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Geography of Asia reviews geographical concepts of classifyingAsia, comprising 58 countries and territories.
The area of Asia is not the sum of the areas of each of its regions, which have been defined independently of the whole. For example, the borders ofSouth Asia andWest Asia depend on who is defining them and for what purpose. These varying definitions are not generally reflected in the map of Asia as a whole; for example,Egypt is typically included in theMiddle East, but not in Asia, even though the bulk of the Middle East is in Asia.
The demarcation between Asia andAfrica is theSuez Canal, theGulf of Suez, theRed Sea, and theBab-el-Mandeb.
The border with Europe starts with the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, even though Turkey in theNear East extends partly into theAegean Islands and includesIstanbul on the European side of theBosphorus. On the north the boundary between the continents of Asia andEurope is commonly regarded as running through theDardanelles, theSea of Marmara, theBosporus, theBlack Sea, theCaucasus Mountains, theCaspian Sea, theUral River to its source, and a long border generally following the eastern side of theUral Mountains to theKara Sea,Russia. TheArctic Ocean is the northern border. TheBering Straits divide Asia from North America.
On the southeast of Asia are theMalay Peninsula (the limit of mainland Asia) andIndonesia ("Isles of India", the former East Indies), a vast nation among thousands of islands on theSunda Shelf, large and small, inhabited and uninhabited.Australia nearby is a different continent. The Pacific islands northeast of Australia more remotely removed fromJapan andKorea areOceania rather than Asia. From Indonesia the border runs along theIndian Ocean to the Red Sea. Most of the islands in the Indian Ocean are Asian.
Multiple sources give different estimates of the area enclosed by the imaginary border of Asia. TheNew York TimesAtlas of the World gives 43,608,000 km2 (16,837,000 sq mi).[1]Chambers World Gazetteer rounds off to 44,000,000 km2 (17,000,000 sq mi),[2] while theConcise Columbia Encyclopedia gives 44,390,000 km2 (17,140,000 sq mi).[3] The 2011 Pearson's has 44,030,000 km2 (17,000,000 sq mi).[4] The methods of obtaining these figures and exactly what areas they include have not been divulged.
The map surface of mainland Asia is entirely contained within aGeodetic quadrangle formed from segments oflatitude going through its north and south extremes and segments oflongitude passing through the east and west extremes.Cape Chelyuskin is at 77° 43′ N;Cape Piai in theMalay Peninsula is at 1° 16′ N;Cape Baba inTurkey is at 26° 4′ E;Cape Dezhnyov is at 169° 40′ W; that is, mainland Asia ranges through about 77° of latitude and 165° of longitude,[5] distances of about 8,560 km (5,320 mi) long by 9,600 km (6,000 mi) wide according to Chambers, or 8,700 km (5,400 mi) long by 9,700 km (6,000 mi) wide according to Pearson's.
Indonesia to the southeast, a nation consisting of thousands of islands, adds a significant amount of territory to mainland Asia and extends the extreme Asian latitude further south. The geographic nature of the country raises such questions as whether the sea and the seabed count as Asia. TheAustralia–Indonesia border is still being negotiated. Currently, a 1997 treaty remains unratified. As there are questions of fishing rights in the waters and mineral rights in the seabed, two different boundaries are being negotiated, one for the water column and one for the seabed. The southernmost seabed boundary is 10° 50' S, the latitude of Point A3, the Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea common tripoint. The southernmost water column boundary is still further south at Point Z88, 13° 56' 31.8".
Medieval Europeans considered Asia as acontinent, a distinct landmass. The European concept of the three continents in theOld World goes back toclassical antiquity. Definition of continents has long been and remains primarily the realm ofgeographers, including cultural geographers as well as physical geographers. A wide majority of geographers, in nearly all atlases and many other publications fromNational Geographic to theCIA World Factbook andMerriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, define Europe, Asia, and Africa as continents.
