Asia

A globe showing where Asia is (green)

Asia is the largest continent on Earth by area and number of people. It is mainly in the northern hemisphere. Asia is connected to Europe in the west and Africa on the south, and separated from North America at the east. Sometimes Asia and Europe are combined to form a larger continent called Eurasia. Some of the oldest human civilizations began in Asia, for example Sumer, China, and India. Asia was the birthplace of many religions, for example Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism. It was also home to some large empires, for example the Persian Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Mongol Empire, and the Ming Empire. Asia has 48 countries. Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Greece have territory in both Europe and Asia.

Area

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Geographic area of Asia

Asia includes a large amount of land. Covering about 30% of the world's land area, it has more people than any other continent, with about 60% of the world's total population. Stretching from the icy Arctic in the north to the hot and steamy equatorial lands in the south, Asia contains huge, empty deserts, as well as some of the world's highest mountains and longest rivers.

Asia is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. It is separated from Europe by the Pontic Mountains and the Turkish Straits. A long, mainly land border in the west separates Europe and Asia. This line runs north–south down the Ural Mountains in Russia, along the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, and through the Caucasus Mountains to the Black Sea.

Regions

• East Asia
• Southeast Asia
• South Asia
• Central Asia
• West Asia
• North Asia

List of countries in Asia

• Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan (geographically in Europe and Asia)
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Cambodia
• China
• Cyprus
• East Timor
• Georgia (geographically in Europe and Asia)
• India
• Indonesia (geographically in Asia and Oceania)
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan (geographically in Europe and Asia)
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Laos
• Lebanon
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• North Korea
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Philippines
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Syria
• Tajikistan
• Thailand
• Turkey (geographically in Europe and Asia)
• Turkmenistan
• United Arab Emirates
• Uzbekistan
• Vietnam
• Yemen

Some countries are in both Europe and Asia, for example Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey.

Asia Media

• Gulf5..JPG

  Old historical maps. Source: Bremen University Library Stores History: Maps from the 14th to early 20th centuries Type: digital camera photography

• Roman Empire - Asia (125 AD).svg

  The province of Asia within the Roman Empire

• Map of Sunda and Sahul.svg

  Definitions of the boundary between Asia and Oceania

• The United States–Russia border according to the USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement

• Afro-Eurasia (orthographic projection).svg

  Afro-Eurasia, "The Old World", (orthographic projection) with national borders.

• Spreading homo sapiens la.svg

  Map of early human migrations based on the Out of Africa theory.

• Indo-European migrations and Ancient Northeast Asians.png

  Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes and across Central Asia, and encounter with Ancient Northeast Asian populations.

• The Silk Road connected civilisations across Asia.

• Mongol dominions1.jpg

  The Mongol Empire at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later Timurid Empire.

Related pages

• Asia Minor
• Asian Games