extreme south-western point of Arabia, at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, to
the extreme north-eastern point of Siberia--East Cape, or Cape Vostochni,
in Behring's Strait--6900 miles; breadth, from Cape Chelyuskin, in Northern
Siberia, to Cape Romania, the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula,
5300 miles; area estimated at 17,250,000 sq. miles, about a third of all
the land of the earth's surface. On three sides, N., E., and S., the ocean
forms its natural boundary, while in the W. the frontier is marked mainly
by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, Caspian Sea, the Caucasus, the Black
Sea, the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea. There is no proper
separation between Asia and Europe, the latter being really a great
peninsula of the former. Asia, though not so irregular in shape as Europe,
is broken in the S. by three great peninsulas, Arabia, Hindustan, and
Farther India, while the east coast presents peninsular projections and
islands, forming a series of sheltered seas and bays, the principal
peninsulas being Kamtshatka and Corea. The principal islands are those
forming the Malay or Asiatic Archipelago, which stretch round in a wide
curve on the S.E. of the continent. Besides the larger islands--Sumatra,
Java, Borneo, Celebes, Mindanao, and Luzon (in the Philippine group)--there
are countless smaller islands grouped round these. Other islands are
Ceylon, in the S. of India; the Japanese Islands and Sakhalin on the E. of
the continent; Formosa, S.E. of China; Cyprus, S. of Asia Minor; and New
Siberia and Wrangell, in the Arctic Ocean.
The mountain systems of Asia are of great extent, and their culminating
points are the highest in the world. The greatest of all is the Himalaya
system, which lies mainly between long. 70deg and 100deg E. and lat. 28deg
and 37deg N. It extends, roughly speaking, from north-west to south-east,
its total length being about 1500 miles, forming the northern barrier of
Hindustan. The loftiest summits are Mount Everest, 29,002 feet high,
Godwin-Austen, 28,265, and Kanchinjinga, 28,156. The principal passes,
which rise to the height of 18,000 to 20,000 feet, are the highest in the
world. A second great mountain system of Central Asia, connected with the
north-western extremity of the Himalaya system by the elevated region of
Pamir (about long. 70deg-75deg E., lat. 37deg-40deg N.), is the Thian-Shan
system, which runs north-eastward for a distance of 1200 miles. In this
direction the Altai, Sayan, and other ranges continue the line of
elevations to the north-eastern coast. A north-western continuation of the
Himalaya is the Hindu Kush, and farther westward a connection may be traced
between the Himalaya mass and the Elburz range (18,460) feet, south of the
Caspian, and thence to the mountains of Kurdistan, Armenia, and Asia Minor.
There are vast plateaux and elevated valley regions connected with the
great central mountain systems, but large portions of the continent are low
and flat. Tibet forms the most elevated table-land in Asia, its mean height
being estimated at 15,000 feet. On its south is the Himalayan range, while
the Kuen-Lun range forms its northern barrier. Another great but much lower
plateau is that which comprises Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Persia, and
which to the north-west joins into the plateau of Asia Minor. The principal
plain of Asia is that of Siberia, which extends along the north of the
continent and forms an immense alluvial tract sloping to the Arctic Ocean.
Vast swamps or peat-mosses called _tundras_ cover large portions of this
region. South-west of Siberia, and stretching eastward from the Caspian, is
a low-lying tract consisting to a great extent of steppes and deserts, and
including in its area the Sea of Aral. In the east of China there is an
alluvial plain of some 200,000 sq. miles in extent; in Hindustan are plains
extending for 2000 miles along the south slope of the Himalaya; and between
Arabia and Persia, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, is the plain of
Mesopotamia or Assyria, one of the richest in the world. Of the deserts of
Asia the largest is that of Gobi (long. 90deg-120deg E., lat. 40deg-48deg
N.), large portions of which are covered with nothing but sand or display a
surface of bare rock. An almost continuous desert region may also be traced
from the desert of North Africa through Arabia (which is largely occupied
by bare deserts), Persia, and Baluchistan to the Indus.
POLITICAL MAP OF ASIA
[Illustration]
Some of the largest rivers of Asia flow northward to the Arctic Ocean--the
Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena. The Hoang-Ho and Yang-tse, and the Amoor,
are the chief of those which flow into the Pacific. The Ganges,
Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Indus flow into the Indian Ocean. The Persian
Gulf receives the united waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris. There are
several systems of inland drainage, large rivers falling into lakes which
have no outlet.
