius • Asteropaios • Astyanax • Axylus • Briseis • Calchas • Calesius • Cassandra • Chryseis • Chryses • Clytius • Dares Phrygius • Deiphobus • Dolon • Epeius •; 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.[9]

Usage of the term soon became common in ancient Greece, and subsequently by the ancient Romans.[7] Ancient and medieval European maps depict the Asian continent as a "huge amorphous blob" extending eastward.[7] It was presumed in antiquity to end with India — the Greek king Alexander the Great believing he would reach the "end of the world" upon his arrival in the East.[7]

Other alternatives

Alternatively, the etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), which means 'to go outside' or 'to ascend', referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East and also likely connected with the Phoenician word asa meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Akkadian erēbu(m) 'to enter' or 'set' (of the sun).

T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from asu, meaning 'east' in Assyrian (ereb for Europe meaning 'west').[7] The ideas of Occidental (form Latin Occidens 'setting') and Oriental (from Latin Oriens for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern.[7] Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single classification, almost as if there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and Eastern civilizations on the Eurasian continent.[7] Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two Japanese outspoken figures over the subject.[7]

However, this etymology is considered doubtful, because it does not explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia, which is west of the Semitic-speaking areas, unless they refer to the viewpoint of a Phoenician sailor sailing through the straits between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

Definition and boundaries

Physical geography

See also: Geography of Asia, Countries in both Asia and Europe, Geographic criteria for the definition of Europe
Physical map of Asia, excluding Southwest Asia. Two-point equidistant projection of Asia.

Medieval Europeans considered Asia as a continent a distinct landmass. The European concept of the three continents in the Old World goes back to Classical Antiquity, but during the Middle Ages was notably due to 7th century Spanish scholar Isidore of Sevilla (see T and O map). The demarcation between Asia and Africa (to the southwest) is the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea. The boundary between Asia and Europe is conventionally considered to run through the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea near Kara, Russia. While this interpretation of tripartite continents (i.e., of Asia, Europe and Africa) remains common in modernity, discovery of the extent of Africa and Asia have made this definition somewhat anachronistic. This is especially true in the case of Asia, which has several regions that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia).

In the far northeast of Asia, Siberia is separated from North America by the Bering Strait. Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean (specifically, from west to east, the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal), on the east by the waters of the Pacific Ocean (including, counterclockwise, the South China Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea) and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Australia (or Oceania) is to the southeast.

Some geographers do not consider Asia and Europe to be separate continents,[10] as there is no logical physical separation between them.[5] 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."[11] 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.

In geography, there are two schools of thought. One school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing subregions within them for more detailed analysis. The other school equates the word "continent" with a geographical region when referring to Europe, and use the term "region" to describe Asia in terms of physiography. Since, in linguistic terms, "continent" implies a distinct landmass, it is becoming increasingly common to substitute the term "region" for "continent" to avoid the problem of disambiguation altogether.

Given the scope and diversity of the landmass, it is sometimes not even clear exactly what "Asia" consists of. Some definitions exclude Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia while only considering the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent to compose Asia,[12][13] especially in the United States after World War II.[14] 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,[15] 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.[16]

Political geography

Russia Mongolia China Japan South Korea North Korea Taiwan Republic of India Pakistan Nepal Bhutan Bangladesh Maldives British Indian Ocean Territory Sri Lanka Vietnam Hong Kong Thailand Laos Cambodia Burma Malaysia Brunei Singapore Philippines Indonesia East Timor Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Egypt Afghanistan Iran Saudi Arabia Oman Yemen UAE Qat. Bah. Kuw. Iraq Jordan Isr. Syria Leban. Turkey Greece Cyp. Georgia Azerbaijan Armenia Australia

Popular definitions

In many western countries, the term Asian refers to only a subset of the population of Asian. See the pages Asian people and Orient for more details.

