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of Asia.
Asia is the world's Continent#Area and population and most populous
continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population.
Chiefly in the
Eastern Hemisphere and northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the
landmass of
Africa-Eurasia – with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe – lying east of the
Suez Canal, east of the
Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the
Caspian Sea and
Black Seas. It is bounded to the east by the
Pacific Ocean, to the south by the
Indian Ocean, and to the north by the
Arctic Ocean.
Given its size and diversity, Asia – a
toponymy dating back to
classical antiquity – is more a human geography incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a physical geography" Asia".
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc." Asia".
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. (see
Subregions of Asia,
Asian people). From the standpoint of physical geography, Europe and Asia are considered parts of the single continent or supercontinent of Eurasia.
Etymology
The word
Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word "Ασία", first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to
Anatolia or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one land mass (
Europa (mythology),
Asia (mythology), and Libya (mythology), referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus but that the Lydians say it was named after
Asias, son of Cotys who passed the name on to a tribe in Sardis.
Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios Hyrtakides and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from
Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite
assu- = "good" is probably an element in that name.
Alternatively, the ultimate
etymology of the term may be from the
Akkadian language word
, 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). 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.
It is interesting to note, in Icelandic Saga, ancient Teutons separated Asia from Europe by the river Tanakvisl (or Vanakvisl), which flows into the Black Sea. Eastward across the River (in Asia), so legend tells, was a land known as Asaheim or Asaland, where dwelt
Odin, chief god, in his citadel named Asgard. Rydberg, Viktor.
Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, London: Norroena Society, 1907. pp.33-34 However,
Aesir and all its forms are related to Sanskrit
asura and Avestan
ahura, the local reflexes of the name of a class of
Aesir-Asura correspondence.
Definition and boundaries
Medieval Europe 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 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 would have several subregions of Asia that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example,
South Asia and East 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 (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," Asia."
Encarta. 2007. as there is no logical physical separation between them. Physiographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia – with Europe being a northwestern
peninsula of the landmass – or of Africa-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 Plate and Indian Plates, and with much of Siberia 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 AsiaWelty, Paul Thomas.
The Asians Their Evolving Heritage, 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006. October 7, 2006. ., especially in the United States after World War II.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 The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,BBC News 2006. September 9,
2006. . 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 commonly not considered Asian.American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996.
September 29, 2006. .
'Asian' as a demonym
See also: Geography of Asia, transcontinental nation#Countries in both Asia and Europe, Copenhagen criteria#Geographic criteria for the definition of Europe, orientalism.
The demonym '
Asian people' is often used colloquially to refer to people from a subregion of Asia instead of for anyone from Asia. Thus, in
British English, 'Asian' can mean South Asian, but may also refer to other Asian groups.Color Q World. Clarifying the Definition of Asian. 2005. October 1, 2006. . In the American English, '
Asian American' can mean
East Asian Americans, due to the historical and cultural influences of
China and Japan on the U.S. up to the 1960s and in preference to the terms '
Oriental' and 'Asiatic'. However, the term is increasingly taken to include
Southeast Asian Americans and South Asian Americans, due to the increasing numbers of them. Lee, Sharon M. Population Reference Bureau. Asian Americans Diverse and Growing. Accessed 2006-
11-10.
Territories and regions
of Asia:
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse"|- bgcolor="#ECECEC"! Name of subregion Continental regions as per Media:United Nations geographical subregions.png, except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11-13, 15, 17-19, 21-23) may be in
Transcontinental nation Asia and Europe, Africa, or Oceania. andterritory, with flag!
List of countries by area(km²)!
List of countries by population(1 July 2002 est.)! List of countries by population density(per km²)! Capital:|-| [Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.]|-| Kyrgyzstan|-| [Tajikistan|-| [Turkmenistan|-| [Uzbekistan|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
[East Asia:|-|
People's Republic of China The current state is formally known as the
People's Republic of China (PRC), which is subsumed by the
China. Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include
Hong Kong,
Macau, and Taiwan.]|-| Hong Kong (China) Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.]| align="right" | 377,835| align="right" | 126,974,628| align="right" | 336.1|
Tokyo (China) [Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.]| align="right" | 1,565,000| align="right" | 2,694,432| align="right" | 1.7|
Ulaanbaatar| align="right" | 120,540| align="right" | 22,224,195| align="right" | 184.4| [Pyongyang| align="right" | 98,480| align="right" | 48,324,000| align="right" | 490.7| [Seoul Figures are for [Taiwan Area under the
de facto control of the Republic of China (ROC) government, frequently referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan.]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
Northern Africa:]
Egypt is generally considered a transcontinental country in Northern Africa and Western Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, east of the Suez Canal (
Sinai Peninsula).]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
North Asia:|-|
Russia Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and Northern Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
Southeast Asia:Excludes Christmas Island and
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (
States and territories of Australia in the
Indian Ocean southwest of
Indonesia).
