This brief article will provide stunning, brief, and interesting facts about Asia. These facts are about size, location, population, history, people, religions, civilizations, surface features, coastline, rivers, plants, climate, animals, minerals, of the largest continent Asia.
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| Stunning Asia |
Size of Asia.
Asia, the largest of the continents, is prominent for its huge population, its towering mountains and plateaus, and its wide size of deserts.
It is trusted that Asia was the first home of the human race and that all the peoples of Europe and America may be detected to Asia as the place of their beginning.
In size, Asia surpasses the whole land surface of the Western hemisphere and is almost five times the area of Europe.
Location of Asia.
It lies totally north of the equator. Its utmost length, from the southern end of the Malay peninsula, a point only 90 miles from the equator, to cape Chelyuskin on the northern coast of Siberia, about ten degrees from the North Pole, is 5,350 miles. Its sizeable width, from East Cape to the western coast of Asia Minor, is above 6,000 miles, or about one-fourth the equatorial distance around the earth.
The population of Asia.
The number of occupants of Asia number in 2018 is 4,562,936,034or more than half the number of inhabitants of the world.
The greater part of these belongs to the Mongolian race and the area's most crowded area in the eastern and southeastern parts of the continent.
The people of India and those of central and western Asia belong mostly to the white, or Indo-European, race.
History of Asia.
Although Asia was the most former home of the nations of Europe, they nearly forgot the land of their beginning, and the word Asia proved to them little more than the land west of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, which they called Little Asia.
The parts of the continent farther east, with the populous countries of India and China, were practically unidentified. In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great departed from Greece to conquer the world.
He moved to the valley of the Indus river, but no long-lived colonies were made in the captured territory. The victories of the Romans were limited to Asia Minor.
For almost eight centuries after the division of the Roman Empire, the new states of Europe were too busy with their own matters to focus on any foreign conquests.
Even though the nations of Europe had no straight relations with the distant parts of Asia, trade between the two continents never fully finished.
Silk and ornaments of jade from China, spices from the islands, and ivory, gold, gems, and expensive woven fabrics from India were brought by subsequent caravans to the seaports on the Mediterranean, where they were traded for metals, wool, and other products.
In this way, some details of the distant countries of Asia were kept active in the minds of the merchant-sailors of Europe.
After the start of the Crusades missionaries and travelers started to make their way into Asia and to get back a more exact account of that part of the world.
The Eastern business at that time was in the hands of the merchants of Venice and Genoa, who transmitted their ships to Alexandria, Constantinople, and to other ports on the Black and Mediterranean seas.
When these routes of trade were closed to them by the Turks, the European merchants began to look for an all-water route to the countries of the East. They sailed north around the coast of Europe, south around Africa, while Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic.
The discovery of the New World was the most momentous result of this search for the Indies, but a Portuguese ship under DaGama found the desired route and in 1497 sailed into Calicut harbor on the western coast of India. The people of Asia had formerly moved westward into Europe, but after the discovery of the water route to the Indies there began a movement of the people of Europe eastward into Asia. The former was in search of lands and homes; the latter were seeking to extend their trade. But trade led to the occupation of lands, and a large part of the territory of Asia has gradually fallen into the hands of the nations of Europe.
Russia has made her way across Siberia to the Pacific ocean and was prevented only by a war with Japan from seizing Manchuria, the most important of the provinces of China. England has seized India, Burma, Ceylon, and the Straits Settlements; Holland has Sumatra, Java, and other islands in the East Indies; France holds Indo-China; while other nations have settlements and "concessions" on the mainland and on the islands near the coast.
People, Religion, and Civilization.
Asia was not only the earliest home of the human race; it was also the cradle of the arts of civilized life. There the horse, camel, sheep, ox, dog, and other animals were domesticated and made to serve the needs of man; there the plow, the wagon, and the sickle were invented and many of the common grains, fruits, and other useful plants were cultivated.
The valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Hoangho were the homes of the earliest nations. There the soil was rich, easily cultivated, and yielded an abundance of food. It is probable that the oldest civilized nations of Asia inhabited the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, or Mesopotamia.