The largest lake of Asia (partly also European) is the Caspian Sea, which
receives the Kur from the Caucasus (with its tributary the Aras from
Armenia), and the Sefid Rud and other streams from Persia (besides the
Volga from European Russia, and the Ural, which is partly European, partly
Asiatic). The Caspian lies in the centre of a great depression, being 83
feet below the level of the Sea of Azov. East from the Caspian is the Sea
of Aral, which, like the Caspian, has no outlet, and is fed by the Rivers
Amu-Darya (Oxus) and Syr-Darya. Still farther east, to the north of the
Thian-Shan Mountains, and fed by the Ili and other streams, is Lake
Balkhash, also without an outlet and very salt. Other lakes having no
communication with the ocean are Lob Nor, in the desert of Gobi, receiving
the River Tarim, and the Dead Sea, far below the level of the
Mediterranean, and fed by the Jordan. The chief fresh-water lake is Lake
Baikal, in the south of Siberia, between long. 104deg and 110deg E., a
mountain lake from which the Yenisei draws a portion of its waters.
Geologically speaking, large areas of Asia are of comparatively recent
date, the lowlands of Siberia, for instance, being submerged during the
tertiary period, if not more recently. Many geologists believe that
subsequently to the glacial period there was a great sea in Western Asia,
of which the Caspian and Aral Seas are the remains. The desiccation of
Central Asia is still going on, as is also probably the upheaval of a great
part of the continent. The great mountain chains and elevated plateaux are
of ancient origin, however, and in them granite and other crystalline rocks
are largely represented. Active volcanoes are only met with in the extreme
east (Kamtchatka) and in the Eastern Archipelago. From the remotest times
Asia has been celebrated for its mineral wealth. In the Altai and Ural
Mountains gold, iron, lead, and platinum are found; in India and other
parts rubies, diamonds, and other gems are, or have been, procured; salt in
Central Asia; coal in China, India, Central Asia, &c.; petroleum in the
districts about the Caspian and in Burmah; bitumen in Syria; while silver,
copper, sulphur, &c., are found in various parts.
Every variety of climate may be experienced in Asia, but as a whole it is
marked by extremes of heat and cold and by great dryness, this in
particular being the case with vast regions in the centre of the continent
and distant from the sea. The great lowland region of Siberia has a short
but very hot summer, and a long but intensely cold winter, the rivers and
their estuaries being fast bound with ice, and at a certain depth the soil
is hard frozen all the year round. The northern part of China to the east
of Central Asia has a temperate climate with a warm summer, and in the
extreme north a severe winter. The districts lying to the south of the
central region, comprising the Indian and Indo-Chinese Peninsulas, Southern
China, and the adjacent islands, present the characteristic climate and
vegetation of the southern temperate and tropical regions modified by the
effects of altitude. Some localities in Southern Asia have the heaviest
rainfall anywhere known. As the equator is approached the extremes of
temperature diminish till at the southern extremity of the continent they
are such as may be experienced in any tropical country. Among climatic
features are the monsoons of the Indian Ocean and the eastern seas, and the
cyclones or typhoons, which are often very destructive.
The plants and animals of Northern and Western Asia generally resemble
those of similar latitudes in Europe (which is really a prolongation of the
Asiatic continent), differing more in species than in genera. The principal
mountain trees are the pine, larch, and birch; the willow, alder, and
poplar are found in lower grounds. In the central region European species
reach as far as the Western and Central Himalaya, but are rare in the
Eastern. They are here met by Chinese and Japanese forms. The lower slopes
of the Himalaya are clothed almost exclusively with tropical forms. Higher
up, between 4000 and 10,000 feet, are found all the types of trees and
plants that belong to the temperate zone, there being extensive forests of
conifers. Here is the native home of the deodar cedar. The south-eastern
region, including India, the Eastern Peninsula, and China, with the
islands, contains a vast variety of plants useful to man and having here
their original habitat, such as the sugar-cane, rice, cotton, and indigo,
pepper, cinnamon, cassia, clove, nutmeg, and cardamoms, banana, coco-nut,
areca, and sago palms; the mango and many other fruits, with plants
producing a vast number of drugs, caoutchouc, and gutta-percha. The forests
of India and the Malay Peninsula contain oak, teak, sal, and other timber
woods, besides bamboos, palms, sandal-wood, &c. The palmyra palm is
characteristic of Southern India; while the talipot palm flourishes on the
western coast of Hindustan, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula. The cultivated
plants of India and China include wheat, barley, rice, maize, millet,
sugar-cane, tea, coffee, indigo, cotton, jute, opium, tobacco, &c. In North
China and the Japanese Islands large numbers of deciduous trees occur, such
as oaks, maples, limes, walnuts, poplars, and willows, the genera being
European but the individual species Asiatic. Among cultivated plants are
wheat, and in favourable situations rice, cotton, the vine, &c. Coffee,
rice, sugar, &c., are extensively grown in some of the islands of the
Asiatic Archipelago. In Arabia and the warmer valleys of Persia,
Afghanistan, and Baluchistan aromatic shrubs are abundant. Over large parts
of these regions the date palm flourishes and affords a valuable article of
food. Gum-producing acacias are, with the date palm, the commonest trees in
Arabia. African forms are found extending from the Sahara along the desert
region of Asia.
Nearly all the mammals of Europe are found in Northern Asia, with numerous
additions to the species. Central Asia is the native land of the horse, the
ass, the ox, the sheep, and the goat. Both varieties of the camel, the
single and the double humped, are Asiatic. To the inhabitants of Tibet and
the higher plateaux of the Himalaya the yak is what the reindeer is to the
tribes of the Siberian plain, almost their sole wealth and support. The
elephant, of a different species from that of Africa, is a native of
tropical Asia. The Asiatic lion, which inhabits Arabia and Persia, and
still exists in the north-west of India, is smaller than the African
species. Bears are found in all parts, the white bear in the far north, and
other species in the more temperate and tropical parts. The tiger is the
most characteristic of the larger Asiatic Carnivora. It is found in Armenia
and throughout the entire continent, being absent, however, from the
greater portion of Siberia and from the high table-land of Tibet; it is
found also in Sumatra, Java, and Bali. In South-Eastern Asia and the
islands we find the rhinoceros, buffalo, ox, deer, squirrels, porcupines,
&c. In birds nearly every order is represented. Among the most interesting
forms are the hornbills, the peacock, the Impey pheasant, the tragopan or
horned pheasant, and other gallinaceous birds, the pheasant family being
very characteristic of South-Eastern Asia. It was from Asia that the common
domestic fowl was introduced into Europe. The tropical parts of Asia abound
in monkeys, of which the species are numerous. Some are tailed, others,
such as the orang, are tailless, but none have prehensile tails like the
American monkeys. In the Malay Archipelago marsupial animals, so
characteristic of Australia, first occur in the Moluccas and Celebes, while
various mammals common in the western part of the Archipelago are absent. A
similar transition towards the Australian type takes place in the species
of birds. (See _Wallace's Line_.) Of marine mammals the dugong is peculiar
to the Indian Ocean; in the Ganges is found a peculiar species of dolphin.
At the head of the reptiles stands the Gangetic crocodile, frequenting the
Ganges and other large rivers. Among the serpents are the cobra de capello,
one of the most deadly snakes in existence; there are also large boas and
pythons, besides sea and fresh-water snakes. The seas and rivers produce a
great variety of fish. The Salmonidae are found in the rivers flowing into
the Arctic Ocean. Two rather remarkable fishes are the climbing perch and
the archer-fish. The well-known goldfish is a native of China.
Asia is mainly peopled by races belonging to two great ethnographic types,
the Caucasic or fair type, and the Mongolic or yellow. To the former belong
the Aryan, or Indo-European, and the Semitic races, both of which mainly
inhabit the south-west of the continent; to the latter belong the Malays
and Indo-Chinese in the S.E., as well as the Mongolians proper (Chinese,
&c.), occupying nearly all the rest of the continent. To these may be added
certain races of doubtful affinities, as the Dravidians of Southern India,
the Cingalese of Ceylon, the Ainos of Yesso, and some negro-like tribes
called Negritos, which inhabit Malacca and the interior of several of the
islands of the Eastern Archipelago. The total population is estimated at
823,000,000, or more than half that of the whole world, of which
330,000,000 inhabit Chinese territory, 302,000,000 British, and 25,000,000
Russian. Portions of Asia are under the control of European Powers (Russia,
Great Britain, Holland, France), of the United States of America, China,
and Japan. The chief States are China, Japan, Corea, Siam, Afghanistan,
Persia, and Arabia. The chief religions are the Brahmanism of India, the
Buddhism of Burmah, China, &c., the creeds of Confucius and Lao-tse in
China, and the various forms of Mahommedanism in Arabia, Persia, India, &c.
More than a half of the whole population profess some form of Buddhism.
Several native Christian sects are found in India, Armenia, Kurdistan, and
Syria.
