This document provides an introduction to the study of Asia. It discusses the diversity of Asian civilizations and how Asia can be divided into different regions based on geography, cultures, histories and politics. Some key points made include: - Asia is the largest continent, containing over 60% of the world's population. It has immense cultural and linguistic diversity among its civilizations. - The continent can be divided into regions including East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central/North Asia. Each region has distinctive characteristics in terms of population, religions, economies, and histories. - Understanding Asia and its various regions is important as the continent has significant global influence through its large population, fast growing

2. INTRODUCTI
ON TO THE
STUDY OF
ASIA

3. HOW MANY ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS DIFFER FROM YOUR OWN?
HOW THEY ARE SIMILAR AS WE EXAMINE THEIR DIVERSE TRADITIONS?
This field deals with Asians, their cultures, languages, histories, and politics.
Asian people are difficult to categorize since
their civilizations are so varied and
distinctive. It is one among the continents
with the greatest diversity of languages and
ethnic groupings.

4. ASIA
 It’s the largest continent on the
planet.
With a total area of 44,579,000 km2
(17,212,000 sq mi), Asia is the largest
continent in the world and the one with the
most people
 60% of the world’s population live in
Asia.
4,46 billion people live in the Asian
continent, making up more than 60% of all
people on the planet. 2,6 billion people live
in China and India alone, and they are only
the two.

5. ASIA
The ancient Greeks first referred to the
civilizations east of their kingdom by the
geographical word "Asia." But ancient
Asian people did not see themselves as a
single group; rather, they considered
themselves as a diversified and eclectic
blend of civilizations. In modern usage, the
word "Asia" refers to a cultural idea, whilst
subregion classifications represent the
many geopolitical identities of the
continent. The continents of Western Asia,
Central Asia, Southern Asia, Eastern Asia,
Southeastern Asia, and Northern Asia are
divided into these categories.

6. IMPORTA
NCE OF
KNOWING

7.  Half of the world's population lives in
Asia. Students get the chance to learn
different perspectives on the world
through studying Asia's culturally and
historically varied regions. Economic
changes in Asia have altered the political
and economic landscape of the world.
 Asia is home to many different
languages, civilizations, and ethnicities. It
is home to several of the world's main
faiths, including Buddhism, Islam,
Hinduism, and Islam. It has a significant
impact on global culture and the global
economy.
 Combining knowledge of Asia with other
fields of study improves job chances and
global career opportunities.

8. ASIA:
THE
WORLD’S
LARGEST

9. AS YOU TRAVEL ASIA WITH US KINDLY TAKE DOWN NOTES IN ORDER FOR YOU TO UNRAVEL
YOUR PAST BY KNOWING THE GEOGRAPHY OF YOUR PLACE. ENJOY DISCOVERING!

10. REGION OF ASIA
 Asia is divided into 5 regions;
the biggest land area is East
Asia, and the smallest is
Central/North Asia. It is also a
continent of diversity because
of its varied climate, settings,
and people.
• East Asia
• South Asia
• West Asia
•Southeast Asia
• Central/North Asia

11.  It covers about
12,000,000km2 (4,600,000 sq.
mi), or about 28% of the Asian
continent, about 15% bigger
than the area of Europe . More
than 1.5 billion people, about
38% of the population of Asia
and 22% or over one fifth of all
the people in the world, live in
East Asia.
EAST ASIA
East Asia is located on the eastern part of the Asian
continent. The term is generally referred to the
region of the countries of China, Taiwan, Mongolia,
North Korea, South Korea and Japan.
LOCATION:

12. CHARACTERISTICS:
• POPULATION DENSITY: 22% OF HUMANS LIVE HERE.
Eastern Asia population is equivalent to 21.53% of the total world
Asia ranks number 2 in Asia among subregions ranked by Population. The
in Eastern Asia is 145 per Km2 (376 people per mi2).
• 2 of the world’s 3 wealthiest nations.
Since the early 20th century, East Asia has been home to two of the
largest economies, with Mainland China and Japan being the second
respectively.
• ANCIENT TRADITIONS AND CULTURE.
Hinduism, Buddhism, some knowledge of ancient Greek, and much
Indian arts entered China, and hence in time into Korea and Japan.

13.  Its’ land area is 4,379,055 sq.
km. South Asia is home to well
over one fifth of the world's
population, making it both the
most populous and the most
densely populated geographical
region in the world.
SOUTH ASIA
South Asia extends south from the main part of the
continent to the Indian Ocean. The principal
boundaries of South Asia are the Indian Ocean, the
Himalayas, and Afghanistan. The Arabian Sea
borders Pakistan and India to the west, and the Bay
of Bengal borders India and Bangladesh to the east.
LOCATION:

14. CHARACTERISTICS:
• HINDUISM
Hinduism is the largest religion in South Asia with about 1.20 billion
Hindus, forming just under two-thirds of South Asia's population. South
Asia has the largest population of Hindus in the world, with about 99%
of all global Hindus being from South Asia. Hinduism is the dominant
religion in India and Nepal and is the second-largest religion in Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
• HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS
Himalayas, Nepali Himalaya, great mountain system of Asia forming a
barrier between the Plateau of Tibet to the north and the alluvial plains
of the Indian subcontinent to the south.
• BRITISH EMPIRE LEGACY
Britain's colonial legacy in South Asia over hundreds of years includes
arbitrarily partitioning the country along religious lines, the Bengal
Famine, exporting slaves to other territories, and looting trillions of dollars of
wealth.

15.  Western Asia, or Southwest Asia, are
terms that describe the westernmost
portion of Asia. The terms are partly
coterminous with the Middle East, which
describes a geographical position in
relation to Western Europe rather than its
location within Asia. With a total land
mass of 6,904,791 sq. km.
WEST ASIA
Western Asia is bounded in the west by the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, in the north by
the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea,
on the east by the fringing mountains of Iran, and in
the south by the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean..
LOCATION:

16. CHARACTERISTICS:
• ISLAM AND ARABS
Numerically, Western Asia is predominantly Arab, Persian, Turkish,
and dominating languages are correspondingly Arabic, Persian and
Turkish, each with of the order of 70 million speakers, followed by smaller
communities of Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Hebrew, Armenian and Neo-
Aramaic.
• OLDEST CIVILIZATIONS
One of the world's oldest civilizations – the Mesopotamian civilization
– prospered 5,000 years ago on the land between the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers in West Asia.
• DESERTS AND OIL
Western Asia has the largest known oil reserves, located in Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Other
regions in Southwest Asia have limited amounts of oil, and known
petroleum reserves on the Indian subcontinent are small as well.

17.  Southeast Asia or South-eastern Asia is
a sub region of Asia, consisting of the
countries that are geographically south of
China, east of India, west of New Guinea
and north of Australia. The region lies on
the intersection of geological plates, with
heavy seismic and volcanic activity. With
a land mass of 4,500,000 km2(1,700,000
sq. mi) and a population of 610,000,000.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Southeast Asia is a vast subregion of Asia, roughly
described as geographically situated east of the
Indian subcontinent, south of China, and northwest
of Australia.
LOCATION:

18. CHARACTERISTICS:
• THE ASIAN TIGERS
Key Takeaways. The Four Asian Tigers are the high-growth
economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. All four
economies have been fueled by exports and rapid industrialization and have
achieved high levels of economic growth since the 1960s.
• MIX OF INDIAN AND CHINESE INFLUENCE
Rugged mountains separated Laos, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia
from China. As a consequence, they were influenced more by Hinduism
and Buddhism which came from India.
• ISLANDS
The insular region of Southeast Asia includes the countries of
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, and the
Philippines.

19.  It is also sometimes referred to as Middle
Asia, and, colloquially, "the 'stans" (as
the five countries generally considered to
be within the region all have names
ending with the Persian suffix "-stan",
meaning "land of“. With a land mass of
1,545,721 sq. km and a population of
48,860,993.
CENTRAL ASIA
Central Asia, also sometimes known as Middle Asia
or Inner Asia, is a region in Asia east of the Caspian
Sea, west of China, north of Afghanistan, and south
of Russia.
LOCATION:

20. CHARACTERISTICS:
• Nomadic cultures
Nomads form two distinct cultural groups: Turkic and Mongolian.
Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks, among others, are Turkic-language-
speaking nomads. For centuries, they traveled the riverine valleys and
grasslands with their animals: horses, Bactrian camels and dromedaries,
yaks, oxen, mules, and donkeys.
• Silk Road
The Silk Road, commonly known as the first global trade route in
history, had a scope and importance far greater than the simple exchange of
goods. Indeed, the myriad of interconnected routes served as a vehicle
for the fruitful exchange of arts, religion, cultures, ideas and technology.
• Russian/Soviet influence
After World War II the Soviet Union rapidly industrialized Kazakhstan
and started prospecting for oil in the whole of Soviet Central Asia. Oil was
found in Uzbekistan and both oil and gas were found in Turkmenistan. These
fuel supplies would prove invaluable to the region over the coming years.

