 the world’s largest and most diverse continent.

It occupies the
eastern four-fifths of the giant Eurasian landmass. Asia is more
a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use
of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the
potential of obscuring the enormous diversity among the
regions it encompasses.

 Asia has both the highest and the lowest points on the surface
of Earth, has the longest coastline of any continent, is subject
overall to the world’s widest climatic extremes, and,
consequently, produces the most varied forms of vegetation
and animal life on Earth.
 Asia came from the word for “sunrise”, in many languages.
 It was referred to as asu (ascend), or asa (east), referring to
the direction of the sunrise.
 The East (Orient)
- was the Asian world, the region of the rising sun.

 The West (Occident)

- was Europe and the Americas, the region of the
setting sun.
 East Asia (Far East Asia)
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia
 West Asia
 Central Asia
 The Asian landscape is full of extremes. It has the world’s
tallest and deepest areas, the wettest and driest places.

 Asia has many peninsulas which stretch out like

octuposarms, including India, Indochina, Malaya, and
Korea.

 Asia has numerous rivers that serves as highways of

commerce and communications.
 Christianity
 Judaism
 Islam
 Buddhism
 Hinduism
 Confucianism
 Shintoism
 Zoroastrianism
 major religion stemming from the life,
teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the
Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st
century CE. It has become the largest of the
world’s religions and, geographically, the
most widely diffused of all faiths. It has
a constituency of more than two billion
believers.
 monotheistic religion developed among the
ancient Hebrews. Judaism is characterized
by a belief in one transcendent God who
revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and
the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life
in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic
traditions. Judaism is the complex
phenomenon of a total way of life for the
Jewish people, comprising theology, law,
and innumerable cultural traditions.
 major world religion promulgated by the
Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th
century CE. The Arabic term islām, literally
“surrender,” illuminates the fundamental
religious idea of Islam—that the believer
(called a Muslim, from the active particle
of islām) accepts surrender to the will
of Allah (in Arabic, Allāh: God). Allah is viewed
as the sole God—creator, sustainer, and
restorer of the world. The will of Allah, to which
human beings must submit, is made known
through the sacred scriptures, the Qurʾān (often
spelled Koran in English), which Allah revealed
to his messenger, Muhammad.
 religion and philosophy that
developed from the teachings of
the Buddha (Sanskrit: “Awakened
One”), a teacher who lived in
northern India between the mid-6th
and mid-4th centuries BCE (before
the Common Era). Spreading
from India to Central and Southeast
Asia, China, Korea, and Japan,
Buddhism has played a central role in
the spiritual, cultural, and social life
of Asia, and, beginning in the 20th
century, it spread to the West.
 major world religion originating on the
Indian subcontinent and comprising several
and varied systems of philosophy, belief,
and ritual. Although the name Hinduism is
relatively new, having been coined by British
writers in the first decades of the 19th
century, it refers to a
rich cumulative tradition of texts and
practices, some of which date to the 2nd
millennium BCE or possibly earlier. If
the Indus valley civilization (3rd–2nd
millennium BCE) was the earliest source of
these traditions, as some scholars hold, then
Hinduism is the oldest living religion on
Earth.
 The way of life propagated by Confucius in
the 6th–5th century BCE and followed by the
Chinese people for more than two millennia.
Although transformed over time, it is still the
substance of learning, the source of values,
and the social code of the Chinese. Its
influence has also extended to other
countries, particularly Korea, Japan,
and Vietnam.
 indigenous religious beliefs and
practices of Japan. The word Shintō,
which literally means “the way
of kami” (generally sacred or divine
power, specifically the various gods or
deities), came into use in order to
distinguish indigenous Japanese
beliefs from Buddhism, which had
been introduced into Japan in the 6th
century CE. Shintō has no founder, no
official sacred scriptures in the strict
sense, and no fixed dogmas, but it has
preserved its guiding beliefs
throughout the ages.
 is an ancient Persian religion that
may have originated as early as
4,000 years ago. Arguably the
world's first monotheistic faith, it's
one of the oldest religions still in
existence.
 Founding Figures: Zoroaster
 Deity Or Deities: Ahura Mazda
Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is a Western Iranian language
belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the
Indo-European languages.

 Native speakers: 70 million; (110 million total speakers)

 Early forms: Old Persian: Middle Persian
 Writing systems: Persian alphabet (Iran and Afghanistan), Tajik
alphabet (Tajikistan), Hebrew alphabet, Persian Braille
 Language family: Indo-European languages, Iranian languages, Indo-
Iranian languages,Western Iranian languages
 Hindi or Modern Standard Hindi, is a standardised and
Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. In India,
the official standardized variety of the language is based
primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and other nearby
areas of northern India.