The three-continent system was an idea devised inArchaic Greece, a time of Greek colonial expansion and trade throughout the Mediterranean and the spread of writing again. Writing is a prerequisite of written geography. It had been lost during the precedingGreek Dark Ages, a period of piracy at sea and defensive parochialism on land. The precedingMycenaean Greece left scant record of some serving women from a locality in the laterAsia Minor called Asia. Europe was mainly Greece, while Libya was a small region to the west of Egypt. There was no systematic definition of "continent;" however, the Greek mariners did make a distinction that was to become one: the islands, nēsoi, versus the mainland, ēpeiros.[6] Oneetymology relates ēpeir- to the sameIndo-European root from which English "over" came.[7] The Armenian form means "bank, coast." The Greek form must be some sort of "overland," whether continuous land or a coast that looms over. In Latin it became continens terra, "the continuous land," shortened to just continens, stem continent-.
Most ships of the Archaic Period were not ocean-going. They followed the shores closely, ready to put in at the first sign of trouble. It is not surprising that the first continents were "shores," as they are inHerodotus, first historian whose works are extant, who relies on earlier geography now missing except for fragments. Asia is defined by two akrai, "bluffs" or "shores." One runs fromPhasis inColchis (Georgia) at the eastern end of theBlack Sea around the coast ofAsia Minor toPhoenicia. The second runs from Phoenicia to theRed Sea (the ancient Red Sea comprised also thePersian Gulf and theIndian Ocean) and from there to India, after which "no man can say what sort of region it is."[8]
Asia is equal to its shores, which also define Europe and Libya. The northern shore runs eastward along the line if the Phasis andAraxes Rivers; that is, south of theCaucasus Mountains, and around the south of theCaspian Sea. The southern shore continues the Red Sea and the Nile River, asDarius the Great had constructed a canal between them. This division and system was already in place before Herodotus. He professes not to understand it: "I am astonished that men should ever have divided Libya, Asia and Europe as they have, for they are exceedingly unequal."[9] His astonishment continues: "I cannot conceive why three names, and women's names especially, should ever have been given to a tract which is in reality one ... nor can I even say who gives the three tracts [akrai] their names." Previously he had spoken of two tracts. He says that an alternate northern border is the mouth of theDon River.[10]
Strabo, geographer of the Early Roman Empire, has an explanation of the geography Herodotus found so puzzling. The key is the coast-hugging requirement of most ancient navigation. As the ancient navigator passed under theRock of Gibraltar on his way into theMediterranean Sea ("our sea" to those who lived there), two paths appeared to him, the north shore or the south shore. Strabo says:[11]
"Now as you sail into the strait at thePillars, Libya lies on your right hand as far as the stream of theNile, and on your left hand across the strait lies Europe as far as theTanais."
To the ancient navigators of Our Sea, the continents were separated by seas. The canal extended the southern shore into theRed Sea. The symmetry of the scheme was too geometric for the Greeks to resist, as they represented all geographic masses by regular figures if they could. A triangle prevailed in the Greek imagination with points at the Pillars, the Tanais and the Red Sea. As the sides were three shores, the continents were three.
The geographer,Claudius Ptolemaeus, distinguishes between geography, which is "a representation in picture of the whole known world," and chorography ("study of places"), which "treats more fully the particulars."[12] The idea of the continents is geography and is presented as such. A chorographer in Ptolemy's view was the expert in a specific locality, such as a ship captain, a merchant, or a native. Geographers consult them but they do not write geography unless they happen to be both.
Ptolemy was a geographer of the middle Roman Empire, an Egyptian. The idea of the continents preceded the imperial Romans but through them reached to modern time to determine today's geographic views, which are enhancements and refinements of the classical. Stating that "continents are bounded more properly, when it is possible, by seas than by rivers," Ptolemy defines a three-continent system: Europe, Libya, Asia. His Libya is the North Africa of today, containing a province, Africa, whose name replaced Libya. Rejecting theNile River as the Asian border so as not to splitEgypt, Ptolemy designates theRed Sea as the border between Libya and Asia. In the north, the border between Asia and Europe is a meridian through the mouth of theDon River northward "to the unknown region."[13]Asia Minor remains "Asia properly so called."[14]
Ptolemy's Asia extends to theFar East, approximately identical to today's Asia, except that the European border runs through the future location ofMoscow, then a wilderness of forest skirted bySarmatian tribesmen. In a striking foreshadowing ofEuropean andAsian Russia,European Sarmatia lies between theVistula River and theDon River, whileAsiatic Sarmatia runs east of the Don toScythia.[15]
The relatively recent study ofplate tectonics has discovered that Asia has several regions that would be considered distinct landmasses if strictly geologic and tectonic criteria were used (for example, South Asia and East Asia). Definition ofcontinental plates is the realm ofgeologists. Strictly in terms of geological landmasses or tectonic plates, Europe is a western peninsula ofEurasia and of the Africa-Eurasia landmass. In the latter, Europe and Asia are parts of the Eurasian Plate, which excludes the Arabian and Indian tectonic plates.
