Asia, covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometers, about 8.7% of the Earth’s total surface area, is the biggest continent on Earth. Mainly located in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, Asia shares the continental landmass with Europe and Africa.
Asia is also the most populous continent with over 4.5 billion people (as of June 2019), which contribute about 60% of the world’s population. It’s also the most racially and ethnically diverse continent, and home of many first civilizations.
Asia is surrounded by three Oceans, the Pacific Ocean to the East, the Indian Ocean to the South and the Arctic Ocean to the North. Between Asia and Europe, there is no clear physical separation that can be regarded as border. The boundary is just a historical convention that is somewhat arbitrary, and has changed through time since it was first defined by a Swedish army officer called Philip Johan von Strahlenberg.
Between Asia and Africa, there’s Suez Canal that borders Asia to the East; Between Asia and Europe, borders in Turkish Straits place Asia to the East. Black Sea, Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea border Asia to the South. The chains of Ural Mountain and Ural River border Asia to the East.
From 1 to 1800 C.E., India and China alternated to be the largest economies in the world. The fame of their wealth and culture attracted European exploration, commerce and colonialism to Asia. Silk Road, a transatlantic route from Europe to America which accidentally discovered by Columbus, shows how fascinating Asia is to the Europeans. Since then the Silk Road has became the main trading route between the East and the West, and Straits of Malacca served as major sea trading route.
During the 20th century, Asia has experienced great growth of population and economic. Besides being the largest and most populous continent, Asia is also the birthplace of many religions including Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, as well as other ancient ones. The characteristics regions in Asia vary largely in regard to religions, economics, environments, culture, histories and governments.
The climates in Asia ranging from the hot dessert of equatorial south region in the Middle East, temperate climate in the East, vast subarctic in the continental centre to the polar climate in the vast Siberia.
What we have described are just brief introduction of Asia, if you are interested in geography or plan to visit Asian countries, who not take this QUIZ about the Asian Continent and see how many facts about Asia do you know?
