Brief Information About Asia

By | May 20, 2022

Asia got its name from ancient Greek mythology. Once upon a time, Asia (Asia) was the daughter of the titan god Oceanid, who became the wife of Prometheus. The ancient Greeks borrowed the word “Asia” from the Assyrians, who called it the place where the sun rises. Therefore, the Greeks began to call the territory that lies to the east of Greece Asia. See Asia abbreviations.

In modern Asia, states are at different levels of development. If Bangladesh and Afghanistan are firmly stuck in the Middle Ages, then South Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan are countries with developed economies.

Geography of Asia

Asia is the largest continent on earth. Its total area is more than 43.4 million square meters. km (this is 30% of the Earth’s territory). Asia is considered part of the Eurasian Peninsula.

In the west, the border of Asia runs along the Ural Mountains. In the north, Asia is washed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean, in the east by the Pacific Ocean (East China, Bering, Okhotsk, South China, Japan and Yellow Seas), and in the south by the waters of the Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea).

In addition, the shores of Asia are also washed by the waters of the Red and Mediterranean Seas.

Since Asia occupies a vast territory, it is clear that the climate on this continent is very diverse. In Western and Eastern Siberia, the climate is continental, in Central and Central Asia – desert and semi-desert, in Eastern, Southern, and also in Southeast Asia – monsoonal (monsoon season – June-October), in some regions equatorial, and in the far north – arctic.

Among the Asian rivers, one should, of course, name the Yangtze (6300 km), the Yellow River (5464 km), the Ob (5410 km), the Mekong (4500 km), the Amur (4440 km), the Lena (4400) and the Yenisei (4092 km). ).

The five largest lakes in Asia include the following: the Aral Sea, Baikal, Balkhash, Tonle Sap and Issyk-Kul.

Much of Asia is mountains. It is in Asia that the Himalayas, the Pamirs, the Hindu Kush, the Altai and the Sayan Mountains are located. The largest mountain in Asia is Everest (Chomolungma), its height is 8,848 meters.

Travelers in Asia are waiting for numerous deserts, among which, perhaps, it is necessary to single out the Gobi, Takla-Makan, Karakum and the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. In total, there are more than 20 deserts in Asia.

Asian population

At the moment, the population of Asia already exceeds 4.3 billion people. This is about 60% of the total population of the Earth. At the same time, the annual population growth in Asia is about 2%.

Almost the entire population of Asia belongs to the Mongoloid race, which, in turn, is divided into small races – North Asian, Arctic, South Asian and Far Eastern. In Iraq, in the territory of southern Iran and northern India, the Indo-Mediterranean race predominates. In addition, there are many other races in Asia, such as Caucasian and Negroid.

Asian countries

On the territory of Asia, 55 states are fully or partially located (of which 5 are the so-called unrecognized republics). The largest Asian country is China (its territory occupies 9,596,960 sq. km), and the smallest is the Maldives (300 sq. km). See countries in Asia.

In terms of population, China (1.39 billion people) is ahead of all countries in the world. Other Asian countries have fewer inhabitants: India, 1.1 billion, Indonesia, 230 million, and Bangladesh, 134 million.

Regions of Asia

The territory of Asia is so large that politicians, journalists or scientists sometimes divide it into the Middle East, Western Asia and the Far East. However, geographically Asia is more correctly divided into 5 regions:

  • East Asia (China, Japan, South and North Korea and Mongolia);
  • Western Asia (Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Yemen, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey);
  • Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, East Timor, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Myanmar);
  • South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka);
  • Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan).

Asian cities are the most densely populated in the world. The largest of all cities in Asia is Bombay (India), whose population is already more than 12.2 million people. Other major cities in Asia are Seoul, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing and Tehran.

Brief Information About Asia