In human geography, there are several schools of thought. The more common school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East as specific regions for more detailed analysis. Other schools equate the word "continent" to geographical "region" when referring to Europe and Asia in terms of physical geography.[citation needed]
In European languages, the term "Asian" more commonly refers to ethnic heritage rather than a strict geographic area. In American English, "Asian" often refers toEast and Southeast Asians, while in British English, Asian often refers to South Asians. See theList of transcontinental countries for further geographic definitions. The termAsia–Pacific generally refers to a combination ofEast Asia,Southeast Asia, and islands in thePacific Ocean – and most are also considered part ofAustralasia orOceania. Asia contains theIndian subcontinent,Iranian Plateau,Arabian Peninsula, as well as a piece of the North American plate in Siberia.
Since the 18th century,Asia has been divided into several regions and subregions. There has been no universal consensus on the use of these terms.
The six regions of Asia include:
Climate change is particularly important inAsia, as the continent accounts for the majority of the human population. Warming since the 20th century is increasing the threat ofheatwaves across the entire continent.[22]: 1459 Heatwaves lead to increased mortality, and the demand forair conditioning is rapidly accelerating as the result. By 2080, around 1 billion people in the cities ofSouth andSoutheast Asia are expected to experience around a month of extreme heat every year.[22]: 1460 Theimpacts on water cycle are more complicated: already arid regions, primarily located inWest Asia andCentral Asia, will see moredroughts, while areas ofEast, Southeast and South Asia which are already wet due to themonsoons will experience more flooding.[22]: 1459
The waters around Asia are subjected to the sameimpacts as elsewhere, such as the increased warming andocean acidification.[22]: 1465 There are manycoral reefs in the region, and they are highly vulnerable to climate change,[22]: 1459 to the point practically all of them will be lost if the warming exceeds 1.5 °C (2.7 °F).[23][24] Asia's distinctivemangrove ecosystems are also highly vulnerable tosea level rise.[22]: 1459 Asia also has more countries with large coastal populations than any other continent, which would cause large economic impacts from sea level rise.[22]: 1459 Water supplies in theHindu Kush region will become more unstable as its enormousglaciers, known as the "Asian water towers", gradually melt.[22]: 1459 These changes to water cycle also affect vector-borne disease distribution, with malaria and dengue fever expected to become more prominent in the tropical and subtropical regions.[22]: 1459 Food security will become more uneven, and South Asian countries could experience significant impacts from global food price volatility.[22]: 1494
Historical emissions from Asia are lower than those from Europe and North America. However, China has been the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the 21st century, while India is the third-largest. As a whole, Asia currently accounts for 36% of world's primaryenergy consumption, which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. By 2040, it is also expected to account for 80% of the world'scoal and 26% of the world'snatural gas consumption.[22]: 1468 While theUnited States remains the world's largestoil consumer, by 2050 it is projected to move to third place, behind China and India.[22]: 1470 While nearly half of the world's newrenewable energy capacity is built in Asia,[22]: 1470 this is not yet sufficient in order to meet the goals of theParis Agreement. They imply that the renewables would account for 35% of total energy consumption in Asia by 2030.[22]: 1471
Climate change adaptation is already a reality for many Asian countries, with a wide range of strategies attempted across the continent.[22]: 1534 Important examples include the growing implementation ofclimate-smart agriculture in certain countries or the "sponge city" planning principles in China.[22]: 1534 While some countries have drawn up extensive frameworks such as the Bangladesh Delta Plan or Japan's Climate Adaptation Act,[22]: 1508 others still rely on localized actions that are not effectively scaled up.[22]: 1534TheUnited Nations Statistics Division, charged with collecting statistical data on global regions including Asia, publishes a classification standard,United Nations M49, which assigns code numbers to continental regions, areas and countries, based on statistical purposes,[26] and the countries and regions grouped together don't imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliations between the grouped countries.[26] Some general data on the countries listed in M49 for the continental region, Asia (142), and one non-official region, "Northern Asia," are presented below.
