Asia

== History ==
{{Main|History of Asia}}
[[File:Silkroutes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Silk Road]] connected civilizations across Asia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml |title=Ancient Silk Road Travellers |author=Silkroad Foundation, Adela C.Y. Lee |website=Silk-road.com |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108022054/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml |archive-date=8 November 2017}}</ref>]]
[[File:Mongol dominions1.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|The [[Mongol Empire]] at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later [[Timurid Empire]].]]
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: [[East Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[Central Asia]], and [[West Asia]]. The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Indus Valley]] and the [[Yellow River]] shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as [[mathematics]] and the [[wheel]]. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the [[steppe]]s. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]], who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the [[Tocharians]] resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of [[Siberia]], was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and [[tundra]]. These areas remained very sparsely populated.

The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The [[Caucasus]] and [[Himalaya]] mountains and the [[Karakum Desert|Karakum]] and [[Gobi desert]]s formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the [[nomad]]s who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

The Islamic [[Caliphate]]'s defeats of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] empires led to West Asia and southern parts of [[Central Asia]] and western parts of South Asia under its control during [[Early Muslim conquests|its conquests]] of the 7th century. The [[Mongol Empire]] conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, [[Song dynasty]] reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people.<ref>Ping-ti Ho. "An Estimate of the Total Population of Sung-Chin China", in ''Études Song'', Series 1, No 1, (1970). pp. 33–53.</ref>

The [[Black Death]], one of the most devastating [[pandemic]]s in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the [[Silk Road]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blackdisease_01.shtml |title=History – Black Death |publisher=BBC |date=17 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605000815/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blackdisease_01.shtml |archive-date=5 June 2012}}</ref>

The [[Russian Empire]] began to expand into Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The [[Ottoman Empire]] controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onwards. In the 17th century, the [[Manchu people|Manchu]] conquered China and established the [[Qing dynasty]]. The Islamic [[Mughal Empire]] and the Hindu [[Maratha Empire]] controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sailendra Nath |title=An Advanced History of Modern India |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PA1941-IA82 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422184802/https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PA1941-IA82 |archive-date=22 April 2020 |isbn=978-0-230-32885-3 |year=2010 |publisher=Macmillan India }}</ref>

[[Western imperialism in Asia|Western European colonisation of Asia]] coincided with the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the West and the dethroning of [[India]] and [[China]] as the world's foremost economies.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2023-07-28 |title=How India's Economy Will Overtake the U.S.'s |url=https://time.com/6297539/how-india-economy-will-surpass-us/ |access-date=2023-08-31 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071229/https://time.com/6297539/how-india-economy-will-surpass-us/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[British Empire]] became dominant in South Asia, with large parts of the region first being [[Company rule in India|conquered by British traders]] before falling under [[British Raj|direct British rule]]; extreme poverty doubled to over 50% during this era.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Dylan |last1=Sullivan |first2=Jason |last2=Hickel |title=How British colonialism killed 100 million Indians in 40 years |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/12/2/how-british-colonial-policy-killed-100-million-indians |access-date=2023-09-04 |publisher=Al Jazeera |language=en |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115112349/https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/12/2/how-british-colonial-policy-killed-100-million-indians |url-status=live }}</ref> The Middle East was contested and partitioned by the British and French,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yakoubi |first=Myriam |date=2022-01-04 |title=The French, the British and their Middle Eastern Mandates (1918-1939): Two Political Strategies |url=https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/8787 |journal=Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique. French Journal of British Studies |language=en |volume=XXVII |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/rfcb.8787 |s2cid=246524226 |issn=0248-9015 |doi-access=free |access-date=31 August 2023 |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071229/https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/8787 |url-status=live }}</ref> while Southeast Asia was carved up between the British, Dutch and French.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southeast Asia, 1800–1900 A.D. {{!}} Chronology {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/10/sse.html |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |language=en |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/10/sse.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Various Western powers dominated China in what later became known as the "[[century of humiliation]]", with the British-supported [[History of opium in China#Growth of the opium trade|opium trade]] and later [[Opium Wars]] resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1830–1860 - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1 |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=history.state.gov |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-28 |title=Opinion {{!}} For China, the history that matters is its 'century of humiliation' |url=https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150233/china-history-matters-still-century-humiliation |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150233/china-history-matters-still-century-humiliation |url-status=live }}</ref> Foreign domination of China was furthered by the [[Empire of Japan]], which controlled most of East Asia and much of Southeast Asia, [[New Guinea]] and the [[List of islands in the Pacific Ocean|Pacific islands]] during this era; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the [[Meiji era]] of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction: Race and Empire in Meiji Japan |url=https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071219/https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Huffman |first=James L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzgb64z |title=The Rise and Evolution of Meiji Japan |date=2019 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvzgb64z |jstor=j.ctvzgb64z |isbn=978-1-898823-94-0 |s2cid=216630259 |access-date=31 August 2023 |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071229/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzgb64z |url-status=live }}</ref>

With the end of [[World War II]] in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global war's colonial consequences |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/697/chapter-abstract/135374210 |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=academic.oup.com |archive-date=31 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831071220/https://academic.oup.com/book/697/chapter-abstract/135374210 |url-status=live }}</ref> The independence of [[India]] came along with the [[Partition of India|carving out]] of a separate nation for the majority of [[Islam in India|Indian Muslims]], which today has become the countries [[Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=2015-06-22 |title=The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple |access-date=2023-08-31 |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=23 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423182031/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oil Discovered in Saudi Arabia |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oil-discovered-saudi-arabia/ |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203035632/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oil-discovered-saudi-arabia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth "[[Tiger economy|tiger economies]]",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economic Issues 1 -- Growth in East Asia |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues1/ |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=imf.org |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320132157/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> with China regaining its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saul |first=Derek |title=China And India Will Overtake U.S. Economically By 2075, Goldman Sachs Economists Say |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/06/china-and-india-will-overtake-us-economically-by-2075-goldman-sachs-economists-say/ |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=5 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705185916/https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/06/china-and-india-will-overtake-us-economically-by-2075-goldman-sachs-economists-say/ |url-status=live }}</ref> India has grown significantly because of [[Economic liberalisation in India|economic liberalisation]] that started in the 1990s,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-07 |title=25 years of liberalisation: A glimpse of India's growth in 14 charts-Business News |url=https://www.firstpost.com/business/25-years-of-liberalisation-a-glimpse-of-indias-growth-in-14-charts-2877654.html |access-date=2023-09-04 |website=Firstpost |language=en |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904005244/https://www.firstpost.com/business/25-years-of-liberalisation-a-glimpse-of-indias-growth-in-14-charts-2877654.html |url-status=live }}</ref> with extreme poverty now below 20%.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kumar |first=Manoj |date=2023-07-17 |title=One-tenth of India's population escaped poverty in 5 years - government report |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/india/one-tenth-indias-population-escaped-poverty-5-years-government-report-2023-07-17/ |access-date=2023-09-04 |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904034523/https://www.reuters.com/world/india/one-tenth-indias-population-escaped-poverty-5-years-government-report-2023-07-17/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Anaximander world map-en.svg|The threefold division of the [[Old World]] into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to [[Greek geographers]] such as [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]].
File:A new universal atlas of the world.Asia.jpg|1825 map of Asia by [[Sidney Edwards Morse]]
File:A Map of the Countries between Constantinople and Calcutta- Including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan WDL11753.png|Map of western, southern, and central Asia in 1885<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11753/#institution=library-of-congress&page=17 |title=A Map of the Countries between Constantinople and Calcutta: Including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan |website=Wdl.org |access-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017220525/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/11753/#institution=library-of-congress&page=17 |archive-date=17 October 2017 |year=1885 }}</ref>
File:Modern Asia (1796).tif|The map of Asia in 1796, which also included the continent of [[Australia (continent)|Australia]] (then known as [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]])
File:Asien Bd1.jpg|1890 map of Asia
</gallery>