The people belonged to the Semitic branch of the white race. The nations of Chaldea, Assyria, and Baby- lonia successively occupied the land. They were skilled artisans and built splendid cities, palaces, and temples. They constructed canals for the irrigation of the arid soil and. made it produce enormous crops.
They began the study of astronomy and medicine; they had a written language and made records on soft bricks of clay, which were baked, and stored in libraries. But these races passed away, and all that remains of their civilization are heaps of ruins buried beneath the soil. A little later perhaps than the beginning of these nations, the ancestors of the Hindus and the Chinese made their way out of central Asia and settled in the valleys of the Indus and Hoangho rivers.
The Hindus were the first to manufacture cotton and wool, and the Chinese, silk. The compass, gunpowder, and paper are Chinese inventions, and they had a written language and printed books nearly 3,000 years ago. In spite of their early progress, however, these nations became stationary. This was partly due to their religious beliefs, which forbade any change in the established ways of doing things, and partly to the fact that they were shut in by high mountains, and so prevented from learning the ways of other nations.
The three religions that teach a belief in one God — the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mohammedan — all had their beginning among the white Semitic races of Asia.
Christianity has always maintained a foothold in Asia Minor and prevails wherever Europeans have settled. Mohammedanism is dominant in Arabia and Turkey and is professed by vast numbers in the East generally. Brahmanism is the religion of India, where it exercises a powerful influence through its peculiar system of caste.
Buddhism prevails throughout China, Indo-China, and Ceylon. The moral precepts and rules of living called Confucianism are practiced by Chinese of the upper class. Jews are found in every country in Asia.
Surface Features of Asia.
Asia and Europe are parts of the same great land mass, and their surface divisions are similar. Asia has, first, a Northern Lowland plain, which corresponds with the lowland plain of Europe and is separated from it by the Ural mountains; second, a Central Mountain region, continuous with the central mountain system of Europe and supporting a vast plateau region which extends from the shores of the Mediterranean to the coast plain of the Pacific ocean; third, a series of great peninsulas projecting from the central mountain region. Besides these surface divisions, there is a long chain of volcanic islands extending from the peninsula of Kamchatka through Japan and the Philippine islands almost to the northern coast of Australia.
South of the equator, the line bends westward through the Sunda islands, Java, and Sumatra. This chain contains hundreds of active volcanoes and marks the boundary between the Australian and Asiatic continents.
The highest point in the chain is mount Fujiyama (14,177 feet). The northern lowlands consist of the great valleys of the Ob, the Yenisei, and the Lena rivers, which are separated from one another by low ridges of hills. In the southwestern part of the plain is the depressed area occupied by the Caspian and Aral seas, the surfaces of which are below the level of the ocean.
The waters of these seas are salt, owing to rapid evaporation, and although they receive the drainage of a large area, they are steadily shrinking in volume. An area of depression similar to that of the Great Basin in the United States lies between the ranges of the central mountain system and includes the desert of Gobi and Chinese and Russian Turkestan. This dry region contains numerous salt lakes. Other areas of depression are found in Persia and in Palestine; the latter contains the Dead Sea, which is 1,292 feet below sea level. Its waters are intensely salt — fully ten times as salty as the waters of the ocean.
The mountain chains of Asia may be described as diverging
from the central lofty plateau which the Asiatics call the Pamir, or Roof of the World. This plateau is about 16,000 feet above sea level and is crossed by ridges which rise several thousand feet higher. From the Pamir the mountain chains extend both east and west, the ranges diverging and enclosing lofty tablelands.
Westward the Hindu Kush and the Suleiman and Hala ranges enclose the plateau of Iran; farther west they take the names of Elburz and Zagros mountains. These approach one another in the Armenian plateau, where rises the noted peak of Ararat, which, next to mount Demavend in Persia, is the highest point in western Asia. Still farther west beyond the Tigris-Euphrates valley is the Taurus range.
Eastward from the Pamir are the Kuenlun and Himalaya mountains, which enclose the plateau of Tibet, the loftiest in the world, its average elevation exceeding three miles. Northeastward runs the Thian Shan, or "Sky mountains," which with the Kuenlun enclose the depressed region of Turkestan and the desert of Gobi. These ranges are connected by the Karakoram mountains, which have a general north and south direction.
