Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population. Chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of 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 and Black Seas. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Given its size and diversity, Asia—a toponym dating back to classical antiquity—is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity^[2][3] (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people).

[edit] Etymology

Look up Asia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word Asia originated from the Greek word "Ἀσία", first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 B.C.) 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 enormous and substantial land mass (Europa, Asia, and Libya, 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 and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek language term may be derived from Assuwa, a 14th century BCE confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu-—"good" is probably an element in that name.

Alternatively, the etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), 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.^[4] However, Aesir and all its forms are related to Sanskrit asura and Avestan ahura, the local reflexes of the name of a class of divine beings.

[edit] Definition and boundaries

[edit] Physical geography

See also: Geography of Asia, Countries in both Asia and Europe, Geographic criteria for the definition of Europe

Physical map of Asia (excluding Southwest Asia).

Two-point equidistant projection of Asia.

Medieval Europeans 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 regions that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example, Southern Asia and Eastern 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 Ocean (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,^[5] as there is no logical physical separation between them.^[3] For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe, the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argue that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely “the western excrescence of the continent of Asia.”^[6] Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia – with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass – or of Afro-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 and Indian Plates, and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) 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 Asia,^[7][8] especially in the United States after World War II.^[9] The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,^[10] 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.^[11]

[edit] Political geography

[edit] "Asian" as a demonym

See also: Orientalism.

The demonym "Asian" 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.^[12] In the United States, "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 immigrants from these regions.^[13]

[edit] Territories and regions

UN geoscheme subregions of Asia:      Eastern Asia      Central Asia      Southern Asia      Southeastern Asia      Western Asia      Russia (Asia)

Name of region[14] and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2008 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Central Asia:
Kazakhstan[15]	2,724,927	15,666,533	5.7	Astana
Kyrgyzstan	198,500	5,356,869	24.3	Bishkek
Tajikistan	143,100	7,211,884	47.0	Dushanbe
Turkmenistan	488,100	5,179,573	9.6	Ashgabat
Uzbekistan	447,400	28,268,441	57.1	Tashkent
Eastern Asia:
People's Republic of China[16]	9,584,492	1,322,044,605	134.0	Beijing
Hong Kong[17]	1,092	7,903,334	6,688.0	—
Macau[18]	25	460,823	18,473.3	—
Republic of China (Taiwan)[19]	35,980	22,920,946	626.7	Taipei
Japan	377,835	127,288,628	336.1	Tokyo
North Korea	120,540	23,479,095	184.4	Pyongyang
South Korea	98,480	49,232,844	490.7	Seoul
Mongolia	1,565,000	2,996,082	1.7	Ulan Bator
Northern Asia:
Russia[20]	13,115,200	140,702,092	3.0	Moscow
Southeastern Asia:[21]
Brunei	5,770	381,371	60.8	Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia[22]	181,035	13,388,910	74	Phnom Penh
East Timor (Timor-Leste)[23]	15,007	1,108,777	63.5	Dili
Indonesia[24]	1,419,588	237,512,355	159.9	Jakarta
Laos	236,800	6,677,534	24.4	Vientiane
Malaysia	329,847	27,780,000	84.2	Kuala Lumpur
Myanmar (Burma)	678,500	47,758,224	62.3	Naypyidaw[25]
Philippines	300,000	92,681,453	281.8	Manila
Singapore	704	4,608,167	6,369.0	Singapore
Thailand	514,000	65,493,298	121.3	Bangkok
Vietnam	331,690	86,116,559	246.1	Hanoi
Southern Asia:
Afghanistan	647,500	32,738,775	42.9	Kabul
Bangladesh	144,000	153,546,901	926.2	Dhaka
Bhutan	47,000	682,321	14.3	Thimphu
India[26]	3,167,590	1,147,995,226	318.2	New Delhi
Iran	1,648,195	65,875,223	42	Tehran
Maldives	300	379,174	1,067.2	Malé
Nepal	140,800	29,519,114	183.8	Kathmandu
Pakistan	803,940	167,762,049	183.7	Islamabad
Sri Lanka	65,610	21,128,773	298.4	Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte
Western Asia:
Armenia[27]	29,800	2,968,586	111.7	Yerevan
Azerbaijan[28]	46,870	3,845,127	82.0	Baku
Bahrain	665	718,306	987.1	Manama
Cyprus[29]	9,250	792,604	83.9	Nicosia
Gaza[30]	363	1,537,269	3,315.7	Gaza
Georgia[31]	20,460	4,630,841	99.3	Tbilisi
Iraq	437,072	28,221,181	54.9	Baghdad
Israel	20,770	7,112,359	290.3	Jerusalem[32]
Jordan	92,300	6,198,677	57.5	Amman
Kuwait	17,820	2,596,561	118.5	Kuwait City
Lebanon	10,452	3,971,941	353.6	Beirut
Oman	212,460	3,311,640	12.8	Muscat
Qatar	11,437	928,635	69.4	Doha
Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	23,513,330	12.0	Riyadh
Syria	185,180	19,747,586	92.6	Damascus
Turkey[33]	756,768	71,892,807	76.5	Ankara
United Arab Emirates	82,880	4,621,399	29.5	Abu Dhabi
West Bank[30]	5,860	2,611,904	393.1	Jerusalem
Yemen	527,970	23,013,376	35.4	Sanaá
Total	43,810,582	4,050,404,193	89.07

Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia

See also: List of Asian countries by population

[edit] Country name changes

Various Asian countries have undergone name changes during the previous century as the result of consolidations, secessions, territories gaining sovereignty, and regime changes.