Asia Facts In Detail

Asia, the largest of the earth's seven continents. With outlying islands, it covers
an estimated 44,936,000 sq km (17,350,000 sq mi), or about one-third of the
world's total land area. Its peoples account for three-fifths of the world's
population; in the early 1990s, Asia had more than 3.2 billion inhabitants. Lying
almost entirely in the northern hemisphere, Asia is bounded on the north by the
Arctic Ocean, on the east by the Bering Strait and the Pacific Ocean, on the
south by the Indian Ocean, and on the southwest by the Red and Mediterranean
seas. On the west, the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia is drawn
at the Ural Mountains, continuing south along the Ural River to the Caspian Sea,
then west along the Caucasus Mountains to the Black Sea. Many geographers
prefer to regard the landmass formed by Europe and Asia as a single continent—
Eurasia. The continental mainland stretches from the southern end of the Malay
Peninsula to Cape Chelyuskin in Siberia. Its westernmost point is Cape Baba in
northwestern Turkey, and its easternmost point is Cape Dezhnyov in
northeastern Siberia. The continent's greatest width from east to west is about
8500 km (about 5300 mi). In Asia are found both the lowest and highest points on
the earth's surface, namely, the shore of the Dead Sea (395 m/1296 ft below sea
level) and Mount Everest (8848 m/29,028 ft). To the southeast of the mainland is
an array of archipelagoes and islands, extending east to the Oceanic and
Australian realms. Among these islands are those of Indonesia and the
Philippines, including Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Borneo, and New Guinea. To the
north lie Taiwan, the islands of Japan, and Sakhalin. In the Indian Ocean are Sri
Lanka and smaller island groups such as the Maldives and the Andaman and
Nicobar islands. Because of its vast size and diverse character, Asia is divided for
convenience into five major realms. These are as follows: Asia of the former
Soviet Union, including Siberia, western Central Asia, and the Caucasus; East
Asia, including China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan; Southeast Asia, including
Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
Brunei, and the Philippines; South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan; and Southwest Asia, including Afghanistan, Iran,
Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the other states
of the Arabian Peninsula. The continent may also be divided into two cultural
realms: that which is Asian in culture (East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia)
and that which is not (Asia of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia).
The Natural Environment
Unlike the other continents, Asia has an interior that consists of mountains,
plateaus, and intervening structural basins. The highland core, located somewhat
south of the geometric center of the continent, is composed of the Himalaya and
associated ranges and the Tibetan Plateau. Around this central core are arrayed
four major plateau regions (Siberia, eastern China, southern India, and the
Arabian Peninsula) and several great structural basins and river plains.
Geological History
According to the theory of plate tectonics, the earth's surface crust consists of a
number of huge continental plates and a number of equally large oceanic plates,
most of which are in continuous motion. Of these, the largest is the Eurasian
continental plate. Portions of this plate are composed of the most ancient rocks
found on earth, those of the Precambrian age (4.65 billion to 570 million years
ago), which are found today in the Angara Shield of eastern Siberia, in much of
the Arabian Peninsula, and in India south of the Indo-Gangetic lowland. During
most of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras (570 to 65 million years ago), a huge sea
known as the Tethys covered much of the interior of Eurasia and laid down thick
deposits, which in time were converted into the sedimentary and metamorphosed
formations. Approximately 30 million years ago, the subcontinent of India, which
had broken off from southeastern Africa and drifted northeast, began to thrust
under the Eurasian continental plate, creating an enormous “deep” that later
filled with sediments to form the Indo-Gangetic lowland. At the same time it
generated tremendous pressure, causing the southern continental margin to
crumple into a series of great mountain ranges, of which the Himalaya is the
most conspicuous. Plate-tectonics theory also helps explain the formation of the
arcuate (arc-shaped) ranges, peninsulas, and archipelagoes, as well as the
volcanic activity and tectonic instability of East and Southeast Asia. In East Asia
the primary force results from the underthrusting of the westward-moving
Pacific plate against the Eurasian continental plate. Japan, Taiwan, the Kuril
Islands, the Ryukyus, and the Philippines are products of these forces. In
Southeast Asia, the situation is complicated by the relative movements of the
Pacific and Indian Ocean plates, and that movement helps explain the northernsouthern
trending highlands of mainland Southeast Asia and the volcanic
activity that characterizes most of the Indonesian Archipelago.
Physiographic Regions
Asia's physiographic system focuses on the Pamir Knot, a towering plateau
region known as the Roof of the World, located where the borders of India,
China, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan converge; several peaks here
exceed 6100 m (20,000 ft). Spiraling out from the Pamirs to the west are the
Hindu Kush and their extension across northern Iran, the Elburz Mountains,
and beyond the latter the Caucasus ranges, between the Caspian and the Black
seas, and the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea in Turkey. To the southeast
are the Great Himalaya, paralleled by lesser but still great ranges to the north
and south of them. Together these ranges form an imposing eastern-western arc,
some 2500 km (about 1550 mi) in length, containing numerous peaks of heights
well more than 6100 m (20,000 ft), including Mount Everest. To the east and
northeast of the Pamirs extends the high Karakorum Range, which leads into the
Kunlun Mountains, and a branch, the Altun Shan; this line of mountains
continues east at lower elevations as the Nan Ling (Nan Shan) to become the Qin
Ling (Ch'in Ling) of North China, which marks a major climatic divide between
northern and southern China. Between the Himalayan system and the
Karakorum-Kunlun ranges lies the Tibetan Plateau, which has average
elevations of about 3660 to 4570 m (about 12,000 to 15,000 ft). Extending
northeast from the Pamirs is the great Tien Shan, also with peaks rising above
6100 m (20,000 ft) but diminishing in height as it approaches the borders of
Outer Mongolia. To the northeast, the Altai Mountains extend into Mongolia,
and beyond them are the Sayan, Yablonovy, and Stanovoy ranges of eastern
Siberia; the last two, however, are not part of the highland core. Several major
structural basins are found to the north of the central mountain core. Farthest
north, located between the Tien Shan and the Altai Mountains, lies the
Dzungarian Basin; to the south of this, between the Tien Shan and the
Karakorum and Kunlun, lies the vast Tarim Basin in which is found one of the
largest middle-latitude deserts, the Takla Makan; and embraced by the Kunlun
and Altun Shan is the deep Qaidam (Tsaidam) Basin. Soil types also vary
enormously. Siberia is overlain by acidic forest soils characteristic of the tundra
and taiga; permafrost is common here, and drainage is usually poor. These soils
merge into dark grassland, steppe, and desert soils across a vast band that
extends from northern China to the Black Sea and into Southwest Asia; the dark
steppe soils, among the most fertile in Asia, are found in north central China and
southwestern Siberia. In eastern and southern Asia, the most valuable soils for
agriculture are the alluvial soils that have been deposited in the lower valleys of
the great rivers; these soils make up most of Asia's intensively used agricultural
land. In low-latitude regions are found mature tropical soils, which are of
generally low fertility; these mature soils grade, to the north, into soils with a
higher humus content that are somewhat more fertile.
Drainage
The highland core of Asia might be likened to the hub of a colossal wheel, the
spokes of which are great rivers that flow out in all directions. Seven of these are
among the dozen longest rivers in the world. Flowing north from the northern
margin and northeastern extensions of the highland core to the icebound Arctic
Ocean are the Lena, Yenisey, and Ob' rivers. These rivers flow across vast
alluvial plains underlain by permafrost. To the west, flowing from the slopes of
the Tien Shan and the Pamirs themselves, are rivers such as the Ili, the Syr
Darya, and the Amu Darya, which drain into interior seas—Lake Balqash in the
case of the Ili, the Small and Large Aral seas for the other two. These rivers,
along with the Zeravshan and lesser streams in northern Tibet, western China,
and southern Mongolia, constitute the great interior drainage basin of Asia with
an area of about 10 million sq km (about 4 million sq mi). In the south, the
southeast, and the east, the great rivers flow through vast lowlands. Clockwise
from southwest to northeast these rivers are the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra,
Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, Huang He (Yellow), and Amur, all of which are snowand
glacier-fed and rise either well within, or along the margins of, the highland
core.
Climate
The climate of the continent is as varied as its surface configuration. Climates in
Asia range from that of the equatorial rain forest to that of the Arctic tundra.
For the most part, the northern part of Asia is dominated by movement of polar
continental air masses that travel from western Siberia to the northern Pacific.
Winters here are long and harsh, summers are short and cool, and the annual
precipitation is light. A similar climate is characteristic of the Tibetan Plateau
and other uplands. The interior regions have middle-latitude desert or semiarid
climates, with harsh winters and warm to hot summers and an average annual
precipitation of less than 230 mm (less than 9 in). The southern and eastern
margins of the continent, however, are characterized by monsoonal air
movements (see MONSOON) from the cold interior east and south in winter and
from the oceans north toward the warmer land in summer. For the most part the
margins of Asia have cool to cold, dry winters and hot, humid summers, with a
strong concentration of rainfall in the summer months. Although the term
monsoonal is applied to all eastern and southern Asia's climates, the true
monsoon is characteristic only of part of the Indian subcontinent and Burma; in
these areas average annual rainfall exceeds 2000 mm (more than 79 in). In other
parts of southern and eastern Asia, rainfall is either less heavily concentrated in
the summer or evenly distributed throughout the year. Most of eastern Asia
experiences flows of maritime air from the western Pacific in the form of a
monsoon effect. In places where orographic factors (that is, mountains)
intervene, the winter is likely to be wet, as is the case along the eastern coasts of
portions of the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia and in parts of southern
India. The coastal areas of eastern Asia are also subject to destructive typhoons,
which originate in the western Pacific and the northern part of the South China
Sea. Southwest Asia falls into a different climatic regime, characteristic of much
of the Mediterranean area and dominated by a high-pressure belt of dry,
relatively stable air masses that move slowly from west to east, bringing winter
rainfall and then passing into northern India. The average annual rainfall is
light, and semiarid steppe and desert climates prevail. This climate regime
extends into the northwestern Indian Peninsula.
Vegetation
Vegetation in Asia is extraordinarily diverse, bearing an intimate relation to the
many varieties of soil and climate. In the far northern reaches of the continent, in
Siberia, tundra and taiga vegetation predominate. The former consists primarily
of mosses and lichens; the latter is a largely coniferous forest consisting of larch,
pine, fir, and spruce. South of the taiga, grasslands occur in great easternwestern
bands. These blend to the south into a desert scrub where aridity
increases, as in the intermontane basins of the highland core and its peripheries,
and in much of Southwest Asia. In South, Southeast, and East Asia, equatorial
rain forest predominates in the lowest latitudes, where heavy precipitation is
characteristic throughout the year. The luxuriant evergreen rain forest is
characterized by numerous species, including teak, jackfruit, eucalyptus, oak,
and various species of bamboo and palm. Farther north of the equator lies a
more open tropical forest, often called monsoonal, and this in turn merges to the
north into subtropical evergreen forest, as in southern China and Japan. In the
middle latitudes, mixed forests of deciduous and coniferous trees predominate,
and these merge, to the north, with the region of coniferous forests.
Animal Life
The fauna of Asia is as diverse as the continent's climates, terrain, and
vegetation. The northern regions are rich in furbearers, such as the brown bear,
otter, lynx, sable, ermine, and wolf, in addition to a vast array of birdlife. The
steppe and semiarid regions support antelope and numerous species of
burrowing animals such as hare and field mice. Freshwater fish are found in all
parts of the continent, and Lake Baykal is notable for its distinctive fauna. Wild
sheep and goats are found in the highlands, and Tibet is the home of the wild
yak. Wildlife is scarcer in the hot dry regions of Southwest Asia and in parts of
South Asia, where the most famous indigenous animal, the Asian lion, is virtually
extinct. Jackals and hyenas, however, are common in these regions. In the more
humid regions of eastern and southeastern Asia, native animal life has been
much diminished by centuries of human occupancy. Monkeys, however, are
ubiquitous in the southern areas, and the Indian tiger is still found in small
numbers in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Birdlife, snakes, and lizards
abound here, and various types of crocodiles are widely distributed. Wild apes
such as the gibbon and the scarce orangutan are found in Southeast Asia. Many
types of deer and antelope also live in less well-populated areas such as Borneo,
where flying squirrels and tree rats are numerous. Among the animals of unusual
interest are the rare Southeast Asian rhinoceros, the Asian elephant, the tapir,
the anteater, and the wild buffalo of India and Southeast Asia.