]| align="right" | 5,770| align="right" | 350,898| align="right" | 60.8|
Bandar Seri Begawan| align="right" | 181,040| align="right" | 12,775,324| align="right" | 70.6| [Phnom Penh [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).]|-|
Laos|-| [Malaysia|-| [Myanmar| align="right" | 678,500| align="right" | 42,238,224| align="right" | 62.3| Naypyidaw The administrative capital of
Myanmar was officially moved from Yangon to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.]| align="right" | 300,000| align="right" | 84,525,639| align="right" | 281.8| Manila| align="right" | 704| align="right" | 4,483,900| align="right" | 6,369.0| [Singapore| align="right" | 514,000| align="right" | 62,354,402| align="right" | 121.3| [Bangkok [Timor-Leste is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.]|-|
Vietnam|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | [South Asia:|-| Afghanistan|-| [Bangladesh|-| [Bhutan|-| [India Includes
Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the
People's Republic of China.| align="right" | 3,167,590| align="right" | 1,045,845,226| align="right" | 318.2| New Delhi| align="right" | 1,648,000| align="right" | 68,467,413| align="right" | 41.5| [Tehran| align="right" | 300| align="right" | 320,165| align="right" | 1,067.2| [Malé| align="right" | 140,800| align="right" | 25,873,917| align="right" | 183.8| [Kathmandu| align="right" | 803,940| align="right" | 147,663,429| align="right" | 183.7| [Islamabad| align="right" | 65,610| align="right" | 19,576,783| align="right" | 298.4| [Colombo:|-| [Armenia Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.]|-| Azerbaijan
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.]|-|
Bahrain|-| [Cyprus The island of Cyprus is sometimes considered a transcontinental territory: in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), distinct from the
de jure Republic of Cyprus in the south (with a predominantly Greek population), is recognised only by Turkey.]|-|
Gaza Strip Gaza Strip and West Bank, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are
Palestinian territories partially occupied by Israel but under
de facto administration of the
Palestinian National Authority.]|-|
Georgia (country) Georgia (country) is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.| align="right" | 20,460| align="right" | 2,032,004| align="right" | 99.3| Tbilisi| align="right" | 437,072| align="right" | 24,001,816| align="right" | 54.9| [Baghdad| align="right" | 20,770| align="right" | 6,029,529| align="right" | 290.3| [JerusalemIn 1980,
Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominant East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. The
United Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies in Tel Aviv instead.]| align="right" | 92,300| align="right" | 5,307,470| align="right" | 57.5| Amman| align="right" | 17,820| align="right" | 2,111,561| align="right" | 118.5| [Kuwait City| align="right" | 10,452| align="right" | 3,677,780| align="right" | 353.6| [Beirut| align="right" | 212,460| align="right" | 2,713,462| align="right" | 12.8| [Muscat, Oman|-|
Qatar|-| [Saudi Arabia|-| [Syria|-| [Turkey 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 Province.| align="right" | 756,768| align="right" | 57,855,068| align="right" | 76.5| Ankara| align="right" | 82,880| align="right" | 2,445,989| align="right" | 29.5| [Abu Dhabi [West Bank and Gaza Strip, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are
Palestinian territories by
Israel but under
de facto administration of the
Palestinian National Authority.]| align="right" | 527,970| align="right" | 18,701,257| align="right" | 35.4| [Sanaá
Economy
{| class="wikitable" style="width:300px;margin-left:1.5em;" align="right"|+
Economy of AsiaDuring 2003 unless otherwise stated|-|Population:| 3,958,768,100 (2006 Estimate)|-|Gross domestic product (
List of countries by GDP (PPP)):|US$18.077 trillion] (List of countries by GDP):| $8.782 trillion|-|GDP/capita (
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita):| $4,518|-|GDP/capita (List of countries by GDP (Nominal) per capita):| $2,143|-|
Millionaires:] from 2002, some numbers exclude certain countries for lack of information.|-| align="center" colspan="2" | |}
Asia has the 3rd largest nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe, but the largest when measured in
Purchasing power parity. As of 2007, the largest national economy within Asia, in terms of gross domestic product (PPP), is that of
People's Republic of China followed by that of
India and that of
Japan. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan,
Indonesia. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of China 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 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 the Philippines,
Pakistan,
Vietnam,
Mongolia,
Uzbekistan and mineral-rich nations such as
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Brunei, United Arab Emirates,
Qatar,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, and Oman.Historically, Japan has had 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, 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. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equalled 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
Japanese yen. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in quite a few countries of the Pacific Rim (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and S.Korea).
It is forecasted that China will surpass Japan to have the largest nominal and PPP-adjusted GDP in Asia within a decade. India is also forecasted to overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020. Commonwealth Business Council-Asia. Retrieved on
April 12 2007.
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 and
forests.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China,
Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of
multinational corporations, but increasingly China, Taiwan, and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from
Europe, North America, 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 three main financial centres: Hong Kong, Singapore, and
Tokyo. 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,
Anglophone workers. The increased use of
outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive
information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.
Early history
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South 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
Yangtze 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 Desert and
Gobi Desert 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
Asia is home to several language family 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 415 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.
Korea, however, is home to only one language, albeit one with high dialectal diversity.
Nobel prizes
The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a
Bengali literature poet,
dramatist, and writer from
Santiniketan, now in
West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian
Nobel Prize. He won his
Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English literature, French literature, 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),
Kenzaburo Oe (Japan, 1994),
Gao Xingjian (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 Myanmar for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Myanmar. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Abdus Salam,
Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann,
Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover,
Avram Hershko,
Daniel Kahneman,
Shimon Peres,
Yitzhak Rabin, Yaser Arafat, and Kim Daejung, all of whom are
Israelis except Abdus Salam (who is Pakistani), Yaser Arafat (who is Palestinian), and Kim Daejung (who is from South Korea).
In 2006 Dr.
Mohammad Yunus from Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank he established to lend money to poor people especially women in Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 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 specified period of time and the incidence of default is very low.
Beliefs
Mythology
Asian mythology is diverse. The story is first found in
Mesopotamian mythology, in the
Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a
Matsya who warned
Manu (Hinduism) of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler King Yu of Xia of China, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess
Nüwa who fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring. The story is also found in the
Bible and Qur'an.
Religions
Asian philosophical traditions originated in India and China and 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,
Carvaka, preached the enjoyment of material world.
Abrahamic
Abrahamic religions of Judaism,
Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith originated in
West Asia. The world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. Next, India constitutes the world's second highest number of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China,
Iran,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia and most of West Asia and
Central Asia. Today 30% of
Muslims live in the South Asian regions of
Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spains and the
Portugal, respectively. In Armenia,
Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. Judaism, one of the smaller yet oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has either the largest or second largest Jewish population in the world), though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India.
Indian
The Indian religions of
Sikhism,
Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism originated in South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism,
Zen and
Shinto took shape. During the 20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape. Gandhi gave a new meaning to Ahimsa, and redefined the concepts of nonviolence and nonresistance.
Chinese
Taoism was founded by Chinese philosopher Lao Zi, who lived 605-520 B.C. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who lived 563-483 B.C.
Other
Other religions of Asia include the Zoroastrianism, Shamanism practiced in Iran and Siberia respectively, and
Animism practiced in the eastern parts of the
Indian subcontinent and in
Southeast Asia.
Islam
The second most popular religion in the world and most people from the middle east follow the religion of Islam like Jordan, Syria, Saudia Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Iraq,Iran, Palestine, Afganistan, Pakistan and more.
See also
References
- "Asia". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press.
- World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East . Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. New York: Salem Press.
Further reading
Reference works
- Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
- Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
- Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
External links
- (European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the World - EuDASM)
- Map Asia
- Maps of Asia from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
- NEWS ASIA
of Asia.
Asia is the world's Continent#Area and population and most populous
continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current
human population.
Chiefly in the Eastern Hemisphere and
northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the
landmass of Africa-Eurasia – with the western portion of the latter occupied by
Europe – lying east of the
Suez Canal, east of the
Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the
Caspian Sea and Black Seas. It is bounded to the east by the
Pacific Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, and to the north by the Arctic Ocean.
Given its size and diversity, Asia – a
toponymy dating back to classical antiquity – is more a human geography incorporating a number of
regions and peoples than a
physical geography" Asia".
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc." Asia".
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. (see
Subregions of Asia,
Asian people). From the standpoint of physical geography, Europe and Asia are considered parts of the single continent or supercontinent of Eurasia.
Etymology
The word
Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word "Ασία", first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to
Anatolia or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, in contrast to
Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one land mass (
Europa (mythology), Asia (mythology), and
Libya (mythology), referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of
Prometheus but that the Lydians say it was named after
Asias, son of Cotys who passed the name on to a tribe in Sardis.
Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named
Asios Hyrtakides and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from
Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite
assu- = "good" is probably an element in that name.
Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the
Akkadian language word
, 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). 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.
It is interesting to note, in Icelandic Saga, ancient Teutons separated Asia from Europe by the river Tanakvisl (or Vanakvisl), which flows into the Black Sea. Eastward across the River (in Asia), so legend tells, was a land known as Asaheim or Asaland, where dwelt
Odin, chief god, in his citadel named Asgard. Rydberg, Viktor.
Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, London: Norroena Society, 1907. pp.33-34 However,
Aesir and all its forms are related to Sanskrit
asura and Avestan
ahura, the local reflexes of the name of a class of Aesir-Asura correspondence.
Definition and boundaries
Medieval Europe 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
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 would have several
subregions of Asia that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example,
South Asia and
East 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 (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," Asia."
Encarta. 2007. as there is no logical physical separation between them. Physiographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia – with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass – or of Africa-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 Plate and Indian Plates, and with much of Siberia 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 AsiaWelty, Paul Thomas.
The Asians Their Evolving Heritage, 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006.
October 7,
2006. ., especially in the United States after World War II.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 The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,BBC News 2006. September 9,
2006. . 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 commonly not considered Asian.American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29,
2006. .
'Asian' as a demonym
See also: Geography of Asia, transcontinental nation#Countries in both Asia and Europe, Copenhagen criteria#Geographic criteria for the definition of Europe, orientalism.
The demonym '
Asian people' is often used colloquially to refer to people from a subregion of Asia instead of for anyone from Asia. Thus, in
British English, 'Asian' can mean South Asian, but may also refer to other Asian groups.Color Q World. Clarifying the Definition of Asian. 2005. October 1, 2006. . In the American English, '
Asian American' can mean
East Asian Americans, due to the historical and cultural influences of
China and
Japan on the U.S. up to the 1960s and in preference to the terms 'Oriental' and 'Asiatic'. However, the term is increasingly taken to include Southeast Asian Americans and South Asian Americans, due to the increasing numbers of them. Lee, Sharon M. Population Reference Bureau. Asian Americans Diverse and Growing. Accessed
2006-11-10.
Territories and regions
of Asia:
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse"|- bgcolor="#ECECEC"! Name of
subregion Continental regions as per Media:United Nations geographical subregions.png, except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11-13, 15, 17-19, 21-23) may be in Transcontinental nation Asia and
Europe, Africa, or Oceania. andterritory, with flag! List of countries by area(km²)! List of countries by population(
