Asia
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Asia. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) the largest of the land divisions of the world, occupies the northern portion of the Eastern Hemisphere in the form of a massive continent, which extends beyond the Arctic circle, and by its southern peninsulas nearly reaches the equator. The origin of its name remains unknown. Europe and Asia constitute but one continent, extending from W. to E., and having the shape of an immense triangle, the angles of which are Spain in the W., the peninsula of the Tchuktchis in the N. E., and that of Malacca in the S. E. The Arctic Ocean in the N., the Pacific in the E., and the Indian Ocean, continued by its narrow gulf, the Red Sea, which nearly reaches the Mediterranean, inclose the continent of Asia. The area covered by Asia and its islands is 17,255,890 square miles; that is, almost exactly one-third of the land surface of the globe (32 per cent). Geographically speaking, Europe is a mere appendix to Asia, As and no exact geographical delimitation of the two continents is possible. Peninsulas. - Asia has one mile of coastline for every 337 square miles of its area; that is, three times less than Europe; besides one-fifth of its shores is washed by the ice-bound Arctic Ocean (9,900 miles out of 51,000), or by the foggy and icy Sea of Okhotsk. Its peninsulas comprise nearly one-fifth of its surface. Three immense offsets continue the continent of Asia into more tropical latitudes, Arabia, India, and the Indo- Chinese peninsula, and some likeness exists between them and the three southern peninsulas of Europe, Spain, Italy, and the Balkan peninsula, surrounded by its archipelago of hundreds of islands. Asia Minor protrudes between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean as a huge mass of table-land, broken by narrow gulfs in its western Чope peninsulas, Korea, Kamchatka, and that of the Tchuktchis. The flat, ever frozen, uninhabitable peninsulas of the Arctic Ocean, Taimyr and Yalmal, could play no part in the growth of civilization. Seas and Gulfs. - The early inhabitants of Asia had no Mediterranean Sea to serve as a highway of communication as. The between the southern peninsulas. gulfs which separate them, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, are wide open divisions of the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea penetrates between Africa and Arabia; and only now, since it has been brought into communication with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal, has it become an important channel of traffic. Asia's true Mediterranean is on the E., where several archipelagoes, like so many chains of islands, mark off from the ocean the southern and eastern China Seas, whose Gulfs of Siam and Tonkin, and, especially, the Yellow Sea, with the Gulf of Pechili, penetrate into the continent. The Sea of Japan has on its W. the inhospitable coasts of northern Manchuria. The Sea of Okhotsk and that of Bering, although possessing fine gulfs (Ghizhiga, Anadyr), have no importance for the maritime traffic of nations. Islands. The islands of Asia cover an aggregate of no less than 1,023,000 square miles (nearly 6 per cent. of Asia's surface). The coasts of Asia Minor are dotted with islands, of which the Sporades connect it with Greece. Cyprus was from remote antiquity a center of civilization; so also Ceylon. The Laccadives and Maldives are mere coral atolls, rising amid the Indian Ocean and sheltering some 200,000 inhabitants. The islands of east Asia are much more important. A narrow strip of islands, some rge, like Sumatra (177,000 square large, miles) and Java, others mere reefs, extend in a wide semi-circle, under the name of Andaman and Sunda Islands, from Burma to Australia, separating the Indian Ocean from the shallow Java Sea and the Malay Archipelago. This last immense volcanic region, inhabited by the Malay race, comprises the huge Borneo, the ramified Celebes, and the numberless small islands of the Moluccas, the Philippines, etc., connected on the N. W. with the Chinese coast by the island of Formosa. This latter, as well as Hainan, may be properly considered as part of the Chinese mainland. The Loochoo (Liu-Kiu) Islands and the Japanese Archipelago, the latter joining Kamchatka by the Kuriles, continue farther N. E. this chain of islands which border the coast of Asia. In the Arctic Ocean, the small Bear Islands, the archípelago of the Liakhof, Anjou, and De Long Islands, as also those of the Kara Sea, are lost amid icefields, and are but occasionally ally visited by whalers. Kellett's, or Wrangel's Land, off the peninsula of the Tchuktchis, was thoroughly explored by Lieut. R. M. Berry, United States navy. Orography.-If the whole mass of the mountains and plateaus of Asia were uniformly spread over its surface, the continent would rise no less than 2,885 feet above the sea, while Africa and North America would respectively reach only 2,165 and 1,950 feet. High plateaus occupy nearly two-fifths of its area. One of them, that of western Asia, including Anatolia, Armenia, and Iran, extends in a southeasterly direction from the Black Sea to the valley of the Indus; while the other, the high plateaus of eastern Asia, still loftier and much more extensive, stretches N. E. from the Himalayas to the northeastern extremity of Asia, resembling in shape a South America pointing N. E., and meeting Bering Strait, the northwestern extremity of the high plateau of North America. Rivers. Only four rivers, the Mississippi, Amazon, Kongo, and Nile, surpass the largest rivers of Asia, the Yenisei and the Yangtse-kiang, both as to length and drainage areas; but owing to the scarcity