North of the Mongolian plateau are the Altai mountains, which rise abruptly from the Siberian plain. In the northeast are the ridges of the Stanovoi mountains, which form a dividing ridge between the valleys of the Amur and Lena rivers and extend all the way to Bering Strait. The Great Khinghan mountains bound the desert of the Gobi on the east, the Nanshan range is on the south, while several ranges of less elevation separate the valleys of the Hoangho and Yangtze rivers.
The southern plateau of the Dekkan is bordered by the Eastern and Western Ghats; lower ranges enclose the Arabian plateau. The mountain ranges and plateaus of Asia are the highest in the world. The Himalayas, the "abode of snow," reach the height of 29,000 feet in Mount Everest,
the highest elevation on the globe; while Kinchinjinga exceeds 28,000 feet. Dap- sang in the Karakoram range is still higher.
Numerous other peaks exceed five miles in elevation, while over forty exceed four miles. The Kuenlun range, though its peaks are less lofty, has the highest average elevation of any mountain range in the world. The mountains of central Asia are subject to terrific snow storms, and everywhere above the three-mile line, they are covered with perpetual snow.
Immense glaciers form in the valleys, and the melting snow and ice feed the sources of the great rivers that flow east and south. There are two famous gorges, or passes, which connect central with southern Asia; the first is the Khaiber pass over the Hindu Kush range, at the head of which stands Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan; the second is the Bolan pass crossing the Suleiman range near Khelat.
These passes have been highways for caravans for many centuries and were the scenes of many bloody battles fought against invaders. The snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas rising above the clouds.
The Coast Line.
Asia is bounded on three sides by the ocean and has everywhere an irregular and deeply indented coast. Its projecting peninsulas form about one-seventh the surface of the continent. The northern coast is fiat and low, and the inlets and mouths of rivers are closed by ice during the greater part of the year so that steamers are able to make their way up the great rivers for a few weeks in midsummer only. The eastern and southern coasts border on a succession of deep seas and gulfs partly enclosed by the fringe of volcanic islands. The many excellent harbors and navigable rivers have stimulated an enormous coast trade, which is carried on for the most part by the merchants of China and Japan. The value of this sea trade is greatly enhanced by the almost entire absence of railroads and canals on the mainland.
RIVERS AND PLAINS
The most important rivers of Asia are those of the southern and eastern parts of the continent. The Hoangho, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salwin, the Irawadi, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, and the Indus all take their rise in the central highland region. The shortest of these, the Irawadi, is 1,200 miles in length, while the longest, the Yangtze, exceeds 3,000 miles. These rivers are swift and have great erosive power in their upper courses; hence they bring down vast amounts of detritus from the mountains, out of which wide floodplains and deltas have been formed.
Along the greater part of their courses, however, these rivers are now navigable, and during the busy season, they are thronged with boats of every sort, which carry on the trade between the coast and the interior. The fertile plains which bound them are the most thickly settled parts of the continent and are the homes of the leading nations. The rivers of the northern plain, the Ob, the Yenisei, and the Lena, drain enormous basin areas, that of the Yenisei exceeding the Mississippi basin in size, while those of the Ob and the Lena are the only slightly smaller.
The banks of these rivers, except in the cold regions within the Arctic circle, are clothed with dense forests. As these rivers flow from a moderate to an intensely cold climate, their mouths are often blocked with ice, while their upper courses are swollen by the spring rains and melting snows, thus causing frequent and destructive floods.
The Ob and its branches furnish more than 9,000 miles of navigable waters. Both this river and the Yenisei enter the ocean by deep estuaries, a fact which suggests a sinking of the coast. The Lena, on the contrary, divides into numerous branches which have built up an immense delta. Lake Baikal, the chief source of the Upper Tun- guska, an affluent of the Yenisei, is the largest body of fresh water in Asia and is nearly a mile in depth.
The Amur river forms a portion of the boundary between Siberia and Manchuria. It flows through a very mountainous country, describing almost a semicircle in its course. It has built up a floodplain of considerable width. The depressed area of central Asia has numerous rivers, some of the considerable size, which flow into the inland seas and lakes. Chief among these are Lob Nor, Lake Balkash, and the Caspian Sea.