Mineral Resources
Asia is enormously rich in known mineral resources, even though much of the
continent—Tibet, for instance—has not yet been explored geologically. Coal
exists in great abundance in Siberia and northern China, in northeastern India,
and in lesser deposits elsewhere. Petroleum and natural gas also are well
distributed, but with the greatest concentrations at the head of the Persian Gulf,
in parts of Indonesia, in northern and interior China, on the shores of the
Caspian Sea, and in the western Siberian lowland. Large offshore reserves are
believed to exist as well along the coasts of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and
western India. Metallic minerals are relatively scarce in Southwest Asia, except
in Turkey, which is a major chromium producer. Elsewhere on the continent
metallic ores of various kinds are well distributed; China and Siberia in
particular are well endowed. Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are extremely
rich in tin, and India is rich in iron and manganese ores. Other important
mineral resources include gold, silver, uranium, copper, lead, and zinc;
gemstones, such as diamonds, are found in Siberia, and sapphires and rubies
occur in South and Southeast Asia.
The People
The peoples of Asia are more diverse than those of any other continent, and they
are highly concentrated in a small proportion of the total area, chiefly in
southern and eastern Asia. Average population densities in the northern and
interior areas are low by any standard, as are those in most parts of Southwest
Asia. People in these areas live in river oases, such as the Toshkent Oasis, where
population densities are quite high. In Siberia, settlements are located primarily
along the Trans-Siberian Railroad and its branches. In East Asia, Southeast Asia,
and most of South Asia, people are crowded onto relatively small areas of
riverine lowlands, where population densities often exceed 3900 persons per sq
km (about 1500 per sq mi). In China, for example, 90% of the population is
concentrated in the eastern third of the country. Even in highly industrialized
Japan most of the populace is concentrated in small lowlands where the largest
cities are also located.
Ethnology and Languages
Mongoloid peoples are predominant in East Asia and mainland Southeast Asia,
but Malayo-Polynesian stock prevails in the archipelagoes of Southeast Asia. In
South Asia, about two-thirds of the population consists of Caucasoid stocks
resembling the peoples of the Middle East; Caucasoid peoples also dominate in
Southwest Asia and in much of Central Asia. In southern India darker-skinned
people speaking Dravidian languages are the dominant group. Mongoloid
peoples inhabit the Himalayan and Tibetan area and extend through Mongolia
into eastern Siberia. The primary ethnic group in Siberia, however, is Caucasoid,
of European origin. Ethnicity rather than race is a more meaningful approach to
the population diversity of Asia. Sinitic culture, and cultures that are influenced
by China but possess their own languages, are characteristic of East Asia; these
peoples include the Chinese, Tibetans, Mongols, Koreans, and Japanese.
Southeast Asia is more diversified, although peninsular and archipelagic
Southeast Asia is mainly Malay. Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer inhabit
mainland Southeast Asia along with a number of other ethnolinguistic groups. In
South Asia, the peoples residing in the north speak a variety of Hindi-related
Indo-Aryan languages; but in the south the Dravidian languages are most
important. In Southwest Asia, Persian (Farsi), Arabic, Turkish, and Hebrew are
the important languages identifying various ethnic groups. Turkic speakers also
are numerous in Central Asia and in western China, although Russian is by far
the principal language in Siberia.
Demography
The total population of the continent exceeds 3.2 billion. East Asia alone contains
about 1.3 billion people, Southeast Asia about 450 million, South Asia about 1.1
billion, Southwest Asia about 200 million, and Asia of the former USSR at least
100 million. The overall population density of 71 persons per sq km (182 per sq
mi) is the second highest of any continent, but the population is unevenly
distributed. For the most part the people of Asia are rural dwellers, but
urbanization has proceeded rapidly in recent decades. The urban population
accounts for a majority in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Jordan, Syria, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab
Emirates. The Philippines and Malaysia also have relatively large urban
populations. Except in the Sinitic world and in parts of Southwest and Central
Asia, the large city is an innovation associated with the expansion of European
colonization from the beginnings of the 16th century. The margins of South and
Southeast Asia are dotted with large cities that developed as a result of European
economic and political domination; among these are Karachi, Bombay, Goa,
Colombo, Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon (Yangon), George Town (Pinang), Kuala
Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly
Saigon), Phnom Penh, and Hanoi. Only Bangkok is not a former colonial center,
but it resembles the others in most other respects. Even in China, many of the
larger coastal cities were strongly influenced by the European impact. In Japan,
modern urbanism was a recent phenomenon, but more than 75 percent of the
population now is urban. In most other countries the urban population ranges
between 20 percent and 40 percent. In Southwest and Central Asia, ancient
traditions of city building were reinforced by Muslim culture, giving rise to cities
such as Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Istanbul; modern
urbanization is reflected in such cities as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Toshkent, Bayrut, and
Ankara. Still, in some countries of Southwest and Central Asia, urban
populations are a small proportion of the whole. Nevertheless, Asia accounts for
more than half the world's urban population, and that proportion will increase
in the future because Asian cities are growing at twice the rate of the overall
populations. The urban growth reflects both immigration and rapid population
growth in most countries. The annual rate of population increase for the
continent as a whole is about 1.8%. Several countries have significantly lower
growth rates; these include Japan, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Although the
demographic forecast is for large and rapid population increases in Asia,
declining growth rates in China, the Philippines, and India suggest that a
population explosion is unlikely. The populations in all Asian countries are
young, however, and that means continued population growth for a long period,
as well as large numbers of entrants into the labor market each year in countries
ill prepared to provide them with employment.
Religion
Asia fostered all the principal religions of the world and many minor ones as
well. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated in Southwest Asia; Buddhism
and Hinduism in India; and the so-called Chinese religion, composed of
Confucian and Taoist elements, as well as ancestor worship, in China. Although
its historical impact, both direct and indirect, was great, Christianity is today
practiced by only a small number of Asians (most notably in the Philippines and
South Korea). Buddhism has virtually disappeared from India but, in two quite
different forms, extends through interior Asia and into Southeast Asia, where it is
the main religion of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos; it also is important
in Japan, Vietnam, and China. Islam dominates in Southwest and Central Asia
and is of major importance in South Asia, where both Pakistan and Bangladesh
are predominantly Muslim. Indonesia, in Southeast Asia, is also predominantly
Muslim. Several Southwest Asian cities are important centers of religious
pilgrimage, most prominently Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
Patterns of Economic Development
Most of Asia is economically underdeveloped. The majority of the continent's
population is employed in agriculture, but most agricultural activity is
characterized by low yields and low labor productivity. Relatively few people in
Asia are employed in manufacturing. In general, urban centers and their
industries are not well integrated economically with the rural sector.
