Asia in General• Largest continent (17,212,000 sq mi)• Largest population (3,879,000,000)• 6 of the world’s 10 largest populations, inc. the top
2. • 1. China, 2. India, 5. Indonesia, 6. Pakistan, 7. Bangladesh,
10. Japan
• 48 countries• Birthplace of all world religions• VERY culturally diverse• Language, religion, ethnicity, music, food, art, etc.
• “Asian” is a very inaccurate description for people and reflects an unawareness of culture.
Physical Geography of Asia
• “Eurasian” landmass• Indian and Pacific Oceans• Ural (Russia) and Himalayan (India, Nepal)
Mountains• Siberia (N. Russia)• Ganges (India), Yellow/ Huang He (China),
and Yangtze/ Chang Jiang (China) rivers.• Note: Russia is politically connected to
Europe, but physically a part of Asia.
Major Regions in Asia
• Southwest Asia (Middle East)• Southern Asia (India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh)• Central Asia (“Stans”)• Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia,
Indonesia)• Eastern Asia (China, Japan, N & S
Korea)
Religion in Asia
• As we have previously studied, the world’s major religions all originated in Asia and have strong presence in Asia
• Buddhism (Southeast Asia, China)• Daoism (China)• Hinduism (India)• Islam (Southwest Asia, Indonesia, Pakistan,
Bang.)• Christianity (Philippines, Christian minorities in
many countries)• Judaism (Israel)• Shinto (Japan)