Territories and regions and Top20 GDP (PPP)

See also: List of Asian countries by population
Rank Country 2008 GDP (PPP) millions of International dollars
— Asia $24,077,897
1 People's Republic of China[note 1] $8,767,000
2 Japan $4,329,000
3 India $3,297,000
4 South Korea $1,335,000
5 Indonesia $914,600
6 Iran $841,700
7 Turkey $863,300[17]
8 Republic of China (Taiwan) $712,000
9 Saudi Arabia $576,500
10 Thailand $547,400
11 Pakistan $427,300
12 Malaysia $384,300
13 Philippines $317,500
14 Hong Kong, China $306,600
15 Vietnam $241,700
16 Singapore $237,300
17 Bangladesh $224,000
18 Israel $201,400
19 United Arab Emirates $184,300
20 Kuwait $149,100

Geographical Subregions of Asia:

UN geoscheme subregions of Asia:
Name of region[18] and territory, with flag Area (km²) Population (1 July 2008 est.) Population density (per km²) Capital
Central Asia:
Kazakhstan[19] 2,724,927 15,666,533 5.7 Astana
Kyrgyzstan 198,500 5,356,869 24.3 Bishkek
Tajikistan 143,100 7,211,884 47.0 Dushanbe
Turkmenistan 488,100 5,179,573 9.6 Ashgabat
Uzbekistan 447,400 28,268,441 57.1 Tashkent
Eastern Asia:
Hong Kong[20] 1,092 7,008,300[21] 6,417.9 -
Japan 377,835 127,288,628 336.1 Tokyo
Macau[22] 25 460,823 18,473.3 —
Mongolia 1,565,000 2,996,082 1.7 Ulaan Baatar
North Korea 120,540 23,479,095 184.4 Pyongyang
People's Republic of China[23] 9,640,821 1,322,044,605 134.0 Beijing
Republic of China [24] 35,980 22,920,946 626.7 Taipei
South Korea 98,480 49,232,844 490.7 Seoul
Northern Asia:
Russia[25] 17,075,400 142,200,000 26.8 Moscow
Southeastern Asia:[26]
Brunei 5,770 381,371 66.1 Bandar Seri Begawan
Burma (Myanmar) 676,578 47,758,224 70.3 Naypyidaw[27]
Cambodia[28] 181,035 13,388,910 74 Phnom Penh
East Timor (Timor-Leste)[29] 15,007 1,108,777 73.8 Dili
Indonesia[30] 1,919,440 230,512,000 120.1 Jakarta
Laos 236,800 6,677,534 28.2 Vientiane
Malaysia 329,847 27,780,000 84.2 Kuala Lumpur
Philippines 300,000 92,681,453 308.9 Manila
Singapore 704 4,608,167 6,545.7 Singapore
Thailand 514,000 65,493,298 127.4 Bangkok
Vietnam 331,690 86,116,559 259.6 Hanoi
Southern Asia:
Afghanistan 647,500 32,738,775 42.9 Kabul
Bangladesh 147,570 153,546,901 1040.5 Dhaka
Bhutan 38,394 682,321 17.8 Thimphu
India[31] 3,287,263 1,147,995,226 349.2 New Delhi
Maldives 300 379,174 1,263.3 Malé
Nepal 147,181 29,519,114 200.5 Kathmandu
Pakistan 803,940 167,762,049 208.7 Islamabad
Sri Lanka 65,610 21,128,773 322.0 Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte
Western Asia:
Armenia[32] Yerevan
Azerbaijan[33] 86,660 8,845,127 102.736 Baku
Bahrain 665 718,306 987.1 Manama
Cyprus[34] 9,250 792,604 83.9 Nicosia
Georgia[35] 64.06 Tbilisi
Iraq 437,072 28,221,181 54.9 Baghdad
Iran 1,648,195 70,472,846 42.8 Tehran
Israel 20,770 7,112,359 290.3 Jerusalem[36]
Jordan 92,300 6,198,677 57.5 Amman
Kuwait 17,820 2,596,561 118.5 Kuwait City
Lebanon 10,452 3,971,941 353.6 Beirut
Oman 212,460 3,311,640 12.8 Muscat
Palestinian territories 6,257 4,277,000 683.5 Ramallah
Qatar 11,437 928,635 69.4 Doha
Saudi Arabia 1,960,582 23,513,330 12.0 Riyadh
Syria 185,180 19,747,586 92.6 Damascus
Turkey[37] Ankara
United Arab Emirates 82,880 4,621,399 29.5 Abu Dhabi
Yemen 527,970 23,013,376 35.4 Sanaá
Total 43,810,582 4,162,966,086 89.07
Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia

Country name changes

Various Asian countries have undergone name changes during the previous century as the result of consolidations, secessions, territories gaining sovereignty and regime changes.

Previous Name Year Current Name
Dominion of India, formerly British India 1950 Republic of India
East Bengal province 1905–1911 and 1947-1955 1955-1971 1971 East Pakistan state Bangladesh, People's Republic of
Democratic Kampuchea 1975 Cambodia, Kingdom of
Empire of Great Qing of China 1912 1949 China, Republic of China, People's Republic of
Portuguese Timor 1975 2002 Timor Timur (province of Indonesia) East Timor, Democratic Republic of
Dutch East Indies 1949 Indonesia, Republic of
Persia 1935 1979 Iran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Transjordan 1946 Jordan, Kingdom of
Kirghiz SSR (USSR) 1991 Kyrgyzstan, Republic
Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore 1963 1965 Malaysia (including Singapore) Malaysia and Singapore
Burma 1989 Myanmar, Union of
Muscat 1971 Oman, Sultanate of
Dominion of Pakistan 1947-1956 1956-1970 1971 West Pakistan, Islamic State of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of
Islas de San Lorenzo, Spanish East Indies, Philippine Islands and Las Islas Filipinas 1898, 1935, and 1946 Philippines, Republic of the
Hejaz-Nejd, The Kingdom of 1932 Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of
Aden 1970 South Yemen, People's Republic of
Ceylon 1972 Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of
Tajik SSR (USSR) 1991 Tajikistan, Republic of
Siam 1939 Thailand, Kingdom of
Ottoman Empire 1923 Turkey, Republic of
Turkmen SSR (USSR) 1991 Turkmenistan
Trucial Oman and Trucial States 1971 United Arab Emirates
French Indo-China 1949 Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Yemen, People's Democratic and Southern Yemen 1990 Yemen, Republic of

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia Singapore has one of the busiest ports in the world and is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre. Mumbai, the world's second most populous city and the financial capital of India.

Asia has the third largest nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe,[citation needed] but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2010, the largest national economy within Asia, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), is that of China followed by that of Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia. Since the 1960s, South Korea had maintained the highest economic growth rate in Asia,[citation needed] nicknamed as an Asian tiger, becoming a newly industrialized country in the 1980s and a developed country by the 21st century.

Founded in 1893, Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia, with a population of about 1.5 million.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC[38] 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 Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history,[39][40][41][42] until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 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 1986 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).

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.[citation needed] In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA to tie as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. 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.[43]

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020.[44] In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. By 2050, according to a 2006 report by Price Waterhouse Cooper, China will have the largest economy in the world (43% greater than the United States when PPP adjusted, although perhaps smaller than the United States in nominal terms).[45]

Trade blocs

Natural resources

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

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Philippines and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China, 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.

Financial and other services

Asia has four main financial centres: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centres 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 centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia Map of Asia in 1890. Alexander the Great's empire at its greatest extent. The Mongol Empire and its successor Khanates.

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.

Languages and literature

Main article: Languages of Asia

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.

Nobel prizes

Rabindranath Tagore, of India, the first Asian Nobel laureate. C. V. Raman, the first Asian Nobel laureate in Sciences.

