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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. 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.

Since the concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Thefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on a spectrum. (Full article...)

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Hyderabad (/ˈhaɪdərəbæd/ ^ⓘ; Telugu: [ˈɦaɪ̯daraːbaːd], Urdu: [ˈɦɛːdəɾaːbaːd], ISO: Haidarābād) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies 650 km² (250 sq mi) on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of 542 m (1,778 ft), much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including the Hussain Sagar lake, predating the city's founding, in the north of the city centre. According to the 2011 census of India, Hyderabad is the fourth-most populous city in India with a population of 6.9 million residents within the city limits, and has a population of 9.7 million residents in the metropolitan region, making it the sixth-most populous metropolitan area in India. With an output of US$ 95 billion , Hyderabad has the sixth-largest urban economy in India.

The Qutb Shahi dynasty's Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah established Hyderabad in 1591 to extend the capital beyond the fortified Golconda. In 1687, the city was annexed by the Mughals. In 1724, Asaf Jah I, the Mughal viceroy, declared his sovereignty and founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty, also known as the Nizams. Hyderabad served as the imperial capital of the Asaf Jahis from 1769 to 1948. As capital of the princely state of Hyderabad, the city housed the British Residency and cantonment until Indian independence in 1947. Hyderabad was annexed by the Indian Union in 1948 and continued as a capital of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1956. After the introduction of the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, Hyderabad was made the capital of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split to form the state of Telangana, and Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states with a transitional arrangement scheduled to end in 2024. Since 1956, the city has housed the Rashtrapati Nilayam, the winter office of the president of India. (Full article...)

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India, officially the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country with effect from June 2023; and from the time of its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity. Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda. Preserved by an oral tradition that was resolutely vigilant, the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India. The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.

Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief. In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia. (Full article...)

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Featured biography

A painting of the statue of Tiridates I in the Louvre Museum by Panos Terlemezian

Tiridates I (Parthian: 𐭕𐭉𐭓𐭉𐭃𐭕, Tīridāt; Ancient Greek: Τιριδάτης, Tiridátes) was King of Armenia beginning in 53 AD and the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58 to 63. In an agreement to resolve the Roman–Parthian conflict in and over Armenia, Tiridates I (one of the brothers of Vologases I of Parthia) was crowned king of Armenia by the Roman emperor Nero in 66; in the future, the king of Armenia was to be a Parthian prince, but his appointment required approval from the Romans. Even though this made Armenia a client kingdom, various contemporary Roman sources thought that Nero had de facto ceded Armenia to the Parthian Empire.

In addition to being a king, Tiridates I was also a Zoroastrian priest and was accompanied by other magi on his journey to Rome in 66. In the early 20th century, Franz Cumont speculated that Tiridates was instrumental in the development of Mithraism which ultimately became the main religion of the Roman Army and spread across the whole empire. Furthermore, during his reign, he started reforming the administrative structure of Armenia, a reform which was continued by his successors, and which brought many Iranian customs and offices into it. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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Featured picture

Japanese calligraphy

Credit: Emperor Saga

Cry for noble Saichō, a poem written by Emperor Saga of Japan in the 9th century, upon the death of the Buddhist monk Saichō—an early example of Japanese calligraphy. Although calligraphy as an art form had existed prior to that time, Japanese practitioners tended to imitate the styles developed by Chinese calligraphists. The influence of Chinese styles had weakened after the Heian period, with this text as one of the few surviving examples of the transformation to a native Japanese style.

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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

24 August 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Three-phase Israel–Hamas war ceasefire proposal; Hamas refuses any ceasefire conditions that allow Israel to hold onto the Rafah Crossing and Philadelphi Corridor, and accuses the United States of spreading false optimism to support Democratic nominee Kamala Harris's presidential campaign instead of implementing constructive diplomatic measures. (Al Jazeera)
23 August 2024 – Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency, Turkish war crimes: Three people, including two journalists, are killed and one other journalist is injured in a Turkish drone strike on a vehicle in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. (Al Jazeera) (Committee to Protect Journalists)
23 August 2024 – 2024 India–Bangladesh floods: At least 23 people are killed and more than 4.5 million people are affected by floods caused by heavy rains in eastern Bangladesh. (Al Jazeera)
23 August 2024 –: Ten people are killed by landslides and flooding in Phuket, Thailand. (Bangkok Post)
23 August 2024 – International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia–United States relations, China–United States relations: The United States Treasury Department imposes sanctions on more than 400 individuals and entities, including Chinese firms that are allegedly aiding Russia in order to avoid western sanctions. (Reuters) (CNN)

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Major Religions in Asia

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Indian Subcontinent

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Selected panorama

Credit: Benh Lieu Song

Panorama of the city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, as seen from Phu Si hill. The city was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name, and after Laos's independence from France, it was the royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos. This view features the Nam Khan river on the left, and Luang Prabang International Airport on the very far left.

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