M49 is a device for collecting useful statistics for the UNSD and is a suggested reference guide offered as a global standard for all agencies and institutions within the various UN departments that might be interested. The United Nations Statistics Division does not present it as an authoritative standard or as one that is more valid or more worthy of adoption than some other. It is not a requirement for other agencies within the United Nations, which use their own standards as are convenient for their operations.
No nations have adopted M49 as a mandatory standard. It does, however, reflect general usage concerning the political geography of Asia. M49 is updated frequently to reflect changing geopolitical circumstances.
One problematic aspect of the classification of Asia not yet definitively addressed by the Statistics Division is "Northern Asia," which has no regional code and is not currently officially aregion of Asia. Russia, or "the Russian Federation," is a nation of Europe. The "Northern Asia" name is unofficially recognized; for example, the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names includes an Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia Division. "Northern Asia" comes from traditional usage, which divides Europe from Asia at the Ural Mountains. No one at the UN is suggesting that European Russia be included in Asia or that Asian Russia be included in Europe. Their policy is that a nation shall appear once in one region. They have selected Europe. The problem remains unsolved.
The nations of this map with one major exception (and a few minor ones) are those defined byThe World Factbook. Short forms of the names are used; sometimes abbreviations. All the nations can be found in the table below. The one major exception to the scheme is "Russia," not currently officially in the continental region of Asia, but unofficiallypartly in it even though classified as Europe.
The countries in this table are categorised mainly, but not entirely, according to theUNSD scheme for statistical purposes used by theUnited Nations Statistics Division. For example, the UNSD statistical geoscheme does not recognize a "North Asia," but problematic differences in point of view reach down to the country level elsewhere as well. Part ofEgypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in West Asia, and theAustralian external territories ofChristmas Island and theCocos (Keeling) Islands are often associated with Asia. However, these are not present in the UNSD geoscheme.
There is no universally defined standard Asia. Traditional views are approximate at best. Even today borders are still being defined, as between Indonesia, Australia and Oceania. As long as conflict over territory remains a human trait there may well be "an eastern question," as the British Empire said of the Ottoman Empire.
In evaluating the geographic position of nations of the edge of Asia some writers utilize the amorphous concept of "transcontinental countries," which has different meanings to different authorities. Merriam-Webster defines it as "going across a continent," as might a railroad.[27] With regard to Asia, there is only one such country, the Russian Federation.
In a second definition, Petrovsky refers to a new tendency to form transcontinental agencies, meaning agencies whose jurisdictions cross continental borders, rather than the whole continent.[28] Petrovsky's examples put together widely scattered sections of continents. There is no question of their trans- status. More precise views, however, require definitions of continents, which in the case of Asia are not quite so facile.
A third definition emphasizes transformation in place from one continent to another. Fahey at first defines Turkey as transcontinental by virtue of being in bothAnatolia and the Balkans, neglecting the historical circumstance that the Balkans as part of the Ottoman Empire were once Asian, as was much of North Africa. He then hypothesizes that Turkey, accepted into theEuropean Union, is defined by that circumstance to be European.[29] By this usage, the very region to which "Asia" was first applied is now Europe. If it is, Turkey cannot be transcontinental by being split between two continents. This sort of paradox only underlines that Asia has no precise definition in the same way that nations do, to whom a mere 100 yards of border may be of great concern.