Asia is generally regarded as the cradle of the human race. It possesses
the oldest historical documents, and, next to the immediately contiguous
kingdom of Egypt, the oldest historical monuments in the world. The Old
Testament contains the oldest historical records which we have of any
nation in the form of distinct narrative. The period at which Moses wrote
was probably 1500 or 1600 years before the Christian era. His and the later
Jewish writings confine themselves almost exclusively to the history of the
Hebrews; but in Babylonia, as in Egypt, civilization had made great
advances long before this time. The earliest seat of the Aryan race some
assign to the banks of the Oxus. Hence, perhaps from the pressure of the
Mongolian tribes to the north, they spread themselves to the south-east and
south-west, finally occupying Northern India, Persia, and other parts of
Western Asia, and spreading into Europe, perhaps about 2000-1500 B.C. In
China authentic history extends back probably to about 1000 B.C., with a
long preceding period of which the names of dynasties are preserved without
chronological arrangement. The kingdoms of Assyria, Babylonia, Media, and
Persia predominated by turns in South-Western Asia. In regard to the
history of these monarchies, much light has been obtained from the
decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions. The arms of the Pharaohs
extended into Asia, but their conquests there were short-lived. From Cyrus
(559 B.C.), who extended the empire of Persia from the Indus to the
Mediterranean, while his son, Cambyses, added Egypt and Libya to it, to the
conquest of Alexander (330 B.C.) Persia was the dominant Power in Western
Asia. Alexander's great empire became broken up into separate kingdoms,
which were finally absorbed in the Roman Empire, and this ultimately
extended to the Tigris. Soon after the most civilized portions of the three
continents had been reduced under one empire, the great event took place
which forms the dividing-line of history, the birth of Christ and the
spread of Christianity. In A.D. 226 a protracted struggle began between the
newer Persian Empire and the Romans, which lasted till the advent of
Mahomet, and the conquests of the Arabians. Persia was the first great
conquest of Mahomet's followers. Syria and Egypt soon fell before their
arms, and within forty years of the celebrated flight of Mahomet from Mecca
(the _Hejra_), the sixth of the caliphs, or successors of the Prophet, was
the most powerful sovereign of Asia. The Mongols next became the dominant
race. In 999 Mahmud, whose father, born a Turkish slave, became Governor of
Ghazni, conquered India, and established his rule. The dynasty of the
Seljuk Tartars was established in Aleppo, Damascus, Iconium, and Kharism,
and was distinguished for its struggles with the Crusaders. Othman, an emir
of the Seljuk sultan of Iconium, established the Ottoman Empire in 1300.
About 1220 Genghis Khan, an independent Mongol chief, made himself master
of Central Asia, conquered Northern China, overran Turkestan, Afghanistan,
and Persia; his successors took Bagdad and abolished the caliphate. In Asia
Minor they overthrew the Seljuk dynasty. One of them, Timur or Tamerlane,
carried fire and sword over Northern India and Western Asia, defeated and
took prisoner Bajazet, the descendant of Othman (1402), and received
tribute from the Greek emperor. The Ottoman Empire soon recovered from the
blow inflicted by Timur, and Constantinople was taken and the Eastern
Empire finally overthrown by the Sultan Mohammed II in 1453. China
recovered its independence about 1368 and was again subjected by the Manchu
Tartars (1618-45), soon after which it began to extend its empire over
Central Asia. Siberia was conquered by the Cossacks on behalf of Russia
(1580-4). The same country effected a settlement in the Caucasus about
1786, and has since continued to make steady advances into Central Asia.
The discovery by the Portuguese of the passage to India by the Cape of Good
Hope led to their establishment on the coast of the peninsula (1498). They
were speedily followed by the Spanish, Dutch, French, and British. The
struggle between the two last Powers for the supremacy of India was
completed by the destruction of the French settlements (1760-5). At present
the forms of government in Asia range from the primitive rule of the nomad
sheik to the constitutional monarchy of Japan.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sven Hedin,
_Through Asia_; H. F. Blanford, _Elementary Geography of India, Burma, and
Ceylon_; Max. Mueller, _The Sacred Books of the East_; A. Little, _The Far
East_; R. Cobbold, _Innermost Asia_; Colonel A. Durand, _The Making of a
Frontier_; J. G. C. Chamberlain, _Continents and their Peoples_; E.
Huntington, _The Pulse of Asia_; E. C. Hannah, _Eastern Asia_.
ASIA, CENTRAL, a designation loosely given to the regions in the centre of
Asia east of the Caspian, also called Turkestan, and formerly Tartary. The
eastern portion belongs to China, the western to Russia. Russian Central
Asia comprises the Kirghiz Steppe (Uralsk, Turgai, Akmolinsk,
Semipalatinsk, &c.), and what was the government-general of Turkestan till
1918, besides the territory of the Turkomans, or Transcaspia and Merv. See
_Turkestan, Republic of_.
