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'''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 approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current [[human population]]. It is located in the [[Eastern Hemisphere|eastern]] and [[northern hemisphere]]s.
'''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 approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current [[human population]]. It is located in the [[Eastern Hemisphere|eastern]] and [[northern hemisphere]]s.The country with the largest population[China]is located here.


Asia is traditionally defined as part of the [[landmass]] of [[Eurasia]] — with the western portion of the latter occupied by [[Europe]] — located to the east of the [[Suez Canal]], [[east]] of the [[Ural Mountains]] and south of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] and the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Black Sea]]s. 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 [[toponymy|toponym]] dating back to [[classical antiquity]] — is more a [[human geography|cultural concept]] incorporating a number of [[region]]s and peoples than a [[physical geography|homogeneous physical entity]]<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110518/Asia Asia]". ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref><ref name=McG-H>"[http://www.answers.com/topic/asia-2010#Science_and_Technology_Encyclopedia Asia]". ''[[McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology]].'' 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.</ref> (see ''[[Subregions of Asia]]'', ''[[Asian people]]'').
Asia is traditionally defined as part of the [[landmass]] of [[Eurasia]] — with the western portion of the latter occupied by [[Europe]] — located to the east of the [[Suez Canal]], [[east]] of the [[Ural Mountains]] and south of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] and the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Black Sea]]s. 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 [[toponymy|toponym]] dating back to [[classical antiquity]] — is more a [[human geography|cultural concept]] incorporating a number of [[region]]s and peoples than a [[physical geography|homogeneous physical entity]]<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110518/Asia Asia]". ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref><ref name=McG-H>"[http://www.answers.com/topic/asia-2010#Science_and_Technology_Encyclopedia Asia]". ''[[McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology]].'' 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.</ref> (see ''[[Subregions of Asia]]'', ''[[Asian people]]'').

Revision as of 10:34, 11 October 2009

For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation).
Globe centered on Asia, with Asia highlighted. The continent is shaped like a right-angle triangle, with Europe to the west, oceans to the south and east, and Australia visible to the south-east.
Area44,579,000 km2 (17,212,000 sq mi)
Population3,879,000,000 (1st)[1]
Population density89/km2 (226/sq mi)
DemonymAsian
Countries47
Dependencies
Non-UN states
LanguagesList of languages
Time zonesUTC+2 to UTC+12
Internet TLD.asia
Largest cities

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 approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. It is located in the eastern and northern hemispheres.The country with the largest population[China]is located here.

Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia — with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe — located to the 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).

The wealth of Asia differs widely between and within each region. This is due to its vast size and huge range of different cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems. In terms of nominal GDP, Japan has the largest economy on the continent and the second largest in the world. In purchasing power parity term, however, the People's Republic of China has the largest economy in Asia and the second largest in the world.

Etymology

Western

The term of Asia is exclusively a concept of Western civilization.[4] In so saying, the peoples of ancient Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Persians, Arabs etc.) never conceived the idea of Asia simply because they did not see themselves collectively. In their perpective, they were vastly varied civilizations, contrary to ancient European belief.[4]

The word Asia originated from the Greek word "Ἀσία", first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to Anatolia or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt, in his histories. 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 soldier 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 BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu-—"good" is probably an element in that name.

Usage of the term soon became common in ancient Greece and subsequently by the ancient Romans.[4] Ancient and medieval European maps depict the Asian continent as a "huge amorphous blob" extending eastward.[4] It was presumed in antiquity to end with India, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great believing he would reach reach the "end of the world" upon his arrival in the East.[4]

T.R. Reid notes that the ancient Greek name must have derived from asu, meaning "east" in Assyrian (ereb for Europe meaning west).[4] The terms/ideas of occidental (form Latin Occidens "setting") and oriental (from Latin Oriens for "rising") are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern.[4] He further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single classification, almost as if there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and Eastern civilizations on the Eurasian continent.[4] Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two Japanese outspoken figures over the subject.[4] The economists magazine stated that "The term, too, was a colonial enterprise." and that "As for Asia, ... , nobody there can agree on what it is, other than that it is not the West."[2]

Other alternatives

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.

Some scholars[who?] also believe that the word Asia is derived from the Xia Dynasty, which ruled China in the early 2nd millennium BC This would have required ancient contact between China and Greece, which is certainly possible as attested by archaeological finds such as the Tarim mummies.