21. Physical
Feature
s of Asia

22. THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF ASIA CAN BE
CLASSIFIED INTO FOLLOWING:
 Plateaus: It is made up of old hard rocks. The Deccan plateau is the
large plateaus in the southern part of the Asia. Plateau of Arabia and the
plateau of Yunnan are the significant plateaus of this region.
 Lakes: One of the most notable includes Lake Baikal in Russia, the
deepest freshwater lake in the world
 Mountains: This includes Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth
 Deserts: Mostly found in the southeast, this includes the Rub al Kali,
known for containing more sand than the Sahara, in the Arabian
Peninsula
 Rivers: The third-longest river in the world, the Yangtze, is found in
China
 Plains: Found mainly in Asia's center, this includes the West Siberian
Plain, one of the largest plains systems in the world

23. WHY
ASIAN
REGIONAL

24. - defined as a political
ideology that favors a
specific region over a
greater area. It usually
results due to political
separations, religions
geography, cultural
boundaries, linguistic
regions, and
managerial divisions.

25. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGIONALIZATION
AND GLOBALIZATION
Regionalization
 a process of
dividing an
area into
smaller
segments
called
regions
Globalization
 a process by
which the people
of the world are
unified into a
single society
and function
together

26. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGIONALISM
AND REGIONALIZATION
Regionalism
 is the theory
or practice of
regional rather
than central
systems of
administration
or economic
cultural
political
affiliation
Regionalization
 division of a
nation into
states or
provinces

27. - Product of economic
interaction between
Asian countries.

28. The center of gravity of the global economy is shifting to Asia.
The region’s economy is already similar in size to those of
Europe and North America, and its influence in the world
continues to increase. In many Asian countries, the cycle of
poverty has been broken; in others, this historic aim is within
sight. Asia’s extraordinary success has brought new
challenges—while rapid economic growth remains a priority,
citizens demand that it also be sustainable and more
inclusive. And Asia is now so important to the world economy
that it must also play a larger role in global economic
leadership. Regional economic cooperation is essential for
addressing these challenges.
WHY ASIAN
REGIONALISM?

29. WHY ASIAN
REGIONALISM?
• Asia’s economic rise is
unprecedented.
• Regionalism is a relatively new
aspect of Asia’s rise.
• Asian economies are principally
connected through markets— but
where markets lead, governments
are following.
• The stakes could not be higher.

30. HOW
REGIONAL
ISM CAN
BENEFIT

31. Regional cooperation, effectively structured and implemented, is a powerful new tool
in Asia’s policy arsenal. It can help Asia address regional challenges as well as
provide stronger foundations for its global role. An integrated Asia can:
• link the competitive strengths of its diverse economies in order to boost their productivity and
sustain the region’s exceptional growth;
• connect the region’s capital markets to enhance financial stability, reduce the cost of capital, and
improve opportunities for sharing risks;
• cooperate in setting exchange rate and macroeconomic policies in order to minimize the effects
of global and regional shocks and to facilitate the resolution of global imbalances;
• pool the region’s foreign exchange reserves to make more resources available for investment
and development;
• exercise leadership in global decision making to sustain the open global trade and financial
systems that have supported a half century of unparalleled economic development;
• build connected infrastructure and collaborate on inclusive development to reduce inequalities
within and across economies and thus to strengthen support for pro-growth
policies; and
• create regional mechanisms to manage cross-border health,
safety, and environmental issues better.

32. HOW ASIAN
REGIONALIS
M CAN
BENEFIT THE

33. The rest of the world could benefit, too. So long as Asia’s economies continue to
integrate not just with each other, but also with the rest of the world, sustained
Asian dynamism, strengthened by regional cooperation, could bolster Asia’s role as
a new and stabilizing engine of global economic growth. There are many reasons
why Asia is likely to remain outward-looking—not least because its economy is in
large part built on economies of scale and scope in manufacturing and so requires
global markets to perform at its potential. Indeed, because an integrated Asia will
continue to have a powerful stake in the global economy, it would have both an
incentive and the leverage to play a bigger role in keeping global markets open and
vibrant. An integrated Asia can:
• generate productivity gains, new ideas, and competition that boost economic growth
and raise incomes across the world;
• contribute to the efficiency and stability of global financial markets by making Asian
capital markets stronger and safer, and by maximizing the productive use of Asian
savings;
• diversify sources of global demand, helping to stabilize the world economy and
diminish the risks posed by global imbalances and downturns in other major
economies;
• provide leadership to help sustain open global trade and financial systems; and
• create regional mechanisms to manage health, safety, and environmental issues
better, and thus contribute to more effective global solutions of these problems.

34. The
Economic
s Of

35. The economics of regionalism have a complex and troubled history.
In the 1930s, countries created preferential trade blocs in an
attempt to shelter their economies from the Great Depression.
Several countries established discriminatory currency blocs with
strict exchange controls against outsiders. Far from helping, these
arrangements led to the collapse of international trade and financial
flows, accelerating the downward spiral of economic activity. This
experience was foremost in the mind of the architects of the post-
war global economic system as they adopted the principle of
nondiscrimination as a central pillar of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the forerunner of the World Trade
Organization (WTO). Many economists and policy makers remain
skeptical about regionalism because of its potentially negative
impact on the multilateral trade and financial system.