ASIA MINOR, the most westerly portion of Asia, being the peninsula lying
west of the Upper Euphrates, and forming part of Asiatic Turkey. It forms
an extensive plateau, with lofty mountains rising above it, the most
extensive ranges being the Taurus and Anti-Taurus, which border it on the
south and south-east, and rise to over 10,000 feet. There are numerous
salt- and freshwater lakes. The chief rivers are the Kizil-Irmak (Halys),
Sakaria (Sangarius), entering the Black Sea; and the Sarabat (Hermus) and
Menderes (Maeander), entering the Aegean. The coast regions are generally
fertile, and have a genial climate; the interior is largely arid and
dreary. Valuable forests and fruit-trees abound. Smyrna is the chief town.
_Anatolia_ is an equivalent name. See _European War_; _Turkey_.
ASIAGO, a town in Italy in the province of Vicenza, capital of the Seven
Communes (Sette Communi). In the great European War several battles were
fought on the Asiago Plateau. The town was evacuated by the Italians on
28th May, 1916, but retaken on 25th June, 1916. See _European War_.
ASIATIC SOCIETIES, learned bodies instituted for the purpose of collecting
information respecting the different countries of Asia, such as the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, founded in 1784 by Sir William Jones; and the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, established by Colebrooke,
and opened in 1823. There are similar societies on the European Continent
and in America, such as the Societe Asiatique at Paris, founded in 1822;
the Oriental Society of Germany (Deutsche Morgenlaendische Gesellschaft),
founded in 1845; and the Oriental Society at Boston, founded in 1842.
ASIPHONA'TA, or ASIPHON'IDA, an order of lamellibranchiate, bivalve
molluscs, destitute of the siphon or tube through which, in the Siphonata,
the water that enters the gills is passed outwards. It includes the
oysters, the scallop-shells, the pearl-oyster, the mussels, and in general
the most useful and valuable molluscs.
ASIR. See _Hejaz_.
ASKABAD', the administrative centre of the Russian province of Transcaspia,
situated in the Akhal Tekke oasis, and occupied by Skobelev in Jan., 1881,
after the sack of Geok Tepe. Its distance from Merv is 232 miles, from
Herat 388 miles. Pop. 54,000.
AS'KEW, Anne, a victim of religious persecution, born 1521, martyred 1546.
She was a daughter of Sir William Askew of Lincolnshire, and was married to
a wealthy neighbour named Kyme, who, irritated by her Protestantism, drove
her from his house. In London, whither she went probably to procure a
divorce, she spoke against the dogmas of the old faith, and, being tried,
was condemned to death as a heretic. Being put to the rack to extort a
confession concerning those with whom she corresponded, she continued firm,
and was then taken to Smithfield, chained to a stake, and burned.
ASKJA ([.a]sk'y[.a]), a volcano near the centre of Iceland, first brought
into notice by an eruption in 1875. Its crater is 17 miles in
circumference, surrounded by a mountain-ring from 500 to 1000 feet high,
the height of the mountain itself being between 4000 and 5000 feet.
AS'MANNSHAUSEN (-hou-zn), a Prussian village on the Rhine, in the district
of Wiesbaden, celebrated for its wine. Many judges prefer the red wine of
Asmannshausen to the best Burgundy, but it retains its merits for three or
four years only.
ASMO'DAI, or ASMO'DEUS, an evil spirit, who, as related in the book of
Tobit, slew seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel, but was driven away
into the uttermost parts of Egypt by the young Tobias under the direction
of the angel Raphael. Asmodai signifies a desolater, a destroying angel,
identical with the demon A[=e]shma of the Zend-Avesta. He is represented in
the Talmud as the prince of demons who drove King Solomon from his kingdom.
ASMONAE'ANS, a family of high priests and princes who ruled over the Jews
for about 130 years, from 153 B.C., when Jonathan, son of Mattathias, the
great-grandson of Chasmon or Asmonaeus, was nominated to the
high-priesthood.
ASNIERES (aen-y[=a]r), a town on the Seine, a N.W. suburb of Paris, a
favourite boating resort of the Parisians. Pop. 42,583.
ASO'KA, an Indian sovereign who reigned from 264 to 228 B.C. over the whole
of Northern India, grandson of Chandragupta or Sandracottus. He embraced
Buddhism, and forced his subjects also to become converts. Many temples and
_stupas_, or brick cupolas, still remaining are attributed to him.
ASO'KA (_Jonesia as[=o]ca_), an Indian tree, nat. ord. Leguminosae, having
a lovely flower, showing orange, scarlet, and bright-yellow tints; sacred
to the god Siva, and often mentioned in Indian literature.
ASO'PUS, the name of several rivers in Greece, of which the most celebrated
is in Boeotia.
[Illustration: Asp (_Naja haje_)]