Two-point equidistant projection of Asia.

Asia is the world\'s largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth\'s total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world\'s current human population. Chiefly 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 – lying 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 to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, and to the north by the Arctic Ocean. Russia is considered a transcontinental country, as are Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and others, all of which include territories in Asia and in Europe. 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"Asia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc."Asia". McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people).

Etymology

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The word Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word "Ασία", 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. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women\'s names are used to describe one enormous and substinant 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 ally named Asios and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek 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.

Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(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 erēbu(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.

It is interesting to note, in Icelandic Saga, ancient Teutons separated Asia from Europe by the river Tanakvisl (or Vanakvisl), which flows into the Black Sea. Eastward across the River (in Asia), so legend tells, was a land known as Asaheim or Asaland, where dwelt Odin, chief god, in his citadel named Asgard.Rydberg, Viktor. Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, London: Norroena Society, 1907. pp.33-34 However, Aesir and all its forms are related to Sanskrit asura and Avestan ahura, the local reflexes of the name of a class of divine beings.

Definition and boundaries

Physical map of Asia (excluding Southwest 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,"Asia." MSN Encarta Encyclopedia. 2007. as there is no logical physical separation between them. Physiographically, 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 Plates, 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,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. <http://www.wusc.ca/expertise/worldwide/asia/>. especially in the United States after World War II.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] The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,BBC News 2006. September 9, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/>. 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 commonly not considered Asian.American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. <http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/007.html>.

\'Asian\' as a demonym

See also: Geography of Asia, countries in both Asia and Europe, geographic criteria for the definition of Europe, orientalism.

The demonym \'Asian\' is often used colloquially to refer to people from a subregion of Asia instead of for anyone from Asia. Thus, in British English, \'Asian\' can mean South Asian, but may also refer to other Asian groups.Color Q World. Clarifying the Definition of Asian. 2005. October 1, 2006. <http://www.colorq.org/PetSins/article.asp?y=2005&m=5&x=5_7>. In the United States, \'Asian American\' can mean East Asian Americans, due to the historical and cultural influences of China and Japan on the U.S. up to the 1960s and in preference to the terms \'Oriental\' and \'Asiatic\'. However, the term is increasingly taken to include Southeast Asian Americans and South Asian Americans, due to the increasing numbers of them.Lee, Sharon M. Population Reference Bureau. Asian Americans Diverse and Growing. Accessed 2006-11-10.

Territories and regions

Template:Asia.png

UN geoscheme subregions of Asia:      Eastern Asia      Central Asia      Southern Asia      Southeastern Asia      Western Asia      Russia (Asia)

