Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, comprising approximately fifty countries. It has an area, including islands, of roughly 49,694,700 km². Asia is joined to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez and to Europe by a long border generally following the Ural Mountains.

Definition and boundaries

Political map 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 with the etymology of the word rooted in the ancient Near and Middle East. The demarcation between Asia and Africa is the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea. The boundary between Asia and Europe is commonly believed 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. However, modern discovery of the extent of Africa and Asia made this definition rather anachronistic, especially in the case of Asia, which would have several regions that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example, South Asia and East Asia).

Geologists and physical geographers no longer consider Europe and Asia to be separate continents. It is either defined in terms of geological landmasses (physical geography) or tectonic plates (geology). In the former case, Europe is a western peninsula of Eurasia or the Africa-Eurasia landmass. In the latter, Europe and Asia are parts of the Eurasian plate, which excludes the Arabian and Indian tectonic plates.

In human geography, there are two schools of thought. One school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing Europe, East Asia (The Orient), South Asia (British India), and the Middle East (Arabia and Persia) as specific regions for more detailed analysis. The other schools equate the word "continent" in terms of geographical region when referring to Europe, and use the term "region" to describe Asia in terms of physical geography. Because 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.

There is much confusion in European languages with the term "Asian". Because a category implies homogeneity, the term "Asian" almost always refers to a subcategory of people from Asia rather than referring to "Asian" defined in term of "Asia". The fact that in American English, Asian refers to East Asian (Orientals), while in British English, Asian refers to South Asian reflects this confusion. Sometimes, it is not even clear exactly what "Asia" consists of. Some definitions exclude Turkey, the Middle East, or Russia. The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to Asia Pacific, which does not include the Middle East or Russia, but does include islands in the Pacific Ocean — a number of which may also be considered part of Australasia or Oceania. Asia contains the Indian subcontinent, Arabian subcontinent, as well as a piece of the North American plate in Siberia.

Main geographical features

The mean elevation of the continent is 950 m (3,117 ft.), the highest of any in the world. The plateau and mountainous areas broadly sweep SW-NW across Asia, climaxing in the high Tibetan Plateau, rising to the highest peaks in the world in the Himalaya. To the north west lie plains, while to the south lie the geologically distinct areas of the Arabian peninsula, Indian subcontinent and Malay peninsula. Large numbers of islands lie south east of the continent.

Islands

Besides its mainland, Asia includes a large number of islands, including some of the world's largest islands, such as Borneo and Sumatra, and some of the world's most populated islands, such as Java and Honsh?.

Other famous islands include Bali, Madura and Sulawesi of Indonesia; Hokkaid?, Shikoku, Ky?sh? and Okinawa of Japan; the Andaman and Nicobar of India; Luzon and Mindanao of the Philippines; Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui of Thailand; as well as Sri Lanka, Maldives, Singapore, Hong Kong island and Sakhalin.

The Asian nations of Indonesia, Brunei, East Timor, Singapore, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Cyprus are solely made up of one or more islands, and have no territory on the mainland.

For a comprehensive list of Asian islands, see List of islands of Asia.

Extreme points

• Northernmost Point — Arctic Cape, Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russia (81°13' N)
• Southernmost Point — Pamana Island, Indonesia^[1]¹
• Westernmost Point — Cape Baba, Turkey (26°4'E) ²
• Easternmost Point — Big Diomede, Russia (169°0'W) ³

Asia (Mainland)

• Northernmost Point — Cape Chelyuskin, Russia (77°43'N)
• Southernmost Point — Cape Piai, Malaysia (1°16'N)
• Westernmost Point — Cape Baba, Turkey (26°4'E)
• Easternmost Point — Cape Dezhnev (East Cape), Russia (169°40'W) ³

¹ If the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are included as part of Asia, then South Island (12°04'S) is the southernmost point.

² The Turkish islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas are considered part of Europe.

³ According to the International Date Line.

Geographical regions

Satellite view of Asia.

Asia is a subregion of Eurasia. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia.

• Central Asia
• Iranian Plateau
• East Asia
• Far East
• North Asia
• South Asia (or Indian subcontinent)
• Southeast Asia
• Southwest Asia (or Middle Asia or West Asia)

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:

• the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan (excluding its small European territory), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
• Afghanistan, Mongolia, Iran and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.
• Former Soviet states in the Caucasus region.

Central Asia is currently geopolitically important because international disputes and conflicts over oil pipelines, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Chechnya, as well as the presence of U.S. military and U.K. military forces in Afghanistan.

East Asia

This area includes:

• Japan.
• North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
• China, but sometimes only the eastern regions

Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included in East Asia.

More informally, Southeast Asia is included in East Asia on some occasions.

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the bigger Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations, such as Kazakhstan or Mongolia, are also included in Northern Asia. The term "Northern Eurasia" is sometimes used as an apolitical term that includes all the former nations of the U.S.S.R.

South Asia

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian subcontinent. It includes:

• The mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan
• The Himalayan States of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.
• The river plains of Bangladesh and Northern India
• The Indian Ocean nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India's Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands also lie in the Indian Ocean.
• The peninsula India (also known as the Deccan Plateau)
• The UN further includes Iran.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:

• In mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

• In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia (some of the Indonesian islands also lie in the Melanesia region of Oceania). East Timor (also Melanesian) is sometimes included too.

The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

Southwest Asia (or Middle East, Near East or West Asia)

This can also be called by the Western term Middle East, which is commonly used by Europeans and Americans. Middle East (to some interpretations) is often used to also refer to some countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:

• Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey.
• The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
• The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian portion of Egypt.
• The Arabian peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and Kuwait.
• The Caucasus region (which straddles both Asia and Europe), namely Transcaucasia, including a small portion of Russia and, arguably, most if not all of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
• The Iranian Plateau, including Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Table of territories and regions

Notes:

See also

• Cartography of Asia
• Fauna of Asia

External links

• Soil Maps of Asia European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the world
• http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html
• Asia GeoQuest game http://www.ramogames.com/games/Asia-GeoQuest.htm

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