Asia

Author: Zhou Min, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-08-01
Features: Asia is a shortened form of the word "Asia" (meaning "the land of the East"). It is located in the northeastern part of the Eastern Hemisphere, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. The easternmost point of the continent is Cape Dezhnyov (169°40′E, 60°5′N), the southernmost point is Cape Pia (103°30′E, 1°17′N), the westernmost point is Cape Baba (26°3′E, 39°27′N), and the northernmost point is Cape Chelyuskin (104°18′E, 77°43′N). Among all continents, it spans the widest latitude, encompassing almost all climate zones and natural zones from the equator to the Arctic. It also spans a wide longitude, with a time difference of up to 11 hours between east and west. The northwest is bounded by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus Mountains, the Bosporus Strait, and the Dardanelles Strait from Europe; the southwest is adjacent to Africa across the Suez Canal and the Red Sea; the southeast faces the continent of Oceania across the sea; and the northeast is opposite North America across the narrow Bering Strait, which is only 86 kilometers wide. Asia has a total area of 44 million square kilometers (including islands), accounting for about 29.4% of the total land area of the world, making it the largest continent. The Asian continent is connected to the European continent, forming the largest landmass in the world—the Eurasian continent, with a total area of about 50.71 million square kilometers, of which the Asian continent accounts for about 4/5. Population: Approximately 3.42 billion, accounting for about 60.4% of the world's total population. Countries with a population of over 100 million include China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The urban population accounts for about 18% of the total population of the continent. The population distribution is most concentrated in areas such as eastern China, the Pacific coast of Japan, Java Island, the Ganges River Basin, and the southern part of the Indian Peninsula, with a density of over 300 people per square kilometer. Singapore has an average population density of over 4,400 people per square kilometer, making it the country with the highest population density in Asia. The country with the lowest population density is Mongolia, with an average of only one person per square kilometer; Saudi Arabia, Oman, and other countries have an average of 5-7 people per square kilometer. The racial and ethnic composition of Asia is very complex, especially in South Asia. The Yellow race (also known as the Mongoloid race) is the dominant race, accounting for about 60% of the total population of the continent. The rest are the White race, the Brown race, and mixed racial types. There are about 1,000 major ethnic and racial groups in the continent, accounting for about half of the total number of ethnic and racial groups in the world. Among them, there are several billion Han Chinese, as well as ethnic groups or tribes with only hundreds of people. Based on the similarity of languages, the residents of Asia belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family, the Austroasiatic language family, the Altaic language family, Korean, and Japanese (some people believe these two language families are undetermined), the Malay-Polynesian language family, the Dravidian language family, the Semitic-Caucasian language family, and the Indo-European language family, among others. Asia is the birthplace of the three major religions: Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Natural Environment: The continental coastline of Asia is long and winding, with a total length of 69,900 kilometers. It is the continent with the longest coastline in the world. The coastal types are complex. It has many peninsulas and islands, making it the continent with the largest area of peninsulas. The Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world, and Borneo is the third-largest island in the world. The general characteristics of the topography of Asia are that the surface is highly undulating, with high mountains and ranges concentrated in the central part, and mountains, plateaus, and hills account for about 3/4 of the total area of the continent. The average elevation of the continent is 950 meters, making it the highest continent in the world, except for Antarctica. The continent is roughly centered around the Pamir Plateau, with a series of high mountains extending in all directions. The highest are the Himalayas. Between these high mountains, there are vast plateaus and basins. Outside the mountains and plateaus, there are also extensive plains. Asia has many famous peaks, and all the peaks over 8,000 meters above sea level in the world are located in the Karakoram Mountains and the Himalayas. Among them is the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, with an elevation of 8,848 meters. Asia has the lowest land depressions and lakes in the world—the Dead Sea (with a water level 592 meters lower than the Mediterranean Sea), as well as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the "Roof of the World." Asia is the continent with the most volcanoes in the world. The island groups around the eastern marginal sea are the most volcanically active regions in the world. The eastern coastal islands, Central Asia, and northern Western Asia experience frequent earthquakes. Many major rivers in Asia originate in the central mountains and flow into the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Arctic Ocean, respectively. The inland drainage areas are mainly distributed in central and western Asia. The longest river in Asia is the Yangtze River, 6,397 kilometers long; the second longest is the Yellow River, 5,464 kilometers long; and the Mekong River is 4,500 kilometers long. The longest inland river is the Syr Darya, followed by the Amu Darya and Tarim River. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake and the deepest lake in Asia. Asia spans the cold, temperate, and tropical zones, with the basic characteristics of its climate being strongly continental and typical monsoon, with complex climate types. The coastal areas in the north belong to the cold tundra climate. Most of Siberia belongs to the temperate coniferous forest climate. The mid-latitude areas near the Pacific in the east belong to the monsoon climate, gradually transitioning to subtropical forest climate southward. Southeast Asia and South Asia belong to the tropical grassland climate, and the equatorial regions are mostly tropical rainforest climate. Most of Central Asia and Western Asia belong to the desert and grassland climate. The Mediterranean coast of Western Asia has a Mediterranean climate. The extreme low temperatures in the upper Yenisei and Oymyakon in eastern Siberia once reached -71°C, making it the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere. Natural Resources: Asia is rich in mineral resources, with a wide variety of types and abundant deposits. The main mineral deposits include coal, iron, petroleum, tin, tungsten, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, magnesite, gold, graphite, and chromium. The reserves of petroleum, tin, magnesite, and iron are the highest among all continents, and the reserves of tin account for more than 60% of the world's total tin reserves. The forest area of Asia accounts for about 13% of the world's total forest area. The exploitable water resources are also extremely abundant. The coastal fishing grounds of Asia account for about 40% of the world's total coastal fishing grounds, with famous fishing grounds mainly distributed along the eastern coast of the continent, including China's Zhoushan Archipelago, Taiwan Island, and Xisha Archipelago fishing grounds, as well as the Okhotsk Sea, Hokkaido, and Kyushu fishing grounds. Economic Overview: Ancient Asian people created a splendid culture. They had a highly developed agriculture and handicraft industry, made many scientific inventions, and made great contributions to the development of the world economy. After the 16th century, Western colonialism and imperialism successively invaded, and many countries and regions were gradually reduced to colonies and semi-colonies, with their economies severely damaged and national economic development slow. As a result, many countries and regions remained in a state of poverty and backwardness for a long time. Currently, most countries in Asia, except for Japan, are developing countries. Agriculture plays an important role in countries across Asia. The production of rice, natural rubber, quinine, abaca, teak, pepper, jute, coconut, and tea accounts for 80%–90% or more of the world's total production, while the production of crude oil, fish, soybeans, and cotton accounts for 30%–40% of the world's total production. The production of tin concentrate accounts for about 60% of the world's total production, while the production of tungsten concentrate, peanuts, sesame, tobacco, and rapeseed accounts for about 45% of the world's total production. The production of cotton, silk, and dates, as well as the total number of livestock, are also among the top in the world. Most countries have a weak industrial base, with mining and agricultural processing industries being relatively advanced, and heavy industry is currently developing. The eastern part of China, Japan, South Korea, Java Island, western Sri Lanka, central India, and western Turkey have developed transportation. The southeastern coastal areas have developed maritime transportation. The vast inland areas and desert regions rely mainly on animal power. Geographical Regions: Geographically, Asia is divided into East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, and North Asia. East Asia: Refers to the eastern part of Asia, including China, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, and Japan. It covers an area of about 11.7 million square kilometers and has a population of over 1.3 billion. The terrain is high in the west and low in the east, divided into four steps. The southwestern part of China is known as the "Roof of the World" Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of over 4,000 meters. The southeastern part is a monsoon region, belonging to the temperate broadleaf forest climate and subtropical forest climate; the northwest belongs to the continental temperate grassland and desert climate; and the southwest belongs to