Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

Christianity—all started in Asia.Today,

many people in Southeast and East Asia

follow Buddhism.Hinduism is the main

religion in India and Nepal, while Islam

is practiced in much of Southwest Asia

and in Indonesia,Malaysia, Pakistan, and

Bangladesh. Judaism is the main religion

in Israel. Christianity is practiced

throughout the continent, but only in

the Philippines, Russia, and Armenia is it

the main religion.

Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Singapore,

and South Korea have excellent

education and health care systems. But

most of the rest of Asia is still

developing. The living standards of

many people are behind those in the

Western world. In general, problems

with nutrition are common. Health and

education services are limited and are

generally more available in cities than in

rural areas.

Economy

Agriculture is an important part of the

economy in many Asian countries. In

much of Asia the main food crop is rice.

Wheat is important in parts of Northern,

Central, Southwest, and South Asia.

Crops grown for sale include tea, sugarcane,

coconuts, and rubber. Sheep and

goats are raised for meat and wool in

most of Asia. China, Japan, Indonesia,

India, and Russia catch large amounts of

fish.

Asia has large reserves of almost every

important mineral. The continent has

more than half the world’s reserves of

The religion of Buddhism was founded in

India and soon spread throughout Asia.

The Kiyomizu Temple is one of the most

famous Buddhist temples in Japan.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Asia 203

 

coal, mostly in China, Siberia, and

India. Major deposits of oil are found

in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United

Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Asia also

produces large amounts of iron ore, cast

iron, tin, tungsten, and refined zinc.

Asia’s industrialized areas, including

Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and

Singapore, make a wide variety of

products. China and parts of South and

Southeast Asia began developing their

manufacturing in the late 20th century.

South and Southeast Asia produce

traditional goods such as textiles as well

as technology products such as

computers. Oil and gas are processed in

Southwest and Central Asia.

History

Asia was home to three of the world’s

first civilizations, which developed

written languages and built large cities.

The first such society developed in

Southwest Asia in a region called

Mesopotamia in about 3500–3000 BC.

A civilization developed in the Indus

River valley in what is now Pakistan by

about 2500 BC. Historians believe that

Chinese civilization began in about

2500 BC as well.

Over time these civilizations changed as

they were taken over by other groups.

The Mesopotamian kingdoms became

part of the Greek and Persian worlds. In

the AD 600s Islam was founded in Arabia.

Arab Muslims took over Mesopotamia

and then moved into other parts of

Asia.

The Indus Valley civilization died out

in about 1700 BC. At about this same

time, a people known as Aryans

invaded what is now India. Their

religion eventually evolved into

Hinduism. The Mauryan Empire

united South Asia in about 300 BC,

though others eventually took over

from them. In the late AD 1100s

Muslim rulers took over part of the

region.

Chinese culture dominated East Asia.

China was ruled by a series of dynasties

for thousands of years, from about the

1700s BC to the AD 1900s. The Mongols,

a people from Northern and Central

Asia, ruled much of Asia during the

AD 1200s and 1300s.

To take control of Asia’s vast wealth,

Europeans conquered many Asian countries

and made them into colonies in the

1800s. By the end ofWorldWar II, the

colonies began to seek independence.

India became free of British rule in

1947. France fought to keep control of

its colonies in Southeast Asia but finally

withdrew from the region in 1954. Most

A fisherman casts his net into the Mekong

River in Southeast Asia.

204 Asia BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Central Asian countries were part of the

Russian Empire and later the Soviet

Union. They became independent after

the breakup of the Soviet Union in

1991.

China also underwent major changes.

In 1912 the last dynasty came to an

end, and the country became a

republic. China’s government became

Communist after Communists won a

civil war in 1949.

Communists in Korea and Vietnam also

fought for control of those countries.

The KoreanWar, from 1950 to 1953,

resulted in the separation of Korea into

two countries: North Korea and South

Korea. North Korea had a Communist

government, but South Korea did not.

The VietnamWar ended in 1975 with

Vietnam united under a Communist

government.

In 1948 the country of Israel was created

in the Middle East as a homeland for the

Jewish people. Arab countries opposed

the creation of Israel, however, and they

and the Israelis fought a series of wars.

Southwest Asia was the site of several

other conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq

War (1980–88), the Persian GulfWar

(1991), and a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq

(2003).

In the last half of the 1900s, many

Asian countries had to deal with

problems left over from the period of

European rule. The boundaries of the

European colonies did not always

match the natural divisions of peoples,