1. Asia is the largest continent by landmass and human population. The area of Asia is larger than the land area of the moon. (44.6K sq km – 37k sq km respectively.)
2. Asia has a population of over 4 billion people or better than 60% of the world’s population. This many people standing side by side holding hands would reach around the world at the equator more than 100 times.
3. More than half of Asia’s population is in two countries in Asia – China (1.3 billion) and India (1.1 billion). India is guestimated to take over China in about 20 years or so.
4. Asia’s boundaries extend from the Suez Canal and Ural Mountains in the west, to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and Caspian and Black Seas. Also to the South is the Indian Ocean, to the North the Arctic Ocean and to the Far East the Pacific Ocean.
5. Asia can be divided into 6 subcontinents -
- Central Asia – Kazakhstan Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- East Asia – China, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, North and South Korea.
- North Asia – Russia.
- India Subcontinent – India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
- Southeast Asia – Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar [Burma], Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
- Southwest Asia – The Middle East including Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, Israel, and Lebanon.
6. Three of the top four economies in the world are in Asia – China, Japan and India. They are numbers 2, 3 and 4 respectively. However, tiny Japan has less than 1/10th of the population of China or India. Yet Asia’s economy as a continent trails North America and Europe.
7. Asia’s three dominant financial centers are Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
8. Asia’s dominant religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucian/Taoism and Islam.
9. Asia’s western most point is Cape Baba in Northwestern Turkey.
10. Asia’s eastern most point is Cape Chelyuskin in Siberia.
11. Asia is 5,300 miles wide
12. Asia is home to the highest (Mount Everest 8,848m) and lowest Dead Sea (-395m) points on Earth.
13. Asia is home to the birth of the human species and civilization. Somewhere near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet.
14. The Ten longest rivers in Asia
Yellow River (Huang He) – 5,464 km – 3,395 miles
Lena River – 4,400 km – 2,734 miles
Mekong River – 4,350 km – 2,703 miles
Irtysh River – 4,248 km – 2,640 miles
Yenisei River – 4,090 km – 2,540 miles
Ob River – 3,650 km – 2,268 miles
Nizhnyaya Tunguska River – 2,989 km – 1,857 miles
Indus River – 2,900 km – 1,800 miles
Brahmaputra River – 2,900 km – 1,800 miles
15. The ten tallest mountain in Asia
1. Everest (8,848 m), Nepal-Tibet
2. K2 (8,611 m), Pakistan-China
3. Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), Nepal-Sikkim, India
4. Lhotse (8,516 m), Nepal-Tibet, China
5. Makalu (8,462 m), Nepal-Tibet, China
6. Cho Oyu (8,201 m), Nepal-Tibet, China
7. Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Nepal
8. Manaslu (8,156 m), Nepal
9. Nanga Parbat (8,125 m), Pakistan
10. Annapurna (8,091 m), Nepal
