ASIA 



413 



ASIA 



Total area, 700,000 square miles; total popula- 

 tion, 20,000,000. 



The leading countries, rivers and mountains 

 named above are described under their proper 

 titles in these volumes, and for detailed ac- 

 counts the reader is referred to those articles. 



The Coast. Three oceans, the Arctic on the 

 north, the Pacific on the east, and the Indian 

 on the south, bound this great continent on 

 e sides, and on the west the boundary is 

 formed by the Mediterranean, Caspian, Black 

 and Red seas, with Europe, which is really but 

 a peninsula of the Asian land mass, stretching 

 away to the westward. Only the narrow Bering 

 Strait separates Asia from North America on 

 the northeast. All of the coasts have deep 

 indentations, but those on the north are but 

 estuaries at the mouths of rivers, while on the 

 east and south there are great seas to the 

 east, Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of 

 Japan, Yellow Sea and South China Sea, and 

 to the south the Bay of Bengal and the 

 Arabian Sea, with its extension, the Persian 

 Gulf. The coast line of Asia is almost 35,000 

 miles, little less than twice that of Africa. 

 Along the eastern coast, stretching off to the 

 southeast, lie numerous islands and chains of 

 islands, some of which are of the utmost im- 

 portance the islands of Japan, the Philippines, 

 Borneo, Sumatra, Java, New Guinea and the 

 thousands of small islands which help to make 

 up the Malay Archipelago. 



A Land of Extremes. Asia is the land of 

 the most extensive plains, the greatest plateaus 

 and the highest mountains in the world. Its 

 highest peak, Mount Everest in the Hima- 

 layas, 29,002 feet, is more than twice as high 

 as Pike's Peak, while its deepest depression, 

 the Dead Sea in Palestine, is 1,290 feet below 

 sea level. On the steppes of Western Siberia 

 a temperature of 90 F. below zero is by no 

 means uncommon, and the average winter 

 temperature is far lower than that in the polar 

 regions; but in parts of Arabia the heat is 

 me, and Aden, cut off by sheltering cliffs 

 from breezes, is the hottest spot in the world. 

 Sharp as are these contrasts, there is nothing 

 remarkable about tin m when the vast extent 

 of Asia is considered. 



How the Continent Is Divided. In Asia the 



great mountain systems make barriers which 



have proved far more effective in keeping 



people from crossing from one part of the 



n nt. to another than have the Rocky 



mains in North America, for instance; for 



duellers in North America have been deter- 



mined to possess all the land, and have conse- 

 quently pushed on over the mountains. Cli- 

 mate and living conditions may differ with 

 the varying locations, but the same civilization 

 exists on both sides of the great American 

 Continental Divide. The Asiatic peoples, how- 

 ever, for the greater part have not been pro- 

 gressive enough to attempt to overcome such 

 obstacles. Each nation or group of nations 

 lives within its own boundaries, holding to its 

 own manners and customs, differing decidedly 

 from the other nations just over the moun- 

 tains. Invasions there have been at all times 

 in the history of Asia; India, for example, was 

 for centuries the prey to any conquering 

 hordes that might sweep over the mountains; 

 but these invaders either came and withdrew, 

 leaving no trace, or settled in the new land 

 and were absorbed by its people. They never 

 established any relations between the two sides 

 of the great barrier. 



The mountains of Asia are not a well-marked 

 chain like that which runs through Western 

 America, but no other mountain systems can 

 vie with them in height and in grandeur. 

 The center of the system, if anything so defi- 

 nite as a center can be claimed for these 

 irregular chains, is the Pamir plateau to the 

 north of India the "roof of the world," as 

 dwellers in that region love to call it. This 

 is not just a great Sat tableland, but a series 

 of mountains and valleys so elevated that the 

 bottom of the deepest valleys is about 11,000 

 feet above sea level. And over all these, lofty 

 peaks tower to a height of more than 25,000 

 feet, as high above the valley floors as Pike's 

 Peak is above sea level. 



Branching from the Pamirs mountain ranges 

 extend in various directions. To the northeast 

 is Tian-Shan range, then the Altai Mountains, 

 and beyond these the Yablonoi and ih< 

 Stanovoi mountains, ranges of lesser height, 

 continue the system to the shores of the Pacific. 

 Southeast from the Pamirs are the Karakormn 

 Mountains and, loftiest and most impressive of 

 all, thr Himalayas, in which is included Mount 

 Everest; while to the west of the "roof of tin- 

 world" branches off a great system which com- 

 prises the Hindu Kush, the Elburz, and the 

 Caucasus; the latter forms part of the physical 

 boundary between Europe and Asia. 



Lesser ranges rise in various parts of the 

 continent ranges which would stand out as 

 vast and impressive in a land of less lofty 

 plateaus; but the mountains described above 

 are those which separate Asia into regions ao 



