Asia

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Asia}}

The [[culture of Asia]] is a diverse blend of customs and traditions that have been practiced by the various ethnic groups of the continent for centuries. The continent is divided into six geographic sub-regions: [[Central Asia]], [[East Asian cultural sphere|East Asia]], [[North Asia]], [[South Asian ethnic groups|South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], and [[West Asia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |title=Geographic Regions |publisher=United Nations |access-date=March 31, 2018 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These regions are defined by their cultural similarities, including common religions, languages, and ethnicities. West Asia, also known as Southwest Asia or the [[Middle East]], has cultural roots in the ancient civilizations of the [[Fertile Crescent]] and [[Mesopotamia]], which gave rise to the [[Iran|Persian]], [[Arab world|Arab]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] empires, as well as the Abrahamic religions of [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery.shtml|title=BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Mesopotamia|first=Dominique|last=Collon|access-date=March 31, 2018|archive-date=2 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102042221/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> These civilizations, which are located in the [[Hilly flanks]], are among the oldest in the world, with evidence of farming dating back to around 9000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Why the West rules - for now : the patterns of history, and what they reveal about the future|last=Morris, Ian|date=2011|publisher=Profile|isbn=978-1846682087|oclc=751789199}}</ref> Despite the challenges posed by the vast size of the continent and the presence of natural barriers such as deserts and mountain ranges, trade and commerce have helped to create a [[Pan-Asianism|Pan-Asian]] culture that is shared across the region.<ref>{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lTEeCgAAQBAJ&q=Indianized+kingdoms&pg=PA299 | title= Societies, Networks, and Transitions, Volume I: To 1500: A Global History | date= 2014-06-19 | access-date= March 31, 2018 | isbn= 978-1285783086 | last1= Lockard | first1= Craig A. | publisher= Cengage Learning | archive-date= 26 March 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230326205006/https://books.google.com/books?id=lTEeCgAAQBAJ&q=Indianized+kingdoms&pg=PA299 | url-status= live }}</ref>

=== Nobel prizes ===
[[File:Tagore3.jpg|thumb|upright|Indian polymath [[Rabindranath Tagore]] was awarded the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 1913, and became Asia's first [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureate.]]

The [[polymath]] [[Rabindranath Tagore]], a [[Bengali literature|Bengali]] poet, [[Playwright|dramatist]], and writer from [[Santiniketan]], now in [[West Bengal]], India, became in 1913 the first Asian [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureate]]. He won his [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of [[Bangladesh]] and India.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prize for literature include [[Yasunari Kawabata]] (Japan, 1968), [[Kenzaburō Ōe]] (Japan, 1994), [[Gao Xingjian]] (China, 2000), [[Orhan Pamuk]] (Turkey, 2006), and [[Mo Yan]] (China, 2012). Some may consider the American writer, [[Pearl S. Buck]], an honorary Asian Nobel laureate, having spent considerable time in China as the daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novels, namely ''[[The Good Earth]]'' (1931) and ''[[The Mother (1934 novel)|The Mother]]'' (1933), as well as the biographies of her parents for their time in China, ''[[The Exile (1936 book)|The Exile]]'' and ''[[Fighting Angel]]'', all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938.

Also, [[Mother Teresa]] of India and [[Shirin Ebadi]] of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for [[democracy]] and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] from [[Myanmar|Burma]] for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a [[Buddhist]] and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident [[Liu Xiaobo]] was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. In 2014, [[Kailash Satyarthi]] from India and [[Malala Yousafzai]] from Pakistan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

Sir [[C.V. Raman]] is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the [[Raman scattering|effect named after him]]".

Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13.

[[Amartya Sen]] (born 3 November 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.

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], [[Abdus Salam]], [[Robert Aumann]], [[Menachem Begin]], [[Aaron Ciechanover]], [[Avram Hershko]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Shimon Peres]], [[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Ada Yonath]], [[Yasser Arafat]], [[José Ramos-Horta]] and Bishop [[Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo]] of [[Timor Leste]], [[Kim Dae-jung]], and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and [[Israel]] except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Abdus Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories), Kim (South Korea), and Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).

In 2006, [[Muhammad Yunus]] of [[Bangladesh]] was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of [[Grameen Bank]], a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women. He is known for the concept of micro credit which, allows poor and destitute people to borrow money. The borrowers pay back money within the specified period and defaulting is very low. The [[Dalai Lama]] received the Nobel Peace Prize, in [[Oslo]], Norway in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |author=His Holiness's Teachings at TCV |url=http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography |title=A Brief Biography – The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama |publisher=Dalailama.com |access-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525181231/http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography |archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>