Foreign Asia is a region that leads the world not only in terms of area, but also in terms of population. Moreover, he holds this championship for more than one millennium. The countries of foreign Asia, despite their many differences, have a number of common features. They will be discussed in this article.
General characteristics of countries of foreign Asia
Foreign Asia is the cradle of many civilizations and the birthplace of agriculture. The world's first cities were built here and a number of great scientific discoveries were made.
All countries of foreign Asia (and a total of 48) occupy an area of 32 million square kilometers. Among them, large states predominate. There are giant countries, the area of each of which exceeds 3 million km 2 (India, China).
Most states in this region are classified as developing countries. Only four out of 48 countries can be called economically developed. These are Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Israel.
On the political map of foreign Asia there are 13 monarchies (with half of them located in the Middle East). The remaining countries in the region are republics.
According to the peculiarities of the geographical position, all countries of foreign Asia are divided into:
- island (Japan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc.);
- coastal (India, South Korea, Israel, etc.);
- intracontinental (Nepal, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, etc.).
Obviously, the countries of the latter group are experiencing great difficulties in terms of bringing their goods to world markets.
Regions and countries of foreign Asia
Geographers divide foreign Asia into five subregions:
- Southwest Asia - includes all countries on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, the Republic of Transcaucasia, Turkey, Cyprus, Iran and Afghanistan (a total of 20 states);
- South Asia - includes 7 states, the largest of which are India and Pakistan;
- Southeast Asia - this is 11 states, ten of which are developing (all except Singapore);
- East Asia - includes only five powers (China, Mongolia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea);
- Central Asia is the five post-Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan).
How do countries of foreign Asia border? The map below will help you navigate this issue.
Population and natural resources
This region, due to its tectonic structure, is characterized by a huge variety of mineral resources. Thus, India and China can boast significant reserves of coal, iron and manganese ores. However, the most important wealth here is black gold. The largest oil fields are concentrated in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait.
As for the conditions for the development of agriculture, in this regard, some states were more fortunate, others much less. Excellent agroclimatic resources are available in many of the countries of South and Southeast Asia. But such states as Syria or Mongolia, are almost continuous lifeless desert, where you can develop only a few branches of animal husbandry.
According to various estimates, from 3.5 to 3.8 billion people live within the region. This is more than half of the total population of the Earth. Almost all countries of Foreign Asia are characterized by a high birth rate (the so-called second type of reproduction). Many states in the region are experiencing a population explosion today , which entails food and other problems.
The ethnic structure of the population in this region is also very complex. At least one thousand different nationalities live here, the most numerous of which are Chinese, Japanese and Bengalis. In terms of linguistic diversity, this region also has no equal on the whole planet.
Most of the population of foreign Asia (about 66%) lives in rural areas. Nevertheless, the pace and nature of urbanization processes in this region is so great that the situation has already begun to be called the "urban explosion."
Foreign Asia: features of the economy
What is the role of modern countries in the region in the global economy? All states of foreign Asia can be grouped into several groups. There are so-called new industrial countries (Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and others), which in a short period of time were able to rebuild their national economy and achieve certain successes in development. A separate group in the region is oil-producing countries (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, etc.), whose economy is completely based on this natural wealth.
None of these categories can be attributed to Japan (the most developed country in Asia), China and India. All other states remain underdeveloped, in some of them industry is completely absent.
Conclusion
Overseas Asia is the largest historical and geographical region of the planet, within which more than one civilization was born. Today, there are 48 independent states. They differ in size, population, government, but they also have several common features.
Most of the countries of Foreign Asia are developing countries with a rather backward economy. Only four of them can be attributed to economically developed powers.