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Asia

Asia
Map of Asia.
Area 43,810,582 km 2 (29.5%)
Population 3,902,404,192 inhabitants.
Density 89 inhabitants / km 2
Country 51
Dependencies 5
Main languages Mandarin , Arabic , Russian , Hindi , Japanese , Tagalog , Indonesian , Farsi , Urdu , Turkish
Time Zones UTC +2 ( Turkey and Cyprus )
UTC +12 ( Russia )
More cities Tokyo , Shanghai , Bombay , Manila , Jakarta , Seoul , Calcutta , Bangkok , Istanbul , Dubai , Beijing , Dhaka , Karachi , Tehran.
Asia portal

Asia is one of the five continents or part of the supercontinent Eurasia , or Afro-Eurasia of the Earth. It is the largest continent (8.6% of the total land area or 29.4% of land area) and most populous Etymology

The first known mention of the word would come from a stele Assyrian distinguishes the shores of the Aegean Sea by two words Phoenicians : Erebus, the "sunset" and Assou, the "east". The original Greek names Europe (Europe) and Asia ("Asia") is likely in both these Semitic . Unless the term is older and come himself of the Akkadian ( w) ASU (m) . In the Iliad , Homer speaks as a Trojan , a Asios son of Hyrtacus.

To -440 , the Greek Herodotus divides the world into three parts which he named in honor of three characters from Greek mythology : Europe in honor of Ocanide Europe or the daughter of Agenor, Europe , Libya in honor of Libya and Asia () in honor of Ocanide Asia (more commonly known Clymene ).

Geography

Physical Geography

Satellite view of Asia.
Main article: Geography of Asia.

Asia is a subcontinent of 43,810,582 km 2. He holds several records geographical world: the maximum altitude ( Everest with 8 849.87 m), the minimum altitude ( Dead Sea with -417 m) and the land mass furthest from any ocean (located at 2648 km the nearest coast, coordinates 46 17'N 86 40'E / 46,283, 86,667 ).

Major units

There are four main areas:

Monsoon Asia (East Asia and South America)
There is always hot. The summer monsoons coming from the Indian Ocean bring heavy rains causing widespread flooding but which are essential to crops. The climate and terrain of plains and plateaus are favorable for growing rice , a plant that needs heat and grows in water. Almost everything is grown in space.
Asian mountains (central Asia with the Himalayas )
The climate is cool due to altitude, as this region is protected from sea winds, rainfall is rare. In summer, the ground is covered by a thin native prairie.
Asia cold (North Asia)
The climate is continental with severe winters and is near the Arctic pole. The center of this part of Asia is occupied by a large forest, the taiga , which leaves room near the Arctic Ocean vegetation of mosses and shrubs, the tundra.
Dry Asia (West Asia)
This region is marked by aridity. The environment is a desert with vast expanses of sand or stone. A temperate Mediterranean occupies a narrow border to the west of the continent.

