
In the ancient language, Asia means “sunrise.” As the largest continent on the earth in both area (reaches almost one third of all its land area of our planet) and population, Asia is located in the eastern hemisphere, bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, to the north by the Arctic, and to the west by the Mediterranean and Black Sea. As of 2019, Asia is composed of 48 countries with a population of 4.0504 billion, accounting for 60.7% of the total world population. Asia has an area of 44,000,000 square meters, contributing to 29.4% of the world’s land area.
Note that in an area that is equivalent to a quarter of the Asian territory, 90% of the peoples of the continent live, as in the plains, especially those monsoon-irrigated, where large cities have very high demographic densities. On the other hand, two-fifths of the territory is practically uninhabited, housing 3% or 4% of the total population, as in Mongolia, the lowest population density on the planet.
The Asian continent has a very varied geographical formation, including Middle East or Western Asia defined by Countryaah. Thus we have Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet, located on the China-Nepal border, while the alluvial and coastal lowlands extend until they meet the large plateau formations with very high mountain ranges, of which the highest mountains. they are located in the Himalayan mountain range. On the other hand, the Asian relief is marked by its altimetric end contrasts, such as the Himalayas, Pamir and Tibet, where the highest altitudes of the globe are located and the highest depressions, such as the Dead Sea. Finally, there are some of the highest mountains in the world, the longest rivers, the largest deserts, plains and plateaus, the thickest jungles and forests.
Asian nations have diverse systems of government, such as the communists in China and North Korea, the ruling monarchs of the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Thailand, the sheikhs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the state of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the countries such as Israel and Japan or the sultanate of the nine Malay states.
People are vastly different in family trees, customary practices or behaviors, languages, beliefs of religion. So Chinese (the most widely spoken language in the world), Arabic, Malay-Indonesian, Japanese and, in India, Hindi -urdu and Bengali, are some of the many languages spoken in Asia, while from the religious point of view it was the cradle of the most important religions in the world: Judaism and Christianity were founded in Palestine; Hinduism and Buddhism began in India; and the Islamic Caliphate and other Muslim states took over the Middle East from the seventh century.
Of the Asian population, we can say that it is made up of yellow people, however, there are great physical, linguistic and cultural distinctions between them. There are also other ethnic trunks, such as black and white, prevalent in the southeast of the continent (Middle East).
Country | State condition | Official name |
Afghanistan | republic, unitary state | Da Afghanistan islami jomhoriyat (pashto) / Jamhoriye eslami-ye Afghanistan (dari) / Islamic Republic of Afghanistan |
Bahrain | monarchy, unitary state | Mamlakat al-Bahrain / Kingdom of Bahrain |
Bangladesh | republic, unitary state | Ghana Prajatantri Bangladesh / People’s Republic of Bangladesh |
Bhutan | monarchy, unitary state | Druk Yul / Kingdom of Bhutan |
Brunei | monarchy (sultanate), unitary state | Negara Brunei Darussalam / Brunei Darussalam |
Burma | republic, federal state | Pyidaunzu Thanmada Myama Nainngandaw / Republiken Unionen Myanmar |
Philippines | republic, unitary state | Republika ng Pilipinas / Republiken Filippinerna |
United Arab Emirates | monarchy, federal state | al-Imarat al-Arabiyya al-Muttahida / United Arab Emirates |
India | republic, federal state | Republic of India (Bharatiya Ganarajya) / Republic of India |
Indonesia | republic, unitary state | Republic of Indonesia / Republic of Indonesia |
Iraq | republic, federal state | Jumhuriyyat al-Iraq / Republic of Iraq |
Iran | republic, unitary state | Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran / Islamic Republic of Iran |
Israel | republic, unitary state | Medinat Yisrael / Republic of Israel |
Japan | monarchy, unitary state | Nippon / Japan |
Yemen | republic, unitary state | al-Jumhuriyya al-Yamaniyya / Republic of Yemen |
Jordan | monarchy, unitary state | al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashimyya / Hashimitic Kingdom of Jordan |
Cambodia | monarchy, unitary state | Preah Reacheanachakr Kampuchea / Kingdom of Cambodia |
Kazakhstan | republic, unitary state | Kazakhstan / Republic of Kazakhstan |
China | republic, unitary state | Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo / People’s Republic of China |
Kyrgyzstan | republic, unitary state | Kyrgyz Respublikasy / Republic of Kyrgyzstan |
Kuwait | monarchy, unitary state | Dawlat al-Kuwait / Kuwait States |
Laos | republic, unitary state | Sathalanalath Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao / Democratic People’s Republic of Laos |
Lebanon | republic, unitary state | al-Jumhuriyya al-Lubnaniyya / Republic of Lebanon |
Malaysia | monarchy, federal state | Malaysia |
Maldives | republic, unitary state | Divehi Jumhuriyya / Republic of Maldives |
Mongolia | republic, unitary state | Mongol Uls / Mongolia |
Nepal | republic | Sanghiya Loktantrik Ganatantra Nepal / Democratic Federal Republic of Nepal |
North Korea | republic, unitary state | Democratic People’s Republic of Korea |
Oman | monarchy (sultanate), unitary state | Sultanate of Oman / Sultanate of Oman |
Pakistan | republic | Islami Jumhuriyah e Pakistan / Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
Qatar | monarchy, unitary state | Dawlat Qatar / Staten Qatar |
Saudi Arabia | monarchy, unitary state | al-Mamlaka al-Arabiyya al-Saudiyya / Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
Singapore | republic, unitary state | Republic of Singapore / Republiken Singapore |
Sri Lanka | republic, unitary state | Sri Lanka Prajathanthrika Samajavadi Janarajaya (Sinhalese) / Ilankais Sananayaka Sosialisak Kutiyarasa (Tamil) / Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |
South Korea | republic, unitary state | Taehan Minguk / Republic of Korea |
Syria | republic, unitary state | al-Jumhuriyya al-Arabiyya al-Suriyya / Arab Republic of Syria |
Tajikistan | republic, unitary state | Dzjumhurii Tojikiston / Republic of Tajikistan |
Taiwan | republic, unitary state | Chung-hua Min-kuo / Republic of China |
Thailand | monarchy, unitary state | Prathet Thai / Kingdom of Thailand |
Turkmenistan | republic, unitary state | Türkmenistan Respublikasy / Turkmenistan |
Uzbekistan | republic, unitary state | Uzbekistan Republikasi / Republiken Uzbekistan |
Vietnam | republic, unitary state | Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam / Socialist Republic of Vietnam |
East Timor | republic, unitary state | Democratic Republic of East Timor / Timor Leste / Timor Lorosae |
To sea area codes and capital cities of all Asian countries, please visit AllCityCodes.
Colonization and Asian History
The term Asia would be a reference to one of the oceanic nymphs, better known as Climene. Formerly, the term Asia used to designate the present Asia Minor (Anatolia) which in turn can be derived from Akkadian (w) aṣû (m), which means “to rise”, “to leave” with respect to sunrise. Its history, however, can be understood as narrating the emergence of East Asia, Southern Asia, and the Middle East.
Asian civilization began more than 4,000 years ago and its people founded the oldest cities, as well as the founders of all the world’s most important religions. Nevertheless, each of these regions developed a civilization along fertile valleys of rivers, while the steppe was inhabited by nomads on horseback, which from there reached every part of the Asian continent.
However, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, the Karakum Desert, and the Gobi Desert represented barriers that the steppe riders hardly crossed. As a result, many ancient civilizations were influenced by the famous Silk Road, which linked China, India, the Middle East, and Europe.
In turn, the nations of Western Europe conquered territories in Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Thus, the major European powers seized parts of Asia, such as British India, French Indochina and Macau and Goa, which were under Portuguese authority.
After World War II (1939-1945), the Asian continent was transformed into the center of the battles between countries that adopt communism as a government apparatus and countries that use capitalism as an economic precept.