Asia

Lore & Background

Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. Its border with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, with no clear physical separation. A commonly accepted division places Asia east of the Suez Canal (separating it from Africa), east of the Turkish straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas. The concept of Asia derives from a term for the eastern region from a European perspective, making it the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on a spectrum. The term 'Asia' is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa, which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia. The Romans later adopted it for the province of Asia in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as the name of the whole continent was Pliny. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions regarding ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It has a mix of many different climates, from equatorial south through hot deserts and tropical jungles to temperate areas and vast subarctic and polar regions in North Asia. China and India traded places as the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands, while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route.

Reader's Guide

Asia's significance lies in its sheer scale and its role as the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions, including Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. It was the site of many of the first civilisations and has long held the majority of the human population. The continent has exhibited economic dynamism and robust population growth during the 20th century, though overall population growth has since fallen. Its boundaries are largely arbitrary and historically contingent: the border with Europe has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity, and the division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences. The border with Africa is defined by the Suez Canal, and with Oceania by various lines in the Indonesian Archipelago, such as the Wallace Line. Asia's legacy includes the Silk Road trading route and the historical economic dominance of China and India. The continent remains a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and its definition continues to be a cultural artifact of European conception.

Did You Know?

• The term 'Asia' is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa, which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia.
• Herodotus used the term 'Asia' in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Achaemenid Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt.
• The Wallace Line separates the Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms in the Indonesian Archipelago.