the mountainous plateau climate. From May to October, the eastern coastal areas are affected by typhoons. The mineral resources are particularly rich in coal, iron, petroleum, copper, antimony, tungsten, molybdenum, gold, magnesite, and graphite. East Asia is the original homeland of crops such as rice, sweet potato, millet, buckwheat, soybean, ramie, tea, tung oil, lacquer tree, citrus, lychee, and ginseng. It produces more than 40% of the world's rice and more than 25% of the world's tea, as well as 20% of the world's soybeans. The production of cotton, peanuts, corn, sugarcane, sesame, rapeseed, and silk also holds an important position in the world. Southeast Asia: Refers to the southeastern part of Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, and East Timor. It covers an area of about 4.48 million square kilometers and has a population of over 45 million. Geographically, it includes the Indochina Peninsula and the South China Sea Islands. It is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. The island areas and the southern part of the peninsula belong to the tropical rainforest climate, while the northern mountains of the peninsula belong to the subtropical forest climate. The important minerals include tin, petroleum, natural gas, coal, nickel, bauxite, tungsten, chromium, and gold. Southeast Asia is the original homeland of tropical crops such as lemon, jute, clove, cardamom, pepper, banana, betel nut, pineapple, and abaca. It is rich in rice, rubber, spices, teak, cotton, quinine, and tropical fruits. South Asia: Refers to the southern part of Asia, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim. It covers an area of about 4.37 million square kilometers and has a population of over 1 billion. The northern part of this region is the southern foothills of the Himalayas, with mountainous terrain, while the southern part of the Indian Peninsula is the Deccan Plateau. The area between the northern mountains and the Deccan Plateau is the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The northern and central plains are basically subtropical forest climate, while the Deccan Plateau and northern Sri Lanka belong to the tropical grassland climate, and the southwestern tip of the Indian Peninsula, southern Sri Lanka, and the Maldives belong to the tropical rainforest climate. The northern plains of the Indo-Gangetic Plain belong to the subtropical grassland and desert climate. The mineral resources are particularly rich in iron, manganese, and coal. South Asia is the original homeland of crops such as mango, castor oil, eggplant, banana, sugarcane, and lotus root. It produces about half of the world's jute and tea. The production of rice, peanuts, sesame, rapeseed, sugarcane, cotton, rubber, wheat, and coconut also holds an important position in the world. West Asia: Also known as Southwest Asia, refers to the western part of Asia, including Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain. It covers an area of over 7 million square kilometers and has a population of over 20 million. The region is characterized by extensive plateaus and mountains in the north. The northern mountain plateaus and the southern Arabian Peninsula are separated by the Mesopotamian Plain formed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The climate is dry, with vast desert areas in the south. The Mediterranean coast, the Black Sea coast, and the western mountains of the region have a Mediterranean climate, while the eastern and inland plateaus have a subtropical grassland and desert climate, and most of the Arabian Peninsula has a tropical desert climate. The reserves and production of petroleum are of great importance in the world. West Asia is the original homeland of crops such as carrots, melons, onions, spinach, alfalfa, and dates, as well as famous livestock breeds such as the Arabian camel, Arabian horse, Angora goat, and Angora rabbit. Central Asia: Refers to the Central Asian region, narrowly defined as including the entire territory of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the southern part of Kazakhstan. The southeastern part of the region is mountainous, with frequent earthquakes and a mountain climate; the rest of the region is plains and hills, with deserts widely distributed and a dry climate, belonging to the temperate and subtropical desert and grassland climate. The important minerals include natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, lead, zinc, mercury, sulfur, and mirabilite. Central Asia is the original homeland of crops such as peas, fava beans, and apples, as well as the Karakul sheep. It produces cotton, tobacco, rice, silk, wool, and grapes, as well as apples. North Asia: Refers to the Siberian region of Russia's Asian part. The western part is the Western Siberian Plain, the central part is the Central Siberian Plateau and Mountains, and the eastern part is the Far East Mountains. The regions north of the Arctic Circle belong to the cold tundra climate, while the rest belong to the temperate coniferous forest climate. Rivers freeze for more than six months. The important minerals include petroleum, coal, copper, gold, and diamonds. It produces crops such as wheat, potatoes, flax, and timber.