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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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B-29 Superfortress bombers dropping incendiary bombs on Yokohama in May 1945

During World War II, Allied forces conducted air raids on Japan from 1942 to 1945, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands from mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also attacked Japan during 1945.

The United States Army Air Forces campaign against Japan began in earnest in mid-1944 and intensified during the war's last months. While plans for attacks on Japan had been prepared prior to the Pacific War, these could not begin until the long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber was ready for combat. From June 1944 until January 1945, B-29s stationed in India staged through bases in China to make a series of nine raids on targets in western Japan, but this effort proved ineffective. The strategic bombing campaign was greatly expanded from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands became available as a result of the Mariana Islands Campaign. Initial attempts to target industrial facilities using high-altitude daylight "precision" bombing were largely ineffective. From February 1945, the bombers switched to low-altitude night firebombing against urban areas as much of the manufacturing process was carried out in small workshops and private homes: this approach resulted in large-scale urban damage and high civilian casualties. Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carriers and the Ryukyu Islands also frequently struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan scheduled for October 1945. During early August 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck and mostly destroyed by atomic bombs. (Full article...)

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Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the four main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, and Kyushu. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

The Japanese archipelago has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of the region became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (samurai). After a century-long period of civil war, the country was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted an isolationist foreign policy. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-modeled constitution, and pursued a program of industrialization and modernization. Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new constitution. (Full article...)

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Featured biography

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān (8 February 882 – 24 July 946), better known by the title al-Ikhshīd (Arabic: الإخشيد) after 939, was an Abbasid commander and governor who became the autonomous ruler of Egypt and parts of Syria (Levant) from 935 until his death in 946. He was the founder of the Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled the region until the Fatimid conquest of 969.

The son of Tughj ibn Juff, a general of Turkic origin who served both the Abbasids and the autonomous Tulunid rulers of Egypt and Syria, Muhammad ibn Tughj was born in Baghdad but grew up in Syria and acquired his first military and administrative experiences at his father's side. He had a turbulent early career: he was imprisoned along with his father by the Abbasids in 905, was released in 906, participated in the murder of the vizier al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i in 908, and fled Iraq to enter the service of the governor of Egypt, Takin al-Khazari. Eventually he acquired the patronage of several influential Abbasid magnates, chiefly the powerful commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar. These ties led him to being named governor first of Palestine and then of Damascus. In 933, he was briefly named governor of Egypt, but this order was revoked after the death of Mu'nis, and Ibn Tughj had to fight to preserve even his governorship of Damascus. In 935, he was re-appointed to Egypt, where he quickly defeated a Fatimid invasion and stabilized the turbulent country. His reign marks a rare period of domestic peace, stability and good government in the annals of early Islamic Egypt. In 938 Caliph al-Radi granted his request for the title of al-Ikhshid, which had been borne by the rulers of his ancestral Farghana Valley. It is by this title that he was known thereafter. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Featured picture

Souq Waqif

Credit: Diego Delso

Street view of Souq Waqif, a souq in the Mushayrib district of Doha, capital of Qatar. Transliterated to "the standing market," Souq Waqif, is a former livestock market from end of 19th century / beginning of the 20th century, and has become today a popular place with all kind of shops, restaurants and Shisha lounges.

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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

In the news

12 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India–Russia relations; Two Indians recruited by the Russian army are killed in Ukraine with the Indian foreign ministry urging Moscow to quickly return all Indian nationals who are serving in the Russian army. (BBC News)
12 June 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Israel–Hezbollah conflict; Israel kills three Hezbollah fighters and Taleb Abdullah, a senior commander, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah retaliates by launching over 250 rockets towards northern Israel, the most the group has sent in the war. (Times of Israel) (Reuters)
12 June 2024 – Syrian civil war: Sixteen Syrian soldiers, including an officer, are killed in Homs Governorate in a minefield laid by Islamic State militants and in an attack by the Islamic State. (Al Arabiya)
12 June 2024 – 2024 Mangaf fire: At least 49 people are killed in a fire at a building housing foreign workers in Mangaf, Kuwait. (Reuters)

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Related portals

Major Religions in Asia

Middle East

Central Asia and Surroundings

Indian Subcontinent

Southeast Asia

East Asia

Selected panorama

Credit: Benh Lieu Song

The Ratchaprasong and Sukhumvit skylines of Bangkok, the capital of and largest city in Thailand, with Lumphini Park in the center, as viewed from the Sathon District. Known in Thai as Krung Thep ("city of angels"), it became the capital in 1768 after the destruction of Ayutthaya by Burmese invaders.