Data included in the table below are per sources in linked articles when available, the CIA World Factbook when not. No attempt is made to split populations. That of Russia is for the whole country; thus, the populations and areas cannot be summed to produce those of any defined Asia. The notes state which nations might be considered transcontinental by some agency, but there is little agreement generally.
| Code | Name ofregion and territory, withflag | Area (km2) | Population | Pop. density (/km2) | Date | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 143 | Central Asia | |||||
| 398 |  Kazakhstan[b] | 2,724,927 | 16,536,000 | 6.1 | Jan 2011 | Astana |
| 417 |  Kyrgyzstan | 199,951 | 5,587,443 | 27.9 | Jul 2011 | Bishkek |
| 762 |  Tajikistan | 143,100 | 7,627,200 | 53.3 | Jul 2011 | Dushanbe |
| 795 |  Turkmenistan | 488,100 | 4,997,503 | 10.2 | Jul 2011 | Ashgabat |
| 860 |  Uzbekistan | 447,400 | 28,128,600 | 62.9 | Jul 2011 | Tashkent |
| 030 | Eastern Asia | |||||
| 156 |  China[g][h] | 9,640,821 | 1,322,044,605 | 134.0 | Beijing | |
| 344 |  Hong Kong[g] | 1,104 | 7,122,508 | 6,451.5 | Jul 2011 | — |
| 392 |  Japan | 377,947 | 127,920,000 | 338.5 | Jul 2011 | Tokyo |
| 408 |  North Korea | 120,540 | 23,479,095 | 184.4 | Pyongyang | |
| 410 |  South Korea | 98,480 | 49,232,844 | 490.7 | Seoul | |
| 446 |  Macau[g] | 25 | 460,823 | 18,473.3 | — | |
| 496 |  Mongolia | 1,565,000 | 2,996,082 | 1.7 | Ulaanbaatar | |
| 158 |  Taiwan[g] | 35,980 | 22,920,946 | 626.7 | Taipei | |
| N/A | Northern Asia | |||||
| 643 |  Russia[30] | 13,119,600 | 37,630,081 | 2.9 | Moscow[31] | |
| 035 | Southeastern Asia | |||||
| 096 |  Brunei | 5,770 | 381,371 | 66.1 | Bandar Seri Begawan | |
| 104 |  Myanmar | 676,578 | 68,758,224 | 70.3 | Jul 2022 | Naypyidaw |
| 116 |  Cambodia[32] | 181,035 | 13,388,910 | 74 | Phnom Penh | |
| 360 |  Indonesia[c] | 1,919,440 | 230,512,000 | 120.1 | Jakarta | |
| 418 |  Laos | 236,800 | 6,677,534 | 28.2 | Vientiane | |
| 458 |  Malaysia | 329,847 | 27,780,000 | 84.2 | Kuala Lumpur | |
| 608 |  Philippines | 343,448 | 92,681,453 | 308.9 | Manila | |
| 702 |  Singapore | 704 | 4,608,167 | 6,545.7 | Singapore | |
| 764 |  Thailand | 514,000 | 65,493,298 | 127.4 | Bangkok | |
| 626 |  Timor-Leste[c] | 15,007 | 1,108,777 | 73.8 | Dili | |
| 704 |  Vietnam | 331,690 | 86,116,559 | 259.6 | Hanoi | |
| 034 | Southern Asia | |||||
| 004 |  Afghanistan[j] | 647,500 | 32,738,775 | 42.9 | Kabul | |
| 050 |  Bangladesh | 147,570 | 153,546,901 | 1040.5 | Dhaka | |
| 064 |  Bhutan | 38,394 | 682,321 | 17.8 | Thimphu | |
| 356 |  India[h] | 3,287,263 | 1,147,995,226 | 349.2 | New Delhi | |
| 462 |  Maldives | 300 | 379,174 | 1,263.3 | Malé | |
| 524 |  Nepal | 147,181 | 29,519,114 | 200.5 | Kathmandu | |
| 586 |  Pakistan[g] | 881,913 | 207,774,520 | 244.4 | Islamabad | |
| 144 |  Sri Lanka | 65,610 | 21,128,773 | 322.0 | Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte | |
| 145 | West Asia | |||||
| 051 |  Armenia[e] | 29,800 | 3,299,000 | 280.7 | Yerevan | |
| 031 |  Azerbaijan[a][b] | 86,660 | 8,845,127 | 102.736 | Baku | |
| 048 |  Bahrain | 665 | 718,306 | 987.1 | Manama | |
| 196 |  Cyprus[e] | 9,250 | 792,604 | 83.9 | Nicosia | |
| 818 |  Egypt[f] | 60,000 | 600,000 | 10 | Cairo[33] | |
| 268 |  Georgia[a] | 69,700 | 4,636,400 | 65.1 | Tbilisi | |
| 364 |  Iran | 1,648,195 | 70,472,846 | 42.8 | Tehran | |
| 368 |  Iraq | 437,072 | 28,221,181 | 54.9 | Baghdad | |
