Asia

The continent of Asia is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. Except for some Southeast Asian islands, it lies entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

There are 48 countries and three territories in Asia, nine of which are island nations. The continent shares its landmass with Europe and Africa to the west. It is bounded by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, and the Indian Ocean to the south. The Bering Strait separates Asia from the continent of North America to the northeast, and various seas and straits separate it from Australia to the southeast.

 

Asia is the largest continent in the world by both population and area. It stretches for more than 44 million square miles from Turkey in the west to Japan in the east and from Russia in the north to the Maldives in the south. While Russia is partly located in Asia, it is technically classed as a European country.

 

The United Nations Geoscheme system divides Asia into five regions: Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Southeastern Asia, Southern Asia, and Western Asia.

 

The continent’s landscape is highly diverse, consisting of cities, deserts, rivers, mountain ranges, beaches, and tropical rainforests. The highest and lowest points in the world can be found on the continent. Asia is also home to three of the New Wonders of the World (The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, and Petra in Jordan) and three Ancient Wonders of the World (the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in modern-day Iraq and the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, in what’s known today as Turkey).