Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, [12] was the site of many of the first civilisations. 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.
This is a list of the extreme points of Asia, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location on the continent.. Asia. Northernmost Point — Cape Fligely, Prince Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land, Russia (81°52'N)
Stating that "continents are bounded more properly, when it is possible, by seas than by rivers," Ptolemy defines a three-continent system: Europe, Libya, Asia. His Libya is the North Africa of today, containing a province, Africa, whose name replaced Libya.
The word Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word Ἀσία, [10] 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 .
The easternmost and westernmost points on Earth, based on the east–west standard for describing longitude, can be found anywhere along the 180th meridian, which passes through the Arctic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans, as well as parts of Siberia (including Wrangel Island), Antarctica, and three islands of Fiji (Vanua Levu's eastern peninsula, the middle of Taveuni, and the western part of ...
Land surface elevation extremes by geographic region; Geographic region Highest point Maximum elevation Lowest point Minimum elevation Elevation span ⦁ Eurasia: Mount Everest, [1] China and Nepal: 8848 m 29,029 ft Dead Sea, [2] Israel, Jordan, and Palestine: −428 m −1,404 ft: 9,276 m 30,433 ft ⦁ Asia Mount Everest, [1] China and Nepal ...
As late as 1957 Karl Wittfogel included Rome and the Incan Empire in his study of what he called Oriental Despotism, demonstrating the term still carries a meaning in Western thought that transcends geography. By the mid-20th century, Western scholars generally considered "the Orient" as just East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia. [5]
Asia and Europe are considered separate continents for historical reasons; the division between the two goes back to the early Greek geographers. In the modern sense of the term "continent", Eurasia is more readily identifiable as a "continent", and Europe has occasionally been described as a subcontinent of Eurasia.