Political geography

Map of Asia.
Countries and territories Capital Area
(Km )
Population
(July 2006 est.)
Density
(Inhabitants / km )
Flag: Afghanistan Afghanistan Kabul 00647500! 647 500 0031056997! 31,056,997 00480! 48
Flag: Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Riyadh 02152000! 2152000 0027019731! 27,019,731 00120! 12
Flag of Armenia Armenia Yerevan 00029800! 29 800 0002976372! 2976372 01000! 100
Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Baku 00086600! 86 600 0008177717! 8177717 00920! 92
Flag of Bahrain Bahrain Manama 00000665! 665 0000686585! 686 585 10320! 1032
Flag of Bangladesh Bangladesh Dhaka 00144000! 144 000 0147365352! 147 365 352 10230! 1023
Flag of Bhutan Bhutan Thimphu 00047000! 47 000 0002279723! 2279723 00480! 48
Flag of Brunei Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan 00005770! 5770 0000379444! 379 444 00660! 66
Flag: Cambodia Cambodia Phnom Penh 00181035! 181 035 0013881427! 13,881,427 00760! 76
Flag: People's Republic of China China (PRC) Beijing 09596960! 9596960 1313973713! 1313973713 01370! 137
Flag: Cyprus Cyprus Nicosia 00009250! 9250 0000792604! 792 604 00830! 83
Flag of North Korea North Korea Pyongyang 00120540! 120 540 0023113019! 23,113,019 01910! 191
Flag: South Korea South Korea Seoul 00099274! 99 274 0048846823! 48,846,823 04920! 492
UAE UAE Abu Dhabi 00082880! 82 880 0003870936! 3870936 00460! 46
Flag of Georgia.svg Georgia Tbilisi 00069700! 69 700 0004661473! 4661473 00670! 67
Flag: India India New Delhi 03287590! 3287590 1095351995! 1095351995 03330! 333
Flag: Indonesia Indonesia Jakarta 01919440! 1919440 0245452739! 245 452 739 01270! 127
Flag: Iran Iran Tehran 01648000! 1648000 0068688433! 68,688,433 00410! 41
Flag of Iraq Iraq Baghdad 00437072! 437 072 0026783383! 26,783,383 00610! 61
Flag of Palestine.svg Palestine Jerusalem 00006236! 6236 0003152361! 3152361 05050! 505
Flag: Japan Japan Tokyo 00377835! 377 835 0127463611! 127 463 611 03370! 337
Flag of Jordan Jordan Amman 00092300! 92 300 0005906760! 5906760 00640! 64
Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Astana 02717300! 2717300 0015233244! 15,233,244 00050! 5
Flag of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan Bishkek 00198500! 198 500 0005213898! 5213898 01350! 135
Flag: Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait 00017820! 17 820 0002418393! 2418393 01150! 115
Flag of Laos Laos Vientiane 00236800! 236 800 0006368481! 6368481 00270! 27
Flag of Lebanon Lebanon Beirut 00010452! 10 452 0003874050! 3874050 03700! 370
Flag: Malaysia Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 00329750! 329 750 0024385858! 24,385,858 00740! 74
Flag of Maldives Maldives Male 00000298! 298 0000359008! 359 008 12040! 1204
Flag of Mongolia Mongolia Ulan Bator 01565000! 1565000 0002832224! 2832224 00018! 1.8
Flag of Myanmar Myanmar Naypyidaw 00678500! 678 500 0047382633! 47,382,633 00690! 69
Nepal Nepal Kathmandu 00147781! 147 781 0028287147! 28,287,147 01910! 191
Flag: Oman Oman Muscat 00309500! 309 500 0003102229! 3102229 00100! 10
Flag of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Tashkent 00447400! 447 400 0027307134! 27,307,134 00610! 61
Flag of Pakistan Pakistan Islamabad 00803940! 803 940 0165803560! 165 803 560 02060! 206
/philippines Philippines Manila 00300000! 300 000 0089468677! 89,468,677 02980! 298
Flag: Qatar Qatar Doha 00011437! 11 437 0000885359! 885 359 00770! 77
Flag: Russia Russia Moscow 17075200! 17,075,200 0142893540! 142 893 540 00080! 8
Flag: Singapore Singapore Singapore 00000699! 699 0004492150! 4492150 64260! 6426
Flag of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Colombo 00065610! 65 610 0020222240! 20,222,240 03080! 308
Flag: Syria Syria Damascus 00185180! 185 180 0018881361! 18,881,361 01010! 101
Flag of Tajikistan.svg Tajikistan Dushanbe 00143100! 143 100 0007320815! 7320815 00510! 51
Flag of Taiwan Taiwan (ROC) Taipei 00035980! 35 980 0022548009! 22,548,009 06400! 640
Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand Bangkok 00514000! 514 000 0064631595! 64,631,595 01250! 125
Flag of East Timor East Timor Dili 00015007! 15 007 0001062777! 1062777 00700! 70
: / / Upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/20px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png "width =" 20 "height =" 13 "class =" thumbborder "/> Turkey Ankara 00780580! 780 580 0071517100! 71,517,100 00900! 90
Flag of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan Ashgabat 00488100! 488 100 0005042920! 5042920 00100! 10
Flag: Viet Nam Viet Nam Hanoi 00329560! 329 560 0084402966! 84,402,966 02560! 256
Flag: Yemen Yemen Sanaa 00527970! 527 970 0021456188! 21,456,188 00400! 40

