Interesting Facts about Asia Continent

There are many interesting facts about Asia that makes this continent totally unique among others. Asia is the largest continent in the world extending over nearly one-third of land surface of earth. Ural mountains and Caspian Sea forms the western geographic boundary of Asia which separates it from Europe. The northern boundary is defined by Arctic sea, Eastern boundary is defined by Bering Sea, southeast boundary by China Sea, southern boundary is marked with Indian Ocean and southwestern boundary by Red sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian sea. Northern and northwest Asia is politically dominated by Russia, Eastern Asia by China, Japan and Korea, Southern Asia by India and southwestern Asia by Arabian countries. South eastern Asia marks the presence of Indo-China countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos)  and Malay Peninsula.

The middle east is called as the cradle of western civilization. The Greek empire, Roman empire, Persian empire and Ottoman empire are among the great civilizations that developed and prospered the middle east. Middle east is considered as the fusion of African, European and Asian culture. Egypt being the country which marks its presence in Africa and Asia both along the Sinai peninsula.

Caucasian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, southwest Russia, Turkey) which are traditionally considered to be a part of Asia posses cultural aspects of Europe also because of shared history and practices. These countries hence provides the socio-cultural fusion of Europe from Asia.

Following list explains the different interesting facts about Asian continent.

Interesting Geographic Facts about Asia Continent

1. Area of Asia continent is 44,579,000 Sq Km which makes it largest continent of Earth.
2. Major Islands of Asia include New Guinea, Borneo, Honshu and Sri Lanka. New Guinea and Borneo are world’s second and third largest island respectively. (Also Read – 10 Largest islands of World)
3. Highest Plateau China’s Qinghai – Tibet plateau with an average height of 4500 m and 2.3 million sq Km area is the highest plateau of world.
4. The Sunderbans Delta which is formed by Ganaga and Brahmaputra river system having an area of 75,000 Sq Km is the largest river delta of world.

1. Deepest Lake: Russia’s Baikal lake which is located north to Mongolia has maximum depth of 1643 m is the deepest lake of world. Baikal lake is also the largest freshwater lake of world in terms of volume consisting of 1/5 th of world’s unfrozen fresh water reserve. (Also Read – 10 Largest Lakes of World)
2. Highest Lake: Lhagba pool in Tibet with an altitude of 6368 m is the second highest lake of world. (Nevado Ojas del Salado of Argentina, 6390 m is the highest)
3. Highest Mountain Peaks: There are 14 mountain peaks in world with an altitude more than 8000 m. All these 14 peaks are located in Asia. The highest peak Mount Everest belongs to Himalayan range while second highest K2 comes under Karakoram range. There are more than 100 peaks in world with an altitude more than 7000 m. All these 100 peaks are part of either Himalayas or Karakoram and located in Asia. (Also Read – Highest Mountain Ranges of World)
4. Major Rivers: Longest rivers of Asia include Yangtze (length 6300 Km), Yenisei (5539 Km), Yellow (5464 Km). Other major rivers include Indus, Mekon, Brahmaputra, Ganga and Amur. (Also read : 6 Major Rivers of World)
5. Largest Desert: Gobi desert of Mongolia and northeast China is the largest desert of Asia with an area of 13,00,000 Sq Km. (Also read : Major Deserts of World)

Interesting Religious Facts about Asia Continent

1. There are various religions which are practiced in Asia. Confucianism & Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Buddhism are common in China, Japan, Korea and other east and southeast regions of Asia.
2. The middle east is birthplace and spiritual center of major religions of world like Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. Jerusalem is the most holy revered place of three major religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
3. South Asia especially India is known for Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. India is considered to be the place of origin of all these four major religions. Buddhism is popular in many south and southeast Asian countries including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines etc.

Important Man made structures and other related Facts of Asia

1. Largest Dam: Three Gorges Dam (Sandouping, China) which has height of 185 m, 2309 m length is the largest dam of not only Asia but whole world. Nearly 2 million people have to be displaced due to large catchment area of dam. It produces 85 Billion kilowatt hours of power per year.
2. Highest Dam: Rogun dam of Tajikistan is the highest dam of Asia with a height of 335 m.
3. The Great Wall of China (Chang Cheng) having total length more than 6700 Km is the longest ever built man made structure of world.
4. Highest Railway: Qinghai-Tibet express is the highest railway of world.
5. Highest Railway Station: Tangulla located in Tibet, China is the highest railway station of world with a height of 5068 m. It falls on Xining-Golmud-Lhasa Railway Line.
6. Longest Railway Line: Trans-Siberian express which starts from Moscow through Ural mountains and across all of Asia to Vladivostok on the sea of Japan. It covers a distance of 9289 Km. The journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes about 8 days 4 hours and 25 min. There are 97 stops on rail route. This railway crosses seven time zones. It is the third longest single continuous service in the world, after Moscow-Pyong yang (10,267 Km) and Kiev-Vladivostok (11,085 Km) services, both of which also follow the Trans Siberia for much of their routes.
7. Largest Waiting Room: Beijing Station have a capacity to seat 14000 persons.
8. Highest Building: Burj Khalifa of Dubai with a height of 828 m is tallest building of world.
9. Lowest Point: Dead Sea located between Israel and Jordan which is 418 m below mean sea level is the lowest point of earth.
10. Largest Roller Coaster of World: Ferrari World of Abu Dhabi is the largest roller coaster of world.

Political and Demographic Facts about Asia

1. There are 50 Countries in Asia. Although Hong Kong is considered as a territory of China, but if Hong Kong is considered separately then total number of countries of Asia will become 51.
2. Although Cyprus and Turkey are members of European Union, they are geographically considered as Asian countries.
3. Turkey and Russia are two countries which are geographically located in both Asia and Europe continents.
4. Although Israel has proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but almost all major organizations including embassies of other nations are located in Tel Aviv.
5. The 10 most populous countries in decreasing order  are China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Iran and Turkey.
6. The Asian country with highest population density is Singapore (7713 per Sq Km). Other most dense countries are Bahrain (1752) and Bangladesh (1203).
7. Japan is the country with lowest Infant mortality rate in Asia(2.1 deaths per 1000 births).
8. Shanghai followed by Karachi are the two top most populous cities of not only Asia but whole World. 9 out of 10 most populous cities of world are located in Asia. These cities in decreasing order are – Shanghai, Karachi, Delhi, Tianjin, Istanbul, Tokyo, Guangzhou, Mumbai and Moscow.