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.

Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered around global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998–2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).

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.

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".

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yaser Arafat, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and thirteen Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) Kim (South Korea), 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 Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes 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.[46] 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.

Beliefs

Mythology

See also: List of Asian mythology

Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament, is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology tells about an avatar of the God Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring.

Pilgrims in the annual Hajj at the Kaabah in Mecca.

Religions

See also: Eastern philosophy and Religion in Asia

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 material world. Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.

Buddhist monks in Thailand.

Abrahamic

The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha'i Faith originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest Jewish population),[47] though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia and Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, southern Philippines (Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. The Bahá'í 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 the Bahá'í Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities.

Dharmic and Taoist

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.

See also

Asia portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asia
Wikinews has news related to: Asia
Main article: Outline of Asia

Lists:

References

  1. ^ "List of continents by population". Worldatlas.com. http://www.worldatlas.com/geoquiz/thelist.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  2. ^ "Like herrings in a barrel". The Economist. December 23, 1999.
  3. ^ a b "Asia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  4. ^ National Geographic Atlas of the World (7th ed.). Washington, DC: National Geographic. 1999. ISBN 0-7922-7528-4. "Europe" (pp. 68-9); "Asia" (pp. 90-1): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles."
  5. ^ a b "Asia". McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
  6. ^ The myth of continents: a critique of metageography By Martin W. Lewis, Kären Wigen.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Reid, T.R. Confucius Lives Next Door: What living in the East teaches us about living in the west Vintage Books(1999).
  8. ^ Ἀσία, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  9. ^ Asie, on Theoi Project, Exploring Greek Mythology and the Gods in Classical Literature and Art
  10. ^ "Asia." MSN Encarta Encyclopedia. 2007. Archived 2009-10-31.
  11. ^ "Geography Is Destiny - The Atlantic (December 2008)". The Atlantic. 2008-12-01. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/editors-choice. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  12. ^ Welty, Paul Thomas. The Asians Their Evolving Heritage, 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.
  13. ^ World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006. October 7, 2006. <http://www.wusc.ca/expertise/worldwide/asia/>.
  14. ^ Menon, Sridevi. Duke University. "Where is West Asia in Asian America?Asia and the Politics of Space in Asian America." 2004. April 26, 2007. page 71 [1]
  15. ^ BBC News 2006. September 9, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/>.
  16. ^ American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. <http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/007.html>.
  17. ^ [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html CIA - The World Factbook - Country comparison: National product (retrieved 2010-07-05)
  18. ^ Continental regions as per UN categorisations (map), except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11-13, 15, 17-19, 21-23) may be in one or both of Asia and Europe, Africa, or Oceania.
  19. ^ Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
  20. ^ Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
  21. ^ "HK Census and Statistics Department". Censtatd.gov.hk. http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistics_by_subject/index.jsp?subjectID=1&charsetID=1&displayMode=T. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  22. ^ Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
  23. ^ The state "People's Republic of China" is commonly known as simply "China", which is subsumed by the eponymous entity and civilization (China). Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
  24. ^ Figures are for the area under the de facto control of the state, Republic of China (ROC) , commonly referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan.
  25. ^ Russia is considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia; population and area figures are for the entire state.
  26. ^ Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
  27. ^ The administrative capital of Burma (Myanmar) was officially moved from Yangon (Rangoon) to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.
  28. ^ "General Population Census of Cambodia 2008 - Provisional population totals, National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, released 3rd September, 2008" (PDF). http://www.stat.go.jp/english/info/meetings/cambodia/pdf/pre_rep1.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  29. ^ East Timor is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.
  30. ^ Indonesia is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania; figures do not include Irian Jaya and Maluku Islands, frequently reckoned in Oceania (Melanesia/Australasia).
  31. ^ Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the PRC.
  32. ^ Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.
  33. ^ Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only. Figures include Nakhchivan, an autonomous exclave of Azerbaijan bordered by Armenia, Iran and Turkey.
  34. ^ The island of Cyprus is sometimes considered a transcontinental territory. In the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean, south of Turkey, north of Sinai, and west of Lebanon and Syria, it has some socio-political connections with Europe. However, the UN considers Cyprus to be within Western Asia, while the CIA regards it as Middle Eastern.
  35. ^ Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
  36. ^ In 1980, Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominant East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The United Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies in Tel Aviv instead.
  37. ^ Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, excluding all of Istanbul.
  38. ^ Five Years of China's WTO Membership. EU and US Perspectives on China's Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Kluwer Law International, Volume 33, Number 3, pp. 263-304, 2006. by Paolo Farah
  39. ^ "Professor M.D. Nalapat. Ensuring China's "Peaceful Rise". Accessed January 30, 2008". Bharat-rakshak.com. 2001-09-11. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume14/nalapat.html. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  40. ^ "Dahlman, Carl J; Aubert, Jean-Eric. China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st Century. WBI Development Studies. World Bank Publications. Accessed January 30, 2008". Eric.ed.gov. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED460052&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED460052. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  41. ^ "The Real Great Leap Forward. The Economist. Sept 30, 2004". Economist.com. 2004-09-30. http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PNTJQTR. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  42. ^ Chris Patten. Financial Times. Comment & Analysis: Why Europe is getting China so wrong. Accessed January 30, 2008.
  43. ^ "Rise of Japan and 4 Asian Tigers from". emergingdragon.com. http://www.emergingdragon.com/. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  44. ^ "Commonwealth Business Council-Asia". http://www.cbcglobal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=507. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
  45. ^ "China to dwarf G7 states by 2050". BBC News. 2006-03-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4770590.stm. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
  46. ^ His Holiness's Teachings at TCV. "A Brief Biography | The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama". Dalailama.com. http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  47. ^ "The Jewish Population of the World". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html. Retrieved 2010-06-01.