Transportation systems, both within countries and between them, are poorly
developed. A number of exceptions exist, and they are important. Japan has
successfully modernized its economy, as have Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore,
and, to a lesser extent, Malaysia and Thailand. All these have shown rates of
economic growth of more than 5% per year, well beyond their rates of
population growth. The Southwest Asian states with large petroleum resources
also have done well, although not in the distribution of income. Fueled by largescale
foreign investment, rapid privatization, and industrialization, the People's
Republic of China achieved the fastest growth in the region in the early 1990s. In
1992 the Chinese economy grew by an estimated 12 percent, although per capita
income levels remained relatively low.
Agriculture
Less than one-third of Asia's land is in agricultural use. In general the basic unit
of production is the village rather than the farm. In South, Southeast, and East
Asia agriculture is characterized by small landholdings in alluvial lowlands, too
many people on too little land, production largely for subsistence, high rates of
tenancy (except in the Communist countries), a heavy dependence on cereals and
other food staples, and premodern technologies. Rice is the food-staple crop of
South, Southeast, and East Asia. It is usually grown under wet conditions. In
South and Southeast Asia, yields are extremely low, controlled irrigation facilities
are poorly developed, and double-cropping is seldom practiced. Irrigation
schemes in India have helped stabilize annual yields and increase overall
production. The example of Japan has shown that small farms and wet-rice
agriculture can enormously increase yields and production through the
introduction of new high-yielding varieties, careful water management, the
application of fertilizers, and the elimination of landlordism. Despite a wide
distribution of new high-yielding varieties of wet rice in many parts of South and
Southeast Asia since the late 1960s (the so-called green revolution), production
has not risen as hoped. The average rice yields in India, Thailand, and Burma
are only one-third that of Japan. In India, however, high-yielding varieties of
wheat, developed in Mexico, have had, in certain areas, an impressive impact on
wheat yields, the country's second crop. Also practiced in the lower latitudes, and
in marked contrast with the predominantly subsistence types of agriculture, is
large-scale estate agriculture, which produces crops for export, such as rubber,
palm oil, coconut products, tea, pineapples, and abaca fiber. Estate production
originated during the colonial period in South and Southeast Asia, and many
estates remain under foreign ownership and control. Most of the same crops,
however, are grown in substantial quantities on small holdings. In East Asia
agriculture is based on wet-paddy cultivation to a latitude of about 35° North in
China and about 40° North elsewhere. In contrast to Southeast Asia, yields here
are high, double-cropping is common, irrigation is highly controlled, and
fertilizer inputs are extremely high, especially in Japan. North of the Huai River
in China, rice gives way to wheat and other dry grains, especially sorghum and
corn, all cultivated in a form of intensive horticulture characteristic of Chinese
agriculture. Although China's rural population has been organized into large
managerial entities known as communes, cultivation is still basically carried on
at the village level within the commune. Swine, poultry, and fish (in ponds) are
raised in both the north and south where possible, but the raising of dairy and
beef cattle is common only in Japan and Korea. In the drier interior regions,
some dry-farming of grains is practiced, and the raising of cattle, sheep, and
horses is important. Oasis-type agriculture is found in favored locations in
Central Asia. Dry-farming of grains, nomadic herding, and some irrigated oasistype
cultivation are also characteristic of Southwest Asia. For the most part,
however, productivity levels are low.
Forestry and Fishing
Lumbering is an important industry in most Southeast Asian countries,
especially in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, teak being the most
important product in the latter country. Forest gathering and shifting cultivation
in forested interfluvial areas are widespread activities in Southeast Asia, as they
are also in the more remote parts of humid South Asia and southern China. In
India and China, however, the original forest cover has long since been removed
in the more heavily populated areas. In Japan, lumbering is a major industry,
and large areas of planted stands, chiefly conifer, have replaced much of the
indigenous vegetation. Siberian timber reserves are enormous and have been as
yet relatively little tapped, due in part to difficulties presented by the harsh
climate, and in part to the predominance of larch, which is less commercially
attractive than other species. Marine fisheries are extremely important in Asia.
Japan is the world's leading fishing country, and China is not far behind. The
fishing industry is also important in Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the
Philippines. Pisciculture, the raising of pond fish, is also an important activity,
especially in China. Although fishing in the poor countries is largely for domestic
consumption, emphasis has increasingly been placed on exports of dried, frozen,
and canned fish.
Mining
Mining also is an important activity in most Asian countries, and it is a major
export industry in several: manganese in India; tin in Malaysia, Thailand, and
Indonesia (which, combined, produce most of the world's supply of this metal);
and chromium ore in the Philippines. The most important Asian mineral export,
however, is petroleum. Southwest Asia contains the world's largest reserves of oil
outside Russia, and most of the production is exported. Indonesia, and more
recently China and Malaysia, are also exporters. In South Asia modest petroleum
and natural-gas deposits are exploited in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and off the
western coast of India. Coal mining is important in China, central and eastern
Siberia, northeastern India, Iran, and Turkey. Other significant mineral
products include iron, manganese, and tungsten in China; sulfur, zinc, and
molybdenum in Japan; and gold in Uzbekistan and Siberia.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is relatively poorly developed. Japan is the great exception, with
a highly diversified industrial sector that employs about 25% of the labor force.
Other than Japan, the three major manufacturing countries in Asia are China,
Russia, and India, each of which has a large manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing in China is concentrated in southern Manchuria; in the ports of
Shanghai, Tientsin, Qingdao, and Wuhan; and in selected interior regions where
raw materials are available. China's steel production is comparable to that of
Great Britain, although production on a per capita basis remains low.
Manufacturing in India is heavily concentrated in and near Calcutta, in the
Bombay area, in the central peninsula, and in a number of other resourceadvantaged
areas. Manufacturing in Siberia is clustered near the Ural
Mountains, near major urban areas along the Trans-Siberian Railroad, such as
Novosibirsk, and near isolated centers in the Russian Far East. India is now a
major industrial power, but its manufacturing sector employs only about 10
percent of the working population, while China's employs about 15 percent.
Since the 1960s industry, especially light manufacturing, has developed rapidly
in such countries as Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and
the Philippines. In other countries, industries tend to be associated with the
processing of local agricultural, mineral, and forest raw materials, with light
manufacturing for domestic markets, and with the assembly of machinery and
vehicles imported from other countries. The trend in many Asian countries is to
establish manufacturing industries geared to export, thereby taking advantage of
the relatively inexpensive labor; notable examples are the electronic-equipment
and clothing-manufacture industries of South Korea and Taiwan.
