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 provides 60% of the world's current human population. It is located in the eastern and northern hemispheres.
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 [1] [2] (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.
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Etymology
Western
The term of
Asia
is exclusively a concept of
Western civilization.
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 believe.
The word
Asia
originated from the
Greek word "?s?a", 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 as??? (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.
Ancient and medieval European maps depict the Asian continent as a "huge anomorphous blob" extending eastward.
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.
T.R. Reid notes that the ancient Greek name must have derived from
asu
, meaning "east" in
Assyrian (
ereb
for
Europe
meaning west).
[3] 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
.
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 is there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and
Eastern civilizations on the
Eurasian continent.
Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two Japanese outspoken figures over the subject.
Other alternatives
Alternatively, the
etymology of the term may be from the
Akkadian word
(w)a?û(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
erebu(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
thumb of Asia, excluding
Southwest Asia.
thumb 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,
[4] as there is no logical physical separation between them.
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.”
[5] 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,
[6] [7] especially in the
United States after
World War II.
[8] The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the
Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,
[9] 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.
[10]
Political geography
People's Republic of China
British Indian Ocean Territory
Australia
Territories and regions
lefts of Asia:
North Asia
Central Asia
Southwest Asia
South Asia
East Asia
Southeast Asia
Name of region [11] and territory, with flag
| Area (km²)
| Population (1 July 2008 est.)
| Population density (per km²)
| Capital
|
Central Asia:
|
collapsed [12]
| 2,724,927
| 15,666,533
| 5.7
| Astana
|
| 198,500
| 5,356,869
| 24.3
| Bishkek
|
| 143,100
| 7,211,884
| 47.0
| Dushanbe
|
| 488,100
| 5,179,573
| 9.6
| Ashgabat
|
| 447,400
| 28,268,441
| 57.1
| Tashkent
|
Eastern Asia:
|
[13]
| 9,584,492
| 1,322,044,605
| 134.0
| Beijing
|
[14]
| 1,092
| 7,008,300 [15]
| 6,417.9
| —
|
[16]
| 25
| 460,823
| 18,473.3
| —
|
| 377,835
| 127,288,628
| 336.1
| Tokyo
|
[17]
| 35,980
| 22,920,946
| 626.7
| Taipei
|
| 120,540
| 23,479,095
| 184.4
| Pyongyang
|
| 98,480
| 49,232,844
| 490.7
| Seoul
|
| 1,565,000
| 2,996,082
| 1.7
| Ulaan Baatar
|
Northern Asia:
|
[18]
| 17,075,400
| 142,200,000
| 26.8
| Moscow
|
Southeastern Asia:
[19]
|
| 5,770
| 381,371
| 66.1
| Bandar Seri Begawan
|
| 676,578
| 47,758,224
| 70.3
| Naypyidaw [20]
|
[21]
| 181,035
| 13,388,910
| 74
| Phnom Penh
|
[22]
| 15,007
| 1,108,777
| 73.8
| Dili
|
[23]
| 1,919,440
| 230,512,000
| 120.1
| Jakarta
|
| 236,800
| 6,677,534
| 28.2
| Vientiane
|
| 329,847
| 27,780,000
| 84.2
| Kuala Lumpur
|
| 300,000
| 92,681,453
| 308.9
| Manila
|
| 704
| 4,608,167
| 6,545.7
| Singapore
|
| 514,000
| 65,493,298
| 127.4
| Bangkok(Krung Thep Mahanakhon)
|
| 331,690
| 86,116,559
| 259.6
| Hanoi
|
Southern Asia:
|
| 647,500
| 32,738,775
| 42.9
| Kabul
|
| 147,570
| 153,546,901
| 1040.5
| Dhaka
|
| 38,394
| 682,321
| 17.8
| Thimphu
|
[24]
| 3,287,263
| 1,147,995,226
| 349.2
| New Delhi
|
| 300
| 379,174
| 1,263.3
| Malé
|
collapsed
| 147,181
| 29,519,114
| 200.5
| Kathmandu
|
| 803,940
| 167,762,049
| 208.7
| Islamabad
|
| 65,610
| 21,128,773
| 322.0
| Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte
|
Western Asia:
|
|
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Culture
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History
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Politics
Foreign relations of Armenia
|
Demographics
|
Administrative divisions
Aragatsotn Ararat Armavir
Gegharkunik Kotayk Lori Shirak
Syunik Tavush Vayots Dzor
Yerevan (city with special status)
|
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|
|
|
[25]
29,800
| 2,968,586
| 111.7
| Yerevan
|
[26]
| 46,870
| 3,845,127
| 82.0
| Baku
|
| 665
| 718,306
| 987.1
| Manama
|
[27]
| 9,250
| 792,604
| 83.9
| Nicosia
|
collapse_state = Georgia (country) [28]
| 20,460
| 4,630,841
| 99.3
| Tbilisi
|
| 437,072
| 28,221,181
| 54.9
| Baghdad
|
|
|
History of Iran
Empires of Persia Kings of Persia
| BCE
|
Sialk civilization
| 7500–1000
| Jiroft civilization (Aratta)
| 4000–?
