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Asia (/ˈeɪʒə/ ^ⓘ AY-zhə, UK also /ˈeɪʃə/ AY-shə) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilisations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.

Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe.

Since the concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on a spectrum. (Full article...)

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K-pop (/keɪ pɒp/, Korean: 케이팝; RR: Keipap), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, rock, jazz, gospel, reggae, electronic dance, folk, country, disco, and classical on top of its traditional Korean music roots. The term "K-pop" became popular in the 2000s, especially in the international context. The Korean term for domestic pop music is gayo (가요; 歌謠), which is still widely used within South Korea. While "K-pop" can refer to all popular music or pop music from South Korea, the term is often used when referring to artists associated with the entertainment and idol industry in the country, regardless of the genre of music output.

Modern K-pop "idol" culture began in the 1990s, as K-pop idol music grew into a subculture of South Korean culture and amassed enormous fandoms of teenagers and young adults. The more modern form of the genre, originally termed "rap dance", emerged with the formation of the hip hop boy band Seo Taiji and Boys, in 1992. Their experimentation with different styles and genres of music and integration of foreign musical elements helped reshape and modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene. After a slump in early idol music, TVXQ and BoA from 2003 marked a new generation of K-pop idols that helped the music genre gain traction in the neighboring Japanese market and continues to popularize K-pop internationally today. With the advent of online social networking services and South Korean TV shows, the current spread of K-pop and South Korean entertainment, known as the Korean Wave, is seen not only in East Asia, but also throughout the world, gaining an international audience. (Full article...)

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Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden to the south, and the southeasten part of the Arabian sea to the east, sharing maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia across the Horn of Africa. Covering roughly 455,000 square kilometres (176,000 square miles), with a coastline of approximately 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), Yemen is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Sanaa is its constitutional capital and largest city. Yemen's estimated population is 34.7 million, mostly Arab Muslims. It is a member of the Arab League, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Owing to its geographic location, Yemen has been at the crossroads of many civilisations for over 7,000 years. In 1200 BCE, the Sabaeans formed a thriving commercial kingdom that included parts of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 CE, it was succeeded by the Himyarite Kingdom, which spanned much of Yemen's present-day territory and was heavily influenced by Judaism. Christianity arrived in the fourth century, followed by the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh century. Yemenite troops played a crucial role in early Islamic conquests. Various dynasties emerged between the 9th and 16th centuries. During the 19th century, the country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires. After World War I, the Kingdom of Yemen was established, which in 1962 became the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) following a coup. In 1967, the British Aden Protectorate became the independent People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and only officially socialist state in the Arab world. In 1990, the two Yemeni states united to form the modern Republic of Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh serving as the first president until his resignation in 2012 in the wake of the Arab Spring. (Full article...)

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Official portrait, 2023

Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the member of parliament (MP) for Varanasi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation. He is the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.

Modi was born and raised in Vadnagar in northeastern Gujarat, where he completed his secondary education. He was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight. At the age of 18, he was married to Jashodaben Modi, whom he abandoned soon after, only publicly acknowledging her four decades later when legally required to do so. Modi became a full-time worker for the RSS in Gujarat in 1971. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985 and he rose through the party hierarchy, becoming general secretary in 1998. In 2001, Modi was appointed chief minister of Gujarat and elected to the legislative assembly soon after. His administration is considered complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and has been criticised for its management of the crisis. According to official records, a little over 1,000 people were killed, three-quarters of whom were Muslim; independent sources estimated 2,000 deaths, mostly Muslim. A Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India in 2012 found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against him. While his policies as chief minister were credited for encouraging economic growth, his administration was criticised for failing to significantly improve health, poverty and education indices in the state. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Asia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with the rival "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878) (from History of Asia)
Image 2Map of Vietnam showing the conquest of the south (the Nam tiến, 1069–1757). (from History of Asia)
Image 3A view of the Fort St George in 18th-century Madras. (from History of Asia)
Image 4Hinduism expansion in Asia, from its heartland in Indian Subcontinent, to the rest of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, started circa 1st century marked with the establishment of early Hindu settlements and polities in Southeast Asia. (from History of Asia)
Image 5Detail of the Dragon Throne used by the Qianlong Emperor of China, Forbidden City, Qing dynasty. Artifact circulating in U.S. museums on loan from Beijing (from Culture of Asia)
Image 6the Goryeo ware, which shows splendid culture of Goryeo in mediaeval Korea. (from History of Asia)
Image 7Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman (from History of Asia)
Image 8Philippine cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 9Detail of Chinese silk from the 4th century BCE. The characteristic trade of silk through the Silk Road connected various regions from China, India, Central Asia, and the Middle East to Europe and Africa. (from History of Asia)
Image 10A typical example of Dravidian architecture (from Culture of Asia)
Image 11Traditional Rajasthani garments from Jaipur, Rajasthan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 12The Russian Znamensky Cathedral in Tyumen built in 1768 (from Culture of Asia)
Image 13Invasions, destruction and possible population movements during the Late Bronze Age collapse, beginning c. 1200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 14Political map of Asia in 1860 (from History of Asia)
Image 15British troops taking Zhenjiang from Qing troops (from History of Asia)
Image 16The global contribution to world's GDP by major economies from 1 AD to 2003 AD according to Angus Maddison's estimates. Before 18th century, China and India were the two largest economies by GDP output. (from Asian Century)
Image 17The Delhi Sultanate. (from History of Asia)
Image 18A Confucian ritual ceremony in Jeju, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 19The third Inter-Korean Summit, which was held in 2018, between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un. It was a historical event that symbolized the peace of Asia. (from History of Asia)
Image 20The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830 by Hokusai, an example of art flourishing in the Edo Period (from History of Asia)
Image 21East Asian cultural sphere (from Culture of Asia)
Image 22Battle of Talas between Tang dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate c. 751 (from History of Asia)
Image 23The Taj Mahal, Agra, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 24Map of Marco Polo's travels (from History of Asia)
Image 25India's middle-class population of 300 million is growing at an annual rate of 5%. Shown here is an upmarket area in South Mumbai. (from Asian Century)
Image 26Kabsa also called Majboos, famous in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (from Culture of Asia)
Image 27The Song dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 1200 (from History of Asia)
Image 28The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 (from Asian Century)
Image 29The Qing conquest of the Ming and expansion of the empire (from History of Asia)
Image 30Map of Asia for early 20th century (from History of Asia)
Image 31Population concentration and boundaries of the Western Zhou dynasty in China (from History of Asia)
Image 32Badshahi Mosque built under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore, Pakistan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 33Angkor Wat, Khmer Empire (from Culture of Asia)
Image 34The Qing Empire in 1832. (from History of Asia)
Image 35Projected shares of global GDP by region to 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 36Tang dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai, in a 13th-century depiction by Liang Kai (from Culture of Asia)
Image 37Here a Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666), is dressed as an official of the Chinese Department of Astronomy. (from History of Asia)
Image 38The Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618 negotiating with Shah Abbas the Great of Iran. (from History of Asia)
Image 39The Han dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 40Ancient ziggurat, Iraq (from Culture of Asia)
Image 41Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku (from History of Asia)
Image 42Đại Việt, Champa, Angkor Empire and their neighbours, late 13th century (from History of Asia)
Image 43A stone image of the Buddha (from Culture of Asia)
Image 44The Syriac Orthodox Saint Ahoadamah Church was a 7th-century church building in the city of Tikrit, one of the oldest in the world until its destruction by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 25 September 2014. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 45Map of Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 46Balhae in the north, Later Silla in the south (from History of Asia)
Image 47Deoksugung, the palace where Emperor Gojong established Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 48Korean peninsula in 476 AD. There are three kingdoms and Gaya Union in the picture. This picture shows the heyday of Goguryeo (from History of Asia)
Image 49Some henges at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge, by over seven millennia. (from History of Asia)
Image 50Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of Asia)
Image 51Eunpyeong Hanok Village in Seoul, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 52Language families in South Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 53The Hindu-Buddhist temple of Angkor Wat. (from History of Asia)
Image 54The Grand Mosque in Kuwait City, one of the largest mosques in the region (from Culture of Asia)
Image 55Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 56The First Persian Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 57The Silk Road in Asia (from History of Asia)
Image 58Machiya in Heian period (from History of Asia)
Image 59Gyeonghoeru of Gyeongbokgung, the Joseon dynasty's royal palace. (from History of Asia)
Image 60Sun temple at Konarka, Odisha, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 61Borobudur, a Buddhist temple in Indonesia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 62The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling (from Culture of Asia)
Image 63Byzantine and Sassanian Empires in 600 AD (from History of Asia)
Image 64Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruslam (from Culture of Asia)
Image 65The early Muslim conquests, 622–750 (from History of Asia)
Image 66Gojong (1852–1919), the 26th king of Joseon dynasty and the first emperor of Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 67Daian-ji temple at Nara, Japan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 68Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the South Asian cooking style. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 69Indonesian Balinese cuisine (from Culture of Asia)

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Featured picture

Gondi people

Credit: Yann

The Gondi people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra (Vidarbha), Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.

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Did you know...

... that more than 150 years of documentary sources at the Central Archives of Gaza City were destroyed during the Israel–Hamas war?
... that The Chinese in America documents how people in California, during the gold rush era, mailed their laundry to Hong Kong for cleaning?
... that Iran's first three-stage satellite carrier, Qaem 100, successfully passed its suborbital test?
... that Hyakuman-kai no "I Love You" is a popular confession song in Japan?
... that Chinese Garden MRT station did not originally have access to the Chinese Garden?
... that Emi Wong, the Hong Kong YouTuber with the most subscribers, used a carpet sweeper to do lunges and bottles of laundry detergent to do squats?
... that the Indonesian pulp and paper industry collectively controls over 10 million hectares of land?
... that the apricot dress of Jacqueline Kennedy kept its shape in India's hot weather?
... that Saparinah Sadli defended one of her former students when Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency challenged her gendered exploration of the New Order regime?
... that Saudi Arabian poet Hamad al-Hajji lost three members of his family during his childhood and later suffered from schizophrenia until he died at the age of 49 after a lung disease?

Updated: 21:05, 6 February 2025

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In the news

6 February 2025 –: Four people are killed after a U.S. military-contracted Beechcraft Super King Air 300 surveillance aircraft crashes in a paddy field in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. (AP) (ABC News Australia)
6 February 2025 – United States and the International Criminal Court: U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court officials that assist investigations into U.S. citizens or those of its allies, namely Israel. (NBC News)
5 February 2025 – Second Trump tariffs, China–United States trade war: The United States Postal Service says it is temporarily refusing inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, but reverses this policy hours later. (The Guardian) (NBC News)
5 February 2025 – Israel and the United Nations: Israel withdraws from the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing the UN body of "obsessively demonizing" and discriminating against the country. (Ynet News)
5 February 2025 – Impeachment of Sara Duterte, Impeachment in the Philippines: The House of Representatives of the Philippines formally impeaches Vice President Sara Duterte. The Senate is now set to conduct a trial. (ABS-CBN News) (Bloomberg)
4 February 2025 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Gaza war

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Major Religions in Asia

Middle East

Central Asia and Caucasus

Indian Subcontinent

Southeast Asia

East Asia

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Selected panorama

Baalbek is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, then known as Heliopolis, was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire.