Asia
Largest of the continents, occupying one-third of the total land
surface of the world. The origin of the name is unknown, though
it seems probable that it was at first used with a restricted local
application, gradually extended to the whole continent.
Area:
44,000,000 sq km/ 17,000,000 sq mi
Largest Cities:
Population over 5 million: Tokyo, Shanghai, Osaka, Beijing, Seoul,
Calcutta, Bombay, Jakarta, Bangkok, Tehran, Hong Kong, Delhi, Tianjin,
Karachi
Features:
Mount Everest, at 8,872 m/29,118 ft is the world's highest mountain;
the Dead Sea at -394 m/- 1,293 ft is the world's lowest point below
sea level; rivers (over 3,200 km/2,000 mi) include Chiang Jiang
(Yangtze), Huang He (Yellow River), Ob-Irtysh, Amur, Lena, Mekong,
Yenisey; lakes (over 18,000 sq km/ 7,000 sq mi) include the Caspian
Sea (the largest lake in the world), the Aral Sea, Lake Baikal (largest
freshwater lake in Eurasia), Balkhash; deserts include the Gobi,
Takla Makan, Syrian Desert, Arabian Desert, Negev
Physical:
Lying in the eastern hemisphere, Asia extends from the Arctic Circle
to just over 10º south of the Equator. The Asian mainland, which
forms the greater part of the Eurasian continent, lies entirely
in the northern hemisphere and stretches from Cape Chelyubinsk at
its northern extremity to Cape Piai at the southern tip of the Malay
Peninsula. From Dezhneva Cape in the east, the mainland extends
west over more than 165º longitude to Cape Baba in Turkey.
Climate:
Showing great extremes and contrasts, the heart of the continent
becomes bitterly cold in winter and extremely hot in summer. When
the heated air over land rises, moisture- laden air from the surrounding
seas flows in, bringing heavy monsoon rains to all SE Asia, China,
and Japan between May and Oct
Language:
Predominantly tonal languages (Chinese) and Japanese in the east,
Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Persian) in S Asia, Altaic
languages (Mongolian, Turkish) in W and Central Asia, Semitic languages
(Arabic, Hebrew) in the southwest
Religion:
The major religions of the world had their origins in Asia - Judaism
and Christianity in the Middle East; Islam in Arabia; Buddhism,
Hinduism, and Sikhism in India; Confucianism in China; and Shintoism
in Japan.
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