Borders

Many geographers do not consider Asia as a separate continent of Europe , because there is no physical separation between the two Asia-Europe

In the eighteenth century , the Tsar Peter I want to make Russia a European power. His geographer Tatitchev then proposes 1703 as the mountains Urals , the Ural River and the Caucasus constitute the border between Europe and Asia instead of Don which then included Russia in Asia.

With the recent expansion of the European Union at the gateway to Asia as in the Balkans in Eastern Europe is once again raises the problem of the exact location of the boundary between Europe and Asia. Some geographers, for convenience, would push the limit beyond the Caucasus in particular to include the Armenia and Georgia in Europe. Others, conversely, would like to see the border secured to the depression Manych north Caucasus in order to include the Turkic peoples of the Caucasus in Asia.

Asia-Oceania

In 1831 , the explorer and geographer Jules Dumont d'Urville cutting the Oceania into four regions: Polynesia , the Micronesia , the Melanesia and the Indies (then called Malaya). This last part is then attached to Asia which explains the current border between Asia and Oceania: all Indonesian islands are Asian with the exception of New Guinea and nearby islands. But the arbitrary nature of this limit leads geographers to rethink the border. Some think it would be more appropriate to use the Wallace line , others want to include entirely of Indonesia in Asia excluding East Timor.

Asia-Africa

The boundary between Asia and Africa is generally set at the Isthmus of Suez which excludes the Sinai of Africa . The Egypt find themselves straddling two continents, some geographers Asian-American

Bering Strait

For convenience, the boundary between these two continents is attached to the Russo-American border, around the Bering Strait. The islands Komandorski are Asian while the rest of the Aleutian Islands are American.

History

Main article: History of Asia.
This section is blank, incomplete or not detailed enough. Your help is welcome!

Great Empires

This section is blank, incomplete or not detailed enough. Your help is welcome!

Asia enjoyed domination over the centuries various powers such as:

  • The Persian Empire
  • The Greek empire: including Alexander the Great
  • The Roman Empire in the Middle East, including Turkey, which form the Roman province of Asia, the Byzantine Empire and Devendra will disappear in 1453
  • The Khmer Empire: with Varman dynasty. The empire will go to Singapore in northern Laos, Viet Nam in Burma.
  • The Indian Empire
  • The Chinese Empire
  • The Arab-Islamic empire, including the Mughal Empire from 1526 to 1857, which extended from the peninsula of Arabia to the Indian subcontinent, through Central Asia
  • The Mongol Empire
  • The Ottoman Empire from 1290 to 1923, present day Turkey.
  • Russian Empire (thanks to the conquest of Siberia)
  • the Japanese Empire (with domination of Manchuria and the Far East)

Colonial Era

This section is blank, incomplete or not detailed enough. Your help is welcome!

Various colonial powers were divided Asia:

  • The USSR
  • France with the domination of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and Syria and Lebanon (after the fall of the Ottoman Empire)
  • the United Kingdom with the domination of the Indian subcontinent except Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Oman (after the fall of the Ottoman Empire), as well as Burma and Malaysia
  • The Netherlands with Indonesia
  • The United States with the colonization of the Philippines were a Spanish colony until 1898, and the administration of Japan

Contemporary Asia

This section is blank, incomplete or not detailed enough. Your help is welcome!

Asian colonies were the first to experience independence through lader such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi in India, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam or Sukarno and Hatta in Indonesia autoproclamrent their respective independent country in 1945, taking colonial empires by surprise at the end of the Second World War. The U.S. understanding the situation (and to avoid possible tensions as the Netherlands with Indonesia or France with its Indochinese colonies), decided to give independence to the Philippines in 1946, was the first country officially independent Asia.

The UK will follow in 1947, declaring independence from Pakistan and India (although the counters Portuguese and French are not independent before the 1950 and 1960). Following this, ethno-religious tensions besetting the two countries. The UK also visited Sri Lanka and Burma (1948) and Malaysia (1957), Singapore (1965), Brunei (1984) and finally Hong Kong (1997). The Netherlands abandoned Indonesia in 1949 following a guerrilla war condemned by the UN that will continue in post-colonial ethnic conflict. As for France and Portugal , it was only belatedly that they left their colonies. For France, after a war against Indochina which depletes it gives independence to Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam in 1954 (the latter is divided into two parts, Vietnam and South Vietnam North , and plunge into a war to recover Cochinchina). Portugal, meanwhile, will counter what his last Macao in 1999.

The contemporary Asia has been marked by the creation of a Zionist state in 1948 and this will conflicts of ethnic and religious order several times. The superpowers, that is to say the U.S. and USSR, trying to rally them to the mainland, leading to tensions particularly in Korea (1950 to 1953), in the 1950 revolutions broke out in Middle East such as Syria and Iraq and then in the 1960s in Southeast Asia as the war in Viet Nam (1967-1973), Cambodia and Laos, Afghanistan will be invaded by the USSR in 1979. China became a communist country in 1949 and the ensuing Cultural Revolution in 1966. Japan is arguably the richest country of all Asia.

Population and culture

Demographics

It currently has 3.8 billion in Asia Asia, more than half the world population (about 60%) . Approximately 2 billion of them are under 20 years. The population is very unevenly distributed, however: the human deserts of western and northern Asia oppose the great centers of population of South Asia and East.

The Asian population is growing rapidly and represents a growing proportion of the population worldwide , . Some countries have policies to limit births, like China, which allows only one child per woman, where India that pays more benefits to fewer families .

Rich countries, however, a very low fertility rate: 1.37 children per woman for Japan, 1.60 in China, 1.2 in Singapore, 1.1 in South Korea and 1.03 in Taiwan . What would be interesting to know is how this population is distributed in the world right actuel.Economiquement is an important issue.

Languages

The most widely spoken languages in Asia are the Mandarin , with about 1 billion speakers and Hindi .

Religions

Asia has several religions spread across the continent: Animism , Buddhism , Christianity , Confucianism , Hinduism , Islam , Judaism and Shintoism.

Places and monuments famous

The Taj Mahal in India.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia.

Asia is the largest continent in the world with a considerable margin. The continent is rich in natural resources such as oil , the forests , the fish , the water , the rice , the copper and silver.

Asia is home to six of the 25 largest economies in the world (8 if you count Russia and Turkey): China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan (see Table below for 2010).

Country GDP nominal
( Million)
World Rank
Flag: People's Republic of China China 5 745 133 2
Flag: Japan Japan 5 390 897 3
Russia 1 476 912 10
Flag: India India 1 430 020 11
Flag: South Korea South Korea 986 256 15
Turkey 729 051 17
Flag: Indonesia Indonesia 695 059 18
Flag of Taiwan Taiwan 426 984 24

Industry

The industry in Asia has always been more important in the East in the South-East Asia, particularly China , to Taiwan , in South Korea , to Japan , in India and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the field of multinational firms.

Asia attracts many relocations workforce cheap and low on demanding working conditions, hours and wages. For example, there are very few social laws in China.

