asia

In this lesson, we will learn about the large and diverse continent of Asia. 

Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent. It is located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It covers an area of 44,579,000 km², about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8.7% of the Earth's total surface. The combined continental area of Europe and Asia is called Eurasia. The combined continental area of Africa, Europe, and Asia is called Afro-Eurasia. 

Asia is home to the majority of the human population. It has a population of 4.6 billion which constitutes roughly 60% of the world's population. Not just large size and population, it also has dense and large settlements. It was the site of many of the first civilizations like Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley. 

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 highest point on Earth, Mt. Everest, is in Asia. The lowest point on land, the Dead Sea, is also in Asia. Asia is also home to two of the three largest economies in the world: China (second largest), and Japan (third largest). Russia and India are also among the top 10 world economies.

Some of the major cities in Asia are:

• Tokyo, Japan
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Seoul, South Korea
• Delhi, India
• Mumbai, India
• Manila, Philippines
• Shanghai, China
• Osaka, Japan
• Kolkata, India
• Karachi, Pakistan

Asia stretches from the Arctic Ocean to the Equator. It is bounded by the following: 

• Indian Ocean on the south
• Arctic Ocean on the north
• Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea on the southwest
• Europe on the west

There is no clear physical and geographical separation between Asia and Europe. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical construct. 

• Asia is on the east of the Suez Canal which separates it from Africa.
• Asia is on the east of the Turkish Straits, Ural Mountains and Ural River.
• Asia is to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas, which separate it from Europe.

The Ural Mountains run through Russia, so Russia is partly in Asia and partly in Europe. In the southeast, the islands of Sumatra and Borneo as well as many smaller islands, are parts of Asia. 

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 center to vast subarctic and polar areas in Siberia. 

Six geographical regions of Asia

In general, Asia can be grouped into six broad regions: Southwest, South, Southeast, East, North, and Central Asia.

• Southwest Asia consists mainly of countries on or near the Arabian Peninsula, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Israel. Most of Turkey is also included in this group. Some of Turkey is considered part of Europe. The countries of Southwest Asia are also part of a region known as the Middle East. Much of the land in Southwest Asia is desert. 
• The main geographic features of South, Southeast, and East Asia are great mountains, high plains, and islands. India and Pakistan are major countries in South Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam are in Southeast Asia; and China, Japan, and North and South Korea are in East Asia. 
• Northern Asia, also called Siberia, is part of Russia. Siberia has mostly frozen plains and swampy forests. Because of the extreme cold, few people live there. 
• Most of Central Asia consists of deserts, and in the northern part, it has grasslands. 

Mountains 

The Himalayas, in southern Asia, include Mount Everest, on the border between China and Nepal. Mount Everest is 8850m high. In the Himalayas, K2 is the world's second-highest peak at 8611m. Other major ranges include the Hindu Kush, which runs southwest through Afghanistan, the Tien Shan in the northeast, and the Altai in the north. 

Mount Everest

Physical regions in Asia

Asia can be divided into five major physical regions: mountain systems; plateaus; plains, steppes, and deserts; freshwater environments; and saltwater environments.

1. Mountain systems

• The Himalayan mountains extend for about 2500km separating the Indian subcontinent from the rest of Asia. 
• The Tien Shan mountain system stretches for about 2400km covering the border between Kyrgyzstan and China.
• The Ural mountains run for approximately 2500km in an indirect north-south line from Russia to Kazakhstan.

2. Plateaus 

• The Iranian plateau encompasses most of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. 
• The Deccan plateau makes up most of the southern part of India. 
• The Tibetan plateau is considered the largest and highest area that ever existed in the Earth's history. It is also known as the "rooftop of the world". 

3. Plains, Steppes, and Deserts

• The West Siberian Plain located in central Russia is considered one of the world's largest areas of continuous flatland. It contains some of the world's largest swamps and floodplains. 
• Central Asia is dominated by a steppe landscape, a large area of flat, unforested grassland. Mongolia is a steppe landscape. 
• The Rub' al Khali desert is considered the world's largest sand sea. It runs across Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is known as the Empty Quarter because it is very harsh for human settlement except for Bedouin tribes that live on its edges. 

4. Freshwater

• The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world (behind the Amazon of South America and the Nile of Africa). It is considered as the lifeblood of China. 
• The Tigris and Euphrates River begin in the highlands of eastern Turkey and flow through Syria and Iraq, before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The land between the two rivers, known as Mesopotamia, was the center of the earliest civilizations. 

