Asia

Asia

Area	44,579,000 km2 (17,212,000 sq mi)
Population	3,879,000,000 (1st)[1]
Pop. density	89/km2 (226/sq mi)
Demonym	Asian
Countries	48 (List of countries)
Dependencies	List Akrotiri and Dhekelia British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Unrecognized regions	List Abkhazia Gaza Strip (Palestine) Nagorno-Karabakh South Ossetia Taiwan Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus West Bank (Palestine)
Languages	List of languages
Time Zones	UTC+2 to UTC+12
Internet TLD	.asia
Largest cities	List of cities List Tokyo Seoul Mumbai Karachi Jakarta Osaka Shanghai Manila Hong Kong Tehran Lahore Kolkata Beijing Guangzhou Taipei Bangkok Singapore Kuala Lumpur Ho Chi Minh City Dubai

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.^[2]

Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia—with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe—located to the east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression)^[3] and the Caspian and Black Seas.^[4] It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. 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^[3][5] (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people). The wealth of Asia differs very widely among and within its regions, due to its vast size and huge range of different ethnic groups, cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems.

Asia has been the historical birthplace of all major world religions.

Contents 1 Definition and boundaries 2 Etymology 3 History 4 Political geography 5 Economy 6 Demographics 6.1 Languages 6.2 Mythology 6.3 Religions 6.3.1 Abrahamic 6.3.2 Dharmic and Taoist 7 Culture 7.1 Nobel prizes 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

Definition and boundaries

The original distinction between Europe and Asia was made by the ancient Greeks. They used the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Kerch Strait, and the Sea of Azov as the border between Asia and Europe. The Nile was used as the border between Asia and Africa (then called Libya), although some Greek geographers suggested the Red Sea would form a better boundary. However the Nile was usually considered the border until the 15th century, when the boundary was changed to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Isthmus of Suez. At the same time, the border of between Asia and Europe became an issue, as the old boundaries did not extend to the arctic as previously thought. In the eighteenth century the Ural mountains were first suggested as the border, and by the nineteenth century this border had become the accepted divide. To connect this to the previous divide, the border was extended southwards from the mountains to the Ural river, after which it passed through the Caspian Sea and crossed the crest of the Caucasus, forming the widely accepted boundary used today. The border between Asia and Oceania is placed somewhere in the Malay archipelago, with islands belonging to Indonesia usually included in Asia, including the western half of New Guinea.^[6]

Some contentions about the borders still exist. Asia is the largest and most culturally diverse of the continents in the seven-continent system, and does not exactly match with conventional Asian cultural boundaries.^[6] 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,^[7][8] especially in the United States after World War II.^[9] The term is sometimes used more narrowly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East, South Asia or Russia,^[10] 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 not considered Asian.^[11]

Some geographers do not consider Asia and Europe to be separate continents,^[12] as there is no logical physical separation between them.^[5] For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe, the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of the continent of Asia."^[13] Geographically, 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 Plate and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) on the North American Plate.

Etymology

The term "Asia" is originally a concept exclusively of Western civilization.^[14] The peoples of ancient Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Persians, Arabs etc.) never conceived the idea of Asia, simply because they did not see themselves collectively. In their perspective, they were vastly varied civilizations, contrary to ancient European belief.^[14]

The word Asia originated from the Greek word Ἀσία,^[15] first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to Anatolia or—in 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 substantial land mass (Europa, Asia, and Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus (i.e. Hesione), 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 two figures in the Trojan War named Asios; and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). In Greek mythology, "Asia" (Ἀσία) or "Asie" (Ἀσίη) was the name of a Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia.^[16]

Usage of the term soon became common in ancient Greece, and subsequently by the ancient Romans.^[14] Ancient and medieval European maps depict the Asian continent as a "huge amorphous blob" extending eastward.^[14] It was presumed in antiquity to end with India—the Greek king Alexander the Great believing he would reach the "end of the world" upon his arrival in the East.^[14]

Alternatively, the 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).

T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from asu, meaning 'east' in Assyrian (ereb for Europe meaning 'west').^[14] The ideas of Occidental (form Latin Occidens 'setting') and Oriental (from Latin Oriens for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with Western and Eastern.^[14] Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single classification, almost as if there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and Eastern civilizations on the Eurasian continent.^[14] Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two outspoken Japanese figures on the subject.^[14]

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.

Also, Assuwa has been suggested as the origin for the name of the continent "Asia".^[17] The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under Tudhaliya I around 1400 BC.

History

The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.

The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.

The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

The Islamic Caliphate took over the Middle East and Central Asia during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe.

Political geography

The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.

