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Asia Continent and All Its Countries UPSC CSE

Asia Continent and its Countries

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Summary of Asia Continent

Asia, the largest continent, covers approximately 44,579,000 square kilometers and covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area. With a population of almost 7.87 billion, Asia is home to 59.76% of the total world population.With more than 1.43 billion people, India surpassed China in 2023 to become the nation with the highest population worldwide. Asia contains all of Earth's extremes, including its highest and lowest points, longest coastlines, and greatest continental shelf areas. This is due to its huge size. The history of humanity has been greatly impacted by its mountain ranges, diverse coasts, and wide continental plains. Asia's production of minerals like tin and fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and petroleum highlights its importance in producing .

The world's tallest structure is the Burj Khalifa. This building is the tallest in the world, at 828 meters without the tip and 830 meters with it.

Earth is made up of seven continents, which include Asia and Africa North America, Americas South, South Africa, Europe, and Australia.

It is the region in northern China that borders the Amur River and its tributaries; it is roughly 135,000 square miles in size.

The Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Banda Sea, Barents Sea, Bering Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, East Siberian Sea, Java Sea, Kara Sea, Laccadive Sea, Sea of Japan, and Sea of Okhotsk are the main bodies of the sea that contribute to Asian drainage. The Yellow Sea and the South China Sea.

Background of Asia Continent

Asia is the largest and youngest continent on Earth, with the most diverse physical structure. Asia's evolution started about four billion years ago, but despite this, more than half of the continent is still experiencing seismic activity, and the island arc systems that encircle it to the east and southeast are still producing new continental material. These are areas where land constantly breaks free and joins the main body of the continent through sporadic island arc collisions with the mainland. Asia is home to the largest mountain range on Earth, which comprises the Himalayan Mountains, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the Kunlun Mountains, the Tien Shan, and the Tibetan Plateau.

Introduction of Asia Continent

Asia is the world's largest continent by both land area and population. Traditionally, the name "Asia" refers to the eastern portion of the Eurasian landmass, as well as Japan, an island nation, and the island countries of Maritime Southeast Asia. Except for a few islands in Southeast Asia, the continent lies almost entirely north of the equator. Asia shares a physical border with Europe (a member of the same landmass) via the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea, and it links to Africa via the Suez Canal.

Regional Division of Asia

There are six physiographic divisions in Asia:

Central Asia Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Eastern Asia China, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Taiwan
Northern Asia Russia
South-eastern Asia Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam.
Southern Asia Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
Western Asia Armenia, Azerbaijana, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, State of Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

Major Physical Division of Asia


  1. The Northern Lowland:
    The vast plains that make up various lowland zones across this vast continent are known as the Northern Lowlands.
    Major Lawlonds:
    • Great Siberian Plain
      • It spans from the east to the river Lena and the west to the Ural Mountains. It is the world's largest lowland, with an approximate extent of 1,200,000 square miles.
    • Manchurian Plain
      • It is the region in northern China that borders the Amur River and its tributaries; it is roughly 135,000 square miles in size.
    • Great Plain of China
      • It is enhanced by the Yangtze and Hwang Ho rivers, two of China's largest rivers that together encompass over 158,000 square miles.
    • Tigris-Euphrates plains
      • Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran are riparian nations that make up the about 35,600 square kilometer, or 13,700 square mile, Tigris-Euphrates river basin.
    • Ganga plains
      • In terms of the north Indian River plain, the Indo-Gangetic plain is referred to as the big plain because it stretches by 700 thousand km per acre. This region is limited to a fertile plain in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, which includes the majority of eastern and northern India. Furthermore, its geographical configuration has been noted to be encircled by the southern region of Nepal and half of Pakistan and Bangladesh based on virtual density.
    • Irrawaddy plains
      • An important element of the Great Asian Plains is the Irrawaddy plain, which is situated in Myanmar.
  2. The Central Mountains
    • These are the large and well-known mountain ranges that surround some of Central Asia.
    • They are made up of the Pamir and Tian Shan mountains and traverse parts of China, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
    • Conservation International has classified these mountain ranges, which span multiple montane forests and alpine ecoregions in Central Asia, as biodiversity hotspots.
    • It includes a variety of ecosystem types such as alpine tundra, temperate coniferous forests, and montane grasslands and shrublands.
    • A mountain knot is where two or more mountain ranges come together. In Asia, the two primary mountain knots are:
      • Five mountain ranges come together to form the Pamir Knot: the Himalayan, Hindu Kush, Kunlun, Karakoram, and Sulaiman. The tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, is located in the Himalayan range.
      • The Elburz and Zagros Ranges, which have their origins in the Armenian Knot, link it to the Pamir Knot. Other mountain ranges in Asia are the Tien Shan and the Altai.

