The Geography and People of AsiaWorld Studies

Asia in General• Largest continent (17,212,000 sq mi)• Largest population (3,879,000,000)• 6 of the world’s 10 largest populations, inc. the top

2. • 1. China, 2. India, 5. Indonesia, 6. Pakistan, 7. Bangladesh,

10. Japan

• 48 countries• Birthplace of all world religions• VERY culturally diverse• Language, religion, ethnicity, music, food, art, etc.

• “Asian” is a very inaccurate description for people and reflects an unawareness of culture.

Who is an Asian?

Physical Geography of Asia

• “Eurasian” landmass• Indian and Pacific Oceans• Ural (Russia) and Himalayan (India, Nepal)

Mountains• Siberia (N. Russia)• Ganges (India), Yellow/ Huang He (China),

and Yangtze/ Chang Jiang (China) rivers.• Note: Russia is politically connected to

Europe, but physically a part of Asia.

REurope

Africa

Himalayas

PacificOcean

Indian Ocean

Ural Mts.

Siberia

Ganges R.

Yangtze R.

Yellow R.

Major Regions in Asia

• Southwest Asia (Middle East)• Southern Asia (India, Pakistan,

Bangladesh)• Central Asia (“Stans”)• Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia,

Indonesia)• Eastern Asia (China, Japan, N & S

Korea)

East

Central

South

Southwest

Southeast

Religion in Asia

• As we have previously studied, the world’s major religions all originated in Asia and have strong presence in Asia

• Buddhism (Southeast Asia, China)• Daoism (China)• Hinduism (India)• Islam (Southwest Asia, Indonesia, Pakistan,

Bang.)• Christianity (Philippines, Christian minorities in

many countries)• Judaism (Israel)• Shinto (Japan)