of rain over large parts of Asia, the amount of water carried down by the largest rivers is, as a rule, disproportionately small as compared with American or European rivers. The predominant feature of 1 Asia's hydrography is the existence of very wide areas having no outlet to the On the great plateau of eastern sea. Asia, the region which has no outlet from the plateau, and whose water does not reach even Lake Aral or the Caspian, covers a surface larger than that of Spain, France, and Germany together. It is watered only by the Tarim, which supplies some irrigation works in its upper parts, and enters the rapidly drying marshes of Lob-nor. This area is steadily increasing, and since 1862 we have had to add to it the drainage area (as large as England and Wales) of the Kerulen, which empties into Dalai-nor, but no longer reaches the Argun, a tributary of the Amur. The Ulyasutai River and the Tchagantogoi now no longer reach Lake Balkash; ; and the Urungu, which obviously joined the Upper Irtysh at no very remote date, empties into a lake separated from the Black Irtysh by a low isthmus not 5 miles wide. If we add to this the drainage basins of Lake Balkash with its tributaries, the Ili and other smaller rivers; the great Lake Aral, with the Syr-daria (Jaxartes) and Amudaria (Oxus), as also the numerous rivers which flow toward it or its tributaries, but are desiccated by evaporation before reaching them, and finally the Caspian with its tributaries, the Volga, Ural, Kura, and Terek, we find an immense surface of more than 4,000,000 square miles; that is much larger than Europe, which has no outlet to the ocean. The plateaus of Iran and Armenia, two separate areas in Arabia, and one in Asia Minor, represent a surface of 5,567,000 square miles. The drainage area of the Arctic Ocean includes all the lowlands of Siberia, its plains and large portions of the great plateau. The chief rivers flowing N. to the Arctic Ocean are the Obi, with the Irtysh; the Yenisei, with its great tributary, the Angara, which brings to it the waters of Lake Baikal, itself fed by the Selenga, the Upper Angara, and hundreds of small streams; and finally the Lena, with its great tributaries, the Vitim, Olekma, Vilui, ui, and Aldan. Three great navigable rivers enter the Pacific: the Amur, composed of the Argun and Shilka, and receiving the Sungari, a great artery of navigation in Manchuria, the Usuri and the Zeya; the Hoang-ho; and the Yangtse-kiang, the last two rising on the plateau of Tibet. Freighted boats penetrate from the seacoast to the very heart of China. The Cambodia, or Me-kong, the Salwen, and the Irawadi, rising in the eastern parts of the high plateau, water the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Ri nsula. Rising on the same height, the Indus the Brahmaputra through a high valley in opposite directions along the northern base of the Himalayas, until both pierce the gigantic ridge at its opposite ends, and find their way, the former to the lowlands of the Punjab, where it is joined by the Sutlej, and the latter to Assam and Bengal, where it joins the great river of India, the Ganges, before entering the Gulf of Bengal by a great number of branches forming an immense delta. The plateau of the Deccan is watered by the Godavari and Krishna, flowing E., the Narbada, flowing W., and a great number of smaller streams. The Tigris and Euphrates, both rising in the high plateau of Armenia, flow parallel to each other, bringing life to the valley of Mesopotamia, and join before entering the Persian Gulf. Arabia proper has no rivers worthy of notice. The Irmah, which enters the Black Sea, is the only river worthy of notice in Asia Minor. In Caucasus, the Rion and Kuban enter the Black Sea, and the Kura and Terek, the Caspian. Inland Seas and Lakes. - A succession of great lakes or inland seas are situated all along the northern slope of the high plateaus of western and eastern Asia, their levels becoming higher as we advance farther E. The Caspian, 800 miles long and 270 wide, is an immense sea, even larger than the Black Sea, but its level is now 85 feet below the level of the ocean: Lake Aral, nearly as wide as the Ægean Sea, has its level 157 feet above the ocean; farther E. we have Lake Balkash (780 feet), Zaison (1,200 feet), and Lake Baikal (1,550 feet). Many large lakes appear on the plateau of Tibet (Tengri-nor, Bakha), and on the high plateau of the Selenga and Vitim (Ubsa-nor, Ikhe-aral, Kosogol, Oron); and smaller lakes and ponds are numerous also in the plateau of the Deccan, Armenia, and Asia Minor. Three large lakes, Urmia, Van, and Goktcha, and many smaller ones, lie on the highest part of the Armenian plateau. On the Pacific slope of the great plateau, the great rivers of China and the Amur, with its tributaries, have along their lower courses some large and very many small lakes. Geology. The great plateaus, built up of crystalline unstratified rocks, granites, granitites, syenites, and dionites, as well as of gneisses, talc, and micaschists, clap-slates and limestones, all belong to the Archæan formation (Huronian, Laurentian, Silurian, and partly Devonian), and have been submerged by the sea since the Devonian epoch. The higher terrace of the plateau of Pamir the plateaus of the Sel Selenga and Vitim are built up only of Huronian and Laurentian azoic schists; and even Silurian deposits, widely spread on the plains, are doubtful on the plateaus. During the Jurassic period, immense fresh water basins covered the surface of those plateaus, and have left their traces in Jurassic coal beds, which are found in the depressions of the plateaus and lowlands. Carboniferous deposits are met with in Turkestan, India, and western Asia; while in eastern Asia the numerous coalbeds of Manchuria, China, and the archilagoes are all Jurassic. pelagoes More than 120 active volcanoes are known in Asia, chiefly in the islands of the S. E., the Philippines, Japan, the Kurile, and Kamchatka, and also in a few islands of the Seas of Bengal and Arabia, and in western Asia. Numerous traces of volcanic eruptions are found in eastern Tian-shan in the northwestern border ridges of the high Siberian plateau, and in the S. W. of Aigun, in 8。 ㅎ。 8。 0° A P Manchuria. Earthquakes are frequent, especially in Armenia, Turkestan, and around Lake Baikal. Minerals. There are gold mines of great wealth in the Urals , the Altai, and eastern Siberia; and auriferous sands are found in Korea , Sumatra, Japan, and in the Caucasus Mountains. Silver is extracted in Siberia; platina, in the Urals; copper, in Japan, India, and Siberia; tin, in Banca; mercury, in Japan. Iron ore is found in nearly all the mountainous regions , especially in Asia Minor, Persia , Turkestan, India, China, Japan, and Siberia; but iron mining is still at a rudimentary stage. Immense coal-beds are spread over China and the islands of the Pacific (Hainan, Japanese Archipelago , Sakhalin), eastern Siberia, Turkestan, India, Persia, and Asia Minor. They cover no less than 500,000 square miles in China alone; but the extraction of coal is as yet yet very limited. Graphite of very high quality is found in the Sayans and northern Siberia. The diamonds of India, the sapphires of Ceylon, the rubies of Burma and Turkestan, the topazes, beryls, etc., of the Urals and Nertchinsk, have a wide repute. Layers of rock-salt are widely spread, and still more so the salt lakes and springs . The petroleum wells of the Caspian shores already rival those of the United States. A variety of mineral springs , some of them equal to the best waters of western Europe, are widely spread over Asia. Flora. There is little difference between the vegetation of the E. of Europe and that of northwestern Asia. Forests cover extensive tracts, and consist of pine, fir, larch , cedar, silver fir, birch, aspen, and poplars. In the region to the E. of the high plateau, including China, Manchuria, Mancl and Japan, oak reappears. So also the walnut, the hazel, the lime tree, and the maple; while several new species of poplars, willows, acacias, and many others, make their appearance . The beech is characteristic of the forests of western Asia. Here also are found all the trees of southern Europe. The vine and several of the European fruit trees (plum, cherry, apricot, pear) are regarded by botanists as belonging originally to this region. The flora of Asia Minor combines those of southern Europe and northern Africa, owing to its evergreen oaks, laurels, olive trees, myrtles, oleanders, and pistachio trees, as also to its variety of bulbous plants. Southern and southeastern Asia, with their numerous islands , display the richest flora. In the neighborhood of the sea-coasts, the tropical vegetation reaches the variety and size of the American. Here the sugar cane , the cotton shrub, and the indigo had their origin. The cocoanut palm and the banyan tree are the most striking feature of the coast vegetation. Ferns reach the size of large trees. The gigantic banyan, the screw pine, the India rubber , and the red cotton trees occur in immense forests; and bamboos grow thick and high. In Borneo, Java, and the islands of the archipelago, the tropical vegetation is like that of India. The sago palm, the bread tree, imported from the South Sea Islands, and the tamarind, also imported, are largely cultivated, as also the cocoanut palm and the sugar palm. Orchids appear in their full variety and beauty. The swamps are covered with mangroves or with the nipa or susa palm; and vanilla, pepper, clove, and nearly all the species are native to this region. Asia has given to Europe a variety of useful plants; among them , wheat, barley, oats, and millet , onions, radishes, peas, beans, spinach , and other vegetables. Nearly all our fruit trees have the same origin; the apple, pear, plum, cherry, almond, pistachio, and mulberry, the raspberry, and even lucerne, were imported from Asia to Europe. Fauna. The fauna of nearly the whole of continental Asia belongs to one single domain. Animals could easily spread over the plains of Europe and Siberia on the one side, and on the other along the high plateau which stretches from Tibet to the land of the Tchuktchis. This wide region can be easily subdivided into the Arctic region, the Boreal, embracing the lowlands of western Siberia; the Daurian, in the northern parts of the great plateau; and the central Asian. The fauna of Siberia is much like that of eastern Europe. It is the true habitat of all fur-bearing animals, as the bear, wolf, fox, sable, ermine, otter, beaver, common weasel and squirrel; also the hare, wild boar, the stag, the reindeer, and the elk, all belonging to the European aunus, with the addition of several species common to the Arctic fauna. Tau The central Asian plateau has a fauna We find there the wild anof its own. cestors of several of our domestic animals, viz., the wild horse, discovered by Przewalski (Prejevalsky ) in the Alashan Mountains, the wild camel and donkey, and the capra ægargus, from which our common goat is descended. The yak, several species of antelopes, and the roebuck are characteristic of the central Asian fauna; so also are the huge sheep, now disappearing, which found refuge in the wilder parts of the plateaus. In the Steppe region we find the same fauna as in Siberia, with the addition of the tiger, which occasionally reaches Lake Zaisan, and even Lake Baikal; the leopard and hyena coming from warmer regions; and a variety of endemic birds. The bison, which has now completely disappeared from Europe (with the exception of the Byelovyezh forests in western Russia), is still found in the forests of Caucasus; also the same abundance of pheasants as on the Pacific littoral. Southern and southeastern Asia belong to a separate zoological domain. The heights of the Himalayas have the fauna of the Tibet portion of the high plateau; but on their S. slopes the fauna is purely Indian and Transgangetic, while a few African species are found on the plains of India and in the Deccan. As a whole the tropical fauna of Asia is richer than the African. It is characterized by the great number of carnivora, which find refuge in the jungles, and by the elephant, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, red deer, many long-armed apes and half-apes, huge bats, genets, and a variety of serpents and crocodiles; the bird fauna includes vultures, a variety of parrots, pelicans and flamingoes. The fauna is still richer in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, while in the archipelagos of southeastern Asia several Australian species add to its extent. Ethnography. The aggregate population of Asia is estimated at 928,000,000, being thus more than one-half of the entire population of the globe. This population, however, is small, giving only an average of 53 inhabitants per square mile. It is greatest in those parts of Asia which are most favored by rains. The inhabitants of Asia belong to five different groups; the so-called Caucasian (fair type) in western Asia and India; the Mongolian in central and eastern Asia, as also in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula; the Malay in Malacca and the Indian Archipelago; the Dravidas in southeastern India and Ceylon; and the Negritos and Papuas in the virgin forests of the Philippine Islands and Celebes; also a sixth great division comprising the stems which inhabit northeastern Asia, the Hyperboreans, whose affinities are not yet well known. The Mongolian race alone embraces nearly seven-tenths of the population of Asia; the Malay, about two-tenths, and the Caucasian about one-tenth. Religions. Asia has been the birth place of religions; the Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, and Mohammedan having their origin in Asia, where they grow up under the influence of still older religions, the Babylonian and that of Zoroaster, both also of Asiatic origin. At present the inhabitants of Asia belong chiefly to the Buddhist religion, which has 530,000,- 000 to 560,000,000 of followers, i. e., nearly one-third of mankind. The old faith of Hinduism has 187,000,000 of followers in India. Most of the inhabitants of western Asia, as also of part of central Asia, follow the religion ligion of Islam; they may number about 90,000,000. The Christians number about 20,000,000 in Armenia, Caucasus, Siberia, and Turkestan. Jews are scattered mostly in western central Asia. Political Conditions. While the countries beyond the great plateau entered but quite recently within the domain of Western history, those on its Mediterranean slope have have never ceased to exercise a powerful influence on Europe. At the very dawn of written history, that is, 50 centuries before our era, the great Akkadian Empire already influenced the inhabitants of the coasts of the Mediterranean. Later on the Phœnicians extended their authority over northern Africa, and the Ægean Sea; the Persians modified the development of Egypt; and at a very remote epoch an oasis of high civilization, grown up at the base of the Altai Mountains, spread itself to the W. over northern Europe. Alexander of Macedon pushed his conquests as far as Turkestan: and, later on, Rome conquered western Asia. But the Greek and Arabian civilization in central Asia decayed under the raids of Mongolian tribes; the Roman empire was absorbed by the East, and fell into decay at the very confines of Asia, on the shores of the Bosphorus; the Arsacides and Sassanides of Persia repulsed the Roman aggression and conquered Roman provinces, while the great migrations of the first centuries of our era were due to mass movements from Asia into Europe. Ural-Altaians_migrated to the Urals and thence to Hungary. Other Turanians, the Mervs, the Alans, the Avars, penetrated into Europe from the S. E. Mongols abandoned plateaus, and invaded the Russian plains; the Arabs, following the S. coast of the Mediterranean, invaded Spain; and the empire of the Osmanlis arose on the ruins of the eastern Roman empire. By these invasions, Asia arrested the free development of Europe, and compelled the Germanic, Gallic, and Slavonic federations to gather into powerful states of the Roman monarchical type. Portuguese ships, rounding the Cape, founded the first European colonies in KONDADE, LAPLAND 60° North Cape B 4050 C A D R 70° E 80° F C Varanger Fjord G Nikolaistadt C. Nassau T Abo Helsingfor Danzi Konigses Matyushin 1 C. Mauritius SOLITUDE OTLAND Riga GERMANY 3 Moller Bay EMBLA 0 A Onega Shar C. Middendory Libau Reval C. Kanin KOLA BRUSEVITZ IS. TAIMYR KOLGUEV KARA Kronstadt PEN NOV KJELMAN'S IS. SVERDRUPS 1.0 WHITE I C.Skuratova KAMENNI I SEA Olonet VILK'TSK I Vilna DICKSON SEA Lau Cheskaia Bay WAIGATZ et Kara Novgorod 6. Arch Petrograd str. Mezen Oneg Minsk nokson Yugor Str. YALM Bangel rega Har Pinsk Dwine R nisei Pustosersk Bay Gofthikh Smolensk PEN. Volga R. Korepovsk Lubinsk Veliki 50 Kief Ustiuk Tolstonovsk Vologda Toll Poss Ussa Chernigof Vutch Dudinsk Moscow 5540 Musdsinsk Norllek Lusino, Khantaisk Gul Bay Dnieper R Qbdorsk R Slverma Nosovsk Berezov R Orel Viatka Nizhni Novgorod Deneshkin Kamen 2 Igarsk nisei M TurukhangkGHNL Deneshkino Kharkov TO Ekaterinoslav Volga Sharkalanskol Pensa Kasan Verkoturie Attymskol Mal Perm we Peshovsk Petropavlovs Donet BOLSK Saratov Dor DO Kama Fatiansic R Rosfoy Ekaterinburg Valutoro Sea Verkne Inbatskoj Turin WE SR Sargut Wach R. Stony Tunguskol eviansk vda R Azof Samarovsk 4 Novoselovsk Bakhtinsk Obtchel Syrt Ob Samara Ufa Maniny Irbit Glatous Lupakalysko Tobolsk Tremel Troitsk Priesnogorkovsk Kurgan 5040 Verkni Kazarcinoo Uralsk Tsaritsyn Uralsk Tel ymp Symskoi Dubtchesk Tiumen Volga R. Tymskol Orenburs SA\B/E RETKot A Yeniseisk Kalmykovsk Nazimovsk Ust Pitzkolo Stavropol Ural Re Mt Elbruz 18,526 Butakovsk Vilkiny Astrakhan the Kolga Dead Maksimoyarsk Ishim Tyukalinsk Ak Hubbak TURGAY Karabutak Kamyshensk roznezensk /Nikolysk Novo Ilinsk Tara Bedubinsk R Uilikoy Gurie CAUCASU Tobol R URALSK Koktohelay Karoi La Murunsk Atbazar Petropavlovsk Lebyashia Ulkan Kazatshinsk Chany L UP Mouths of Orsk Omsk Kainsk Kysh Tchargain-agatch, Troitski Marunsk 1) Shelomovsk hinsk Embinsk UOMIS Baku NSE Turgal Titlis Krasnojarsk Balikhtanek Mungatsk Ostroge Emba (Shelfezin Petrovsk 40 tish Yenis Alexandrovsk B. Kolyvan Kuznesk • SuZunski Abakansko Tchangark Lrgis O Akmolinsk Bayan Anachinsk Terekly Pavlovski Barnaul Busk Pestshanyl Kuraginsk Derbent Kaidak Ust Urt Plateau Tchiaerlinak Semipalatinsk Koksu AKMOLINSK Karkaralinsk Alexandrovsk GENL GOV Pavlodar Tashtybsky Kura R A Aulsk Ulu Tau Shuchinel Sayan Semiarsk TRANS-CASPIAN PROVD C. Aspheron Buchas 1 ralsk ARAL Ft. Petrovsk Taida Baragulinsk SEMIPALATINSK Kazaliesk L. Telesker 以迎OF THE STEPPES 10 GREAT L Smeinogorsk Tabriz Khud SEA Sary Su CAS Ubzanor Tex Tannu Mts. ungrad Kanitshao Usunada Mt. Bielukha esht Daryo Kara Kut Khangal -Yant Darya Arkatsko L. Berglop opol Khiva Petro Lake Chimbaj SYR Kipchak KHIVA Balkash C Ulankom Tarbagatal Mt Chu Kazb Kirghis-nor GOVT OFSTU Alexandrov Bashkend Krizil Kumo . DA DARYA Turkistan Balfruch Asterabad Meshed Mt. Demavend Demavend 18,000 Arka Kul R. 5 Zaisansk Ala R Durga-nor Kizil Arvar Lépzinsk Kara Kum(Desert) Kul SEMIRETCHINSK Kopalo (Desert) (Arys tran ALTAI M Clugutchak Tokhoi Urungu Irish R. Bulun Uchakty Samarkand okan SAMARKAND okan Amr Narbonchi Bokhara TEHERAN Geok Tepe Kum Ebi-nor Mt Semenov Kul Tau R Kho Kashan Shikho Tokmak Kara Kol AHAPRA Vernoye Manas Tamang O Guchan Kuldja Karshi Drumtsio Ispahan Mery Nushapur 1889 HIAN Tebbes o SHAN PERSIA Ardakan Barkul Bogdo Tu Turfan Mt.。 MTS. Karashahr Bugar Badjistan Hissar R Daria O Kumisheh Kucharo Aksu Toktasun Pichan Baghrash L. Oshturfan Shah Yar Usen Tarim Kuruk Garm Birdjand Of Balkh Hami Kizil 30 Kuranti Kashgar Maralbashi પિsay Kurla Su Murghab Intshik Tezd H Herat Tagharma Yarkands Kargalik Kuruk Tagh Mts. L. Gurian N Zilning Aghzi unduz SH 25,8 CHINESE TURKESTAN K Nikh Chitrandus R L. Niris AFGHANIST Girzépk A KABUL Go N Ghizau HINDU Pamir Plateau Khotan Kara Koshin Sachu Kerman Kandahar ISTAN Kugiar Darab Bunder Abbas Linja Farah Ghazni Chargalik Bam TAGHMTS. Chotan Chira NAN Nadall Helmand Peshawar Sulaiman Mts. Khanu Srinagar MA KISHM 2 OF Persian 6. Gulf Sharjah Ulangadjir of S Dera Ismail Khan Chamba Quetta Chageho R L N R Lahores o Amritsar TS Dera Ghazi Khán KELAT Rudok Kasrkand BALUCHISTAN Indus Tok Dshalong税店 Sohar GULF OF OMAN Bampur Aru Cho E P Dichu Multan Tangla Mts. Khodabandan Q Shikarpur R. Sutlej Gartok Bahawalpur I Ambala Dangra Passani Simla MASKAT Yum B TN Gwadar 4 E T ARABIA Ras el Hadd ChoRPO Meerut A TROPIC OF CANCER Bela'o Saharanpu Delhi Senja Tengri Nor GANGR ARABIAN Bikaner M Karachi D 0 Jodhpur o Mouths of the 20 Tadam Hidarabad Barelly A Indus LASSA Mt. Everes igatse Agra Jaipur Po Kutreki 0 MASIRA I. Ajmere Sanpo R. Lucknow SEA N 002 Gulf of Cutch 7 Ras Madraka S A Khatmandu Gwalior SIKKIM Cawnpur Mandy Ahmadabad Udaipur Punakha Allahabad G Longitude_90° H East F 70° 80° E 60° D 'Copyright, L. L. Poates Eng. Co., 1921 100° 110° 120° 130° 140° NRIETTA 1 BENNETT 1. 90° C.Shet AION 1. E JK H 2.C. Chelyuskin cop Kolmysk 1 Nishni Omuliak B. Angarka C. Vegan LIT LIAKOP Yama BC. Govener C. Oliutursky Thaddeus C Taimy PENINSU ST PAUL 1. Dolgoil ST.PETER 1. Stuxberg LIAKOF BIELKOVSKI C. Bay NORDENSKJOLD Upar Kamensk Oliutorsk KOTELNO ATYA ARCTIC CIRCLE te Allaha Edomsa m the Lena C. Sviatoi usskol Krest SEMENOVSKI. VASILIEVSKI Kolymsk Olbut SEA Ust Khatangas B. Delta of Nordvik B: TAIMYR Sredne Ghislicinsk Byrranga Mts. Aklansk Verkne Kolymsk SK Oshogina R Pana Ustiansk SALKALEV I. KARAGIN 1. rk Karaginsk Borkara L Taimyr tycantala Kangiu Taimyr Khaliulinsk B C. Ozernoi C.Stolbovoi Popigalsk Sel Özernovsk Ayakit R Borodina Kheta Shdanovan Shankl Udsha Bulun B Sion Sashivers Tumansko Kharaulach R Khatangsk PlotLischtshe Pe Tauisk Takhtaimsk.o U An Verkhoiansk 3 Mts. C. Piayin Palla Filipovskol Klluchev Kozyrevsk Koreunoi Edshianzey Moneiro Yangkan Mts O Ti 62, 10/ كم Omskonskie Omekonk Orulgang lovsk dytcha Ukhtoloks Bielog Nilig Khoronka E Mts. Bolisheries Petropavlovsk Ganálisk erada Anteha Verkholansk Mts. Tcherno losk Mts. C. Shestakovs L/Boyebol C.Alebin Oglukomina Vorovsk Balagan Mar Aldansk SEA OF Viliuisk Khandykel Okhotsk Mietinsle Yakutsk Onotars Lapari OKHOTSK Tohukur Yavinolo ST.JOHN I. Cokha R Mt. Niurba Khantsagai R. Kormoye C. Lopatkav st 60 Sinskole Maisk Orgelykan Tchabdinsk PARAMUSHIR Sin Mt Isikskaja Verkne Tshunsk C. Elizabeth Suntar Aimsk Aian Mariarkhansk GR SHANTAR 1. ONEKOTAN FEKLISTOV I. Chona A sk Tcherendeis Alde Tshunya Ri Ankula SAKHALIN Stony 101310 (To Russia) GENL GOVT OF THE AMUR Krestov zensk Nokhtuisk Pit Mts. Tchadobsk IS Pagobi Alexandrowsk Olekma R Char Konam Nepskt Vitimsk (To Japan) olaiev Yarkino ISLAND Tehumikan • SIMUSIN Post Dui Ivanush liavo Zozning C.Patience Bussole Str Korelinsk R Gulf of Tartary Barukansk URUP Kirensk Tungusk Gozimoy K ITURU KURIL- Petropavlovsk Taskhama Uashoj Mygea Kular R Amur S Patience Bay Ula R Anozova AMUR Jatshan Martynoysk C. Tonin Tolbuzína Luzunai Katenasova Tubansk Constantinov Treiniga Albazin Bratzkoi PROVINCE C. Aniva Vitim Iguashing Podvolotchuaia Korzakova Plateau Poyarkova L. Balan Ust Strielk Blagovicschensk AMU Khabarovka ts Nishni Ust KUNASHIR Hginsk Gorbitsa La Perouse Str. Okinsky Lake Baikal C. Soya Khomars Udinsko Verkholensk C. Notoro Barguzinsk Skobeltsina TRANS-BAIKALIA Peshkova Mirchita Strieten Nortchinsk Bibikova Balagansk Ishikari B. HOKUSHU keshi Kutuisk Share Tolaf Muravier Udinsky C Mt. Kutuliksk Malta Olga B.C. Okamur Sapporo/Sirunoki Amurskey Nikolaievsk Gaduinboisk Tunkinsk Aigun C. Disappoint Baddeivka insk Mergen Verkne Delenginsk blono C. Erimo Dobraya Kos Khamardaban Petrovsk Kem B ment Kureny Irkutsk Hakodu Volcano B Akchinsk Hulan Tsicheng Butkha Usuri C. Shiriya Sik Sùng 。 Khara tenisk o Abagaitujevsk Troitskozavek Atchilan Tsitsihar MTS. Dalais Gol Mts. Uliasutai Maimatchin Nor Akita Tayumani Selenga R Vladivostok Matsumar Harbin Chaigyl Nikolsko Aomori Toroussy PetunoNingutad Baskoys C. Povorotny Ashinginsk urluk Eder R. R. O FTsugaru Tsheguan Pir or Kerulen Urga Buir Nor Peter the Great B. Port Lazaref JAPAN Matsuyama Kirin R Tola R Sendai OLIA Maimatram Kuanchingtzi Khobol F Kyongheung Nugata 50. Tapobhon SEA Paishan Kaiyuen HONSHU G N Mukden Museno Kildu 0 NE Poro -Shara Muren KIO SADO 1. MTS. Gurban Zalkhat Fuseno Bay Huju Broughton Bay Chang Zairusu Liaotung Newehwan Desert Lohning Nagoy Yokohama Shamo Modunkhoten Kanazawa • Koto Shimoda.5 Gobl Kongneung MATU SHIMA or Dalny Korea Hwangju C. Durokh 4. Amchau Dolon nor PEKING Kingchau LIANCOURT IS. Broughton Str. OKI IS 104000 Fuchow Wiju Adam's Wakasa B Port Kalgan? Ninghai Sobo Nor Yonghai Hamada Osaka C. Clonard S Seping Chingsheng C. Idzumo G.of Port Arthur Bay Pechili (To Jap.) E SEOUL Tientsin Ho A Taku Ghainshe Ku Channel Ho Dłuchn Hoang (Gr. Brit.) Thalan P Paoting o Chingchuchefu Wei-hai-wel Kongju SHIKOKU Suchan Wuting Taiyuen Oka Bungo Str 30 Yangtze R. Nagasaki Ok P Kanchau Ninghsiap Kiauchau SHAN Takanabi men Tsinan of Van Diemen Str. KIUSHIU? HO Ichau GRAND CANAL Yengan SEA Sining QUELPART Koko Nor OTANEGA I. Kago Shima Kingyang, R.Hoang Honan Kaifong Lanchau Chinkiang Kungchang Wei Shanghai NORTHERN Singan Nanking Suchau Hanchung Hangchau ASIA H 6 Shaobing Ningpo Hankau Nganking Kweichau Wuchang Ichang Kiukiang Taichau Poyang Wenchau Paoning - SCALE OF STATUTE MILES vangtze L. Hanyang R 700 Chingtu 600 500 200 400 300 100 Batang Tungting L. SCALE OF KILOMETERS Changsha Nanchang Funing Chungking Tasien 1200 600 800 1000 400 [Formosa Suichau Yenping Siangtan Important towns are shown In heavy face type Senan Str. Kingan Fuchau Canals Yuenchau Railroads 07 M 130° 120° L K 100° Greenwich. J 110° from India. They were soon followed by the Spaniards, the Dutch, the French, the Danes, and the British, all endeavoring to seize the richest colonies in Asia. Russia, in the course of a few centuries, conquered and colonized the northwestern slopes of the high plateau and reached the Pacific. Great Britain established herself in India, and took possession of the whole of the peninsula, and extended her power over the western parts of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The Portuguese retain in India only Diu, Daman, and Goa; and the French keep Chandernagore, Yanaon, Pondicherry, Charical and Mahé. The next colonial power in Asia is the Dutch, who have under their dominion most of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas and the small Sunda Islands. British and French interests are rivals in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, and, while Burma has become English, the annexation by France Tonkin and of Siamese territory E. of of the Mekhong has consolidated French power in Indo-China. The joint intervention by Russia and France in Chinese affairs after the Japanese War of 1894-1895 further extended both French and Russian influence in Asia. The Russo-Japanese War, which was in reality a war between the two great powers for the control of Manchuria, resulted in the defeat of Russia and made Japan the preponderant nation in western Asia. She further increased her influence by the absorption of Korea which had become complete by 1920. China, in spite of protests for protection from the domination of Japan, had been obliged to yield in important particulars. Japan was given a stronger hold by the possession of Kiao-Chau peninsula, which became her virtual property on the defeat of the Germans and the capture of Tsing tau early in the World War. For details in regard to the countries of Asia, see under the titles of those countries, as KOREA, CHINA, JAPAN, INDIA, etc. Trade. Notwithstanding the difficulties of communication a brisk trade us carried on between the different parts of Asia, but there is no possibility of arriving at even an approximate estimate of its aggregate value. Asia deals chiefly in raw materials, gold, silver, petroleum, teak, and a variety of timberwood, furs, raw cotton, silk, wool, tallow, and so on; the products of her tea, coffee and spice plantations; and a yearly increasing amount of wheat and other grain. Indian cottons of European patterns and jute-stuffs already compete with those of Lancashire and Dundee. Several of the petty trades carried on in India, China, Japan, Asia Minor and some parts of Persia, have been brought to so high a perfection that the silks, printed cottons, carpets, jewelry and cutlery of partic ticular districts far surpass in their artistic taste many like productions of Europe. ASIA MINOR (Asia the Less, as distinguished from Asia in the widest extent) is the name usually given to the western peninsular projection n of Asia, forming part of Turkey in Asia. The late Greek name for Asia Minor is Anatolia-Anatolé, "the East," st," whence is formed the Turkish Anadõi. Asia Minor includes the peninsula; the eastern boundary, somewhat artificial, being a line from the Gulf of Skanderoon to the upper Euphrates and thence to a point E. of Trebizond. The area of the peninsula exceeds 220,000 square miles. be It constitutes the western prolongation of the high table-land of Armenia with its border mountain-ranges. The interior consists of a great plateau, or rather series of plateaus, rising in graduation from 3,500 to 4,000 feet, with bare steppes, salt plains, marshes lakes; the structure is volcanic, and there are several conical mountains, one of which, the Ergish-dagh (Argæus), with two craters, attains a height of 11,830 feet, towering above the plain of Kaisarieh, which has itself an elevation of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. The plateau is bordered on the N. by a long train of parallel mountains, 4,000 to 6,000 feet high, and cut up into groups by cross valleys. These mountains sink abruptly down on the N. side to a narrow strip of coast; their slopes toward the interior are gentler and bare of wood. Similar is the character of the border ranges on the S., the ancient Taurus, only that they are more continu continuous and higher, being, to the N. of the Bay of Skanderoon, 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and, farther to the W., 8,000 to 9,000 feet. The W. border is intersected by numerous valleys opening upon the archipelago, to the northern part of which Mounts Ida and Olympus belong. Between the highlands and the sea the fertile coast-lands of the Levant. Of the rivers the largest is the Kizil Irmak (Halys), which, like the Yeshil Irmak (Iris), and the Sakaria (Sangarius), flows into the Black Sea; the Sarabat (Hermus) and Meinder (Meander) flow into the Egean In point of natural history, Asia Minor forms the transition from the continental character of the East to the maritime character of the West. The forest trees and cultivated plants of Europe are seen mingled with the forms characteristic of Persia and Syria. The central plateau, which is barren, has the character of an ASIPHONATA Asiatic steppe, more adapted for the flocks and herds of nomadic tribes than for agriculture; while the coasts, rich in all European products, fine fruits, olives, wine, and silk, have quite the character of the S. of Europe, which on the warmer and drier S. coast shades into that of Africa. The inhabitants, some 10,000,000 in number, consist of the most various races. The dominant race are the Osmanli Turks, who number 7,000,000, and are spread over the whole country; allied to these are the Turkomans Yuruks, speaking a dialect of the same language. There are also hordes of nomadic Kurds. Among the mountains E. of Trebizond are the robber tribes of the Lazes. Under Turkish rule the administration of the country fell into eight vilayets or governments, with their capitals als in Brusa, Smyrna, Konïeh (Iconium), Adana, Sivas, Angora, Trebizond, and Kastamuni respectively. Here was the early seat of Grecian civilization, and here were the countries of Phrygia, Lycia, Caria, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Lydia, Pamphylia, Isauria, Cilicia, Galatia, Cappadocia, etc., with Troy, Ephesus, Smyrna, and many other great and famous cities. Here, from the obscure era of Semiramis (about 2,000 years B. c.), to the time of Osman (about 1,300 A. D.), the greatest conquerors of the world contended for supremacy; and here took place the wars of the Medes and Persians with the Scythians; of the Greeks with the Persians; of of t the Romans with the Mithridates and and the Parthians; of the Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and Osmanli Turks with the weak Byzantine Empire. Here Alexander the Great and the Romans successfully contended for the mastery of the civilized world. But, notwithstanding all these wars, the country still continued to enjoy some measure of prosperity till it fell into the hands of the Turks, under whose military despotism its ancient civilization was sadly brought to ruin. For conditions in Asia Minor which resulted from the World War, see ARMENIA; GREECE; TUR- KEY; AZERBAIDJAN, REPUBLIC OF; and WORLD WAR.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the great mass of land that constitutes the northeastern part of the Old World. The meaning of Asia is unknown. Belonging originally to a small city in Asia Minor , the term was extended by the Greeks to the region immediately adjacent, and was used finally by writers for the entire grand division now known by the name. Asia is the largest of the six continental divisions. The distance from the most southwesterly part of Arabia to the extreme northeastern point of Siberia is nearly 7,000 miles. The total area is estimated at 17,300,000 square miles, about one-third of the earth's entire land surface, and about one-twelfth of the entire surface of the globe. It is bounded by three oceans. The Arctic coast is the most regular. The eastern coast is indented by five border seas, inclosed by curved chains of continental islands. The southern coast is prolonged into the three extensive peninsulas of Farther India, Hindustan, and Arabia. The entire coast line is about 35,000 miles in length. TOPOGRAPHY. The mountain systems of Asia are the most complex of any of the grand divisions. Its plateaus are the most elevated in the world. The Pamir is called, not improperly, the "roof of the world." So far as altitude is concerned, the Alps might be buried a mile beneath the mountain mass of Tibet. The Himalayas are the loftiest chain of mountains in the world. Mount Everest, the culminating peak, 29,002 feet, is the loftiest peak known. It is nearly twice as high as Mt. Blanc, and is a half higher than Mount McKinley, the highest peak of North America . Two of its neighbors are over 28,000 feet in altitude. Travelers desiring to penetrate this region must cross the ranges by means of passes from 15,000 to 22,000 feet in height, a tremendous climb for yaks, horses, camels, or men. RIVERS. Asia has nine great rivers, any one of which is larger than the Rhine and the Danube combined. The Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena carry the icy waters of Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. The Amur, the Hoang-Ho, and the Yang-tse pour a yellow flood into the Pacific. The Brahmaputra, the sacred Ganges, and the Indus flow south to the Indian Ocean . Asia possesses not only the highest table-lands and mountains, but shares with southeastern Europe the greatest area of interior drainage and of land depression known. The basin occupied by the Sea of Aral and the Caspian is not less than 2,000,000 square miles in extent. The surface of the Caspian lies eighty-three feet below that of the sea. SOIL AND CLIMATE. As might be expected, Asia possesses a great diversity of soil and climate. It has vast river plains of unsurpassed fertility, and extensive, rainless regions of drifting sands as barren as the Sahara. It lies in three zones, the tropical, the north temperate, and the arctic. The flora and fauna of the jungles in the south are rivaled only in the valley of the Amazon and in equatorial Africa. The mountains of Central Asia rise into a region of cold, lifeless, eternal, glittering stillness. The shores of the Arctic Ocean are, for the most part, vast, tenantless, frozen tundras, with at best a little moss or flowers and shrubs growing in earth that thaws out for a few inches during the brief summer. Between these extremes may be found every variety of soil and climate known on the globe. POPULATION. Three of the chief divisions of mankind are represented in Asia. The Ethiopic or black division is found in a part of Malaysia. Southwestern Asia, including Arabia, and the Caspian Region, Persia and Afghanistan, with a large part of India, and a share of Siberia and Manchuria as well, are inhabitated by white people. The eastern coast is for the most part occupied by inhabitants of the yellow race. Ignoring the black element, the entire population of Asia is estimated at 280,000,000 whites and 540,000,000 of the yellow race. POLITICAL DIVISIONS. Asia is divided into eighteen countries or political divisions. For a further account the reader is referred to the various articles on Asiatic countries, cities, rivers, islands, plants, and animals. As in the case of Africa, the greater part of Asia has been occupied by European states. Russia owns the central and northern part of the continent, from the Caspian to the Bering Sea. England has grasped all India, Burma, and other valuable territory. France, at one time the leading European power in Hindustan, now has the better part of the southeastern peninsula. The Dutch East Indies belong to the Netherlands. Even the United States comes in for the Philippine Islands. The only genuinely independent Asiatic countries are now Japan and China. Formosa and Korea belong to Japan. Inasmuch as the Turkish seat of government is at the European city of Constantinople, it is not out of place to say that Asia Minor and parts of Arabia are in Turkish possession. Persia, though claimed as independent, is subject to the influence of England, Russia, and Turkey. Afghanistan and Siam are mere buffer states. The following shows the partition of Asia among the powers. The smaller islands are omitted: 1. Independent-- Japan, China, Persia, Oman, Central Arabia (Bedouins). 2. Nominally Independent-- Afghanistan, Siam. 3. Under Russian Ownership or Protection-- Trans-Caucasia, Siberia, Steppes provinces, Turkestan, Trans-Caspian province, Bokhara, Khiva. 4. Under English Ownership or Protection-- Aden, Borneo, Ceylon, Cyprus, Hong Kong , India, Baluchistan, Sikkim, Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Laccadive Islands, The Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, State of Johor, Weihaiwei. 5. Under French Ownership or Protection-- French India, French Indo-China, Annam, Cambodia, Cochin-China, Tonking, Laos. 6. Dutch East Indies (The Netherlands)-- Java, Sumatra, Borneo (in part), Celebes, New Guinea (in part). 7. Turkish Territory-- Asia Minor, Arabia (in part). 8. United States Possession-- Philippine Islands. 2026 Editor's Note: Asia is now home to about 4.7 billion people — some 60 percent of humanity — and its economic center of gravity has shifted the whole world's: China and India, colonial backwaters in this entry's day, are now among the largest economies on earth. The 'grand division' has become the century's main stage. (Ed: BR 2026-07-15)
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
In the poets Asis, one of the three great divisions which the ancients made of the known world. It was first used by the Greeks for the western part of Asia Minor , especially the plains watered by the river Caÿster, where the Ionian colonists first settled; and thence, as their geographical knowledge advanced, they extended it to the whole country. The southern part of the continent was supposed to extend much farther to the east than it really does, while to the north and northeast parts, which were quite unknown, much too small an extent was assigned.