• 

  Geographical Subregions of Asia:

• 

  UN geoscheme subregions of Asia:

Name of region[18] and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2008 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Central Asia:
Kazakhstanb[›]	2,724,927	15,666,533	5.7	Astana
Kyrgyzstan	198,500	5,356,869	24.3	Bishkek
Tajikistan	143,100	7,211,884	47.0	Dushanbe
Turkmenistan	488,100	5,179,573	9.6	Ashgabat
Uzbekistan	447,400	28,268,441	57.1	Tashkent
Eastern Asia:
Hong Kongf[›]	1,092	7,008,300[19]	6,417.9	-
Japan	377,835	127,288,628	336.1	Tokyo
Macauf[›]	25	460,823	18,473.3	—
Mongolia	1,565,000	2,996,082	1.7	Ulaan Baatar
North Korea	120,540	23,479,095	184.4	Pyongyang
People's Republic of Chinaf[›]g[›]	9,640,821	1,322,044,605	134.0	Beijing
Republic of China (Taiwan)f[›]	35,980	22,920,946	626.7	Taipei
South Korea	98,480	49,232,844	490.7	Seoul
Northern Asia:
Russiad[›]	17,075,400	142,200,000	26.8	Moscow
Southeastern Asia:
Brunei	5,770	381,371	66.1	Bandar Seri Begawan
Burma (Myanmar)	676,578	47,758,224	70.3	Naypyidaw
Cambodia[20]	181,035	13,388,910	74	Phnom Penh
East Timor (Timor-Leste)c[›]	15,007	1,108,777	73.8	Dili
Indonesiac[›]	1,919,440	230,512,000	120.1	Jakarta
Laos	236,800	6,677,534	28.2	Vientiane
Malaysia	329,847	27,780,000	84.2	Kuala Lumpur
Philippines	300,000	92,681,453	308.9	Manila
Singapore	704	4,608,167	6,545.7	Singapore
Thailand	514,000	65,493,298	127.4	Bangkok
Vietnam	331,690	86,116,559	259.6	Hanoi
Southern Asia:
Afghanistan	647,500	32,738,775	42.9	Kabul
Bangladesh	147,570	153,546,901	1040.5	Dhaka
Bhutan	38,394	682,321	17.8	Thimphu
Indiag[›]	3,287,263	1,147,995,226	349.2	New Delhi
Maldives	300	379,174	1,263.3	Malé
Nepal	147,181	29,519,114	200.5	Kathmandu
Pakistang[›]	803,940	167,762,049	208.7	Islamabad
Sri Lanka	65,610	21,128,773	322.0	Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte
Western Asia:
Armeniae[›]	29,800	3,299,000	280.7	Yerevan
Azerbaijana[›]b[›]	86,660	8,845,127	102.736	Baku
Bahrain	665	718,306	987.1	Manama
Cypruse[›]	9,250	792,604	83.9	Nicosia
Georgiaa[›]	69,700	4,636,400	65.1	Tbilisi
Iraq	437,072	28,221,181	54.9	Baghdad
Iran	1,648,195	70,472,846	42.8	Tehran
Israel	20,770	7,112,359	290.3	Jerusalemh[›]
Jordan	92,300	6,198,677	57.5	Amman
Kuwait	17,820	2,596,561	118.5	Kuwait City
Lebanon	10,452	3,971,941	353.6	Beirut
Oman	212,460	3,311,640	12.8	Muscat
Palestinian territories	6,257	4,277,000	683.5	Ramallah
Qatar	11,437	928,635	69.4	Doha
Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	23,513,330	12.0	Riyadh
Syria	185,180	19,747,586	92.6	Damascus
Turkeya[›]b[›]				Ankara
United Arab Emirates	82,880	4,621,399	29.5	Abu Dhabi
Yemen	527,970	23,013,376	35.4	Sanaá
Total	43,810,582	4,162,966,086	89.07

Note: Part of Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) is geographically in Western Asia, and the Australian external territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are often associated with Asia. However, these are not present in the UN geoscheme.

^ a: Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey are often considered to be transcontinental countries, spanning both Asia and Europe. Many organisations, such as the BBC^[21] place them in Europe, while others such as the CIA^[22] include them in Asia. All are included in European organisations such as the Council of Europe^[23] and are considered to be European, and thus eligible to join, by the European Union.^[24]
^ b: Population and area figures for the transcontinental countries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey include only the Asian portions of those countries.
^ c: Indonesia is often considered a transcontinental country with territory in both Asia and Oceania, and East Timor can be placed in either Asia or Oceania. Population and area figures for Indonesia do not include Irian Jaya and Maluku 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 the entire state.
^ e: The island of Cyprus is located on the Anatolian plate,^[25] but is a member of European organisations such as the Council of Europe^[23] and the European Union.^[24] Armenia is similarly located fully within Asia, but is a member of the Council of Europe.^[23]
^ f: Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China is a de facto state claimed by the PRC. Figures given for the PRC are for mainland China only and do not include these three territories.
^ g: The area of India includes Jammu and Kashmir, a territory contested between India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.
^ h: In 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.

