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Asia (/ˈeɪʒə/ ^ⓘ AY-zhə, UK also /ˈeɪʃə/ AY-shə) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.

Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. In general terms, 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. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. It is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural, linguistic, and ethnic differences, some of which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish Straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe.

China and India traded places as the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, as well as many other religions. (Full article...)

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A partially unrolled scroll. opened from left to right to show a portion of the scroll with widely spaced vertical lines of cursive Mongol script. Imprinted over two of the lines is an official-looking square red stamp with an intricate design. — 1305 letter (a roll measuring 302 by 50 centimetres (9.91 by 1.64 ft)) from the Ilkhan Mongol Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France, suggesting military collaboration.

Several attempts at a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Islamic caliphates, their common enemy, were made by various leaders among the Frankish Crusaders and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Such an alliance might have seemed an obvious choice: the Mongols were already sympathetic to Christianity, given the presence of many influential Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court. The Franks—Western Europeans, and those in the Levantine Crusader states—were open to the idea of support from the East, in part owing to the long-running legend of the mythical Prester John, an Eastern king in an Eastern kingdom who many believed would one day come to the assistance of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. The Franks and Mongols also shared a common enemy in the Muslims. However, despite many messages, gifts, and emissaries over the course of several decades, the often-proposed alliance never came to fruition.

Contact between Europeans and Mongols began around 1220, with occasional messages from the papacy and European monarchs to Mongol leaders such as the Great Khan, and subsequently to the Ilkhans in Mongol-conquered Persia. Communications tended to follow a recurring pattern: the Europeans asked the Mongols to convert to Western Christianity, while the Mongols responded with demands for submission and tribute. The Mongols had already conquered many Christian and Muslim nations in their advance across Asia, and after destroying the Nizaris of Alamut and the Muslim Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties, for the next few generations fought the remaining Islamic power in the region, the Egyptian Mamluks. Hethum I, king of the Christian nation of Cilician Armenia, had submitted to the Mongols in 1247, and strongly encouraged other monarchs to engage in a Christian–Mongol alliance, but was only able to persuade his son-in-law, Prince Bohemond VI of the Crusader state of Antioch, who submitted in 1260. Other Christian leaders such as the Crusaders of Acre were more mistrustful of the Mongols, perceiving them as the most significant threat in the region. The Barons of Acre therefore engaged in an unusual passive alliance with the Muslim Mamluks, allowing Egyptian forces to advance unopposed through Crusader territory to engage and defeat the Mongols at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. (Full article...)

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Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries with a population of nearly 170 million in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. To the south, it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali.

Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947 as part of a Muslim union with Pakistan, which it separated from in 1971. The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. Ancient Bengal was known as Gangaridai and was a bastion of pre-Islamic kingdoms. Muslim conquests after 1204 heralded the sultanate and Mughal periods, during which an independent Bengal Sultanate and a wealthy Mughal Bengal transformed the region into an important centre of regional affairs, trade, and diplomacy. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the maximum extent of British Bengal stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to Singapore in the east. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka in 1906. In 1940, the first Prime Minister of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Huq, supported the Lahore Resolution. Before the partition of Bengal, a Bengali sovereign state was first proposed by premier H. S. Suhrawardy. A referendum and the announcement of the Radcliffe Line established the present-day territorial boundary. (Full article...)

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Featured biography

Narayan in Delhi in October 2010

Ram Narayan (IPA: [raːm naːˈɾaːjəɳ]; born 25 December 1927), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.

