A satellite composite image of Asia

The continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The exact boundaries are vague (especially for non geographers), especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, the Black Sea, the ridges of the Caucasus (according to others, through the Kuma-Manych Depression), the Caspian Sea, the Ural River (according to others, the Emba River) and the Ural Mountains to Novaya Zemlya. About 60% of the world's population live in Asia. See also Eurasia.

The region of Asia is the continent of Asia plus nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Subregions

Map of Asia

As already mentioned Asia can be considered itself a subregion of the greater Eurasian continent. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia.

Asia itself is often divided in the following subregions:

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations like Kazakhstan are also included in Northern Asia.

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:

• the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
• Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.

East Asia

This term includes:

• The Pacific islands of Japan.
• North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
• China, but sometimes only the eastern regions

Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included with East Asia.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:

• In Mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

• In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and East Timor.

The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

South Asia

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes:

• the Himalayan States of Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh
• the Indian Ocean nations of Maldives.

Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

It can also be called by the Western/non-geographic term of Middle East, Middle East is especially commonly used by Americans (althought frequently incorrectly - as though 'Middle East' and 'Asia' or 'Middle East' and 'Africa' are 2 different regions). 'Middle East' (to some interpretations) is occasionally used to also refer to countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:

• Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey - 97% of Turkey.
• The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
• The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
• The Arabian peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and occasionally Kuwait.
• The Caucasus region, including Azerbaijan and Armenia.
• The Iranian Plateau, containing Iran and parts of other nations.

Also see Gulf States, for a different grouping involving several of the above countries.

Population density

This is a list of countries/dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km².

Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here.

The whole of Russia, Egypt, and Turkey are referred to in the table, although they are only partly in Asia. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been included, although they can also be considered part of Europe.

West Bank and Gaza Strip are not listed separately, but combined as Palestinian territories.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia

See also

Wikimedia Commons has multimedia related to:

Asia

• History of Asia
• Geography of Asia
• Economy of Asia
• Asia Minor
• Arzawa

External link

• http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html