| 376 |  Israel | 20,770 | 7,112,359 | 290.3 | Jerusalem[i] | |
| 400 |  Jordan | 92,300 | 6,198,677 | 57.5 | Amman | |
| 414 |  Kuwait | 17,820 | 2,596,561 | 118.5 | Kuwait City | |
| 422 |  Lebanon | 10,452 | 3,971,941 | 353.6 | Beirut | |
| 512 |  Oman | 212,460 | 3,311,640 | 12.8 | Muscat | |
| 275 |  State of Palestine | 6,257 | 4,277,000 | 683.5 | Ramallah | |
| 634 |  Qatar | 11,437 | 928,635 | 69.4 | Doha | |
| 682 |  Saudi Arabia | 1,960,582 | 23,513,330 | 12.0 | Riyadh | |
| 760 |  Syria | 185,180 | 19,747,586 | 92.6 | Damascus | |
| 792 |  Turkey[a][b] | 783,356 | 84,680,273 | 110 | Ankara | |
| 784 |  United Arab Emirates | 82,880 | 4,621,399 | 29.5 | Abu Dhabi | |
| 887 |  Yemen | 527,970 | 23,013,376 | 35.4 | Sanaá | |
| 142 | Asia | 43,810,582 | 4,162,966,086 | 89.07 | — | |
^ a: Azerbaijan,Georgia, andTurkey are often considered to betranscontinental countries, spanning both Asia and Europe. Many organisations, such as theBBC[34] place them inEurope, while others such as theCIA[35] include them in Asia,West Asia and theMiddle East to be precise. All are included in European organisations such as theCouncil of Europe[36] and are considered to be European, and thus eligible to join, by theEuropean Union.[37]
^ b: Azerbaijan,Kazakhstan, andTurkey are considered split by some between two continents: Azerbaijan north of the Caucasus, Kazakhstan west of the Ural River and Turkey west of the Bosphorus might be construed as in Europe. Only national data is presented. Splitting a nation would be more problematic; for example, the Ural River is not a well-defined boundary in places; moreover, some geopolitical units straddle it. The UN convention is followed here, which does not define any transcontinental regions.
^ c: Indonesia is often considered a transcontinental country with territory in both Asia andOceania, andEast Timor can be placed in either Asia or Oceania. Population and area figures for Indonesia do not includeIrian Jaya andMaluku Islands, frequently reckoned in Oceania.
^ d: Russia is considered a transcontinental country with territory in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia; population and area figures are for theUral Federal District,Siberian Federal District andFar Eastern Federal District of Russia, which belong to Asia.
^ e: The island ofCyprus is located on the AsianAnatolian Plate,[38] but is a member of European organisations such as the Council of Europe[36] and the European Union.[37]Armenia is similarly located fully within Asia, but is a member of the Council of Europe.[36]
^ f: Egypt is often considered a transcontinental country with territory in North Africa and West Asia; population and area figures are for theSinai Peninsula, which belongs to Asia.
^ g: Hong Kong andMacau areSpecial Administrative Regions (SAR) ofChina.Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) is ade factostateclaimed by the PRC. Figures given for China do not include these areas.
^ h: The area ofIndia includesJammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory contested between India,Pakistan, andChina.
^ i: In 1980,Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominantEast Jerusalem during the1967 Six-Day War. TheUnited Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies inTel Aviv instead.
^ j: Afghanistan is also considered to be a Central Asian country. It only joined theSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in 2007.
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