 Native speakers: 260 million

 Language family: Indo-European languages, Indo-Aryan
languages, Indo-Iranian languages
 Native to: India
 English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early
medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is
named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to
the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England.

 Region: British Isles (historically) Worldwide

 Early forms: Old English: Middle English > Early Modern English
 Signed forms: Manually coded English; (multiple systems)
 Language family: Germanic languages, MORE
 Writing systems: Latin script (English alphabet), Anglo-Saxon
runes (Historically), English Braille, Unified English Braille
 Standard Chinese, also known as Modern Standard Mandarin, Standard
Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin Chinese, or simply Mandarin, is
a standard variety of Chinese that is the sole official language of China,
a national language of Taiwan and one of the four official languages of
Singapore.
 Early form: Middle Mandarin
 Signed forms: Wenfa Shouyu
 Native speakers: (has begun acquiring native speakers cited 1988,
2014); L2 speakers: 7% of China (2014)
 Writing systems: Traditional Chinese characters, MORE
 Language family: Sino-Tibetan languages
 Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually
intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-
Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the ethnic Chinese
majority and many minority ethnic groups in China.

 Ethnicity: Chinese/Han
 Native speakers: 1.2 billion (2004)
 Dialects: Mandarin; Jin;Wu; Gan; Xiang; Min; Hakka;Yue; Ping; Huizhou
 Standard forms: Standard Mandarin Standard Cantonese
 Language family: Sino-Tibetan languages, Sinitic languages
 Arabic is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th
centuries CE. It is now the lingua franca of the Arab world.

 Standard forms: Modern Standard Arabic

 Early form: Proto-Arabic; Old Arabic; Old Hijazi; Classical Arabic
 Native speakers: 310 million, all varieties (2011–2016); 270 million L2
speakers of Standard (Modern) Arabic
 Signed forms: Signed Arabic (national forms)
The Kurdish languages constitute a dialect continuum spoken by Kurds
in Kurdistan and the diaspora. The three Kurdish languages are
Kurmanji, Sorani, and Southern Kurdish. A separate group of non-
Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, the Zaza–Gorani languages,
are also spoken by several million ethnic Kurds.

 Native speakers: c. 20–30 million (2000–2010 est.)

 Native to: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
 Ethnicity: Kurds
 Language family: Iranian languages, Indo-European languages, Indo-
Iranian languages,Western Iranian languages
Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language that originated in Vietnam,
where it is the national and official language. Spoken natively by an
estimated 76 million people, it is the native language of the Vietnamese
people, as well as a first or second language for the many ethnic
minorities of Vietnam.

 Native speakers: 76 million (2009)

 Native to: Vietnam and Southern China
 Recognised minority language in: Czech Republic;
 Language family: Austroasiatic languages,Vietic languages
Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 128 million
people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a
member of the Japonic language family, and its relation to other
languages, such as Korean, is debated.

 Writing system: Chinese characters (kanji); Japanese Braille

 Native speakers: 125 million (2010)
 Pronunciation: nihongo
 Language family: Japonic languages
The Korean language is an East Asian language spoken by about 77
million people. It is a member of the Koreanic language family and is
the official and national language of both Koreas: North Korea and
South Korea, with different standardized official forms used in each
country.

 Native speakers: 77.2 million (2010)

 Linguist List: Middle Korean
 Standard forms: Munhwa'ŏ (North Korea) Pyojuneo (South Korea)
 Ethnicity: Koreans
 Writing systems: Hangul, Korean Braille, Hanja
Urdu —or, more precisely, Modern Standard Urdu—is a Persianised
standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the official national
language and lingua franca of Pakistan.

 Native speakers: 70 million

 Native to: Pakistan, India
 Official language in: Pakistan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu
and Kashmir, Telangana
Mandarin is a group of related varieties of Chinese spoken across
most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the
Beijing dialect, the basis of Standard Chinese or Standard Mandarin.

 Native speakers: 910 million (2015); 200 million L2 (no date)

 Standard forms: Standard Chinese; (Putonghua, Guoyu)
 Signed forms: Wenfa Shouyu
 Writing systems: Chinese characters (Simplified, Traditional)
Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil
people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan
Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language of three
countries: India, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

 Native speakers: 70 million

 Language family: Dravidian languages
 Writing system: Tamil script, Grantha script, Pallava script, MORE
 Native to: India, Sri Lanka
Malay is an Austronesian language spoken in Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore, as well as parts of Thailand.

 Native speakers: 77 million (2007); Total: 250–300 million (2009)

 Standard forms: Indonesian Malaysian
 Signed forms: Manually Coded Malay; Sistem Isyarat Bahasa
Indonesia
 Language family: Austronesian languages
Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language native to Israel, the modern
version of which is spoken by over nine million people worldwide.
Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their
ancestors.
 Official language in: Israel (as Modern Hebrew)
 Ethnicity: Israelites; Jews and Samaritans
 Native to: Israel
 Early forms: Biblical Hebrew: Mishnaic Hebrew > Medieval Hebrew
 Writing systems: Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew Braille, Paleo-Hebrew
alphabet (Biblical Hebrew), Aramaic alphabet (Biblical Hebrew)
 Language family: Semitic languages, Afroasiatic languages
Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language
primarily spoken by the Bengalis in South Asia. It is the official and
most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and second most widely
spoken of the 22 scheduled languages of India, behind Hindi.

 Native speakers: 250 million

 Spoken by: Bengalis
 Language family: Indo-European languages, MORE
 Dialects: Bengali dialects
Maldivian, correctly known as Dhivehi or Divehi, is an Indo-Aryan
language spoken in the South Asian island country of the Maldives; it
is the language of the Maldivians, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native
to the country.

 Official language in: Maldives

 Native speakers: 340,000 (2012)
 Native to: The Maldives, Minicoy Island (Maliku)
Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan,
Southern Zone, Insular Indo-Aryan, Dhivehi
Thai, Central Thai, is the sole official and national language of Thailand
and the first language of the Central Thai people. It is a member of the
Tai group of the Kra–Dai language family. Over half of Thai vocabulary
is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon and Old Khmer.

 Writing systems: Thai script, Thai and Lao Braille

 Regions: Thailand, Cambodia (Koh Kong District)
 Language family: Tai languages, Kra–Dai languages
Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. Filipino is also
designated, along with English, as an official language of the country. It
is a standardized variety of the Tagalog language, an Austronesian
regional language that is widely spoken in the Philippines.

 Native speakers: 45 million (2013)

 Native to: Philippines
 Language family: Austronesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian
Sinhala, also known as Sinhalese, is the native language of the
Sinhalese people, who make up the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka,
numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first
language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about four
million.

 Native speakers: 17.00 million (2012)

 Official language in: Sri Lanka
 Early form: Elu
 Language family: Indo-European languages, Indo-Iranian languages
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. It is a standardized
register of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a
lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world.

 Writing system: Latin script (Malay alphabet)

 Native speakers: 43 million (2010 census)
 Language family: Austronesian languages
The Malaysian language or Malaysian Malay is the name regularly
applied to the Malay language used in Malaysia. Constitutionally,
however, the official language of Malaysia is Malay, but the government
from time to time refers to it as Malaysian.

 Language family: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian

 Writing systems: Latin script (Malay alphabet), Arabic script (Jawi
alphabet)
The Burmese language is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar
where it is an official language and the language of the Bamar people,
the country's principal ethnic group.

 Native speakers: 33 million (2007); Second language: 10 million (no

date)
 Native to: Myanmar
 Language family: Tibeto-Burman languages, Sino-Tibetan languages
Taiwanese Mandarin or national language of the Republic of China, is a
variety of Mandarin Chinese and a national language of Taiwan. It is
based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect together with the
grammar of vernacular Chinese.

 Official language in: Taiwan

 Writing system: Traditional Chinese characters
 Language family: Sino-Tibetan languages
Darī or Dari Persian or synonymously Farsi is a variety of the Persian
language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognized
and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian
language, hence, it is also known as Afghan Persian in many Western
sources.

 Native speakers: 12.5 million (2000–2011); official, language of 50%

of the Afghanistan population.
 Official language in: Afghanistan
 Language family: Iranian languages, Indo-European
languages, Indo-Iranian languages,Western Iranian languages
Pashto, sometimes spelled Pukhto, is an Eastern Iranian language in the
Indo-European family. It is known in Persian literature as Afghāni and in
Hindustani literature as Paṭhānī. Speakers of the language are called
Pashtuns/Afghans. Pashto and Dari are the official languages of
Afghanistan.

 Native speakers: 38 million (2019)

 Official language in: Afghanistan
 Regions: Southern Asia, Central Asia
Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language of the sub-branch of Eastern Pahari.
It is the official language of Nepal and one of the 22 scheduled
languages of India.

 Native speakers: 16 million

 Language family: Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-European
languages, Indo-Iranian languages
 Native to: Nepal
Khmer or Cambodian is the language of the Khmer people and the
official language of Cambodia. With approximately 16 million
speakers, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language.

 Writing system: Khmer script (Abugida)

 Native speakers: 16 million (2007)
 Language family: Austroasiatic languages, Mon-Khmer languages
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language that is the only
language in the Armenian branch. It is the official language of Armenia
as well as the de facto Republic of Artsakh. Historically being spoken
throughout the Armenian Highlands, today, Armenian is widely spoken
throughout the Armenian diaspora.

 Language family: Indo-European languages

 Writing systems: Armenian alphabet, Armenian Braille