Energy
Although overall energy production has increased greatly since the 1960s, energy
consumption per capita remains extremely low in most Asian countries. The
more economically developed countries have moderate to high consumption
levels. These include the former Soviet republics, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Energy sources
are, in many regions, dependent on local resources. In Southwest Asia few
alternatives to petroleum exist as an energy source. Hydroelectric potentials are
immense in India, and about half of the electricity generated in that country
comes from waterpower. Nonetheless, much of the energy consumed in rural
India continues to be derived from the burning of dung and brushwood. In
Southeast Asia, oil production is substantial in certain countries such as
Indonesia and Brunei, but waterpower and fuel wood are the chief domestic
sources of energy. Both China and Japan have shown that small-scale
hydroelectric plants can be effective providers of energy to small towns and rural
areas. China is reported to have some 90,000 small run-of-stream (not dammed)
hydroelectric plants in operation, chiefly in southern China, in addition to some
20 large plants. Nonetheless, coal remains China's chief energy source. In Japan
petroleum is the largest energy source, and almost all of it is imported. Siberia is
immensely rich in hydroelectric potentials that have only recently begun to be
tapped.
Transportation
In most of Asia transportation systems are poorly developed. No comprehensive
continental land transportation system exists. Few railways cross international
boundaries, and where they do, as between China and the former Soviet
republics, they are underused. Much the same is true of roads, and, for the most
part, navigable rivers are also not international routes of transportation, the
Amur River, between Russia and China, being a major exception. Most of Asia's
international communication is by sea and by air. All major Asian ports are
connected with each other by both liner and tramper shipping services. Port
facilities are varied, but few ports other than those in Japan, Hong Kong, and
Singapore can handle large cargo. Singapore and Hong Kong are particularly
important as entrepôts, to which small shipments are brought from a vast
hinterland by small vessels and then shipped abroad. Air services link all major
cities. Tokyo is the most important Asian air center, and Bangkok is the second,
by virtue of its crossroads location in Southeast Asia. Domestic transportation in
most countries is also limited. Rural settlements are poorly connected with one
another or with larger towns. Highways are few, and rural roads are usually
unpaved. Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, and much of the Philippines
are the exceptions. Where navigable, rivers are often the main highways of
commerce, but not all countries have them. In China the Yangtze River has long
been the eastern-western transportation artery, and it is connected by canal with
the North China Plain. In Southeast Asia the Mekong, Menam, and Irrawaddy
rivers all have acted as the spatial integrators of national territories. In India,
however, the rivers have been much less important. The continent's chief
transportation mode is the railroad. Japan has a dense railroad network, and
China, which has the world's sixth longest railroad system, had by the mid-1970s
linked all of its major manufacturing centers and provincial capitals into one
vast network. Korea and Taiwan also are well served. The countries of Southeast
Asia, except for Thailand and Malaysia, and those of Southwest Asia have
railroad systems that are small and truncated. In South Asia an integrated
railroad system, originally built by the British, was divided by the political
separation of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The Trans-Caspian and Turk-Sib
railroads are the most important rail lines in Central Asia, and the Trans-
Siberian Railroad and its branches, such as the Baykal-Amur line, form the main
transportation system in Russian Siberia.
Trade
As a whole, the continent of Asia enters into world trade to a greater degree than
either Africa or South America. A very high proportion of this trade is
extracontinental. The important exceptions are the flow of oil from the Persian
Gulf to Japan; the lesser flows from Indonesia and Brunei to Japan; the trade of
China with Japan and with Southeast Asia; and, above all, the flow of raw
materials to Japan, chiefly from Southeast Asia, and the return flood of Japanese
manufactured goods to Southeast Asia. Japan ranks among the world leaders in
the value of international trade, but only about a third of this is with other Asian
countries. China and India both have a large value international trade, also
chiefly outside the continent. Malaysia and Indonesia are major traders in raw
materials. In per capita terms, however, all countries other than Japan, Taiwan,
Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore, the major Southwest Asian oil exporters, and
some former Soviet republics rank low on the world scale of international trade.
History
While Africa, for lack of other knowledge, is generally regarded as the birthplace
of the human species, Asia is believed to be the cradle of civilization. Yet this
civilization was not one and uniform, for the sheer size of the Asian mainland
made it almost inevitable that several different civilizations would arise,
independent of one another. The following historical survey attempts to show the
interactions, collisions, and successions of these civilizations in continental terms.
For additional information on countries or regions mentioned, see the history
sections of articles on the individual Asian countries. See also ASIA MINOR;
ASSYRIA; BABYLONIA; INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION;
MESOPOTAMIA; MIDDLE EAST; PERSIA; SIBERIA; SUMER.
Ancient Civilizations
The earliest known civilizations arose in the great river valleys of southwest Asia,
northwest India, and northern China, and despite their differences, all had
certain common features. All were agricultural societies that needed advanced
social and political structures to maintain irrigation and flood-control systems.
Raiding nomadic herders also forced the farmers in all of them to live in walled
cities for defense and to entrust their protection to an aristocratic class of
leaders. The invention of the plow about 3000 BC reduced the need for farm
labor, freeing workers to become artisans. Increased yield from the land and the
work of the artisans in turn provided trade items, and trade brought exchanges
between cultures.
Mesopotamia
The land that fostered the Sumer-Akkad culture of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
—that is, Mesopotamia—is often called the cradle of civilization. By 3000 BC,
the Sumerians irrigated their fields from precisely measured canals, used bronze
and polished stone tools, made textiles and wheel-turned pottery, built temples
and palaces, and traveled in wheeled carts and sailing ships. Their accurate
calendars predicted seasons, and their cuneiform writing was an international
script until the 4th century BC. They worshiped a sun god, and they lived by
written laws. Although the Sumer-Akkad Kingdom fell to northern invaders,
Mesopotamia remained the center of western Asian civilization until the 6th
century BC. Most important of the later rulers were the Babylonians (circa 1900-
1600 BC), the Assyrians (9th-7th century BC), and the Chaldeans (7th-6th
century BC). It was the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar II who destroyed Jerusalem
and deported the Jews. (Already, however, Judaism was a major religious force.)
About 1600 BC, invaders from southwestern Asia and Anatolia swept into
Babylonia, sometimes to destroy but overall to build and advance the civilization
founded by the Sumerians.
Indian Civilizations
By 2300 BC, an advanced civilization in the Indus Valley of northwest India
traded its cotton and textiles with Mesopotamia. As in Mesopotamia, irrigation
produced crop surpluses and required an advanced social and political system.
