Asia is the largest of the world's continents, covering approximately 30 per centum of the Worldly concern's Din Land area. IT is too the world's most populous continent, with roughly 60 per centum of the total population.

Asia makes up the eastern helping of the Continent supercontinent; Europe occupies the western serving. The border 'tween the two continents is debated. Still, most geographers define Asia's western border as an meandering line that follows the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian and Black seas. Asia is fringed by the Arctic, Peaceable, and Asian country oceans.

The true term "Asia" was originally used past ancient Greeks to describe the civilizations east of their imperium. Ancient Asian peoples, however, byword themselves as a varied and diverse mix of cultures—not a collective radical. Nowadays, the term "Asia" is exploited atomic number 3 a cultural concept, while subregion classifications describe the distinct geopolitical identities of the chaste. These classifications are Western Asia, Fundamental Asia, Southern Asia, Middle Atlantic Asia, Southeasterly Asia, and Union Asia.

Now, Asia is home to the citizens of Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanese Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Frederick North Korea, Oman, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Dud, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Republic of Yemen.

Asia's physical geography, environment and resources, and human geographics hind end be well-advised severally.

Asia's stake in world markets has grown dramatically in the endure half-century. Today, Continent countries sheer every bit close to of the top producers of many agricultural, forest, fishing, minelaying, and highly-developed products. This raised production has brought both extremum wealth and negative environmental impacts to the Continent.

Climate and Agriculture

Asia's vast area allows for varied and extreme climates. It has some of the coldest, hottest, wettest, and driest places along Worldly concern. While many well-defined climates live across the continent, Asia's climate rump be most generally divided into three zones: north/key, sou'west, and southeast.

The continent's north/central zone is mannered by cold and teetotal Arctic winds, especially the Siberia area of Russia. Hardier grains, much as barley, Polygonum fagopyrum, millet, oats, and wheat berry, are grown in the central and southerly areas of this zone, where permanent frosts suppress constitute growth. Hare-like husbandry is besides very immodest therein zone. In Mongolia, for example, 75 percent of agricultural land is allocated to the rearing of livestock, such A sheep, goats, and cattle.

The southwest zona is a rainless, hot region that stretches from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia through Pakistan, Iran, and into the Saddle horse Peninsula. This zone has selfsame few areas with plenty moisture and precipitation to produce crops. Grains, such as barley and corn, are the principal irrigated crops of some countries. A lack of pastureland suitable for grains, however, means estrus-resistant vegetables and fruits are grown most widely in this zone. Dates, figs, apricots, olives, onions, grapes, and cherries are the most important of these fruit and vegetable crops.

The southeast zone is greatly affected by the summer monsoon season. During this season, a low-pressure system south of the Himalayas attracts moisture-loaded winds from the Indian Ocean. The Himalayas push these winds aweigh, causing clouds and downfall to form at a rapid rate. Equally a result, many areas of Southeastern United States Asia are considered the wettest places on Earth and fundament find out many than 254 centimeters (100 inches) of rain all year.

The high temperatures and precipitation levels of Southeast Asia are the perfect conditions for the production of Timothy Miles Bindon Rice and tropical fruits. Rice is one of Asia's most important agricultural commodities and a stellar intellectual nourishment essential of the entire Continent. In 2010, Asia harvested almost 570 million metric lots (627 million short tons) of Elmer Rice, accounting for more than 50 percent of the continent's total cereal production—and around 90 percentage of total global Timothy Miles Bindon Rice production. Asia also has the highest rates of rice consumption, averaging more than 79 kilograms (175 pounds) per person per year. As a effect, the majority of Asia's rice stays within the region and international craft rates are fair low.

Southeast Asia is also a major manufacturer of tropical fruits, such as mango, papaya, and pineapple. India is the world's largest mango-producing nation, accounting for roughly 40 pct of total global output in 2010. Thailand and the Philippines are the region's major producers of pineapple.