Definition and boundaries

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, argues 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 Plate 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 not considered Asian.[11]

Political geography

Territories and regions

See also: List of Asian countries by population
Subregions of Asia:
  Northern Asia
  Central Asia
  Western Asia
  Southern Asia
  Eastern Asia
  Southeastern Asia
Name of region[12] and
territory, with flag 		Area
(km²) 		Population
(1 July 2008 est.) 		Population density
(per km²) 		Capital
Central Asia:
 Kazakhstan[13] 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:
 China[14] 9,584,492 1,322,044,605 134.0 Beijing
 Hong Kong[15] 1,092 7,008,300[16] 6,417.9 —
 Macau[17] 25 460,823 18,473.3 —
 Japan 377,835 127,288,628 336.1 Tokyo
 Taiwan[18] 35,980 22,920,946 626.7 Taipei
 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 Ulaan Baatar
Northern Asia:
 Russia[19] 17,075,400 142,200,000 26.8 Moscow
Southeastern Asia:[20]
 Brunei 5,770 381,371 66.1 Bandar Seri Begawan
 Burma (Myanmar) 676,578 47,758,224 70.3 Naypyidaw[21]
 Cambodia[22] 181,035 13,388,910 74 Phnom Penh
 East Timor (Timor-Leste)[23] 15,007 1,108,777 73.8 Dili
 Indonesia[24] 1,919,440 230,512,000 120.1 Jakarta
 Laos 236,800 6,677,534 28.2 Vientiane
 Malaysia 329,847 27,780,000 84.2 Kuala Lumpur
 Philippines 300,000 92,681,453 308.9 Manila
 Singapore 704 4,608,167 6,545.7 Singapore
 Thailand 514,000 65,493,298 127.4 Bangkok(Krung Thep Mahanakhon)
 Vietnam 331,690 86,116,559 259.6 Hanoi
Southern Asia:
 Afghanistan 647,500 32,738,775 42.9 Kabul
 Bangladesh 147,570 153,546,901 1040.5 Dhaka
 Bhutan 38,394 682,321 17.8 Thimphu
 India[25] 3,287,263 1,147,995,226 349.2 New Delhi
 Maldives 300 379,174 1,263.3 Malé
   Nepal 147,181 29,519,114 200.5 Kathmandu
 Pakistan 803,940 167,762,049 208.7 Islamabad
 Sri Lanka 65,610 21,128,773 322.0 Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte
Western Asia:
 Armenia[26] 29,800 2,968,586 111.7 Yerevan
 Azerbaijan[27] 46,870 3,845,127 82.0 Baku
 Bahrain 665 718,306 987.1 Manama
 Cyprus[28] 9,250 792,604 83.9 Nicosia
 Georgia[29] 20,460 4,630,841 99.3 Tbilisi
 Iraq 437,072 28,221,181 54.9 Baghdad
 Iran 1,648,195 70,472,846 42.8 Tehran
 Israel 20,770 7,112,359 290.3 Jerusalem[30]
 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
 Palestine 6,257 4,277,000 683.5 Ramallah
 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[31] 756,768 71,892,807 76.5 Ankara
 United Arab Emirates 82,880 4,621,399 29.5 Abu Dhabi
 Yemen 527,970 23,013,376 35.4 Sanaá
Total 43,810,582 4,162,966,086 89.07
Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia

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.

Previous Name Year Current Name
Dominion of India, formerly British India 1950 Republic of India
East Bengal province 1905-1911 and 1947-1955
1955-1971
1971 		East Pakistan state
Bangladesh, People's Republic of
Democratic Kampuchea 1975 Cambodia, Kingdom of
Empire of Great Qing of China 1912
1949 		China, Republic of
China, People's Republic of
Portuguese Timor 1975
2002 		Timor Timur (province of Indonesia)
East Timor, Democratic Republic of
Dutch East Indies 1949 Indonesia, Republic of
Persia 1935
1979 		Iran,
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Transjordan 1946 Jordan, Kingdom of
Kirghiz SSR (USSR) 1991 Kyrgyzstan, Republic
Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore 1963
1965 		Malaysia (including Singapore)
Malaysia and Singapore
Burma 1989 Myanmar, Union of
Muscat 1971 Oman, Sultanate of
Dominion of Pakistan 1947-1956
1956-1970
1971 		West Pakistan, Islamic State of
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of
Islas de San Lorenzo, Spanish East Indies, Philippine Islands and Las Islas Filipinas 1965 Philippines, Republic of the
Hejaz-Nejd, The Kingdom of 1932 Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of
Aden 1970 South Yemen, People's Republic of
Ceylon 1972 Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of
Tajik SSR (USSR) 1991 Tajikistan, Republic of
Siam 1939 Thailand, Kingdom of
Ottoman Empire 1923 Turkey, Republic of
Turkmen SSR (USSR) 1991 Turkmenistan
Trucial Oman and Trucial States 1971 United Arab Emirates
French Indo-China 1949 Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Yemen, People's Democratic and Southern Yemen 1990 Yemen, Republic of

Economy

Economy of Asia
During 2003 unless otherwise stated
Population: 3,958,768,100 (2006 Estimate)
GDP (PPP): US$18.077 trillion
GDP (Currency): $8.782 trillion
GDP/capita (PPP): $4,518
GDP/capita (Currency): $2,143
Millionaires: 2.0 million (0.05%)
Most numbers are from the UNDP from 2002, some numbers exclude certain countries for lack of information.
Template:World economy infobox footer
Main article: Economy of Asia
See also: List of regions by past GDP (PPP)

Asia has the third largest nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe, but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2007, the largest national economy within Asia, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), is that of China followed by that of Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia. Since the 1960s, South Korea had maintained the highest economic growth rate in Asia, nicknamed as an Asian tiger, becoming a newly industrialized country in the 1980s and a developed country by the 21st century. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC[32] and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