5. Saltwater

• The Persian Gulf bordering Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq contains an estimated 50% of the world's oil reserves. 
• The Sea of Okhotsk between the Russian mainland and the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• The Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world. It borders India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Many large rivers like the Ganges and Brahmaputra empty into the bay. The salty wetlands formed by the Ganges-Brahmaputra on the Bay of Bengal are the largest delta in the world.

 

Rivers and Seas

The longest river in Asia is the Yangtze in China. The Yangtze river is 3915 miles and it is the third-longest river in the world, after the Nile and the Amazon rivers. Another major river is the Huang He, or Yellow River, also in China. The Ob River in the Asian part of Russia is a long river that flows through Siberia and empties into the Arctic Ocean. In India, is the Ganges River; in southeastern Asia are the Mekong and Irrawaddy rivers. The Indus River in South Asia and the Tigris and Euphrates in southwestern Asia were the sites of some of the world's earliest civilizations. Asia also contains the world's largest inland sea, the Caspian Sea. 

Plant and Animal life

Asia has the richest flora of the Earth's seven continents. Because Asia is the largest continent, it is not surprising that 100,000 different kinds of plants grow within its various climate zones, which range from tropical to Arctic regions. 

Asian plants, which include ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering vascular plants, make up 40% of the earth's plant species. The endemic plant species come from more than forty plant families and fifteen hundred genera.

Asia is divided into five major vegetation regions based on the richness and types of each region’s flora: 

• Tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia.
• Temperate mixed forests in East Asia.
• Tropical rain/ dry forests in South Asia.
• Desert and steppe in Central and West Asia.
• Taiga and tundra in North Asia.

Asia’s animals are as varied as plants. Northern Asia has polar bears, walruses, moose, and reindeer, while wild camels roam the Gobi. Asia's reptiles include crocodiles, king cobras, and komodo dragons. Animals found only in Asia include the orangutan, giant panda, Asian elephant, Siberian tiger, Bengal tiger, and Indian rhinoceros. However, the population of many animals in Asia has been reduced because of the destruction of animal habitats and uncontrolled hunting. 

People

Many different groups of people live in Asia. Arabs, Jews, Iranians, and Turks are among the peoples of Southwest Asia. South Asia is home to Indian people. Southeast Asia’s many peoples and cultures have been influenced by India and China. The main peoples in East Asia are the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Northern Asia includes various Asian groups as well as Russians and other Europeans.

Hundreds of different languages can be heard throughout the continent. More than 250 languages are spoken in Indonesia alone. Some of the most widely used languages in Asia include Arabic, which is spoken in parts of Southwest Asia; Hindi, spoken in India; and Chinese (Mandarin), spoken in China. Russian, English, and French are also spoken.

The world’s major religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity - all started in Asia. Today, many people in Southeast and East Asia follow Buddhism. Hinduism is the main religion in India and Nepal, while Islam is practiced in much of Southwest Asia and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Judaism is the main religion in Israel. Christianity is practiced throughout the continent, but only in the Philippines, Russia, and Armenia is it the main religion.

Economy

Asia has a lot of regional variation in the economy. While the economies of most Asian countries are characterized as developing, the continent contains one of the world's most economically developed countries, Japan. There are also several impoverished countries like Taiwan, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. Agriculture is an important part of the economy in many Asian countries. 

According to the World Bank, 

• Most of the countries of Southwest Asia are considered middle-income, except Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, which are considered high-income. 
• Most of the countries of North and Central Asia belong to the low-income category, except Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan which are considered lower-middle-income. 
• All countries of South Asia belong are considered low-income, except Sri Lanka which is considered lower-middle-income; China and North Korea which are considered low-income.  
• East Asia is the most prosperous part of the continent. Most countries in this region are considered upper-middle-income, and Japan is considered high-income. 
• Many of the countries of Southeast Asia have achieved high growth rates. For example, Singapore and Brunei are high-income. Exceptions are Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam which remain within the low-income group. 

Asia has large reserves of almost every important mineral. The continent has more than half the world’s reserves of coal, mostly in China, Siberia, and India. Major deposits of oil are found in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Asia also produces large amounts of iron ore, cast iron, tin, tungsten, and refined zinc.

Asia’s industrialized areas, including Japan, South Korea, the island of Taiwan, and Singapore, make a wide variety of products. China and parts of South and Southeast Asia began developing their manufacturing in the late 1900s. South and Southeast Asia produce traditional goods such as textiles as well as technology products such as computers. Oil and gas are processed in Southwest and Central Asia.