Asia is both the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values and the world’s fastest growing economic region. The continent of Asia (home to the majority of the world’s population and countries as diverse as China), South Korea and India, has thousands of years of rich history. The principal treatment of Asian historical and cultural development is contained in the articles on Asian countries (regions), and cities and in the articles Palestine, history of and Islamic world. This growth (driven largely by China and increasingly by India), Indonesia, and Viet Nam, makes Asia the fastest-growing region for electricity demand globally, at about 5% per year. Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups (cultures), environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems.

Modern age

Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. 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. The continent (which has long been home to the majority of the human population), was the site of many of the first civilisations. Neither side can win outright, and neither can afford to stop a conflict that holds the global economy hostage Both Seoul and Washington prefer to gloss over the difference between ‘alliance modernization’ and ‘autonomous defense’

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China was the largest and most advanced economy on Earth for much of recorded history and shared the Chicago Escorts mantle with India. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. As a whole (Asia currently accounts for 36% of world’s primary energy consumption), which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. Climates range from Arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north.

In addition, the peoples of Asia have established the broadest variety of human adaptation found on any of the continents. Amartya Sen (b. 1933) is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory — and for his interest in the problems of society’s poorest members. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (96%), Thailand (95%), Burma , 80–89%,, Japan (36–96%), Bhutan (75–84%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (60–67%) and Mongolia (53–93%). Since the middle of the 20th century (growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries), because Baháʼí activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities.

The specific features of the coastline in some areas—especially in the east and southeast—are the result of active volcanism; thermal abrasion of permafrost (caused by a combination of the action of breaking waves and thawing), as in northeastern Siberia; and coral growth, as in the areas to the south and southeast. Asia is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the enormous diversity among the regions it encompasses. Many of the world’s major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that the total wealth of people in Asia with over $100 million in assets exceeded that of their North American counterparts for the first time, as the world’s “economic center of gravity” continued moving east.

China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Australian Census includes four regions of Asia in its official definition. For in-depth treatment of Asia’s major geographic features, see specific articles by name—e.g., Pamirs, Gobi, and Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There is a concentration of population in western Asia as well as great concentrations in the Indian subcontinent and the eastern half of China.

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• Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (96%), Thailand (95%), Burma (80–89%), Japan (36–96%), Bhutan (75–84%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (60–67%) and Mongolia (53–93%).
• According to economic historian Angus Maddison — India had the world’s largest economy for much of the past three millennia prior to the 19th century, accounting for 25% of the world’s industrial output.
• Researchers believe that the modern human (or Homo sapiens), migrated about 60,000 years ago to South Asia along the Indian Ocean.
• The Eurasian Plate supports nearly the entirety of Europe and a significant portion of Asia, bordered to the south by the Arabian and Indian Plates, while the North American Plate encompasses the easternmost area of Siberia, located east of the Chersky Range.
• This ended in 2010 — when China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy.
• The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections — due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer.

Prior to the Mongol invasion, it was reported that the Song dynasty had about 120 million inhabitants; however, the following census in 1300 recorded approximately 60 million individuals. Horse-riding nomads had long inhabited the central steppe region, allowing them to access all parts of Asia from these steppes. In Southeast Asia, interbreeding occurred between modern humans and an archaic human species known as Denisovans. A single (continuous landmass—Afro-Eurasia—comprises Asia), Europe, and Africa, all sharing a unified continental shelf. Sir Barry Cunliffe, an emeritus professor of European archaeology at Oxford, contends that Europe has merely been “the western excrescence of the continent of Asia” both geographically and culturally.

Gulf of ThailandIsland resort in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of southern Thailand. (more) Çanakkale (TurkeyÇanakkale), Turkey, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles. (more) When Western explorers reached South and East Asia in early modern times, they extended that label to the whole of the immense landmass.

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• According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generator countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth.
• The majority of the world’s major religions (including Islam), Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, along with many others, originated in Asia.
• In 2013, MasterCard published the Global Destination Cities Index report as regional tourism flourished, primarily driven by visitors from China, revealing that 10 out of 20 listed cities were in Asia and the Pacific.
• For a thorough exploration of Asia’s significant geographic features (refer to specific articles by name), such as the Pamirs, Gobi, and the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
• Both Washington and Seoul tend to overlook the distinction between ‘autonomous defense’ and ‘alliance modernization.

The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for the majority of South Asian Muslims, which in 1971 further split into Pakistan and Bangladesh; The Cold War in Asia strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally. Western imperialism in Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and the dethroning of India and China as the world’s foremost economies. The Russian Empire also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century.

Main regions

The nations of East Asia (in addition to Singapore in Southeast Asia), achieved economic prosperity through rapid growth, known as “tiger economies”; by the 21st century, China had regained its status as one of the world’s top two economies following reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Several Arab nations capitalized on extensive oil reserves discovered within their borders, gaining global influence, although the Arab–Israeli conflict and American-led interventions since 1948 have affected stability in the Middle East. The Black Death, regarded as one of the most catastrophic pandemics in human history, is believed to have originated in the dry plains of central Asia, subsequently spreading along the Silk Road. Some of the earliest known civilizations developed along the coastal periphery — each emerging around fertile river valleys.