The two major cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, had straight streets lined with
large, two-story homes equipped with plumbing. The Indus peoples had written
languages, used wheeled carts, and exhibited a high level of creativity in their
art, jewelry, and toys. Between 1500 and 1200 BC, waves of Indo-European
speaking peoples—users of horse-drawn chariots—from Central Asia destroyed
the Indus cities, afterward settling in the Ganges Valley of northeast India. The
oldest preserved forms of their language—an Old Indic speech—are in the Vedic
Sanskrit (flourished about 1500 BC-200 BC), in which Vedic religious scriptures
were written (see SANSKRIT LANGUAGE). Between 900 and 500 BC they
settled into city-states under absolute monarchs. They depended on irrigated
farming, including rice culture (possibly imported from Southeast Asia). Their
Hindu religion, as embodied in the Vedas, provided for an elaborate caste system
that stratified society.
Roots of Chinese Civilization
A river basin also nurtured the early Chinese. Between 3000 and 1600 BC, the
Huang He (Yellow River) plain sustained large communities of farmers who
raised silkworms and spun silk thread and cloth, which they sent across the
camel trails of Central Asia. They had an advanced society, but written records
did not appear until the 16th century BC under the Shang dynasty. The Shang
ruled over a number of kings of walled city-states. They cooperated to repulse
the raiding northern nomads, who then dislodged other tribes, setting off a chain
of migrations such as that of the Aryans into India. The Chou, who displaced the
Shang, continued the feudal organization. Under the Eastern Chou (770-256
BC), China advanced in political, economic, and social life. Chinese territory
more than doubled to include south Manchuria and the Yangtze River Basin,
with probably the highest population concentration in the world. The Chou used
iron weapons, expanded irrigation, and built roads and canals to improve
communication and commerce. An educated civil service was developed to
replace hereditary officials. Three major strands of Chinese thought crystallized:
Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. See CHINESE PHILOSOPHY.
Major Ancient States
In the 11 centuries from 500 BC to AD 600, the early civilizations expanded and
interacted. Expansionist rulers such as Alexander the Great facilitated the
cultural exchange. The aggressive Manchurian nomads also caused tribal
migrations that brought masses of people into the orbit of civilization. By AD 500
the major world religions and philosophies, with the exception of Islam, had
spread far from their places of origin.
Cultural Interaction
An early expansionist, Cyrus the Great, unified peoples of Iranian descent into
the kingdom of Persia. He then built the Achaemenid Persian Empire (circa 550-
330 BC), which spread Persian culture from the Mediterranean to the Indus
River. The third Achaemenid king, Darius I, centralized the empire's
government and supported Zoroastrian worship of Ahura-Mazda, god of light.
See ZOROASTRIANISM. By 330 BC the Persian Empire had been conquered
by Alexander the Great, who dreamed of merging Eastern and Western cultures.
Although Alexander's early death interrupted this plan, his generals planted
Greek culture in the three kingdoms they made of his empire (see
HELLENISTIC AGE). The Seleucids ruled the Asian sector, which early broke
into several states. One of these, Bactria, straddled the east-west and north-south
trade routes across which Chinese silk and Indian cotton traveled to Greece and
Rome in return for glass, manufactured items, and gold. Elements of Greek
culture were channeled through Bactria across Asia. Even after nomadic tribes
from Central Asia conquered Bactria, Greek influences prevailed, for the new
Kushan rulers absorbed Hellenistic culture. Through the 1st century AD, Greek
was the international language of business and diplomacy. By this time,
Hellenized Romans were entrenched in western Asia, from which the Eastern
Roman Empire developed. Although Greek influences remained strong long after
the Seleucids had declined, much of southwestern and Central Asia and north
India were actually dominated first by Parthians (see PARTHIA) under the great
dynasty of Arsacids (circa 250 BC-AD 226) and then by the Persian Sassanids
(AD 226-651). They spread Persian culture widely. Ladies' costumes and
cosmetics, for example, were copied throughout Asia, and Persian architecture,
art, and religion moved both east and west. Both the Arsacids and the Sassanids
dominated the transcontinental trade, the terminus of which was in the Eastern
Roman, later the Byzantine, Empire.
Indian Expansionism
North India was also conquered by Persians, invaded by Alexander the Great,
and ruled by Greek kings and by former “barbarians” from Central Asia. As
international contacts grew, elements of Indian culture spread widely. Both
Hinduism and Buddhism may have influenced Greek philosophers. Indians, in
turn, felt strong foreign influences, as evidenced by the Greek-style Gandharan
Buddha images of the Kushan period. After the Kushans conquered north India
in the 1st century AD, they became Indianized, converted to Buddhism, and
encouraged its growth in the Central Asian city-states and in China. Although
foreigners dominated north India for long periods, two native dynasties gained
imperial status—the Maurya (322-185 BC), whose greatest ruler, Asoka, sent
Buddhist missionaries throughout India and Asia; and the Gupta (circa 320-c.
535), under whom Indian art, architecture, and civilization reached a pinnacle.
Small native kingdoms also ruled central and south India. The Tamil peoples of
the south first colonized Southeast Asia in the early centuries AD. From these
colonies grew the native Indianized kingdoms of Champa (modern central
Vietnam) and Funan (modern Cambodia) and lesser states in Thailand, Burma,
Malaya, and the Indonesian islands.
Spread of Chinese Civilization
Ambitious emperors of the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) spread Chinese
hegemony west across the wide Tarim River Basin. They built military outposts
along the enlarged Great Wall and the edges of the desert to protect the long
trade caravans against raiding nomad tribesmen. Persian, Arab, and Indian
traders frequented the Han capital, and the Eastern (Later) Han probably had
direct contact with Rome. In 105 BC, the Han colonized northern Korea, and
Chinese culture shaped the indigenous Korean kingdoms of Koguryo, Silla,
Pakche, and Kaya. To the south, the Chinese Sinicized Vietnam, which they
directly ruled for 1000 years. The Han reached new heights in literature,
especially after the discovery of papermaking, and in pottery, sculpture,
painting, and music. Their engineers built roads and canals comparable to those
of the Romans, and the prosperous urbanized society tried to live by Confucian
moral ideals. As the Han declined, frontier tribesmen were emboldened in their
attacks. In the early centuries AD, waves of Turkic, Mongol, and Hunnish
invaders set off tribal movements that pushed through Central Asia, into Europe
(see HUNS), and eventually to Rome itself. Many Chinese fled south, where a
Chinese state ruled by a series of dynasties formed in the Yangtze Valley. Despite
troubled times, however, Chinese civilization advanced, with Buddhism and
native Taoism the dominant religions. Although Chinese rule over Korea ended,
Chinese influence remained strong during Korea's period of the Three Kingdoms
(4th-7th century). The Koreans became Buddhists, and they used Chinese
characters for writing and the Chinese Confucian system of government. This
Chinese culture spread from Korea to the island kingdom of Japan, ruled by the
Yamato clan, which traced its origins to a legendary sun god. Becoming
expansionist, the Japanese conquered parts of Korea in the 4th century but were
driven out again two centuries later. By that time the Japanese had embraced
Buddhism.
