Asia is the largest continent in the world extending over nearly one-third of the land surface of the Earth. It has both the highest and the lowest points on the surface of Earth, has the longest coastline of any continent, is subject overall to the world’s widest climatic extremes, and, consequently, produces the most varied forms of vegetation and animal life on Earth.
Geographically, the continent makes up 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area, and 29.5% of its land area.
- In the west, Asia is bordered by Europe, the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, as well by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus Strait, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
- In the east, Asia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, and an almost endless stretch of bays and seas.
- The Arctic Ocean and a handful of seas front the northern border, while the Bering Sea separates Asia from North America.
- In the southwest the Red Sea and isthmus of Suez separate the continent from Africa.
- The Indian Ocean fronts most of Asia's southern borders, along with a series of bays, gulfs and seas, as well as extensive chains of both inhabited and uninhabited islands.
Instant Fact
| Country with Most Land Borders | China
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| Major island | Sri Lanka |
| Highest Plateau | China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, average height of 4500 m, 2.3 million km2 (Sichuan, Qinghai - China) |
| Largest Delta | Sunderban Delta (The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in Bangladesh and India, covers an area of 75,000 km2) |
| Deepest Lake | Russia's Lake Baikal, north of the Mongolian border, 1637 m. Surface 31 ,500 km2 |
| Major Lake | Urmia in Iran 5200 km2 |
| Highest Lake | Lhagba Pool 6368 m (Himalaya - Tibet- China) |
| Main Language Families | Sino-Tibetan, Vietnamese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu (India and Pakistan), Kymer (Cambodian), Laotian, Tai-Kadai (Thailand), Burmese, Malay (Indonesia and Malaysia) and Pilipino (Tagalog) for the Phillipines, and Turkic languages, Russian. |
| Main Religions | Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism (Taoism), Shamanism, Animism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Muslim. |
| Birthplace of religions | The Middle East is the birthplace and spiritual centre of Zoroastrism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. |
| Largest Urban Areas |
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| Largest Agglomeration | Toyko, Japan
|
| Highest City | Venquan, near Jinghai and Tibet
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| Major River | Yangzi 5470 km2 (other important: Brahmaputra, Ganga, Yenisei, Amur, Hwang-Ho and Mekon) |
| Largest Waterfall | Chutes de Khone (Khone Falls), Mekong River in Laos. Height 70 m and 12.122 m3 per second |
| Main Dam | The Three Gorges Dam (Sandouping, China) 185 m high, 2309 m long. 2 million people resettled; power production 85 billion kilowatt hours per year. |
| Highest Dam | Rogun in Tajikistan 335 m |
| Longest and Earliest Man-Made Canal Beijing | Hangzhou Grand Canal. First built in the 5th century BC and was extended twice during the Sui and Yuan dynasties. Length 1794 km, drainage area of 4583 m2, 24 locks, some 60 bridges. |
| Largest Desert | Gobi in Mongolia and North-Eastern China, 13,00,000 km2 |
| Greatest Land Mountain Range
| The Himalayas, which contains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 7315 m. (Other important mountain ranges: Kunlun, Tien Shan, Altai and Tibetan Plateau). |
| Longest Man-Made Architecture | Chang Cheng, the Great Wall in China (Total length-more than 6700 km) |
| Highest Railway | Qinghai-Tibet Express |
| Highest railway station | Tangulla, 5068 m (Tibet- China) |
| Longest Railway line | Trans-Siberian Express, from Moscow through the Ural Mountains and across all of Asia to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan. It covers a distance of 9288 km. The journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes about 8 days 4 hrs and 25 minutes. There are 97 stops on the rail route. It crosses seven time zones. |
| Largest Waiting Room | Beijing Station, Chang'an Boulevard, Beijing, with a capacity of 14,000. |
| Highest Road | Roda Tibet-Sinkiang 6532 m (China) |
| Highest Building | Burj Khalifa (Dubai) 828 m tall since 2010. |
| Highest Point | Mt Everest, 8848 m, Nepal |
| Lowest point | Dead Sea, Israel/Jordan, at 418 m below sea level. |
Image Courtesy: www.upload.wikimedia.org
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