1 July 2002 est.)!
List of countries by population density(per km²)! Capital:|-| [Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.]|-|
Kyrgyzstan|-| [Tajikistan|-| [Turkmenistan|-| [Uzbekistan|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | [East Asia:|-| People's Republic of China The current state is formally known as the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is subsumed by the
China. Figures given are for
mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong,
Macau, and Taiwan.]|-|
Hong Kong (China)
Hong Kong is a
Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.]| align="right" | 377,835| align="right" | 126,974,628| align="right" | 336.1|
Tokyo (China) [Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.]| align="right" | 1,565,000| align="right" | 2,694,432| align="right" | 1.7| Ulaanbaatar| align="right" | 120,540| align="right" | 22,224,195| align="right" | 184.4| [Pyongyang| align="right" | 98,480| align="right" | 48,324,000| align="right" | 490.7| [Seoul Figures are for [Taiwan Area under the
de facto control of the
Republic of China (ROC) government, frequently referred to as
Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see
political status of Taiwan.]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
Northern Africa:] Egypt is generally considered a transcontinental country in Northern Africa and Western Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, east of the Suez Canal (Sinai Peninsula).]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
North Asia:|-| Russia
Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and
Northern Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.]|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" |
Southeast Asia:Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (States and territories of Australia in the
Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
]| align="right" | 5,770| align="right" | 350,898| align="right" | 60.8|
Bandar Seri Begawan| align="right" | 181,040| align="right" | 12,775,324| align="right" | 70.6| [Phnom Penh [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).]|-| Laos|-| [Malaysia|-| [Myanmar| align="right" | 678,500| align="right" | 42,238,224| align="right" | 62.3| Naypyidaw The administrative capital of
Myanmar was officially moved from Yangon to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.]| align="right" | 300,000| align="right" | 84,525,639| align="right" | 281.8| Manila| align="right" | 704| align="right" | 4,483,900| align="right" | 6,369.0| [Singapore| align="right" | 514,000| align="right" | 62,354,402| align="right" | 121.3| [Bangkok [Timor-Leste is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.]|-|
Vietnam|-| colspan=5 style="background:#eee;" | [South Asia:|-| Afghanistan|-| [Bangladesh|-| [Bhutan|-| [India Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the
People's Republic of China.| align="right" | 3,167,590| align="right" | 1,045,845,226| align="right" | 318.2|
New Delhi| align="right" | 1,648,000| align="right" | 68,467,413| align="right" | 41.5| [Tehran| align="right" | 300| align="right" | 320,165| align="right" | 1,067.2| [Malé| align="right" | 140,800| align="right" | 25,873,917| align="right" | 183.8| [Kathmandu| align="right" | 803,940| align="right" | 147,663,429| align="right" | 183.7| [Islamabad| align="right" | 65,610| align="right" | 19,576,783| align="right" | 298.4| [Colombo:|-| [Armenia Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.]|-|
Azerbaijan 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.]|-| Bahrain|-| [Cyprus The island of
Cyprus is sometimes considered a transcontinental territory: in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea south of
Turkey, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), distinct from the
de jure Republic of Cyprus in the south (with a predominantly Greek population), is recognised only by Turkey.]|-|
Gaza Strip Gaza Strip and West Bank, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are
Palestinian territories partially occupied by Israel but under
de facto administration of the
Palestinian National Authority.]|-| Georgia (country)
Georgia (country) is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.| align="right" | 20,460| align="right" | 2,032,004| align="right" | 99.3|
Tbilisi| align="right" | 437,072| align="right" | 24,001,816| align="right" | 54.9| [Baghdad| align="right" | 20,770| align="right" | 6,029,529| align="right" | 290.3| [JerusalemIn 1980,
Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominant
East Jerusalem during the
Six-Day War. The
United Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies in
Tel Aviv instead.]| align="right" | 92,300| align="right" | 5,307,470| align="right" | 57.5| Amman| align="right" | 17,820| align="right" | 2,111,561| align="right" | 118.5| [Kuwait City| align="right" | 10,452| align="right" | 3,677,780| align="right" | 353.6| [Beirut| align="right" | 212,460| align="right" | 2,713,462| align="right" | 12.8| [Muscat, Oman|-|
Qatar|-| [Saudi Arabia|-| [Syria|-| [Turkey 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 Province.| align="right" | 756,768| align="right" | 57,855,068| align="right" | 76.5|
Ankara| align="right" | 82,880| align="right" | 2,445,989| align="right" | 29.5| [Abu Dhabi [West Bank and Gaza Strip, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are
Palestinian territories by Israel but under
de facto administration of the Palestinian National Authority.]| align="right" | 527,970| align="right" | 18,701,257| align="right" | 35.4| [Sanaá
Economy
{| class="wikitable" style="width:300px;margin-left:1.5em;" align="right"|+
Economy of AsiaDuring 2003 unless otherwise stated|-|Population:| 3,958,768,100 (2006 Estimate)|-|
Gross domestic product (
List of countries by GDP (PPP)):|
US$18.077 trillion] (
List of countries by GDP):| $8.782 trillion|-|GDP/capita (
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita):| $4,518|-|GDP/capita (
List of countries by GDP (Nominal) per capita):| $2,143|-|
Millionaires:] from 2002, some numbers exclude certain countries for lack of information.|-| align="center" colspan="2" | |}
Asia has the 3rd largest
nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe, but the largest when measured in
Purchasing power parity. As of 2007, the largest national economy within Asia, in terms of
gross domestic product (PPP), is that of
People's Republic of China followed by that of India and that of Japan. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea,
Saudi Arabia,
Taiwan, Indonesia. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of China 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 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 the Philippines, Pakistan,
Vietnam,
Mongolia, Uzbekistan and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan,
Brunei,
United Arab Emirates,
Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, and
Oman.Historically, Japan has had 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, 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. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equalled 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
Japanese yen. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in quite a few countries of the Pacific Rim (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and S.Korea).
It is forecasted that China will surpass Japan to have the largest nominal and PPP-adjusted GDP in Asia within a decade. India is also forecasted to overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020. Commonwealth Business Council-Asia. Retrieved on
April 12 2007.
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 and
forests.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of
multinational corporations, but increasingly China, Taiwan, and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from
Europe, North America, 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 three main financial centres: Hong Kong, Singapore, and
Tokyo.
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, Anglophone workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.
Early history
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South 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
Yangtze 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 Desert and Gobi Desert 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
Asia is home to several
language family 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 415 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.
Korea, however, is home to only one language, albeit one with high dialectal diversity.
Nobel prizes
The polymath
Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali literature
poet,
dramatist, and
writer from
Santiniketan, now in
West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel Prize. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English literature,
French literature, 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),
Kenzaburo Oe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (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 Myanmar for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Myanmar. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Abdus Salam,
Shmuel Yosef Agnon,
Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover,Avram Hershko,
Daniel Kahneman,
Shimon Peres,
Yitzhak Rabin, Yaser Arafat, and Kim Daejung, all of whom are Israelis except Abdus Salam (who is Pakistani), Yaser Arafat (who is Palestinian), and Kim Daejung (who is from South Korea).
In 2006 Dr. Mohammad Yunus from Bangladesh and the
Grameen Bank he established to lend money to poor people especially women in Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 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 specified period of time and the incidence of default is very low.
Beliefs
Mythology
Asian mythology is diverse. The story is first found in
Mesopotamian mythology, in the
Epic of Gilgamesh.
Hindu mythology tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a
Matsya who warned Manu (Hinduism) of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler King Yu of Xia of China, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess
Nüwa who fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring. The story is also found in the Bible and Qur'an.
Religions
Asian philosophical traditions originated in India and China and 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, Carvaka, preached the enjoyment of material world.
Abrahamic
Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the
Bahá'í Faith originated in West Asia. The world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. Next, India constitutes the world's second highest number of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. Today 30% of Muslims live in the South Asian regions of Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the
Spains and the Portugal, respectively. In Armenia,
Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various
Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. Judaism, one of the smaller yet oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has either the largest or second largest
Jewish population in the world), though small communities exist in other countries, such as the
Bene Israel in India.
Indian
The Indian religions of Sikhism, Hinduism,
Buddhism and Jainism originated in South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism,
Taoism, Zen and
Shinto took shape. During the 20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape.
Gandhi gave a new meaning to
Ahimsa, and redefined the concepts of
nonviolence and nonresistance.
Chinese
Taoism was founded by Chinese philosopher Lao Zi, who lived 605-520 B.C. Buddhism was founded by
Siddhartha Gautama, who lived 563-483 B.C.
Other
Other religions of Asia include the
Zoroastrianism, Shamanism practiced in Iran and Siberia respectively, and
Animism practiced in the eastern parts of the
Indian subcontinent and in
Southeast Asia.
Islam
The second most popular religion in the world and most people from the middle east follow the religion of Islam like Jordan, Syria, Saudia Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Iraq,Iran, Palestine, Afganistan, Pakistan and more.
See also
References
- "Asia". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press.
- World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East . Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. New York: Salem Press.
Further reading
Reference works
- Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
- Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
- Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
External links
- (European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the World - EuDASM)
- Map Asia
- Maps of Asia from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
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