The vast extent of Asia and the number and direction of its mountain ranges give great variety to the climate. The interior of the continent, far removed from the ocean, has extremes of heat and cold, and great dryness. In the winter, strong, cold winds blow outward from these regions in every direction. During this season there is little rain in any part of the continent except on the coastlands of the extreme south. In the summer the interior becomes highly heated and the winds are drawn inward from the oceans; but even at this season only a small amount of rain falls, the greater part of the moisture having already been wrung from the winds while ascending the mountains.
The northern plain is also a region of extremes of temperature. The section east of the Lena River, centering at Verkhoyansk, has the lowest temperature known, the average for January is 60 degrees below zero, with extremes as low as 90 degrees below zero. This point is therefore called the pole of cold. The parts of the plain within the Arctic circle have scarcely any rain, but farther south the amount increases considerably.
The heaviest rainfall occurs where the winds strike the mountains on the southern boundary. Southern and southeastern Asia lie within the region of the monsoons, or seasonal winds, which in summer blow in a northeasterly direction across the Indian and Pacific oceans, while in winter they blow outward from the land in a southwesterly direction.
The monsoons are periodical winds occurring in the region extending from the coast of Africa to New Guinea, and from the Himalaya mountains to the equator. Within these limits, the winds blow from the northeast from October to April, and from the southwest during the rest of the year.
In order to understand this seasonal change of winds we must remember that winds blow toward the heated areas of the earth because these are areas of low pressure; that is, the air in these regions being heated has less weight, and thus exerts less pressure than in the surrounding regions, where the air is cold. With the coming of the northern summer, the belt of greatest heat on the earth moves northward from the equator across the tropic of Cancer toward the vast plateau of southern Asia. This causes the southeast trade winds, which are south of the equator, to blow across the equator into the northern hemisphere.
In so doing they bend eastward, according to the law governing the movements of winds from the equator toward the poles, and thus become southwest winds. In winter the belt of greatest heat being south of the equator, the natural tendency of the northern trade winds to approach the equator from the northeast is increased, and after crossing it they bend eastward and become northwest winds in the southern hemisphere.
As the monsoons sweep across the great oceans lying south and east of Asia, they gather great volumes of moisture, which is condensed to rain as the winds rise over the great central highland region of the continent. On the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the rainfall is very heavy, at one point exceeding 490 inches annually. The western coasts and the island regions also receive very heavy rains. At the beginning of the wet season,
or at the "breaking of the monsoon" as it is called, destructive whirling storms known as typhoons are of frequent occurrence. On account of local conditions of a surface, the rainfall of southern Asia is extremely varied, as we shall notice in the account of the several countries.
The minerals of Asia are remarkable for both quantity and variety. Gold, silver, and precious stones have long been sought in every part of the continent; but with the exception of Russia and Japan, no Asiatic nation has made extensive use of the vast stores of useful minerals.
Gold, silver, and copper are found throughout the northern mountain ranges from the Urals to Bering Strait. Rich mines of graphite occur in Siberia, mercury is found in Japan, and tin in the Malay peninsula. The diamonds of Golconda, near Haiderabad in Hindustan, have long been famous; sapphires are found in Ceylon, rubies in Burma, and the rich jade, so much prized by the Chinese for ornament, in Turkestan.
The zones of vegetation and of animal life in Asia resemble those of the continents lying west of them. We may consider Asia as having four belts of plant life. In the extreme North, as in Europe, there is a region of tundras where the ground is permanently frozen to a great depth.
During the brief summer, though the thermometer does not rise above 50 degrees F., the surface of the ground thaws to a considerable depth and quick-growing plants, whose seeds survive the cold of winter, sprout and grow. Among them are the poppy, the saxifrage, and many hardy flowering plants that are common to the mountains of Europe.
A species of cranberry also nourishes, but mosses and lichens are the most characteristic forms of plant life. There are no tall trees since their roots cannot penetrate the frozen ground; but dwarfed species of the willow, larch, birch, and spruce are found. South of the frozen belt comes to a region of forests which is common to all countries in the same latitude.
Evergreens like the larch and fir at first prevail, but the forest gradually becomes denser and both evergreen and deciduous trees are found in great size and variety. This forest region, which extends across Europe, stretches halfway around the globe. South of the forest belt comes the region of grassy plains called steppes in the southwest, and the region of sterile deserts in central Asia, which are nearly destitute of vegetation.