Muslim and Mongol Ascendancy
From the 7th to the 15th century, two forces dominated Asian events: the spread
of the new religion of Islam and the expansion of the Mongols, who conquered
much of Asia and threatened Europe. The Mongols warred with and, on
occasion, accepted and thus strengthened Islam.
Rise and Spread of Islam
In 7th-century Arabia, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, claimed to have
received the will of Allah (God) through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad's
teachings, collected into the Koran, provided the framework of Islamic
governments. To spread the word of Allah, Muhammad set Arab tribes on the
road to conquest. He and his successors, the Umayyad caliphs (see
CALIPHATE), expanded Islam from India to Spain. The Umayyads and the
subsequent Abbasids presided from their respective centers in Damascus and
Baghdad over the Islamic states, whose culture combined Byzantine, Persian,
Babylonian, and Indian elements. A major link between them was the Arabic
language, which all shared through the Koran. The later Abbasids became
puppets of their Seljuk Turk soldiers from Central Asia, who threatened
Christian Byzantium. Combined with the closing off of Christian holy places in
Palestine, this threat touched off 300 years of Crusades, which brought great
European armies to western Asia. The Crusaders failed to dislodge the Muslims,
but they took back to Europe many elements of Islamic culture. When the
Mongols captured Baghdad in 1258, ending the Abbasid theocracy, Islam had
already taken root in India. Muslim traders introduced it in 711 to a country still
suffering from the Hunnish invasions, which had been interrupted by the
benevolent and cultured rule of the native Harsha (reigned 606-47). Muslim
Turks and Afghans repeatedly raided India, destroying Hindu and Buddhist
centers, until the foundation of the Delhi sultanate. Although slowed by Mongol
invasions, the sultanate continued Muslim expansion in India. While Muslim
fanatics were nearly destroying Indian Buddhism, Indian traders and
missionaries carried both Buddhism and Hinduism throughout Southeast Asia.
There the kingdom of Champa (see CHAMPA, KINGDOM OF) fought both the
Sinicized Vietnamese, to their north, and the Indianized Khmers of Angkor
(modern Cambodia), to their west. Angkor's advanced civilization with its great
stone temples was itself doomed to fall to the Thai, who were pushed out of South
China by the Mongols. The Buddhist kingdom of Pagan in Burma felt the direct
Mongol force. In Malaya and the East Indian islands, the Buddhist Sri Vijaya
kingdom of Sumatra (see SRI VIJAYA, KINGDOM OF) rivaled the Sailendras
of Java, who were also Hindu and Buddhist temple builders. They were followed
in turn by the Indianized Singosari and Majapahit kingdoms (see MAJAPAHIT,
KINGDOM OF), whose commerce by the 15th century was dominated by Indian
Muslim traders. Although Malaya and the islands thus became Muslim,
Buddhism persisted in Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia. Chinese Orbit and
Mongol Ascendancy Islam failed to convert the countries within the Chinese
orbit, possibly because China experienced a cultural renaissance under the Tang
dynasty (618-906). Chinese Tang influence reached from Japan to the Tarim
Basin, where China blocked Islam. The Tang fostered Confucian government,
but Buddhism flourished, spawning new sects such as the Ch'an (Zen), which
appealed to the Japanese. The subsequent Sung dynasty (960-1279) was pushed
out of the north by Khitan and Jurchin tribes and out of the south by Mongols.
In Korea, meanwhile, the united Silla Kingdom (660-935), which was allied with
the Tang, continued Korean borrowing of Chinese culture and religion. The
succeeding Koryó dynasty (935-1392), like the Chinese Sung, was beset by
Khitans and Jurchens before falling to the Mongols. As Mongol power declined,
a Korean general founded the Yi dynasty (1392-1910). China's renaissance also
affected the Japanese, who intensified their adoption of Chinese culture. The 7thcentury
Taika and 8th-century Taiho edicts adopted Chinese government and
socioeconomic ideas. The court copied Chinese rituals and customs, and
Buddhism spread Chinese ideas countrywide. As the provincial nobility grew
stronger, the Fujiwara clan gained control. During their rule, known as the
Heian period (794-1185), the Japanese court achieved an extreme of luxury, as
poetry writing, music, dancing, painting, landscape gardening, and perfume
smelling became the primary activities of the courtiers. Ending this dilettantism,
the Minamoto clan became military dictators (shoguns) and ruled at Kamakura,
while powerless emperors reigned at Kyoto (1185-1333). Repulsing two Mongol
invasions so weakened Kamakura that power was seized by the Ashikaga, under
whom Japan fell into feudal anarchy. The Mongols who dominated Asia for two
centuries originated in the vast Asian steppeland. They came to power under
Genghis Khan, who adroitly used espionage, trickery, terror, and talented men of
all races to conquer western and North China and parts of Central Asia. His sons
and grandsons expanded the Mongol Empire into western and southern
Turkestan, Iran, and Russia. After North China and Korea fell, Kublai Khan
conquered the south, where he ended the Sung rule and proclaimed the Yüan
dynasty (1279-1368). Mongol expeditions against Southeast Asia were doomed by
the tropical climate, and naval attacks against Java and Japan failed. The use of
foreign officials, corruption, heavy taxes, flood, famine, and banditry led to the
overthrow of the Mongols by the Ming (1368-1644). During their ascendancy,
however, the Mongols accelerated cultural exchanges by maintaining an open,
thriving intercontinental trade and by encouraging foreigners such as Marco
Polo to serve in the Mongol court in China. Rise of Colonialism With the fall of
the Mongols, rival Asian empires contended for power: the Ottoman Turks, the
Iranians, the Mughals of India, and the Chinese under the Ming and Ch'ing. The
political disintegration closed over-land trade. Then, as Europe's new national
states entered an era of exploration and colonialism, the Ottoman Turks cut off
the western end of the sea route to the East. The resulting international
competition for trade subjected Asia to European encroachment. Post-Mongol
Empires The Muslim Ottomans, who thus hastened European expansion, had
conquered the remains of the Seljuk and Byzantine empires and moved north
into Europe. They then took Constantinople, Syria, and the holy cities of Islam,
Mecca and Medina. After 1566, however, there were few strong sultans, and as
Ottoman power declined, their empire became subject to European rivalries.
Iran revived under the Safavid dynasty (1502-1736) but then became a
battlefield for Turks, Russians, and Afghans. The subsequent Kajar dynasty
(1794-1925) was a pawn in European power struggles. As did Turkey and Iran,
Muslim India experienced an early renaissance under the Mughal dynasty (1526-
1858), which claimed descent from Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. Religious
toleration and political unity grew during the long reign of the third emperor,
Akbar. Later, however, India fell into warring Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh states
while weak emperors reigned in Delhi. Into this power vacuum moved the
empire-building Europeans. Colonial Expansion By the mid-19th century, the
major colonial powers in Asia were Great Britain and Russia. The Dutch
controlled the East Indies (modern Indonesia) and the lucrative spice trade,
which they had wrested from the Portuguese; Spain ruled the Philippines; and
the French had a toehold in Indochina. The Portuguese, who had been first to
bypass the Turks by sailing around Africa, had lost most of their Asian
strongholds. Asia was torn by the rivalry between the great powers. In India, for
example, during the Anglo-French wars of the 18th century, both sides used
Indian soldiers (sepoys). After defeating the French in the late 18th century, the
British expanded in India, annexing some states, offering protection to others,
until—by 1850—they controlled the entire subcontinent. Indian discontent with
British rule exploded in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Although bloodily suppressed,
the mutiny brought reforms that perpetuated British control for nearly another
century. From India, the British moved into Burma and Malaya. Two Anglo-
Burmese wars (1824-26 and 1852) cost Burma its seacoast. The British extended
protection over Muslim states of the Malay Peninsula and took direct possession
of the important trade centers of Singapore, Pinang, and Malacca. Although
Britain also threatened Siam, the Thai kingdom bargained its claims to several
Malay states in order to retain its own independence. The French lost India, but
they gained influence in Indochina. After 1400, Vietnam had broken into two
states, but it was reunited in the 19th century by the southern Nguyen dynasty,
who used French military assistance. The Nguyen move into Cambodia and
Laos, and their persecution of Christians, led to French annexations in the south
and the extension of French protection over Cambodia. Russian expansion into
Asia far surpassed that of the British in area and was much earlier completed.
By 1632, Russian traders and cossacks had reached the Pacific. Soldiers and
officials followed, building forts and collecting tribute from native tribes. Russia
advanced into Turkestan in 1750 and secured claims to the Caucasus by 1828.
Breaking Down the Doors
China's experience with the Europeans in this period was quite different. A
thriving trade between Europe and China marked both the early Ming and early
Ch'ing dynasties. The early Ming added tributaries and sent great fleets as far as
Africa, showing superiority over all European nations. But then they withdrew
into themselves until pirates ravaged the Chinese coast while Confucianist
officials bickered at court. In this crisis, a Sinicized Manchu tribe seized Beijing
and proclaimed the Ch'ing dynasty. Their great emperor K'ang Hsi expanded
China, met with scholarly missionaries, and welcomed trade, which grew despite
China's treatment of foreigners as inferiors and the confinement of them to
Canton (Guangzhou) and Macao. Over Chinese protests, opium became a major
trade item in Canton (Guangzhou), where the British predominated. In the mid-
19th century, disagreement over opium sales brought armed clashes between the
Chinese and foreigners, clashes that forced China to open other ports, cede Hong
Kong to Britain and Amur Province to Russia, accept Western equality, and
grant other trade and diplomatic concessions. While still independent, China was
humbled by the European “barbarians.” The impact of Western trade hit Japan
near the close of its anarchic Ashikaga shogunate, which was ended by a military
triumvirate in 1573. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the brilliant general of the group,
completed Japan's reunification in 1587 with the aid of Portuguese guns and
military advice. He then unleashed his forces on Korea, but was turned back by a
coalition of Chinese Ming and Korean forces. Under the Tokugawa clan, who
succeeded to the shogunate, the Japanese faced the full impact of foreign
influences, which they viewed with fear and suspicion. First had come the
Portuguese and Spanish, accompanied by missionaries who spread Christianity
through the islands. Fearing that the missionaries were forerunners of foreign
invasion, the shoguns banned Christianity, and, when the Europeans ignored the
ban, they were expelled from Japan. Western trade stopped, except with the
Dutch, who avoided missionary activities and helped suppress a Christian
rebellion. For two peaceful centuries, the Dutch were Japan's sole link with the
West. Foreigners knocked vainly on Japan's door until 1854, when an American
mission under Matthew Perry secured a treaty opening consular relations. In
1858, the first consul, Townsend Harris, concluded a trade treaty. Korea's Yi
dynasty also shut off Western trade and persecuted Christians. As tributary to
China, Korea expected protection, but when 19th-century Europeans forced
China's doors, Korea only shut its own more tightly. Imperial Expansion and
Modernization Colonialism and imperialism brought new problems to Asians,
who were previously used to absorbing invaders. The new sea invaders came to
trade; but as their technical and military superiority grew, they sought economic
and political control. Techniques of Western Exploitation In establishing this
supremacy the European colonizers generally took the gradual approach.
Requests for trade were followed by demands for forts and land to protect the
trade, and for concessions to exploit local resources. Government and military
advisers were then pressed on local rulers. Weaker rulers were offered
protection, which in time involved some control. Sometimes, as in the East
Indies, tribute was demanded, payable in trade goods. In nations such as Iran
and China, rival powers carved out spheres of interest. The ultimate result was
annexation and direct rule. The imperialists built railroads, roads, canals, and
some schools, but they also invested in plantations, oil wells, and other
enterprises linked with the world economy. Most of the profits went abroad.
Meanwhile, population growth brought fragmentation of farms, urbanization,
and demoralizing social problems. Except in Japan and Siam, traditional Asian
institutions were too slow in borrowing Western techniques or ideologies to
prevent humiliating exploitation, unequal treaties, or foreign rule. By World War
II, nationalism and socialism had spread among the Western-educated native
elite, and movements for self-government and independence emerged
everywhere. The colonial governments, however, usually responded too slowly to
the rising expectations these movements generated. Responses to Imperialism
The training of native armies and the education of an elite produced internal
forces that destroyed the existing dynasties and prompted reform and
modernization. In the Ottoman Empire and Iran, for example, foreign-trained
army officers seized power. They aroused nationalism and ruthlessly promoted
modernization.