Narayan was born near Udaipur and learned to play the sarangi at an early age. He studied under sarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician. All India Radio, Lahore, hired Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947, but wishing to go beyond accompaniment and frustrated with his supporting role, Narayan moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Asia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Map of Marco Polo's travels (from History of Asia)
Image 2Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the South Asian cooking style. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 3Badshahi Mosque built under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore, Pakistan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 4A Confucian ritual ceremony in Jeju, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 5The Qing Empire in 1832. (from History of Asia)
Image 6Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruslam (from Culture of Asia)
Image 7A typical example of Dravidian architecture (from Culture of Asia)
Image 8The Han dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 9Detail of Chinese silk from the 4th century BCE. The characteristic trade of silk through the Silk Road connected various regions from China, India, Central Asia, and the Middle East to Europe and Africa. (from History of Asia)
Image 10The Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618 negotiating with Shah Abbas the Great of Iran. (from History of Asia)
Image 11Balhae in the north, Later Silla in the south (from History of Asia)
Image 12Gojong (1852–1919), the 26th king of Joseon dynasty and the first emperor of Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 13Map of Asia for early 20th century (from History of Asia)
Image 14India's middle-class population of 300 million is growing at an annual rate of 5%. Shown here is an upmarket area in South Mumbai. (from Asian Century)
Image 15Philippine cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 16Map of Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 17British troops taking Zhenjiang from Qing troops (from History of Asia)
Image 18Machiya in Heian period (from History of Asia)
Image 19Korean peninsula in 476 AD. There are three kingdoms and Gaya Union in the picture. This picture shows the heyday of Goguryeo (from History of Asia)
Image 20The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling (from Culture of Asia)
Image 21Borobudur, a Buddhist temple in Indonesia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 22Kabsa also called Majboos, famous in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (from Culture of Asia)
Image 23The Delhi Sultanate. (from History of Asia)
Image 24Projected GDP of 7 largest economies in 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 25Tang dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai, in a 13th-century depiction by Liang Kai (from Culture of Asia)
Image 26Ancient ziggurat, Iraq (from Culture of Asia)
Image 27The First Persian Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 28Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 29The Silk Road in Asia (from History of Asia)
Image 30Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of Asia)
Image 31Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with the rival "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878) (from History of Asia)
Image 32The global contribution to world's GDP by major economies from 1 AD to 2003 AD according to Angus Maddison's estimates. Before 18th century, China and India were the two largest economies by GDP output. (from Asian Century)
Image 33A view of the Fort St George in 18th-century Madras. (from History of Asia)
Image 34the Goryeo ware, which shows splendid culture of Goryeo in mediaeval Korea. (from History of Asia)
Image 35The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 (from Asian Century)
Image 36Byzantine and Sassanian Empires in 600 AD (from History of Asia)
Image 37Gyeonghoeru of Gyeongbokgung, the Joseon dynasty's royal palace. (from History of Asia)
Image 38Some henges at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge, by over seven millennia. (from History of Asia)
Image 39Sun temple at Konarka, Odisha, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 40The Grand Mosque in Kuwait City, one of the largest mosques in the region (from Culture of Asia)
Image 41The third Inter-Korean Summit, which was held in 2018, between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un. It was a historical event that symbolized the peace of Asia. (from History of Asia)
Image 42The Taj Mahal, Agra, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 43Map of Vietnam showing the conquest of the south (the Nam tiến, 1069–1757). (from History of Asia)
Image 44Đại Việt, Champa, Angkor Empire and their neighbours, late 13th century (from History of Asia)
Image 45Battle of Talas between Tang dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate c. 751 (from History of Asia)
Image 46Projected shares of global GDP by region to 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 47The early Muslim conquests, 622–750 (from History of Asia)
Image 48Daian-ji temple at Nara, Japan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 49Language families in South Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 50Population concentration and boundaries of the Western Zhou dynasty in China (from History of Asia)
Image 51Angkor Wat, Khmer Empire (from Culture of Asia)
Image 52Traditional Rajasthani garments from Jaipur, Rajasthan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 53The Qing conquest of the Ming and expansion of the empire (from History of Asia)
Image 54A stone image of the Buddha (from Culture of Asia)
Image 55Deoksugung, the palace where Emperor Gojong established Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 56The Russian Znamensky Cathedral in Tyumen built in 1768 (from Culture of Asia)
Image 57Detail of the Dragon Throne used by the Qianlong Emperor of China, Forbidden City, Qing dynasty. Artifact circulating in U.S. museums on loan from Beijing (from Culture of Asia)
Image 58The Hindu-Buddhist temple of Angkor Wat. (from History of Asia)
Image 59Indonesian Balinese cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 60East Asian cultural sphere (from Culture of Asia)
Image 61Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku (from History of Asia)
Image 62The Song dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 1200 (from History of Asia)
Image 63Here a Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666), is dressed as an official of the Chinese Department of Astronomy. (from History of Asia)
Image 64The Syriac Orthodox Saint Ahoadamah Church was a 7th-century church building in the city of Tikrit, one of the oldest in the world until its destruction by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 25 September 2014. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 65Invasions, destruction and possible population movements during the Late Bronze Age collapse, beginning c. 1200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 66Political map of Asia in 1860 (from History of Asia)
Image 67Hinduism expansion in Asia, from its heartland in Indian Subcontinent, to the rest of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, started circa 1st century marked with the establishment of early Hindu settlements and polities in Southeast Asia. (from History of Asia)
Image 68Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman (from History of Asia)
Image 69The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830 by Hokusai, an example of art flourishing in the Edo Period (from History of Asia)