| Proto-Elamite civilization
| 3200–2800
| Elamite dynasties
| 2800–550
| Kassites
| 16th–12th cent.
| Kingdom of Mannai
| 10th–7th cent.
| Median Empire
| 728–550
| Achaemenid Empire
| 550–330
| Seleucid Empire
| 330–150
| Parthian Empire
| 248–CE 226
|
| CE
| Sassanid Empire
| 226–651
| Afrighid dynasty
| ?–995
| Patriarchal Caliphate
| 637–651
| Umayyad Caliphate
| 661–750
| Abbasid Caliphate
| 750–1258
| Tahirid dynasty
| 821–873
| Alavid dynasty
| 864–928
| Sajid dynasty
| 889/890–929
| Saffarid dynasty
| 861–1003
| Samanid dynasty
| 875–999
| Ziyarid dynasty
| 928–1043
| Buyid dynasty
| 934–1055
| Sallarid
| 942–979
| Ma'munids
| 995-1017
| Ghaznavid Empire
| 963–1187
| Ghori dynasty
| 1149–1212
| Seljukid Empire
| 1037–1194
| Khwarezmid dynasty
| 1077–1231
| Ilkhanate
| 1256–1353
| Muzaffarid dynasty
| 1314–1393
| Chupanid dyansty
| 1337–1357
| Jalayerid dynasty
| 1339–1432
| Timurid Empire
| 1370–1506
| Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans
| 1407–1468
| Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans
| 1378–1508
| Safavid dynasty
| 1501–1722*
| Hotaki dynasty
| 1722–1729
| Afsharid dynasty
| 1736–1750
| Zand dynasty
| 1750–1794
| Qajar dynasty
| 1781–1925
| Pahlavi dynasty
| 1925–1979
| Iranian Revolution
| 1979
| The Interim Government of Iran
| 1979–1980
| Islamic Republic of Iran
| since 1980
| * or 1736
| Timeline
|
[ edit]
|
1,648,195
| 70,472,846
| 42.8
| Tehran
|
| 20,770
| 7,112,359
| 290.3
| Jerusalem [29]
|
| 92,300
| 6,198,677
| 57.5
| Amman
|
| 17,820
| 2,596,561
| 118.5
| Kuwait City
|
| 10,452
| 3,971,941
| 353.6
| Beirut
|
| 212,460
| 3,311,640
| 12.8
| Muscat
|
| 6,257
| 4,277,000
| 683.5
| Ramallah
|
| 11,437
| 928,635
| 69.4
| Doha
|
| 1,960,582
| 23,513,330
| 12.0
| Riyadh
|
| 185,180
| 19,747,586
| 92.6
| Damascus
|
[30]
| 756,768
| 71,892,807
| 76.5
| Ankara
|
| 82,880
| 4,621,399
| 29.5
| Abu Dhabi
|
| 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
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.
|
|
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
[31] 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.
[32]
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.
[33] 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).
[34]
Trade blocs
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- Asia-Europe Economic Meeting
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Gulf Cooperation Council
- Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement
- Commonwealth of Independent States
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
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
thumb.
thumb
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
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
thumb, the first Asian
Nobel laureate.
thumb, 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),
Kenzaburo Oe (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 and
Kim Dae-jung. Most of the said awardees are from
Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) and Kim (South Korea).
In 2006, Dr.
Mohammad 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
Asian mythology is diverse. The story is first found in
Mesopotamian mythology, in the
Epic of Gilgamesh
.
Hindu mythology tells about an
avatar of
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
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,
Carvaka, preached the enjoyment of material world.
Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.
Abrahamic
thumb, 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), 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
|Asia}}
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References
- "Asia". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
- "Asia". ''McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.'' 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
- Reid, T.R. ''Confucius Lives Next Door: What living in the East teaches us about living in the west'' Vintage Books(1999).
- "Asia." ''MSN Encarta Encyclopedia''. 2007.
- Geography Is Destiny - The Atlantic (December 2008)
- Welty, Paul Thomas. ''The Asians Their Evolving Heritage,'' 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.
- World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006. October 7, 2006. .
- 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]
- BBC News 2006. September 9, 2006. .
- American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. .
- 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.
- Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
- 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.
- Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
- HK Census and Statistics Department
- Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
- 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.
- Russia is considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia; population and area figures are for the entire state.
- Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
- The administrative capital of Burma (Myanmar) was officially moved from Yangon (Rangoon) to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.
- General Population Census of Cambodia 2008 - Provisional population totals, National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, released 3rd September, 2008
- East Timor is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.
- 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).
- Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the PRC.
- Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.
- 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.
- 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.
- Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Rise of Japan and 4 Asian Tigers from emergingdragon.com
- Commonwealth Business Council-Asia
- China to dwarf G7 states by 2050