The fourth zone of vegetation lies south of the central mountain region, and here, owing to the tropical heat and heavy rainfall, the forests are dense jungles made up of giant banyan trees with their many trunks, and palms in endless variety. Teak trees and innumerable bamboos are the prevailing species.
A thick growth of shrubbery and many trailing and climbing vines and air plants serve to make these forests almost impenetrable to man but afford a home for the tiger, the rhinoceros, the elephant, and other wild animals. Each climatic section has its characteristic animals. The reindeer supplies many of the necessities of life to the dweller of the cold regions of the far North; the camel, the dromedary, and the wild horse are common to the steppes and desert regions of the South and West; the yak serves as the common beast of burden in the deserts of the central part of the continent and on the high plateau of Tibet; in the southeast the carabao, or water buffalo, is utilized for all kinds of work; in India and Burma the elephant is trained to take the place of both the horse and the ox.
Besides the reindeer, the chief animals of the cold zone are polar bears, seals, foxes, hares, squirrels, and many kinds of birds and fishes. The great forest region affords shelter to various members of the deer family and to numerous fur-bearing animals, like the bear, wolf, weasel, fox, ermine, marten, and sable. In the hot zone, besides the species already named, there are several kinds of apes and monkeys, many kinds of poisonous serpents, crocodiles, peacocks, parrots, and a great variety of bright colored birds. Pigs, fowls, goats, sheep, and cattle are common to all parts of Asia where they can be kept profitably.
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Along the greater part of their courses, however, these rivers are now navigable, and during the busy season, they are thronged with boats of every sort, which carry on the trade between the coast and the interior. The fertile plains which bound them are the most thickly settled parts of the continent and are the homes of the leading nations. The rivers of the northern plain, the Ob, the Yenisei, and the Lena, drain enormous basin areas, that of the Yenisei exceeding the Mississippi basin in size, while those of the Ob and the Lena are the only slightly smaller.
The banks of these rivers, except in the cold regions within the Arctic circle, are clothed with dense forests. As these rivers flow from a moderate to an intensely cold climate, their mouths are often blocked with ice, while their upper courses are swollen by the spring rains and melting snows, thus causing frequent and destructive floods.
The Ob and its branches furnish more than 9,000 miles of navigable waters. Both this river and the Yenisei enter the ocean by deep estuaries, a fact which suggests a sinking of the coast. The Lena, on the contrary, divides into numerous branches which have built up an immense delta. Lake Baikal, the chief source of the Upper Tun- guska, an affluent of the Yenisei, is the largest body of fresh water in Asia and is nearly a mile in depth.
The Amur river forms a portion of the boundary between Siberia and Manchuria. It flows through a very mountainous country, describing almost a semicircle in its course. It has built up a floodplain of considerable width. The depressed area of central Asia has numerous rivers, some of the considerable size, which flow into the inland seas and lakes. Chief among these are Lob Nor, Lake Balkash, and the Caspian Sea.
Climate.
The vast extent of Asia and the number and direction of its mountain ranges give great variety to the climate. The interior of the continent, far removed from the ocean, has extremes of heat and cold, and great dryness. In the winter, strong, cold winds blow outward from these regions in every direction. During this season there is little rain in any part of the continent except on the coastlands of the extreme south. In the summer the interior becomes highly heated and the winds are drawn inward from the oceans; but even at this season only a small amount of rain falls, the greater part of the moisture having already been wrung from the winds while ascending the mountains.
The northern plain is also a region of extremes of temperature. The section east of the Lena River, centering at Verkhoyansk, has the lowest temperature known, the average for January is 60 degrees below zero, with extremes as low as 90 degrees below zero. This point is therefore called the pole of cold. The parts of the plain within the Arctic circle have scarcely any rain, but farther south the amount increases considerably.
The heaviest rainfall occurs where the winds strike the mountains on the southern boundary. Southern and southeastern Asia lie within the region of the monsoons, or seasonal winds, which in summer blow in a northeasterly direction across the Indian and Pacific oceans, while in winter they blow outward from the land in a southwesterly direction.