During the 1st millennium, India had the largest GDP at approximately 30% of the global GDP. By 1500 China had surpassed India; however, over the next four centuries the two were to alternate between 1st and 2nd largest GDP, until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook them both in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several dacades after WW2 the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equalled that of the USA to tie as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.[33]

It is forecasted that the People's Republic of China will surpass Japan to have the largest nominal and PPP-adjusted GDP in Asia within a decade. India is also forecast to overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020.[34] In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. By 2050, according to a 2006 report by Price Waterhouse Cooper, China will have the largest economy in the world (43% greater than the United States when PPP adjusted, although perhaps smaller than the United States in nominal terms).[35]

Trade blocs

Natural resources

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

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India , Philippines and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China, and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.

Financial and other services

Asia has four main financial centres: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centres and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India, Pakistan and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly-skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia
Map of Asia in 1890.
Map of Asia, 1892.

The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.

The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.

The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

Languages and literature

Main article: Languages of Asia

Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800 languages spoken in India and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.

Nobel prizes

Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel laureate.
File:CVRaman.jpg
C. V. Raman, the first Asian Nobel laureate in Sciences.

The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.

Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered around global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998-2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).

Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma(Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Sir C.V.Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Yaser Arafat, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and thirteen Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) and Kim (South Korea).

In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.

The Dalai Lama has received numerous awards over his spiritual and political career.[129] On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo on 10 December 1989

Beliefs

Mythology

See also: List of Asian mythology

Asian mythology is diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament, is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology tells about an avatar of the God Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring.

Religions

See also: Eastern philosophy and Religion in Asia

Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of material world. Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.

Abrahamic

File:Cheng Hoo1.jpg
A Chinese styled Mosque in Indonesia, the nation with the highest population of Muslims.

The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest Jewish population)[citation needed], though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, southern Philippines (Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia.

Dharmic & Taoist

The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asia.
Main article: Outline of Asia
2

References

  1. ^ List of continents by population
  2. ^ "Asia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  3. ^ a b "Asia". McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Reid, T.R. Confucius Lives Next Door: What living in the East teaches us about living in the west Vintage Books(1999).
  5. ^ "Asia." MSN Encarta Encyclopedia. 2007.
  6. ^ "Geography Is Destiny - The Atlantic (December 2008)". The Atlantic. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  7. ^ Welty, Paul Thomas. The Asians Their Evolving Heritage, 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.
  8. ^ World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006. October 7, 2006. <http://www.wusc.ca/expertise/worldwide/asia/>.
  9. ^ Menon, Sridevi. Duke University. "Where is West Asia in Asian America?Asia and the Politics of Space in Asian America." 2004. April 26, 2007. page 71 [1]
  10. ^ BBC News 2006. September 9, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/>.
  11. ^ American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. <http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/007.html>.
  12. ^   Continental regions as per UN categorisations (map), except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11-13, 15, 17-19, 21-23) may be in one or both of Asia and Europe, Africa, or Oceania.
  13. ^   Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
  14. ^   The state "People's Republic of China" is commonly known as simply "China", which is subsumed by the eponymous entity and civilization (China). Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
  15. ^   Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
  16. ^ "HK Census and Statistics Department". Censtatd.gov.hk. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  17. ^   Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
  18. ^   Figures are for the area under the de facto control of the Republic of China (ROC) government, commonly referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan.
  19. ^   Russia is considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia; population and area figures are for the entire state.
  20. ^ Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
  21. ^   The administrative capital of Burma (Myanmar) was officially moved from Yangon (Rangoon) to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.
  22. ^ General Population Census of Cambodia 2008 - Provisional population totals, National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, released 3rd September, 2008
  23. ^   East Timor is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.
  24. ^   Indonesia is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania; figures do not include Irian Jaya and Maluku Islands, frequently reckoned in Oceania (Melanesia/Australasia).
  25. ^   Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the PRC.
  26. ^   Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.
  27. ^   Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only. Figures include Nakhchivan, an autonomous exclave of Azerbaijan bordered by Armenia, Iran and Turkey.
  28. ^   The island of Cyprus is sometimes considered a transcontinental territory: in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey, it has historical and socio-political connections with Europe. However, the U.N. considers Cyprus to be in Western Asia, while the C.I.A. considers it to be in the Middle East.
  29. ^   Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
  30. ^ In 1980, Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominant East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The United Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies in Tel Aviv instead.
  31. ^   Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, excluding all of Istanbul.
  32. ^ Five Years of China's WTO Membership. EU and US Perspectives on China's Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Kluwer Law International, Volume 33, Number 3, pp. 263-304, 2006. by Paolo Farah
  33. ^ Rise of Japan and 4 Asian Tigers from emergingdragon.com
  34. ^ "Commonwealth Business Council-Asia". Retrieved April 12 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  35. ^ "China to dwarf G7 states by 2050". Retrieved November 19 2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)

Further reading

Reference works

  • Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
  • Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
  • Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
  • Kamal,Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi:Wordsmith,2002, ISBN 81-87412-08-9

ak:Ehyia

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