Finance

Asia has several major financial centers: Hong Kong , Singapore , Tokyo , Shanghai and Mumbai. Dubai is growing rapidly as a financial center for Western Asia. The number of jobs in call centers and Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) is very important in India , to Pakistan and the Philippines because of the availability of a large number of highly skilled workers English. Increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and China as financial centers. With its large and extremely competitive industry and information technology , India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Business alliances

List of countries by Human Development Index ( HDI )

HDI highest

Rank Country HDI
in 2005
2005 data Comparison with 2004 data
High
1 Stagnation(0) Flag of Japan Japan Increase 0.953
2 Stagnation(0) Israel Israel Increase 0.932
3 Stagnation(0) Singapore Singapore Increase 0.922
4 Stagnation(0) Flag of South Korea South Korea Increase 0.921
5 Increase(1) /brunei Brunei Increase 0.894
6 Decrease(1) Kuwait Kuwait Increase 0.891
7 Increase(4) /qatar Qatar Increase 0.875
8 Increase(10) img alt = "UAE" src = "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg/20px-Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg.png" width = "20" height = "10" class = "thumbborder" /> UAE Increase 0.868
9 Decrease(2) Bahrain Bahrain Increase 0.866
10 Decrease(2) /oman Oman Increase 0.814
11 Increase(15) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Increase 0.812
12 Decrease(2) Malaysia Malaysia Increase 0.811
13 Decrease(2) Flag of Russia Russia Increase 0.802

HDI lowest

Rank Country HDI
in 2005
2005 data Comparison with 2004 data
Middle
1 Stagnation(0) Yemen Yemen Increase 0.508
2 Stagnation(0) East Timor East Timor Increase 0.514
3 Stagnation(0) Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Increase 0.530
4 Stagnation(0) Nepal Nepal Increase 0.534
5 Stagnation(0) Flag of Bangladesh Bangladesh Increase 0.547
6 Decrease(1) /pakistan Pakistan Increase 0.551
7 Increase(1) Bhutan Bhutan Increase 0.579
8 Decrease(1) /myanmar Myanmar Increase 0.583
9 Decrease(1) Cambodia Cambodia Increase 0.598
10 Increase(2) /laos Laos Increase 0.601

References

External Links

Countries of Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia.
Kazakhstan 1Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Tajikistan Turkmenistan East Asia
East Asia.
China North Korea South Korea Japan Mongolia Taiwan
Middle East
Middle East.
Afghanistan Saudi Arabia Armenia 1Azerbaijan 1Bahrain Cyprus 1Egypt 2UAE Georgia 1Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Syria Turkey 1Yemen 2 Southeast Asia
South East Asia.
Burma Brunei Cambodia Indonesia 3Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste 3Viet Nam
South Asia
Indian subcontinent.
Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka North Asia Russia 1 ( Siberia , Russian Far East )
1Partially European 23Partially Mostly African Pacific
Asian economy
Afghanistan Saudi Arabia Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Burma Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus North Korea South Korea UAE Georgia India Indonesia Iraq Iran Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Kuwait Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Uzbekistan Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Taiwan Thailand Timor-Leste Turkmenistan Turkey Vietnam Yemen Location of Asia on Earth
Regions of the world
Africa
LocationAfrica.png
North ( Maghreb ) West Central Eastern Southern Saharan Oceania
LocationOceania.png
Australasia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia
America
LocationAmericas.png
Anglo-Saxon Caribbean Central Latin Average Northern Noord South Polar regions
LocationPolarRegions.png
Arctic Antarctic
Asia
LocationAsia.png
Central Eastern Northern South Southeast Middle East Other Asia-Pacific Caucasian Far East Middle East
Europe
LocationEurope.png
Central Northern South West East Oceans
LocationOceans.png
Southern Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific
Landmasses of the Earth
Model 4 continents
Model 7 continents
Palaeocontinents
Supercontinent
Gondwana Laurasia Pangea Pannotia Rodinia Columbia Kenorland Ur Vaalbara
Continents
Arctica Asiamrique Atlantica Avalonia Baltica Cimmeria Kazakhstania Laurentia Laurussia Siberia Ur
Geological evolution future Pangea ultimate Amasia
Submerged continents Zealandia Kerguelen Plateau Mascarene Plateau Sahul Sunda
Imaginary continents Atlantis Hyperborea Lemuria Kumari Kandam Mu Terra Australis


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