Asia is just an enormous big lump sum of the planet earth, as it represents the largest body of continental dirt when measured by landmass, and the enormous amount of human population that it houses.
So what’s described and divided is an overview of everything that’s considered the area which is Asia.
Asia is one of the seven continents of the world. This continental division and definition, however, is a lot more broader than what most people may realize.
When placed under the seven continent methodology, what Asia does is it stretches from Japan in the Far East, right through to the solid land mass which is Russia to the West.
It also encompasses Saudi Arabia and what’s North above Asia. Although it may not make that much practical sense, there’s no denying that this definition of Asia may be a bit too broad.
The reason being that just over 60% percent of the entire population of the world call this home, which has now over 4 billion inhabitants. China along with India, are the two areas which commands the majority of the “Asian” people.
The Line That’s Divided
In the modern world that we live in, geographers recognize that there’s really no actual dividing line when it comes to Asia in the West, and Europe to its East.
As a result, this entire area of land in that “grey” area is referred to as Eurasia, which is more of an indication of the people who live there, rather than a specific landmass. So don’t allow thousands of years of terminology fade into antiquity.
Today, the majority of people who defines Europe as a continent, will pinpoint that this continent when extending to the East, the boundaries of Eastern Europe goes as far as the Ural Mountain ranges in Russia.
Beyond that, everything else, its people and the land that’s East of this particular mountain range is generally considered to be Asia. Also, most don’t realize that Israel is a country that’s considered to be in Western Asia.
Russia A Boundary Of Europe And Asia
Russia displays this division on their national flag, as there are two heads which are displayed on it. The head which is facing west refers to the European part of Russia, while the head facing East refers to the Asian part of mother Russia.
Within Russia, to foreigners, there’s almost a feeling that there’s two countries, with St. Petersburg and Moscow having extremely heavy European influences, while the cities which are in the Far East of Russia, such as Vladivostok, are much more oriented towards China.
So to resolve the boundary issues, the powers that be have defined Asia into different subcontinents. These areas being:
The Areas Of Subcontinental Asia
• Central Asia – The countries include: Kazakhstan Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan• East Asia – The countries include: China, North and South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mongolia
• Northern Asia – Continental Eastern Russia
• India Subcontinent – The countries include: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka
Ad• Southeast Asia – The countries include: Brunei, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand
• Southwest Asia – The countries include: Cyprus, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, and sometimes Egypt
The Boundaries Which Are Asia
Given the issues which exists defining the exact boundaries of Asia, you can then imagine the difficulty when it comes to defining certain characteristics when it comes to regarding the continent.
After all, you can imagine the life and people in Turkey is a lot different than those living in China. Or that the customs, food, and culture in India are vastly different than those living in Japan.
In fact, the majority of people who are living under the umbrella known as Asia, will usually take offense when foreigners happen to use the word “Asians” as a broad reference to them.
What they feel the word implies is that there’s similarities among all of the people who are living in Asia, which just simply isn’t true.
The Economics Which Is Asia
Economically, it becomes at lot easier to categorize and define. The largest emerging economy in Asia is China, when taken as a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
When thinking of China, which is officially known as the People’s Republic of China, this country remains as “communist” rule in name only, this especially when it comes to its economic issues and commerce.
With its massive economic growth over the past couple of decades, China is now the second largest economy in the world, rated right after the United States.
Another heavily populated and emerging area in Asia is India, as it’s now the fourth largest economy in the world, while Japan, although its land mass is extremely small, a group of islands, is the third largest.
When placed into practical terms, Asia now houses three of the four largest economies on the planet. The top three financial centers in Asia which are the most dominant are: Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
A Huge Arrangement Of A Lot Of Countries
With so many countries which are considered Asia, it’s also not that surprising to find an extremely wide variety of different religious practices throughout this continent.
This as a result is an enormous smorgasbord when it comes to the wide variety of belief systems that’s practiced, while Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam commands the largest mass followers of adherents.
So attempting to figure out what exactly constitutes Asia is more of a matter of opinion. Among all of the many assertions regarding Asia, there’s no dispute that it’s the home to the largest number of citizens on the planet who call it home.