    Peaks of Asia

    • Mount Everest (8848 m), Nepal-Tibet, China border
    • K2 (8,61,1 m), (POK) India -China
    • Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), Nepal-Sikkim (India).
    • Lhotse (8,516 m), Nepal-Tibet, China
    • Makalu (8,462 m), Nepal-Tibet, China
    • Cho Oyu (8,201 m), Nepal
  3. The Central and Southern Plateaus
    Plateaus are regions of terrain that are, on at least one side, significantly higher than the surrounding ground and frequently cut out by deep canyons.
    Major Plateaus of Asian Continent –
    Plateau Location Types
    Ladakh Between Karakoram and Himalaya mountain ranges Intermontane
    Tibet Between Kulun and Himalayan Mountain range Intermontane
    Yunan Located southeast of the Tibet Plateau and divided from the vast, rich Szechuan Basin by a range of mountains Piedmont
    Pamir Well connected to the range of mountains such as The Himalayas with the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and the Hindu Kush ranges on all sides Intermontane
    Armenian Present in between Caspian and the Black Sea Piedmont
    Iranian Present in between Zagros Mountains, Caspian Sea, Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range Piedmont
    Mongolian Encircled by the Alai Mountains to the west, the Yin Mountains to the south, the Sayan and Khentii Mountains to the north, and the Greater Hinggan Mountains to the east. Intermontane
    Shan Stretched in the Pegu Yoma and Arkan Yoma in the eastern part of Myanmar, Intermontane
    Deccan Stretched between the Indian Subcontinent's Western and Eastern Ghats, it nearly reaches the country's southernmost point and is sheltered in the north by the Vindhya and Satpura Ranges. Intermontane
    Anatolian Bounded to the south by the Pontic mountain ranges and to the southwest by Taurus. Volcanic
  4. Peninsula
    A peninsula is a piece of land that is joined to the mainland yet surrounded by sea. In addition, the Deccan plateau is a peninsula. Southern Asia is home to the great peninsulas of Arabia, India, and Malay. In northeastern Asia sits the Kamchatka peninsula.
  5. Desert
    Large deserts including the Gobi, TaklaMakan, Thar, Kara-Kum, and Rub-al-Khali Deserts are found in Asia.

    The Rub' al Khali desert, which spans Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, is regarded as the largest sand sea in the world and covers an area larger than France.
    1. Island of Asia
      Asia also contains many archipelagos, which is a collection of islands.
      An archipelago, which forms in close proximity to one another in large clusters, is sometimes referred to as an island group or island chain. Among the archipelagos are the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Andaman Islands, and Nicobar Islands.
    2. Drainage of Asia
      Asia is drained by vast seas, powerful oceans, long rivers and their tributaries and distributaries, large lakes, etc.
      Three large oceans encircle the Asian continent
      from three different directions, including
      • The Pacific Ocean – Menam Mekong, Xi Jiang, Chang Xiang, Huang Ho, and Amur.
      • The Indian Ocean – Tigris, Euprates, the Indus, the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween.
      • The Arctic Ocean – Ob, Yenisey, and Lena.
  6. Sea
    • The continent is distinguished by an extensive area of bay and gulf in addition to being surrounded by sea on all three sides.
    • The Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Banda Sea, Barents Sea, Bering Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, East Siberian Sea, Java Sea, Kara Sea, Laccadive Sea, Sea of Japan, and Sea of Okhotsk are the main regions of the sea that contribute to Asian drainage. The Yellow Sea and the South China Sea.
  7. Lake:
    Major lakes of Asia include the following:
    • Qinghai Lake, Lake Khanka in China;
    • Dal Lake, Chilka, Vembanada, Pullicat and Sukhna in India;
    • Lake Matano and Toba in Indonesia;
    • Lake Baikal, Onega, Ladoga, and Peipus in Russia;
    • Lake Akan, Mashu, Biwa, and Shikotsu in Japan; etc.
    • Lake Baikal is the world's deepest lake. It is located in Russia's Southern Siberia.
  8. Resources

    North/central Zone–

    • Arctic winds, which are cold and dry, have an impact on the north and center regions of the continent, particularly Russia's Siberia area.
    • Hardier grains are produced in the middle and southern portions of this zone, where persistent frosts prevent plant growth, such as barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, and wheat.
    • In this zone, animal husbandry is also quite significant. For example, in Mongolia, cattle, sheep, and goats are raised on 75% of the country's agricultural area.

    Southwest–

    • The Gobi Desert in Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula are all part of the arid, hot southwest zone.
    • Very few places in this zone receive enough precipitation and moisture to support crop growth. In certain nations, the main crops that are irrigated are grains, such corn and barley.
    • The most significant fruits and vegetables among these are dates, figs, apricots, olives, onions, grapes, and cherries.

    Southeast–

    • The summer monsoon season has a significant impact on the southeast zone.
    • One of the most significant agricultural products in Asia and a mainstay of the continent's diet is rice.
    • A lot of wheat is grown in areas with rainfall.
    • Major tropical fruit production occurs in Southeast Asia, including papaya, pineapple, and mango. India is the country that produces the most amount of mangoes worldwide, about 40% of the total.

    Mining:

    • The most productive mining economies on the continent are those of China, India, Russia, and Indonesia. Numerous minerals are extracted by these nations.
    • In terms of coal, gold, tin, and aluminum production, China leads the globe.
    • Along with other minerals like barite (used in drilling fluids), chromium (used in steel and dyes), and manganese (used in steel manufacturing), India is also a major producer of iron and aluminum ore.
    • Russia is a major producer of diamonds, steel, coal, iron, and tungsten, which is used to make steel.
    • An important producer of coal, gold, copper, and tin is Indonesia.

    Drilling:

    • The biggest reserves of natural gas and oil in the world are found in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Fuel and energy are extracted from these fossil sources.
    • Throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East, light sweet crude oil is the best type of oil available.
    • Diesel fuels, kerosene, and gasoline are all made from light sweet crude oil.
    • Russia possesses enormous natural gas deposits throughout the Arctic and oil reserves in Siberia.
    • The US produces the majority of the world's natural gas, but Russia and Iran hold the greatest reserves.

Conclusion of Asia Continent

There are seven continents in the world, with Asia being the largest. In terms of cultural richness, it is also the most populous continent. Asia's growth is driven by its economic powerhouses, such as China, Japan, and India, which are among the top five globally. This growth has led to a growing middle class, fueling demand for goods and services. Asia has also become a dominant manufacturing hub, with countries like China and Vietnam playing a pivotal role in global supply chains. Regional trade agreements like the RCEP foster significant trade blocs, amplifying intra-Asian trade and attracting foreign investment. Asian cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore have emerged as prominent financial hubs, attracting investments and facilitating cross-border capital flows.

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