Name of region  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. and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Central Asia:
Kazakhstan  Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.	2,346,927	13,472,593	5.7	Astana
Kyrgyzstan	198,500	4,822,166	24.3	Bishkek
Tajikistan	143,100	6,719,567	47.0	Dushanbe
Turkmenistan	488,100	4,688,963	9.6	Ashgabat
Uzbekistan	447,400	25,563,441	57.1	Tashkent
Eastern Asia:
China  The current state is formally known as the People\'s Republic of China (PRC), which is subsumed by the eponymous entity and civilisation (China). Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.	9,584,492	1,384,303,705	134.0	Beijing
Hong Kong  Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.	1,092	7,303,334	6,688.0	Victoria City
Japan	377,835	126,974,628	336.1	Tokyo
Macau  Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.	25	461,833	18,473.3	—
Mongolia	1,565,000	2,694,432	1.7	Ulaanbaatar
North Korea	120,540	22,224,195	184.4	Pyongyang
South Korea	98,480	48,324,000	490.7	Seoul
Taiwan  Figures are for the area under the de facto control of the Republic of China (ROC) government, frequently referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan.	35,980	22,548,009	626.7	Taipei
Northern Africa:
Egypt  Egypt is generally considered a transcontinental country in Northern Africa and Western Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, east of the Suez Canal (Sinai Peninsula).	980,869	80,335,036	21.7	Cairo
Northern Asia:
Russia  Russia is a transcontinental country; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.	13,115,200	139,129,729	3.0	Moscow
Southeastern Asia:Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
Brunei	5,770	350,898	60.8	Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia	181,040	12,775,324	70.6	Phnom Penh
East Timor (Timor-Leste)  East Timor is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.	15,007	952,618	63.5	Dili
Indonesia  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).	1,419,588	227,026,560	159.9	Jakarta
Laos	236,800	5,777,180	24.4	Vientiane
Malaysia	329,750	27,662,365	68.7	Kuala Lumpur
Myanmar (Burma)	678,500	42,238,224	62.3	Naypyidaw  The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved from Yangon (Rangoon) to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.
Philippines	300,000	84,525,639	281.8	Manila
Singapore	704	4,483,900	6,369.0	Singapore
Thailand	514,000	62,354,402	121.3	Bangkok
Vietnam	331,690	87,375,000	246.1	Hanoi
Southern Asia:
Afghanistan	647,500	27,755,775	42.9	Kabul
Bangladesh	144,000	133,376,684	926.2	Dhaka
Bhutan	47,000	672,425	14.3	Thimphu
India  Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the PRC.	3,167,590	1,045,845,226	318.2	New Delhi
Iran	1,648,195	70,472,846	42	Tehran
Maldives	300	320,165	1,067.2	Malé
Nepal	140,800	25,873,917	183.8	Kathmandu
Pakistan	803,940	147,663,429	183.7	Islamabad
Sri Lanka	65,610	19,576,783	298.4	Colombo
Western Asia:
Armenia  Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.	29,800	3,330,099	111.7	Yerevan
Azerbaijan  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.	46,870	3,845,127	82.0	Baku
Bahrain	665	656,397	987.1	Manama
Cyprus  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 sociopolitical connections with Europe. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), distinct from the de jure Republic of Cyprus in the south (with a predominantly Greek population), is recognised only by Turkey.	9,250	775,927	83.9	Nicosia
Gaza  Gaza and West Bank, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are territories partially occupied by Israel but under de facto administration of the Palestinian National Authority.	363	1,203,591	3,315.7	Gaza
Georgia  Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.	20,460	2,032,004	99.3	Tbilisi
Iraq	437,072	24,001,816	54.9	Baghdad
Israel	20,770	6,029,529	290.3	JerusalemIn 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.
Jordan	92,300	5,307,470	57.5	Amman
Kurdistan Autonomous Region	80.000	5.500.000	40.9	Hewlêr
Kuwait	17,820	2,111,561	118.5	Kuwait City
Lebanon	10,452	3,677,780	353.6	Beirut
Oman	212,460	2,713,462	12.8	Muscat
Qatar	11,437	793,341	69.4	Doha
Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	23,513,330	12.0	Riyadh
Syria	185,180	17,155,814	92.6	Damascus
Turkey  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.	756,768	67,308,928	76.5	Ankara
United Arab Emirates	82,880	2,445,989	29.5	Abu Dhabi
West Bank	5,860	2,303,660	393.1	—
Yemen	527,970	18,701,257	35.4	Sanaá
Total	43,810,582	3,902,404,193	89.07

See Also: List of Asian countries by population

Country name changes

The names of quite a few Asian countries have changed during the last century.

Previous Name	Year	Current Name
East Pakistan	1971	Bangladesh, People\'s Republic of
Kampuchea, Democratic	1975	Cambodia, Kingdom of
Portuguese Timor	1975	East Timor, Democratic Republic of
Dutch East Indies	1949	Indonesia, Republic of
Persian Empire	1935	Iran, Republic of
Transjordan	1946	Jordan, Kingdom of
Kirghizia (USSR)	1991	Kyrgyzstan, Republic
Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore	1963	Malaysia
Moldavia (USSR)	1991	Moldova, Republic of
Burma	1989	Myanmar, Union of
Muscat	1971	Oman, Sultanate of
West Pakistan	1971	Pakistan, Republic of
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
Formosa, Republic	1945	Taiwan
Tajik (USSR)	1991	Tajikistan, Republic of
Siam	1939	Thailand, Kingdom of
Ottoman Empire	1923	Turkey, Republic of
Turkmen SSR (USSR)	1991	Turkmenistan
Trucial Oman & Trucial States	1971	United Arab Emirates
French Indo-China	1949	Vietnam, Socialist Republic of
Yemen, People\'s Democratic & Southern Yemen	1970	Yemen, Republic of

Economy

Economy of Asia
During 2003 unless otherwise stated

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.
See also: Economy of the world - Economy of Africa - Economy of Asia - Economy of Europe - Economy of North America - Economy of Oceania - Economy of South America

Main article: Economy of Asia

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 India and that of Japan. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRCFive 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 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 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. Historically, Japan has had 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 EU, 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. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in quite a few countries of the Pacific Rim (Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and S.Korea).

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 forecasted to overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020.Commonwealth Business Council-Asia. Retrieved on April 12 2007.

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 and forests.Also fish,water,and metal.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingl