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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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Featured article

Comparison between Gwoyeu Romatzyh (top) and pinyin (bottom) for Gwoyeu Romatzyh's official name 國音字母第二式 ('Second Pattern of the National Alphabet'; middle)

Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) is a system for writing Standard Chinese using the Latin alphabet. It was primarily conceived by Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982), who led a group of linguists on the National Languages Committee in refining the system between 1925 and 1926. In September 1928, it was adopted by the Republic of China as the national romanization system for Standard Chinese. GR indicates the four tones of Standard Chinese by varying the spelling of syllables, a method originally proposed by team member Lin Yutang (1895–1976). Distinct sets of spellings are assigned to syllables in GR according to particular rules. This differs from approaches used by other systems to denote tones, like the numerals used by the earlier Wade–Giles system, or the diacritics used by the later Hanyu Pinyin system.

Despite support from linguists both in China and overseas—including some early proponents who hoped it would eventually replace Chinese characters altogether—GR never achieved widespread use among the Chinese public, who generally lacked interest in the system or viewed it with hostility due to its complex spelling rules. In places where GR had gained traction, it was eventually replaced—largely by Hanyu Pinyin (or simply "pinyin"), which became the international standard during the 1980s, and itself follows principles originally introduce by GR. Widespread adoption of the system was also hindered by its narrow calibration to the Beijing dialect, during a period when China lacked the strong central government needed to impose use of a national spoken language. (Full article...)

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Yemen (/ˈjɛmən/ ^ⓘ; Arabic: ٱلْيَمَنْ, romanized: al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen, is a sovereign state in West Asia. Located in the southern Arabian Peninsula, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the south, sharing maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia across the Horn of Africa. Covering roughly 528,000 square kilometres (203,861 square miles), with a coastline of approximately 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), Yemen is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Sanaa is its constitutional capital and largest city. Yemen's estimated population is 34.7 million, mostly Arab Muslims. It is a member of the Arab League, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Owing to its geographic location, Yemen has been at the crossroads of many civilisations for over 7,000 years. In 1200 BCE, the Sabaeans formed a thriving commercial kingdom that included parts of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 CE, it was succeeded by the Himyarite Kingdom, which spanned much of Yemen's present-day territory and was heavily influenced by Judaism. Christianity arrived in the fourth century, followed by the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh century. Yemenite troops playing a crucial role in early Islamic conquests. Various dynasties emerged between the 9th and 16th centuries. During the 19th century, the country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires. After World War I, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established, which in 1962 became the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) following a coup. In 1967, the British Aden Protectorate became the independent People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and only officially socialist state in the Arab world. In 1990, the two Yemeni states united to form the modern Republic of Yemen (al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), with Ali Abdullah Saleh serving as the first president until his resignation in 2012 in the wake of the Arab Spring. (Full article...)

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Featured biography

Official portrait, 2023

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: [ˈnəɾendɾə dɑmodəɾˈdɑs ˈmodiː] ^ⓘ; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who is the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 26 May 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Varanasi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation. He is the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.

Modi was born and raised in Vadnagar in northeastern Gujarat, where he completed his secondary education. He was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight. At the age of 18, he was married to Jashodaben Modi, whom he abandoned soon after, only publicly acknowledging her four decades later when legally required to do so. Modi became a full-time worker for the RSS in Gujarat in 1971. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985 and he rose through the party hierarchy, becoming general secretary in 1998. In 2001, Modi was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat and elected to the legislative assembly soon after. His administration is considered complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and has been criticised for its management of the crisis. According to official records, a little over 1,000 people were killed, three-quarters of whom were Muslim; independent sources estimated 2,000 deaths, mostly Muslim. A Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India in 2012 found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against him. While his policies as chief minister were credited for encouraging economic growth, his administration was criticised for failing to significantly improve health, poverty and education indices in the state. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Sun temple at Konarka, Odisha, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 2Population concentration and boundaries of the Western Zhou dynasty in China (from History of Asia)
Image 3The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830 by Hokusai, an example of art flourishing in the Edo Period (from History of Asia)
Image 4The Grand Mosque in Kuwait City, one of the largest mosques in the region (from Culture of Asia)
Image 5The Han dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 6Some 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 7Traditional Rajasthani garments from Jaipur, Rajasthan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 8Gyeonghoeru of Gyeongbokgung, the Joseon dynasty's royal palace. (from History of Asia)
Image 9The Song dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 1200 (from History of Asia)
Image 10Byzantine and Sassanian Empires in 600 AD (from History of Asia)
Image 11Kabsa also called Majboos, famous in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (from Culture of Asia)
Image 12The 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 13Machiya in Heian period (from History of Asia)
Image 14The Delhi Sultanate. (from History of Asia)
Image 15Daian-ji temple at Nara, Japan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 16Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with the rival "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878) (from History of Asia)
Image 17Deoksugung, the palace where Emperor Gojong established Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 18the Goryeo ware, which shows splendid culture of Goryeo in mediaeval Korea. (from History of Asia)
Image 19Balhae in the north, Later Silla in the south (from History of Asia)
Image 20The Hindu-Buddhist temple of Angkor Wat. (from History of Asia)
Image 21A Confucian ritual ceremony in Jeju, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 22Angkor Wat, Khmer Empire (from Culture of Asia)
Image 23Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruslam (from Culture of Asia)
Image 24The early Muslim conquests, 622–750 (from History of Asia)
Image 25The Qing Empire in 1832. (from History of Asia)
Image 26The Qing conquest of the Ming and expansion of the empire (from History of Asia)
Image 27The Russian Znamensky Cathedral in Tyumen built in 1768 (from Culture of Asia)
Image 28The Silk Road in Asia (from History of Asia)
Image 29Hinduism 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 30British troops taking Zhenjiang from Qing troops (from History of Asia)
Image 31Map of Marco Polo's travels (from History of Asia)
Image 32Đại Việt, Champa, Angkor Empire and their neighbours, late 13th century (from History of Asia)
Image 33Philippine cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 34Map of Asia for early 20th century (from History of Asia)
Image 35Indonesian Balinese cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 36East Asian cultural sphere (from Culture of Asia)
Image 37Map of Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 38Language families in South Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 39Here a Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666), is dressed as an official of the Chinese Department of Astronomy. (from History of Asia)
Image 40Gojong (1852–1919), the 26th king of Joseon dynasty and the first emperor of Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 41Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman (from History of Asia)
Image 42The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 (from Asian Century)
Image 43A stone image of the Buddha (from Culture of Asia)
Image 44Detail 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 45Map of Vietnam showing the conquest of the south (the Nam tiến, 1069–1757). (from History of Asia)
Image 46Korean 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 47Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the South Asian cooking style. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 48The Taj Mahal, Agra, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 49Tang dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai, in a 13th-century depiction by Liang Kai (from Culture of Asia)
Image 50The First Persian Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 51Projected shares of global GDP by region to 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 52The 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 53Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku (from History of Asia)
Image 54Ancient ziggurat, Iraq (from Culture of Asia)
Image 55India'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 56Borobudur, a Buddhist temple in Indonesia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 57Invasions, destruction and possible population movements during the Late Bronze Age collapse, beginning c. 1200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 58The 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 59Detail 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 60A view of the Fort St George in 18th-century Madras. (from History of Asia)
Image 61Battle of Talas between Tang dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate c. 751 (from History of Asia)
Image 62Projected GDP of 7 largest economies in 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 63Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of Asia)
Image 64Political map of Asia in 1860 (from History of Asia)
Image 65The Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618 negotiating with Shah Abbas the Great of Iran. (from History of Asia)
Image 66Badshahi Mosque built under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore, Pakistan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 67The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling (from Culture of Asia)
Image 68Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 69A typical example of Dravidian architecture (from Culture of Asia)

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Featured picture

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

Credit: 3rd Class Benjamin D. Glass

A Navy HH-60H Seahawk helicopter, assigned to the "Golden Falcons" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Two (HS-2), delivers relief supplies at a mosque in the town of Meulaboh on the Island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Helicopters assigned to Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) and Sailors from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) are supporting Operation Unified Assistance, the humanitarian operation effort in the wake of the Tsunami that struck South East Asia.

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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

17 July 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip; At least 42 Palestinians are killed and more than 70 others are injured in Israeli strikes on a United Nations-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp and on a designated "safe zone" in al-Mawasi, Rafah. (Al Jazeera)
17 July 2024 – 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement: Police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at students and professors occupying Dhaka University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to protest against the ruling Awami League party and its government job quotas. (Al Jazeera) (CBC News)
17 July 2024 – 2024 Zigong shopping mall fire: At least 16 people are killed in a fire at a shopping mall in Zigong, Sichuan, China. (AP)
17 July 2024 –: Comoros-flagged oil tanker Prestige Falcon capsizes off the coast of Oman. The Indian Navy rescues nine crew members, with seven others missing. (AP)
17 July 2024 – Eugenics in Japan: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida formally apologizes to 130 victims of forced sterilization under the Eugenics Protection Law which was declared unconstitutional on July 3, and approves compensation measures for more than 25,000 affected victims and their relatives. (NHK)

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Major Religions in Asia

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Central Asia and Surroundings

Indian Subcontinent

Southeast Asia

East Asia

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Selected panorama

200pxAlong the River During the Qingming Festival

Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a painting from China's Song Dynasty that captures the daily life of people from the period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng. As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered, and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas. The painting is famous because of its geometrically accurate images of boats, bridges, shops, and scenery. Because of its fame, it has been called "China's Mona Lisa".