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The word Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word Ἀσία, [9] first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE) in reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. It originally was just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa.
Asia (/ ˈ eɪ ʒ ə / ⓘ AY-zhə, UK also / ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / AY-shə) is the largest continent [note 1] [10] [11] in the world by both land area and population. [11] It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, [note 2] about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area.
South Asia in World History (Oxford UP, 2017) Goldin, Peter B. Central Asia in World History (Oxford UP, 2011) Holcombe, Charles. A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century (2010). Huffman, James L. Japan in World History (Oxford, 2010) Jansen, Marius B. Japan and China: From War to Peace, 1894-1972 (1975)
The Ancient Greek geographer Strabo holding a globe showing Europa and Asia. The term "continent" translates the Greek word ἤπειρος, meaning "landmass, terra firma", the proper name of Epirus and later especially used for Asia (i.e. Asia Minor). [81]
In German, Orient is usually used synonymously with the area between the Near East and East Asia, including Israel, the Arab world, and Greater Persia. [citation needed] The term Asiaten (English: Asians) means Asian people in general. Another word for Orient in German is Morgenland (now mainly poetic), which literally translates as "morning ...
The Australian Census includes four regions of Asia in its official definition. Defined by the 2006–2011 Australian Census, three broad groups have the word Asian included in their name: Central and Southern Asian, South-East Asian and North-East Asian. West Asians are classified as North African and Middle Eastern. [10]
The name Austroasiatic was coined by Wilhelm Schmidt (German: austroasiatisch) based on auster, the Latin word for "South" (but idiosyncratically used by Schmidt to refer to the southeast), and "Asia". [7] Despite the literal meaning of its name, only three Austroasiatic branches are actually spoken in South Asia: Khasic, Munda, and Nicobarese.
The word Manzi (蠻子) or Mangi is a derogatory term in Chinese meaning "barbarians of the south" (Man was used to describe unsinicised Southern China in its earlier periods), and would therefore not have been used by the Chinese to describe themselves or their own country, but it was adopted by the Mongols to describe the people and country ...