Further reading

Reference works

External links

Articles Related to Asia
Asia topics

Culture · Demographics · Economy · Geography · History · Politics
Countries of Asia

Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Republic of China (Taiwan)2 · Cyprus · Egypt3 · Georgia1 · India · Indonesia4 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · East Timor (Timor-Leste)4 · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen3

For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory.

1 Partly or significantly in Europe. 2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) is not officially recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan. 3 Partly or significantly in Africa. 4 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania.
Continents

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia

Europe

North America

South America

Afro-Eurasia

Americas

Eurasia

Oceania
Geological supercontinents Gondwana · Laurasia · Pangaea · Pannotia · Rodinia · Columbia · Kenorland · Nena · Ur · Vaalbara Historical continents Arctica · Asiamerica · Atlantica · Avalonia · Baltica · Cimmeria · Congo craton · Euramerica · Kalaharia · Kazakhstania · Laurentia · North China · Siberia · South China · Ur · East Antarctica

Submerged continents Kerguelen Plateau · Zealandia

Possible future supercontinents Pangaea Ultima · Amasia

Mythical and theorized continents Atlantis · Lemuria · Meropis · Mu · Terra Australis
See also
Regions of the world
Africa Northern · Sub-Sahara (Central · Southern · Western · Eastern) Oceania Australasia (Australia) · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia
Americas North (Northern • Middle • Central • Caribbean) · South · Anglo · Latin Polar Arctic · Antarctic
Asia Central · Eastern (Northeastern) · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western (Middle East) Oceans World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern
Europe Central · Eastern · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western Seas List of seas
Related · ·

Categories: Asia | Continents

 

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A major difference between Western influence in East Asia and Western colonization in Africa is that?
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Asked by Henry - Fri Oct 26 17:24:11 2007 - - 5 Answers - 1 Comments

A. I suggest that you read your text. You won't learn anything by having others do your homework for you.
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