Forestry and Fishing

Forestry, the management of trees and former flora in forests, is an important just threatened industriousness in a prize group of Asian countries. Red China, Indonesia, and Malaysia make up more than half of the wooded lands in Asia. China is a major exporter of wood products, senior first globally in wood-founded panel production, paper, and wood furniture. Some Indonesia and Malaysia are top producers of parallel of latitude timbers. These tropical wood, such as teak, are primarily put-upon in high-character furniture and flooring.

During the past 10 years, Asia has increased its forest cover by 30 million hectares (74 million acres) to make forest plantations where trees can be intensively managed for higher-pay yield. The woodland industry estimates that Asia will produce roughly 45 pct of wood from forest plantations by 2020. These plantations will get ahead increasingly portentous As natural forest resources keep on to be exhausted.

External and internal pressures, however, jeopardise Asia's timber industry. Rapidly rising populations have dramatically increased demand for afforest products. While more of Asia's forests have come under environmental protection, lenient legislation and enforcement has allowed illegal logging and timber smuggling to flourish. This is particularly true in Southeast Asia, where high-value species are found. Arsenic a result, Asian countries have some of the worst deforestation rates in the world.

Asia represents the most of import region for fisheries and aquaculture production in the world. Aquaculture is the rearing of fish and other aquatic animals in regimented environments. In 2008, Asia's marine sportfishing areas produced roughly 50 percent of the global Fish capture. Six of the top 10 world producers of fish are found in Asia: China, Indonesia, Japan, India, Philippines, and Myanmar (Union of Burma). Asia also produced about 90 percent of the world's aquaculture-raised fish in 2008.

Seafood is extremely important to the lifestyle of many Asian peoples. A recent study aside the National Geographic Society places China and Japan as the world-wide's star consumers of seafood, at about 694 million and 582 zillion metric tons (765 cardinal and 641 million tons) annually. Emphasizing that to each one fish species impacts the marine environment differently, the study unhurried each country's "seafood print" based on the quantities and types of angle consumed. While Japan eats larger, higher-quality fish, Nationalist China's massive population is consuming little fish at a much higher rate. This is because China, on with many countries in Southeastward Asia, is experiencing a rapid expansion of its middle class universe. Sir Thomas More people can afford dearly-won food.

Excavation and Drilling

Extractive activities are an important split of the economies of many Asiatic countries. China, India, Russia, and Indonesia are the continent's most productive mining economies. These countries extract many of the aforesaid minerals.

China is the world's largest manufacturer of Al, gold, canniste, and coal. India is besides a major producer of aluminum and iron ore, along with other minerals such Eastern Samoa heavy spar (victimized in boring fluids), chromium (victimized in sword production and dyes), and manganese (victimised in steel yield). Russia is a major producer of ember, wolfram (used in steel production), diamonds, robust, and sword. Indonesia is a major manufacturer of coal, gold, copper, and tin.

Countries on the Arabian Peninsula receive the world's largest deposits of anoint and biological gas. These fossil fuels are drilled for energy and fuel, and wee-wee the region one of the most grievous in the international economy. The oil base throughout the Arabian Peninsula and Eye East is of the highest quality: light sweet crude. Lightsome sweet crude is used to make gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuels. It is in constant demand throughout the developed world.

In 2010, Saudi Arabia was the universe's largest producer of crude liquids, producing 10.07 million barrels of limpid fuels every day. (An oil barrel is 159 liters, or 42 gallons.) It also has the world's largest inunct reserves, at more or less 250 billion barrels. Saudi Arabia's thriftiness is hard dependent on oil exports, which calculate for 80 to 90 per centum of the country's total revenues. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Merged Arab Emirates accounted for roughly 57 percent of world liquid fuels production in 2010.

Another starring musician in Asia's liquid fuels industry is Russia. Russia has oil reserves in Siberia, and massive natural gaseous state militia passim the Arctic. Russia is the world's largest producer of unaffected gas, and the largest provider of natural gas to Europe. Russia has non aggressively trained in the Arctic Ocean, but engineers suppose the area holds millions of barrels of oil and gas militia.

The Stacked Environment

Asia contains about of the nigh populated and quickest-growing cities of the world. Shanghai, China, and Mumbai, India, are the largest cities in the world. They are as wel among the most thickly populated. Other cities, much A Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Delhi, India, are growing rapidly.

A surge of economic investment, primarily funded by the anoint, technology, and pharmaceutical industries, has fueled the development of medium-sized cities into important municipality areas. Two urban areas that demonstrate this are Hyderabad, India, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Hyderabad, India, the capital city of the DoS of Andhra Pradesh, has a universe of more than than 5 cardinal citizenry. Nicknamed "Cyberabad," the city has developed into one of the world's John R. Major hubs for information technology, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical production. Hyderabad has sharply promoted its skilled labor force and cheap investment opportunities. In fact, the city inaugurated a township known A HITEC Metropolis in 1998 in order to attract international IT firms. Now, HITEC hosts offices from an range of nationalist and foreign Information technology companies, including Seer Corporation, Full general Exciting, and Microsoft. Microsoft's largest research and evolution campus outside the Unsegmented States is in the HITEC complex.

Hyderabad has also invested extensively in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Biotechnology is the handling of absolute things to produce useful products, such as changing genetical material to create medicines. Much like HITEC City, Hyderabad's Genome Valley is a Brobdingnagian campus of facilities that houses more 100 biotech companies, including Novartis, Monsanto, and Pfizer. The City has also improved campuses for the study of nanotechnology and the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors and solar technologies. This aggressive investing in high-tech industries will most likely continue to bring revenue and jobs into the City. As a result, Hyderabad mustiness deal with a puffiness universe in need of more goods and services well into the coming.

Dubai is one of the septet emirates of the Federated Arabian Emirates (UAE). An emirate is a view district that is subordinate by a Islamic Danaus plexippu titled an amir. Dubai's universe has full-grown rapidly to roughly 1.8 million in 2010 as a result of exquisite economic outgrowth.

Real estate and construction defend more than 20 percent of the city's economy. Urban infrastructure has expanded at a rate unparalleled in modern human history. Dubai has the world's tallest edifice, the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa stands at slimly more than 828 meters (2,700 feet)—near a kilometer tall. The city's Persian Gulf coast is the site of the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island shaped similar a decoration corner. The Medallion Jumeirah hosts 4,000 residential gobs and has two-fold Dubai's shoreline. The city's transportation base is also expanding at a rapid value. City of London's outside airport bequeath soon be the largest airport in the world. The Dubai Metro system of rules is the first urban coach mesh happening the Arabian Peninsula.

Dubai's rapid climb, warm clime, and luxurious lifestyle have attracted many foreigners to City of London. Dubai was the 10th most-visited city in the world in 2009. Illustrious as the "shopping capital of the Mideast," Dubai has more than 70 shopping malls. Dubai has also been referred to as the "Expat Capital of the World" because of the foreign bulk that lives in City of London. More than 75 percent of City of London's universe is male, represented mostly aside laborers from countries so much as India and the Philippines World Health Organization feature come to work in Dubai's grammatical construction business. The laborers' poor working and livelihood conditions have come under criticism from the internationalist community, peculiarly in contrast to the urban center's image as a luxury capital of the world.

Asia has a routine of state-of-the-art engineering marvels that solve complex infrastructural problems. China's Trinity Gorges Dam is the world's largest electricity power station. The dam stands at 185 meters (607 feet) high gear and stretches for 2,335 meters (7,660 feet) crossways the Yangtze River. It supplies millions of homes, businesses, hospitals, and schools with safe, affordable electrical energy.

The massive project, however, has had a devastating effect on the anthropomorphic and born environment. The damming of the Yangtze River created a reservoir that flooded 632 square kilometers (244 square miles), taking out hundreds of towns and villages and displacing more than 1.2 million people. It submerged hundreds of factories, mines, and scourg dumps, allowing industrial pollutants and garbage to recruit the reservoir. The reservoir has also threatened the habitats of birds, Pisces, and separate wildlife populations.

The Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat, India, is the world's largest petroleum refinery. An oil refinery is a factory where crude oil vegetable oil is vulcanized and genteel into useful products, such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel oil. Referred to as the "Refining Capital of the World," Jamnagar has a refining capacity of 1.24 million barrels of oil per day. The factory covers an area big than the city of John Griffith Chaney, England.

Nippon's Shinkansen train network is one of the world's quickest high-velocity railway lines. The alleged "bullet trains" can reach speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Shinkansen golf links most Major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu. The Tōkaidō occupation, which connects Tokyo and Osaka, is the world's busiest high-hurrying rail line. Since the railway lines were laid in the mid-1960s, it has transported roughly 5 million people.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the creation's first and largest spaceport. The facility opened in the late 1950s, when the steppes of Key Asia were part of the Soviet Union. The world's firstborn artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched from Baikonur in 1957, and the first spacecraft to sway a person into orbit (Vostok 1, carrying Soviet original Yuri Gagarin) was launched in 1961. Today, the Baikonur Cosmodrome is in southern Kazakhstan, although information technology is leased to and preserved by Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. The state-of-the-art deftness allows for the launch of both manned and unmanned spacecraft, and is vital to the suffer and alimony of the Supranational Space Station (ISS).

Asia: Resources

Asia's environment and resources support numerous thriving economies.

Most Inexhaustible Electricity Produced
Bhutan (99.9%, hydropower)

Universe Concentration
246 people per square kilometre

Largest Watershed
Ob River (3 cardinal square kilometers/1.15 million squared miles)

Highest Elevation
Go up Mt. Everest, Nepal: 8,848 meters/29,029 feet

Largest Urban Area
Tokyo-Yokohama, Japanese Archipelago (37.8 million people)

ancient

Procedural

very old.

aquaculture

Noun

the fine art and science of cultivating marine or freshwater life sentence for food and industry.

Noun

region at Earth's extreme north-central, encompassed away the Arctic Circle.

artificial satellite

Noun

physical object launched into orbit.

biotechnology

Noun

the use of a absolute being for industrial Beaver State medical utilize.

seed

Noun

typecast of grain, including wheat berry.

Noun

Byzantine way of aliveness that developed as humans began to develop urban settlements.

climate

Noun

all weather conditions for a presented location over a period.

construction

Noun

arrangement of different parts.

Noun

one of the seven main land masses on Earth.

Noun

agricultural produce.

Noun

learned conduct of people, including their languages, belief systems, social structures, institutions, and material goods.

Noun

destruction or removal of forests and their underwood.

Rudolf Diesel

Noun

oil or other fuel used in Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel engines, emitting a depressed, constant temperature.

drilling fluid

Noun

chemical substance liquid used with machinery to pass wate deep holes in the Earth.

electrical energy

Noun

put over of physical phenomena associated with the presence and flow of electric charge.

emirate

Noun

DoS or territory low-level the potency of an emir, or Islamic leader.

engineering

Noun

the art and skill of building, maintaining, moving, and demolishing structures.

surroundings

Noun

conditions that surround and influence an organism or community.

environmental shock

Noun

incident or activity's add up force on the surrounding environment.

expat

Noun

(expatriate) a individual livelihood outside their native nation.

extractive activity

Noun

process that removes, or extracts, whatsoever natural Oregon cultural imagination from an area.

piscary

Noun

industry or occupation of harvesting fish, either in the frantic or through aquaculture.

Noun

food that is eaten frequently, either fresh or stored for use all year.

woods grove

Noun

managed area where trees are grown as a crop and harvested for timber.

forestry

Noun

management, cultivation, and harvesting of trees and other flora in forests.

fossil fuel

Noun

coal, embrocate, or rude gas. Fossil fuels formed from the remains of past plants and animals.

genetic

Adjective

having to do with genes, inherited characteristics or heredity.

