Asia

=== Asia–Europe boundary ===
[[File:Possible definitions of the boundary between Europe and Asia.png|thumb|Definitions used for the boundary between Asia and Europe in different periods of history. The commonly accepted [[Asia#Ongoing definition|modern definition]] mostly fits with the lines "'''B'''" and "'''F'''" in this image.]]

The threefold division of the [[Old World]] into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to [[list of Graeco-Roman geographers|Greek geographers]] such as [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the [[Phasis River]] (the modern Rioni river) in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] of Caucasus (from its mouth by [[Poti]] on the [[Black Sea]] coast, through the [[Surami Pass]] and along the [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura River]] to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by [[Herodotus]] in the 5th century BCE.<ref>''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 4.38. C.f. James Rennell, ''The Geographical System of Herodotus Examined and Explained'', Volume 1, Rivington 1830, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_enQ-AAAAcAAJ/page/n274 <!-- quote=Herodotus Phasis. --> p. 244]</ref> During the [[Hellenistic period]],<ref>according to Strabo (''[[Geographica]]'' 11.7.4) even at the time of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], "it was agreed by all that the Tanais river separated Asia from Europe" ({{lang|grc|ὡμολόγητο ἐκ πάντων ὅτι διείργει τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπὸ
τῆς Εὐρώπης ὁ Τάναϊς ποταμός}}; c.f. Duane W. Roller, ''Eratosthenes' Geography'', Princeton University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-691-14267-8}}, {{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8peKyWK_SWsC&pg=PA57| title = p. 57| isbn = 978-0-691-14267-8| author1 = Eratosthenes| date = 24 January 2010| publisher = Princeton University Press| access-date = 21 January 2020| archive-date = 26 March 2022| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220326125152/https://books.google.com/books?id=8peKyWK_SWsC&pg=PA57| url-status = live}})</ref> this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the [[Don River (Russia)|Tanais]] (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as [[Posidonius]],<ref>W. Theiler, ''Posidonios. Die Fragmente'', vol. 1. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982, fragm. 47a.</ref> [[Strabo]]<ref>I. G. Kidd (ed.), ''Posidonius: The commentary'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-521-60443-7}}, {{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_iXs1aCr1ckC&pg=PA738| title = p. 738| isbn = 978-0-521-60443-7| author1 = Posidonius| year = 1989| publisher = Cambridge University Press| access-date = 21 January 2020| archive-date = 1 August 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801115807/https://books.google.com/books?id=_iXs1aCr1ckC&pg=PA738| url-status = live}}</ref> and [[Ptolemy]].<ref>''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geographia]]'' 7.5.6 (ed. Nobbe 1845, {{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vHMCAAAAQAAJ| title = vol. 2| last1 = Ptolomeo| first1 = Claudio| year = 1845| access-date = 21 January 2020| archive-date = 24 May 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200524011208/https://books.google.com/books?id=vHMCAAAAQAAJ| url-status = live}}, p. 178) {{lang|grc|Καὶ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ δὲ συνάπτει διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ αὐχένος τῆς τε Μαιώτιδος λίμνης καὶ τοῦ Σαρματικοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς διαβάσεως τοῦ Τανάϊδος ποταμοῦ. }}
"And [Asia] is connected to Europe by the land-strait between Lake Maiotis and the Sarmatian Ocean where the river Tanais crosses through."</ref>

The border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics.<ref name="NatGeo">{{cite magazine |url=http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/09/geography-in-the-news-eurasias-boundaries/ |title=Geography in the News: Eurasia's Boundaries |first=Neal |last=Lineback |magazine=National Geographic |date=9 July 2013 |access-date=9 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508224947/http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/09/geography-in-the-news-eurasias-boundaries/ |archive-date=8 May 2016}}</ref> The [[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] became unsatisfactory to northern Europeans when [[Peter the Great]], king of the [[Tsardom of Russia]], defeating rival claims of [[Sweden]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]] to the eastern lands, and armed resistance by the tribes of [[Siberia]], synthesized a new [[Russian Empire]] extending to the [[Ural Mountains]] and beyond, founded in 1721.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 [[Philip Johan von Strahlenberg]] published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the [[Emba River]] as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the [[Ural River]] prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Wigen|1997|pp=27–28}}</ref> The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the [[Caucasus Mountains]], although it is sometimes placed further north.<ref name="NatGeo" />