The Seven Continents- Profiles- Asia

ASIA

Population: 3,335,672,000
Density: 193.5 per square mile
Literacy: 65.5%
Birth Rate: 27 people a year per 1,000 people
Death Rate: 9.25 people a year per 1,000 people
Growth Rate: 1.8%
Main Languages: Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Punjabi, Javanese, Korean
Principal Religions: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Shintoism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism
Largest Cities: Seoul, Bombay, Jakarta, Tokyo, Shanghai
Consisting Countries

Asia is a continent that has been very important to the World. People have been living there for thousands of years. In fact, the first traces of civilization began in Mesopotamia, a part of Asia. Asia is the continent with the huge country of China. In the 15th and 16th century, a great monument in China was being built. It is called the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall is the only man made super structure that can be seen from space. It is also a monument of human advancement considering that it was built in times before our major technological ages.


History
Asia has been in many wars and has a bloody history. A little after 2500 BC one of the most ancient civilizations that we know of was in Asia. This civilization is known to us as Sumeria. Sumeria, like so many other ancient civilizations built started out as seperate city-states. They built great temples, and had mighty armies. A powerful ruler named Sargon united this great empire. After Sargon's death, Sumeria fell apart.

In the 13th-16th century another Empire began to form called China. Today, China takes up a large amount of Asia. They conquered and built a huge empire. The Chinese even produced a whole new way of life. The Chinese were mighty in battle and built the great wall of China to defend them from the warring tribes that lived north of them. The Great Wall is a massive structure, snaking through the hills of northern China. In fact, the Great Wall is so large that it is the only man-made structure visible from space.

In the 20th century there has been much turmoil in Asia. Asia has been through the Gulf War, the Vietnam War, and World War II. During WWII, the Japanese were allied with the Germans. This made them enemies with the USA. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, and that marked the official start of WWII. The Japanese went through terrible trouble, however, because the US retaliated by twice bombing Japan with an atomic bomb. This bomb was devastating to Japan, leveling cities and killing many people, so Japan surrendered. In fact, even years later, the Atom sickness killed many people who were not even alive when the bomb struck. When Japan surrendered, WWII was finally at an end.

Another thing that Asia has gone through in the 20th century is Communism. Russia was formerly the USSR, and Communist, and parts of China still are communist. North Korea is also a Communist nation.

Today though, many people in Asia live normal lives by American standards. Asian children go to school, while their parents go to work. They eat foods that may be strange to us (maybe not, haha), but they dress like you or I would, and they have the same types of thoughts and feelings. Though some of their customs may be different, their basic lives are much like ours.

Fun Fact!
Asia is also the largest continent in size and population with a population that is over half the Earth's population most is in China.

Climate

Climates range from steaming hot, humid temperatures to freezing cold mountains. Most southern parts are hot, moist, humid, and tropical areas, while up north it is just freezing.