The monsoons are periodical winds occurring in the region extending from the coast of Africa to New Guinea, and from the Himalaya mountains to the equator. Within these limits, the winds blow from the northeast from October to April, and from the southwest during the rest of the year.
In order to understand this seasonal change of winds we must remember that winds blow toward the heated areas of the earth because these are areas of low pressure; that is, the air in these regions being heated has less weight, and thus exerts less pressure than in the surrounding regions, where the air is cold. With the coming of the northern summer, the belt of greatest heat on the earth moves northward from the equator across the tropic of Cancer toward the vast plateau of southern Asia. This causes the southeast trade winds, which are south of the equator, to blow across the equator into the northern hemisphere.
In so doing they bend eastward, according to the law governing the movements of winds from the equator toward the poles, and thus become southwest winds. In winter the belt of greatest heat being south of the equator, the natural tendency of the northern trade winds to approach the equator from the northeast is increased, and after crossing it they bend eastward and become northwest winds in the southern hemisphere.
As the monsoons sweep across the great oceans lying south and east of Asia, they gather great volumes of moisture, which is condensed to rain as the winds rise over the great central highland region of the continent. On the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the rainfall is very heavy, at one point exceeding 490 inches annually. The western coasts and the island regions also receive very heavy rains. At the beginning of the wet season,
or at the "breaking of the monsoon" as it is called, destructive whirling storms known as typhoons are of frequent occurrence. On account of local conditions of a surface, the rainfall of southern Asia is extremely varied, as we shall notice in the account of the several countries.
Minerals.
The minerals of Asia are remarkable for both quantity and variety. Gold, silver, and precious stones have long been sought in every part of the continent; but with the exception of Russia and Japan, no Asiatic nation has made extensive use of the vast stores of useful minerals.
Gold, silver, and copper are found throughout the northern mountain ranges from the Urals to Bering Strait. Rich mines of graphite occur in Siberia, mercury is found in Japan, and tin in the Malay peninsula. The diamonds of Golconda, near Haiderabad in Hindustan, have long been famous; sapphires are found in Ceylon, rubies in Burma, and the rich jade, so much prized by the Chinese for ornament, in Turkestan.
Plants and Animals.
The zones of vegetation and of animal life in Asia resemble those of the continents lying west of them. We may consider Asia as having four belts of plant life. In the extreme North, as in Europe, there is a region of tundras where the ground is permanently frozen to a great depth.
During the brief summer, though the thermometer does not rise above 50 degrees F., the surface of the ground thaws to a considerable depth and quick-growing plants, whose seeds survive the cold of winter, sprout and grow. Among them are the poppy, the saxifrage, and many hardy flowering plants that are common to the mountains of Europe.
A species of cranberry also nourishes, but mosses and lichens are the most characteristic forms of plant life. There are no tall trees since their roots cannot penetrate the frozen ground; but dwarfed species of the willow, larch, birch, and spruce are found. South of the frozen belt comes to a region of forests which is common to all countries in the same latitude.
Evergreens like the larch and fir at first prevail, but the forest gradually becomes denser and both evergreen and deciduous trees are found in great size and variety. This forest region, which extends across Europe, stretches halfway around the globe. South of the forest belt comes the region of grassy plains called steppes in the southwest, and the region of sterile deserts in central Asia, which are nearly destitute of vegetation.
The fourth zone of vegetation lies south of the central mountain region, and here, owing to the tropical heat and heavy rainfall, the forests are dense jungles made up of giant banyan trees with their many trunks, and palms in endless variety. Teak trees and innumerable bamboos are the prevailing species.
A thick growth of shrubbery and many trailing and climbing vines and air plants serve to make these forests almost impenetrable to man but afford a home for the tiger, the rhinoceros, the elephant, and other wild animals. Each climatic section has its characteristic animals. The reindeer supplies many of the necessities of life to the dweller of the cold regions of the far North; the camel, the dromedary, and the wild horse are common to the steppes and desert regions of the South and West; the yak serves as the common beast of burden in the deserts of the central part of the continent and on the high plateau of Tibet; in the southeast the carabao, or water buffalo, is utilized for all kinds of work; in India and Burma the elephant is trained to take the place of both the horse and the ox.
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