Economy

Asia has the second largest nominal GDP of all continents, after and Europe, but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2010, the largest economies in Asia are China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC^[26] 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 Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history,^{[27][28][29][30]} until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 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 European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (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.^{[citation needed]} In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.^[31]

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020.^[32] In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. According to IMF statistics for the year 2010, the mostly unrecognised Republic of China PPP-adjusted GDP per capita, at USD 34,743, is already higher than that of Finland, France, or Japan.^{[citation needed]} By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world. Several trade blocs exist, with the most developed being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Philippines and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China, and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.

According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.^[33] Asia has four main financial centres: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centres and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Demographics

East Asia had by far the strongest overall HDI performance of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the Report’s analysis of health, education and income data. PR China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the “Top 10 Movers” list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region’s top performers in improving school enrolment and life expectancy.^[34]
Nepal, a South Asian country, emerges as one of the world’s fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than 1970's.; more than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago.^[34]
Japan and South Korea ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 11 and 12 in the world, which are in the “very high human development” category), followed by Hong Kong, China (SAR)(21) and Singapore (27). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.^[34]

Languages

Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.

Mythology

Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament, is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology tells about an Avatar of the God Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring.

Religions

Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of material world. Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.

Abrahamic

The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha'i Faith originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest Jewish population),^[35] though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia and Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, southern Philippines (Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. The Bahá'í Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh. Since the middle of the 20th Century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because the Bahá'í Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities.

Dharmic and Taoist

The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.

Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.

Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (98%),^[36] Thailand (95%),^[37] Burma (89%),^[38] Japan (84-96%),^[39] Bhutan (75%),^[40] Sri Lanka (69%),^[41] Laos (67%-98%)^[42] and Mongolia (50%).^[43] Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore (42.5%),^[44] Taiwan (35.1%-93%),^{[45][46][47][48]} South Korea (23.2%),^[49] Malaysia(19.2%),^[50] Nepal(10.7%),^[51] Vietnam (9.3-80%),^[52] China(8-80%),^[53] North Korea (4.5%-60%),^[54][55][56] Indonesia (<2%);^[57] and small communities in India and Bangladesh. In many Chinese communities, Mahayana Buddhism is easily syncretized with Taoism, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated. The Communist-governed countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported.

Jainism is found mainly in India and in oversea Indian communities such as India and Malaysia. Sikhism is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantly in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. Taoism is found mainly in Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.

Culture

Nobel prizes

The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali Indian poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.

Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered on global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998 to 2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).

Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma(Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Most recently, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China.

Sir C.V.Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yaser Arafat, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) Kim (South Korea), Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).

In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.

The Dalai Lama has received approximately eighty-four awards over his spiritual and political career.^[58] On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1989.

See also

References

• "Asia". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press.
• World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East. Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. New York: Salem Press.

Further reading

• Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
• Kamal, Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi:Wordsmith,2002, ISBN 978-81-87412-08-3
• Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
• Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asia

Wikinews has news related to: Asia

• European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the World - EuDASM
• Map Asia
• Maps of Asia from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
• Philp Bowring, "What is Asia?" Columbia University Asia For Educators

Articles Related to Asia v · d · eAsia topics Culture · Demographics · Economy · Geography · History · Politics v · d · eCountries and dependencies of Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma (Myanmar) · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Cyprus · Egypt · Georgia · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · East Timor (Timor-Leste) · Turkey · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen States with limited recognition Abkhazia · Republic of China (Taiwan) · Nagorno-Karabakh · Northern Cyprus · Palestine · South Ossetia · Dependencies and Special Administrative Regions Australia Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands People's Republic of China Hong Kong · Macau United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia · British Indian Ocean Territory v · d · eContinents     Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America     Afro-Eurasia America Eurasia Oceania     Geological supercontinents Gondwana · Laurasia · Pangaea · Pannotia · Rodinia · Columbia · Kenorland · Nena · Ur · Vaalbara Historical continents Arctica · Asiamerica · Atlantica · Avalonia · Baltica · Cimmeria · Congo craton · Euramerica · Kalaharia · Kazakhstania · Laurentia · North China  · Siberia · South China · Ur · East Antarctica  · India     Submerged continents Kerguelen Plateau · Zealandia Possible future supercontinents Pangaea Ultima · Amasia · Novopangaea Mythical and theorized continents Atlantis · Lemuria · Meropis · Mu · Terra Australis See also Regions of the world v · d · eRegions of the world Africa Northern · Sub-Sahara (Central · Southern · Western · Eastern) Oceania Australasia (Australia) · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia America North (Northern • Middle • Central • Caribbean) · South (Southern • Northern • Western) · Anglo · Latin Polar Arctic · Antarctic Asia Central · Eastern (Northeastern) · Northern · Southeastern · Southern (Indian subcontinent) · Western (Middle East) Oceans World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern Europe Central · Eastern · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western Seas List of seas Related Continents of the world · List of seas · Physical Earth