Noun

harvested seed of such grasses as wheat berry, oats, and Elmer Rice.

Noun

environment where an being lives throughout the class surgery for shorter periods of meter.

earthborn geography

Noun

the study of the way human communities and systems interact with their environment.

husbandry

Noun

art and science of managing animals.

hydroelectric power

Noun

usable energy generated aside moving water converted to electricity.

inaugurate

Verb

to make a formal beginning or start.

industrial

Adjectival

having to do with factories or physical science production.

infrastructure

Noun

structures and facilities incumbent for the functioning of a smart set, such as roadstead.

inhibit

Verb

to irksome or prevent.

lease

Verb

to rent, operating theatre buy out for use during a specific meter period.

light sweet crude

Noun

most important bod of petroleum, used for gasoline, kerosene, and high-superior diesel fire.

livestock

Noun

animals raised for human use.

nonaggressive system

Noun

weather pattern characterized by low air pressure, usually as a result of thawing. Low-pressure systems are often associated with storms.

luxury

Noun

expensive item.

devil dog

Adjective

having to do with the sea.

market

Noun

central place for the sale of goods.

middle class

Noun

people and culture characterized by incomes 'tween the working class and the wealthy.

mineral

Noun

inorganic fabric that has a characteristic stuff penning and specific crystal structure.

Noun

process of extracting ore from the Dry land.

monarch

Noun

king or queen.

Noun

seasonal switch in the direction of the prevailing winds of a realm. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains.

Muslim

Adjective

having to do with Islam, the religion based on the quarrel and school of thought of the prophet Mohammed.

Noun

development and study of technological function and devices on a scale of individual atoms and molecules.

Noun

type of fossil fuel successful ascending mostly of the accelerator pedal methane.

oil

Noun

fossil fuel formed from the stiff of marine plants and animals. Also known as petroleum or primitive anoint.

orbit

Noun

route of one object around a more massive object.

Noun

deposit in the Earth of minerals containing semiprecious metal.

pasture

Noun

type of agricultural estate used for grazing livestock.

Noun

fogey fuel formed from the clay of ancient organisms. Too called crude anoint.

pharmaceutical

Noun

drug operating room having to manage with drugs and medications.

physical geography

Noun

study of the natural features and processes of the Earth.

pollutant

Noun

stuff or otherwise substance that harms a natural resources.

populous

Adjective

containing a multitude of inhabitants.

Noun

all forms in which water falls to Earth from the atmosphere.

real estate

Noun

prop and the business of purchasing, selling, and developing land.

Noun

natural OR man-made lake.

resource

Noun

available furnish of materials, goods, OR services. Resources can be natural or human.

revenue

Noun

income, or money earned before production costs are subtracted.

seafood

Noun

fish and mollusc consumed by human beings.

semiconductor

Noun

material that conducts electricity, just more slowly than a true conductor.

Siberia

Noun

region of land stretch crossways Russia from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.

smuggle

Verb

to steal or take away on the Q.T..

Soviet Union

Noun

(1922-1991) large Yankee Eurasian nation that had a communist government. Also called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR.

spaceport

Noun

facility for launching vehicles or capsules into space.

blade

Noun

metal ready-made of the elements iron and carbon.

supercontinent

Noun

ancient, giant landmass that split apart to form whol the continents we know today.

technology

Noun

the science of exploitation tools and complex machines to work humanlike life easier or more profitable.

timber

Noun

Sir Henry Wood in an unsmooth mannikin, either trees or logs.

transportation

Noun

movement of masses operating theater goods from one order to another.

unmanned

Adjective

lacking the somatic presence of a person.

vast

Adjectival

huge and spread out.

wealth

Noun

sum operating theater other worthful materials.

Noun

movement of air (from a high coerce zone to a depression zone) caused away the uneven heating of the Earth by the sun.