... m29,028 ft above sea level. South of the mainland in the Indian Ocean are Sri Lanka and smaller island groups, such as the Maldives and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To the southeast is an array of archipelagoes and islands that extend east to the Oceanic and Australian realms. Among these islands are those of Indonesia, including Java, Sumatra, Sulaesi, and Borneo. The estern end of the island of Ne Guinea is ithin Indonesia and for that reason geographers occasionally consider it as part of Asia. In this encyclopedia, hoever, it is treated as a part of the Pacific Islands. The Philippine Islands, hich include Luzon and Mindanao, are also among the Southeast Asian islands. To their north lie Taian, the Chinese island of Hainan, the islands of Japan, and the Russian island of Sakhalin.Because of its vast size and diverse character, Asia is divided into five major realms. These are as follos East Asia, including China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan Southeast Asia, including Myanmar formerly knon as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, and Bhutan and Southest Asia, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the other states of the Arabian Peninsula. Most of the countries of Southest Asia are also considered part of the Middle East, a loosely defined region that includes Cyprus and Egypt. Afghanistan and Myanmar are sometimes considered part of South Asia, but most geographers place Afghanistan in Southest Asia and Myanmar in Southeast Asia. The fifth realm consists of the area of Russia that lies east of the Ural Mountains Russian Asia and the states of Central Asia that ere formerly part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USSR. These states are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.The continent may also be divided into to broad cultural realms that hich is predominantly Asian in culture East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia and that hich is not Southest Asia, Central Asia, and Russian Asia. There is enormous cultural diversity ithin both regions, hoever.Rivers, Lakes, and Inland Seas East Asia is the location of the continents longest river, the Yangtze, hich flos about 5470 km about 3400 mi eastard from Tibet to the East China Sea. The Huang He Yello River also rises in the Tibetan highlands, floing east across central China to its mouth at the Yello Sea. The Zhu Jiang Pearl River rises in southestern China and flos through the southern part of the country on its route to the South China Sea.In Southeast Asia the major rivers flo southard beteen mountain ranges. The Mekong rises in eastern Tibet and flos southeast to the South China Sea. The Saleen also originates in Tibet, here it is called the Nu Jiang, floing south to the Andaman Sea. The Irraaddy, hich rises in the mountains of northern Myanmar, also empties into the Andaman Sea.The major rivers of South Asia have their sources in the Himalayas. The Ganges rises in the estern Himalayas and passes eastard through India. Just north of the Bay of Bengal it joins the Brahmaputra River, hich rises beyond the Himalayas and then empties into the bay. The Indus River emerges from the estern end of the Himalayas and flos through Jammu and Kashmir and estern Pakistan into the Arabian Sea.The only large rivers of Southest Asia are the Tigris and the Euphrates. Both rivers rise in Turkey and flo southard through Syria into Iraq, here they join before emptying into the Persian Gulf.The three longest rivers of Russian Asia are the Ob, the Yenisey, and the Lena, all of hich are more than 3200 km 2000 mi long. These rivers rise in southern Siberia and flo northard into the Arctic Ocean.River basins in tropical and temperate Asia support the highest population densities. The Gangetic Plain, hich lies beteen the Himalayas and the Deccan Plateau the basins of the Irraaddy, Mekong, and Chao Phraya in Southeast Asia and the basins of Chinas great rivers, especially the Yangtze, Huang He, and Zhu Jiang rivers, are all densely settled. These valleys have fertile soils for agriculture and the rivers serve as a means of transportation.Some of Asias important rivers flo into inland lakes. The Jordan River rises in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria and flos southard into the Dead Sea, a saltater lake seven times more salty than the ocean. At 408 m 1339 ft belo sea level, the surface of the Dead Sea is the loest point on earth. The Syr Darya and the Amu Darya of Central Asia both drain into the Aral Sea, also a saltater lake. Since the 1960s the diversion of much ater from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya for irrigation has caused the Aral Sea to shrink to less than half its former size. In 1988 the lake split in to, forming the Large Aral Sea, hich receives ater from the Amu Darya, and the Small Aral Sea, hich receives ater from the Syr Darya. The decreased ater intake has also increased the salt content of the lake. The Caspian Sea is the largest saltater lake in the orld. Lake Balqash in Kazakhstan is another major saltater lake.Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia is the deepest lake in the orld and the largest freshater lake in Asia. The Tnl Sap, a shallo lake in estern Cambodia, is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It provides a lucrative source of fish for local residents. The Tnl Sap becomes more than three times its normal size beteen June and October hen floodaters of the Mekong River empty into the lake.Vegetation Asia incorporates many different biomes, hich are landscapes having similar combinations of climate, vegetation, and animal life.The northernmost areas of Asia, hich experience a subpolar climate, have tundra vegetation consisting of grasses, mosses, and other small plants. Farther inland from the Arctic coast, the tundra gives ay to the taiga, a region of vast coniferous forests composed of such trees as spruce, larch, and fir. Farther south, the taiga merges ith forests of broadleaf trees, or mixed forests of broadleaf and needleleaf trees.In Asias north central interior the forests merge into vast grasslands, much of hich is short, steppe grasses. Large portions of Southest Asia and the continents interior have semiarid or desert vegetation. Short grasses and other vegetation that require minimal precipitation surround many of the most barren areas in the deserts.Although tropical rain forest predominates along the southern coastal strip and on the island of Sri Lanka, the eastern side of South Asia is characterized by semiarid tropical vegetation. The Deccan Plateau has mainly tropical dry forest vegetation.Mainland and island Southeast Asia once supported extensive areas of tropical rain forest, hich thrived in the arm, moist climate. Significant tracts of forest remain in most countries, but both legal and illegal harvesting is too rapid to support sustainable regroth. Inland from the coasta...
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