ASIA, the largest of the five continental divisions of the earth, lying eastward of the Eu ropean and African continents, and separated from the American continent by Bering Strait and the Pacific Ocean. It is wholly within the northern hemisphere, but some of the adja cent islands extend south of the equator. It is bounded north, east and south, respectively, by the Arctic, Pacific and Indian oceans, with their various branches and inlets; it is divided from Africa on the southwest by the narrow isthmian Suez Canal; and is connected with Europe on the northwest across the whole breadth of that continent. The natural western boundaries are the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, .Egean Sea, the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The sin uosities of the Asiatic coast are very extensive; on the south the chief ocean inlets are the Gulf of Aden; the Arabian Sea with its inlets, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Gulfs of Cutch, Cambay and Manar, and the Bay of Bengal containing the Gulf of Manahan. On the eastern or Pacific coast proceeding north ward the principal indentations are the China Sea with the Gulfs of Siam and of Tonkin; the Tunghai or Eastern Sea; the Hwang-hai or Yellow Sea with the Gulf of Pechili and Korea Bay; the Sea of Japan with the Gulf of Tar tary ; the Sea of Okhotsk, and Bering Sea with the Gulf of Anadyr. On the north or arctic coast are the Nordenskjold Sea and the Kara Sea with the Gulf of Obi. The coast line is about 35,000 miles, giving a proportion of one mile of coast line to 496 square miles of sur face. From the extreme southwestern point of Arabia, at the Strait of Bab-el Mandeb to the extreme northeastern point of Cape Deshnef or East Cape, the length of Asia is about 6,900 miles, its breadth from Cape Chelyuskin or Northeast Cape in Siberia to Cape Romania, the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, is about 5,300 miles. The total area is estimated at 17,296,000 square miles. The most promi nent features of the southern coast are the three great peninsulas of Arabia, India, and the Indo Chinese Peninsula. The east coast is also flanked with insular and peninsular projections, forming a series of sheltered seas and bays. A series of large islands extends to the south east of the continent, forming a connection with Australia; while a multitude of smaller is lands are scattered over the Pacific and Indian' oceans. The principal peninsulas on the east are Kamchatka and Korea. The larger islands, proceeding from the northeast coast, are Sagha lien, the Japanese Islands, the Philippine Is lands, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Mo luccas, Papua or New Guinea, which, however, is Australasian rather than Asiatic, and lastly Ceylon at the southeastern extremity of the In dian Peninsula. The Kurile Islands between Kamchatka and Japan, the islands of Loo Choo, Formosa and Hainan on the Chinese coast, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, may also be noticed. On the west or Mediterranean coast the principal islands be longing to Asia are Cyprus and Rhodes. The northern coast, from East Cape or Deshnef, in Bering Strait, and on the Arctic Circle, to the Yalmal Peninsula, in the extreme north west, is almost entirely contained within that circle. The highest point, Cape Chelyuskin, is about 78° N. The largest group of islands on the north coast is the Liakhov Islands (New Si beria) the largest indentation is the Gulf of Obi, which reaches below the Arctic Circle, and receives the river Obi about that latitude.
Mountains.— The mountain systems of Asia are of great extent, and their culminating points are the highest in the world. There are also vast plateaus and elevated valley regions, but large portions of the continent are low and flat. Such are the greater portions of Siberia, from the Ural Mountains across the north of the continent, and the western central region of the continent, where an area of great depression culminates in the Caspian. The greatest moun tain system in Asia, and so far at least as alti tude is concerned, of the world, is the Hima layan system, the principal mass of which lies between long. 65° and 110° E. and lat. 28° and
37° N. It thus occupies a position not very far from the centre of the continent, though nearer the southern edge than the northern. It ex tends, roughly speaking, from northwest to southeast, its total length being about 2,000 miles, while its breadth varies from 100 to 500 or 600. Different names have been given to dif fekent portions of the system, such as Hindu Kush (the northwestern extremity), Karako ram and Kuen-Lun, while Himalaya is more especially confined to the portion forming the northern barrier of Hindustan; but all these are really portions of the same connected moun tain mass. The Kuen-Lun simply forms the northern flank of the mass, and is not, as it has been represented, a distinct chain; while the Karakoram Mountains have so little to dis tinguish them from the rest of the elevated mass to which they belong that they may be crossed without the traveler being aware of it. The broadest part of the system, the elevated table land of Tibet, lies between the Himalaya proper and the Kuen-Lun. The Tibetan Mountains are connected on the east with the mountains of China and with those that spread to the south east over the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The Thian-Shan is another great mountain system of central Asia connected with the Himalayan system by the important Pamir Plateau or °roof of the world* in long. 70°-80° E.; lat. N. The point of junction forms aa huge boss or Imot,l) from which the Thian Shan runs northwestward for a distance of some 1,200 miles. Between these two systems, which curve round it on the west, lies eastern Turkestan, right in the centre of Asia. The greatest elevations of the Himalayan system are to be found among the Himalayas proper, where is Mount Everest, 29,002 feet high, Kun chinjinga, 28,156, etc. The principal passes here, which rise to the height of 18,000 to 20,000 feet, are the highest in the world. The Kuen Lun summits reach a height of 22,000 feet. The Himalayas descend by successive slopes to the plain of northern India, which has an elevation of about 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. The Vindhyas cross the peninsula, dividing northern from southern India; the latter is further bounded by the eastern and the western Ghats, which run along the coasts; while the interior consists of elevated tablelands rising toward the south, where they attain in the neighborhood of the Nilgiri Hills an elevation of 7,000 feet. The Himalayas are not only connected with the mountains in the interior of India, and with ramifications into China and the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, but on the west with the mountains of Baluchistan and Afghan istan. The Suliman and Hala ranges bound India on the west, and unite with the mountains of Baluchistan; while the Hindu Kush, pass ing westward through the north of Afghanis tan, has continuations more or less distinct through Persia to the Elburz range south of the Caspian, and so onward to Mount Ararat. From this point again it forms connections with the mountains of Armenia, with the Cau casus, with the Taurus range in Asia Minor, and with the mountains which run to the south of Persia. The mountains belonging to this series form the boundaries of an elevated plateau extending from the Mediterranean to the Indus. On the north they are frequently of great elevation, Mount Demavend in the El burz range reaching the height of 18,460 feet, while Ararat is nearly 17,000. The Thian-Shan system is continued to the northeast by the Altai and Sajansk ranges, the whole separating the Chinese Empire from Russian Turkestan and Siberia. Tengri-Khan in the Thian-Shan Mountains is estimated to have a height of 21,320 feet. A line of moderate elevation ex tends from the Altai westward to the Ural Mountains. To the east of the Sajansk range the Yablonoi Mountains run northeast toward the coast, along which they are continued northward under the name of Stanovoi to Ber ing Strait.