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Featured picture

Toda people

Credit: Pratheepps

The Toda people are a small pastoral tribe of less than 1,000 people who reside in the Nilgiri hills of Southern India. Shown here is a typical Toda hut, about 3 m (10 ft.) high, 5.5 m (18 ft.) long and 2.7 m (9 ft.) wide. They are built of bamboo fastened with rattan and thatched. The hut has only a tiny (about 0.9 x 0.9 m, 3 x 3 ft.) entrance at the front, which serves as protection from wild animals.

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Did you know...

... that although he was a former Indonesian prime minister, Soekiman Wirjosandjojo was not arrested during a political purge as he was considered a non-threat?
... that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, India's second Muslim president, was also the second Indian president to die in office?
... that the Empire of Japan turned a Korean royal cemetery at what is now Hyochang Park into a golf course?
... that Levantine Arabic is often written in Hebrew characters online by Bedouin, Arab Christians, and Druze in Israel?
... that Ein Samiya, which provides the water for Taybeh, the first beer brewed in Palestine, was depopulated in 2023 after harassment by neighboring Israeli settlers?
... that the popularity of "10 Minutes" by Korean singer Lee Hyori led to 2003 being dubbed the "year of Hyori" by domestic media?
... that Sun Haiyan is the first Chinese ambassador to Singapore who was not a member of the Foreign Ministry of China?
... that University of Nebraska alumnus M. Khalid Roashan helped draft the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan?
... that the Pakistani film Shehr e Tabassum was the first animated cyberpunk film to be made by an Urdu development team?
... that the Te'omim Cave in Israel was home to a Bronze Age alabaster quarry, a refuge cave during the Jewish–Roman wars, and a possible center for necromantic activity in late antiquity?

Updated: 6:33, 14 February 2024

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In the news

26 April 2024 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israel–Hamas war; Thirty rabbis and peace activists from the United States and Israel are arrested near the Gaza–Israel barrier while protesting to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. (The New York Times); An 18-year-old woman is stabbed in Ramla, Israel, and is reported to be in "serious" condition. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (Jerusalem Post)
26 April 2024 – Moro conflict: The Philippine Army announces that it has killed Nawapi Abdulsaid, an Abu Sayyaf militant, during a shootout two days ago in Hadji Mohammad Ajul, Basilan, Philippines. Abdulsaid was involved in fifteen beheadings as well as in attacks against security forces. (AP)
26 April 2024 –: Four expatriate workers from Yemen are killed by a drone attack in the Khor Mor gas field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. (Reuters)
26 April 2024 – China–Palestine relations: Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin says that China will host unity talks between Hamas and Fatah. (Reuters)

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Major Religions in Asia

Middle East

Central Asia and Surroundings

Indian Subcontinent

Southeast Asia

East Asia

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Selected panorama

Credit: KennyOMG

The Indus River (locally called Sindhu) is one of the longest rivers in Asia. Originating in the Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, towards the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Kashmir and the Hindukush ranges, and then flows in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh.