Area
Population	3,879,000,000 (1st)
Density	87/km2 (225/sq mi)
Demonym	Asian
Countries	48
List countries	List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
Dependencies
Unrecognized
Languages	List of languages
Time	UTC+2 to UTC+12
Internet	.asia
Cities	List of cities }}

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area) and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.

Asia is defined according to similar definitions presented by the Encyclopedia Britannica and the National Geographic Society as 4/5 of the landmass of Eurasia — with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe — located to the east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas. 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. Given its size and diversity, Asia — a toponym dating back to classical antiquity — "is more a cultural concept" incorporating diverse regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity Asia differs very widely among and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties and government systems.

Definition and boundaries

Three-continent system of the Greek geographers

The original distinction between Europe and Asia was made by the ancient Greeks. They used the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Kerch Strait, and the Sea of Azov as the border between Asia and Europe. The Nile was often used as the border between Asia and Africa (then called Libya), although some Greek geographers suggested the Red Sea would form a better boundary. Darius' canal between the Nile and the Red Sea introduced considerable variation in opinion. Under the Roman Empire, the Don River emptying into the Black Sea was the western border of Asia. It was the northernmost navigable point of the European shore.

The Europe-Asia boundary

The Don River became unsatisfactory to northern Europeans when Peter the Great, king of the Tsardom of Russia, defeating rival claims of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire to the eastern lands, as well as armed resistance by the tribes of Siberia, synthesized a new Russian Empire extending to the Ural Mountains and beyond, founded in 1721. The major geographical theorist of the empire was actually a former Swedish prisoner-of-war, taken at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and assigned to Tobolsk, where he associated with Peter's Siberian official, Vasily Tatishchev, and was allowed freedom to conduct geographical and anthropological studies in preparation for a future book.

At home in Sweden again, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia. The Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography as well as other cultural heritage. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th-century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. In the maps of the period, Transcaucasia was counted as Asian. The incorporation of most of that region into the Soviet Union tended to push views of the border to the south.

The Oceania-Asia boundary

The border between Asia and Oceania is placed somewhere in the Malay archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. Oceania has never been Asia, whatever it may have been defined to be. The chief factor in determining what islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of the various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process." Currently Malaysia and Indonesia with the western half of New Guinea are in Southeast Asia (although the New Guinea territory of Indonesia is being disputed by the natives).

The ongoing process of definition

Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. In contrast to Europe, Asia is the largest and most culturally diverse of the continents in the seven-continent system. It does not exactly correspond to the cultural borders of its various types of constituents.

In addition to its general inherited geographical meaning, to which the entire literate world subscribes, Asia has any number of agency-specific meanings organizationally and operationally of use in more restricted fields of interest. For example, the World University Service of Canada is a volunteer organization dedicated to bringing educational, health and other services to nations that need them the most. The regional divisions most convenient to its operations include, among others, the Middle East and Europe, and South and Southeast Asia, termed just "Asia." Its administrative Asia is substantially different from the overall geographic and the same may be said of many hundreds more agencies across the globe that operate in Asia from headquarters elsewhere. Some of the most innovative and perhaps the most transitory uses of "Asia" have been promulgated by the news media reporting on current events. Their classifications must be the most suitable for the news and the sources of it. For example, the BBC News has an Asia-Pacific section, which acquires news from anywhere in Australasia, Oceania or the Pacific side of the Americas.

Supercontinent

From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe, the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of the continent of Asia." Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass — or of Afro-Eurasia; geologically, Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass (except for the Suez Canal) and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and most of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate, adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) on the North American Plate.

Etymology

The place name, Asia, in various forms in a large number of modern languages is of unknown ultimate provenience. Its etymology and language of origin are uncertain. It appears to be one of the most ancient of recorded names. A number of theories have been published. English Asia can be traced through the formation of English literature to Latin literature, where it has the same form, Asia. Whether all uses and all forms of the name derive also from the Latin of the Roman Empire is much less certain.

"Asia" in classical antiquity

Latin Asia and Greek Ἀσία appear to be the same word. Roman authors translated Ἀσία as Asia. The Romans named a province Asia, which was in the location of the then Asia. There was an Asia Minor and an Asia Maior (Iraq), of which the name of Minor survived. As the earliest evidence of the name is Greek, it is likely circumstantially that Asia came from Ἀσία, but ancient transitions, due to the lack of literary contexts, are difficult to catch in the act. The most likely vehicles were the ancient geographers and historians, such as Herodotus, who were all Greek. Roman civilization Hellenized extensively. Ancient Greek certainly evidences early and rich uses of the name.

The first continental use of Asia is attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC), not because he innovated it, but because his ''Histories'' are the earliest surviving prose to describe it in any detail. He defines it carefully, mentioning the previous geographers whom he had read, but whose works are now missing. By it he means Anatolia and the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names were "given to a tract which is in reality one" (Europa, Asia, and Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus (i.e. Hesione), but that the Lydians say it was named after Asies, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis. In Greek mythology, "Asia" (''Ἀσία'') or "Asie" (''Ἀσίη'') was the name of a "Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia."

Herodotus' geographical puzzlement was perhaps only a form of disagreement, as, having read the earlier Greek poetry along with everyone else literate, he would have known perfectly well why places received female names. Athens, Mycenae, Thebes and many other locations in fact had them. In ancient Greek religion, places were under the care of female divinities, parallel to guardian angels. The poets detailed their doings and generations in allegoric language salted with entertaining stories, which subsequently playwrights transformed into classical Greek drama and became "Greek mythology."

For example, Hesiod mentions the daughters of Tethys and Ocean, among whom are a "holy company", "who with the Lord Apollo and the Rivers have youths in their keeping." Many of these are geographic: Doris, Rhodea, Europa, Asia. Hesiod explains:

"For there are three-thousand neat-ankled daughters of Ocean who are dispersed far and wide, and in every place alike serve the earth and the deep waters."

The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer) mentions two Phrygians (the tribe that replaced the Luvians in Lydia) in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also a marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος.

"Asia" in the Bronze Age

Before Greek poetry, the Aegean Sea area was in a Greek Dark Age, at the beginning of which syllabic writing was lost and alphabetic writing had not begun. Prior to then in the Bronze Age the records of the Assyrian Empire, the Hittite Empire and the various Mycenaean states of Greece mention a region undoubtedly Asia, certainly in Anatolia, including if not identical to Lydia. These records are administrative and do not include poetry.

The Mycenaean states were destroyed about 1200 BC by unknown agents although one school of thought assigns the Dorian invasion to this time. The burning of the palaces baked clay diurnal administrative records written in a Greek syllabic script called Linear B, deciphered by a number of interested parties, most notably by a young World War II cryptographer, Michael Ventris, subsequently assisted by the scholar, John Chadwick. A major cache discovered by Carl Blegen at the site of ancient Pylos included hundreds of male and female names formed by different methods.

Some of these are of women held in servitude (as study of the society implied by the content reveals). They were used in trades, such as cloth-making, and usually came with children. The epithet, lawiaiai, "captives," associated with some of them identifies their origin. Some are ethnic names. One in particular, aswiai, identifies "women of Asia." Perhaps they were captured in Asia, but some others, Milatiai, appear to have been of Miletus, a Greek colony, which would not have been raided for slaves by Greeks. Chadwick suggests that the names record the locations where these foreign women were purchased. The name is also in the singular, Aswia, which refers both to the name of a country and to a female of it. There is a masculine form, aswios. This Aswia appears to have been a remnant of a region known to the Hittites as Assuwa, centered on Lydia, or "Roman Asia."

Alternatively, the etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word '''', which means 'to go outside' or 'to ascend', referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East and also likely connected with the Phoenician word ''asa'' meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for ''Europe'', as being from Akkadian ''erēbu(m)'' 'to enter' or 'set' (of the sun).

T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from ''asu'', meaning 'east' in Assyrian (''ereb'' for ''Europe'' meaning 'west'). The ideas of ''Occidental'' (form Latin ''Occidens'' 'setting') and ''Oriental'' (from Latin ''Oriens'' for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with ''Western'' and ''Eastern''. Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single classification, almost as if there were a need for setting the distinction between Western and Eastern civilizations on the Eurasian continent. Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two outspoken Japanese figures on the subject.

Also, ''Assuwa'' has been suggested as the origin for the name of the continent "Asia". The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under Tudhaliya I around 1400 BC.

History

The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.

The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.

The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

The Islamic Caliphate took over the Middle East and Central Asia during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe.

Geography

Geography is the study of the major divisions of a specified region, here Asia. Most anciently it described the major geopolitical subdivisions, but more recently includes other bases, such as geology.

Economy

Asia has the second largest nominal GDP of all continents, after Europe, but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2010, the largest economies in Asia are the People's Republic of China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of top 5 were in Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, London and Shanghai. Around 68 percent of international firms have office in Hong Kong.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history, until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020. In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. According to IMF statistics for the year 2010, the mostly unrecognized Republic of China PPP-adjusted GDP per capita, at USD 34,743, is already higher than that of Finland, France, or Japan. By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world. Several trade blocs exist, with the most developed being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Philippines and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.

According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has four main financial centres: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centres and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million of millionaires and slightly below North America with 3.4 million of millionaires. Last year Asia had toppled Europe. Millionaires means have worth at least $1 million, excluding their homes.

Demographics

East Asia had by far the strongest overall HDI improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the Report’s analysis of health, education and income data. PR China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the “Top 10 Movers” list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region’s top performers in improving school enrolment and life expectancy. Nepal, a South Asian country, emerges as one of the world’s fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than 1970's.; more than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago. Japan and South Korea ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 11 and 12 in the world, which are in the “very high human development” category), followed by Hong Kong (SAR)(21) and Singapore (27). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.

Languages

Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.

Mythology

Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Christians in the Old Testament, is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Hindu mythology tells about an Avatar of the God Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring.

Religions

Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of material world. Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.

Abrahamic

The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha'i Faith originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest Jewish population), though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia and Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, southern Philippines (Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. The Bahá'í Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh. Since the middle of the 20th Century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because the Bahá'í Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities.

Dharmic and Taoist

The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.

Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.

Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (98%), Thailand (95%), Burma (89%), Japan (84-96%), Bhutan (75%), Sri Lanka (69%), Laos (67%-98%) and Mongolia (50%). Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore (42.5%), Taiwan (35.1%-93%), South Korea (23.2%), Malaysia(19.2%), Nepal (10.7%), Vietnam (9.3-80%), People's Republic of China(8-80%), North Korea (4.5%-60%), Indonesia (<2%); and small communities in India and Bangladesh. In many Chinese communities, Mahayana Buddhism is easily syncretized with Taoism, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated. The Communist-governed countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported.

Jainism is found mainly in India and in oversea Indian communities such as India and Malaysia. Sikhism is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantly in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. Taoism is found mainly in Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.

Culture

Nobel prizes

The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali Indian poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.

Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered on global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998 to 2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.

Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).

Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma(Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Most recently, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China.

Sir C.V.Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".

Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yaser Arafat, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories) Kim (South Korea), Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).

In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.

The Dalai Lama has received approximately eighty-four awards over his spiritual and political career. On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1989.

See also

References to articles:

Subregions of Asia

Special topics:

Asian Century

Asian cuisine

Asian furniture

Asian Games

Asian Monetary Unit

Asian people

Eastern world

Far East

Fauna of Asia

Flags of Asia

Middle East

* Eastern Mediterranean

* Levant

* Near East

Pan-Asianism

Lists:

List of cities in Asia

List of metropolitan areas in Asia by population

List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia

References

Bibliography

Further reading

Higham, Charles. ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations''. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.

Kamal, Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi:Wordsmith,2002, ISBN 978-81-87412-08-3

Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. ''Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society.'' New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.

Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen. ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.

External links

Category:Continents

ace:Asia af:Asië ak:Ehyia als:Asien am:እስያ ang:Asia ar:آسيا an:Asia arc:ܐܣܝܐ (ܝܒܫܬܐ) roa-rup:Asia frp:Asia as:এছিয়া ast:Asia gn:Asia ay:Asya az:Asiya bm:Asia bn:এশিয়া bjn:Asia zh-min-nan:A-chiu map-bms:Asia be:Азія be-x-old:Азія bcl:Asya bi:Asia bar:Asien bo:ཨེ་ཤེ་ཡ། bs:Azija br:Azia bg:Азия ca:Àsia cv:Ази ceb:Asya cs:Asie cbk-zam:Asia ny:Asia co:Asia cy:Asia da:Asien pdc:Asie de:Asien dsb:Azija et:Aasia el:Ασία es:Asia eo:Azio ext:Ásia eu:Asia fa:آسیا hif:Asia fo:Asia fr:Asie fy:Aazje fur:Asie ga:An Áise gv:Yn Aishey gag:Aziya gd:Àisia gl:Asia gan:亞洲 glk:آسیا gu:એશિયા got:𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌰 hak:Â-chû xal:Азия ko:아시아 ha:Asiya haw:‘Ākia hy:Ասիա hi:एशिया hsb:Azija hr:Azija io:Azia ig:Asia ilo:Asia bpy:এশিয়া id:Asia ia:Asia ie:Asia iu:ᐊᓰᐊ/asiia os:Ази zu:IAshiya is:Asía it:Asia he:אסיה jv:Asia kl:Asia kn:ಏಷ್ಯಾ pam:Asia krc:Азия ka:აზია csb:Azëjô kk:Азия kw:Asi rw:Aziya ky:Азия sw:Asia kv:Азия kg:Azia ht:Azi ku:Asya mrj:Ази lad:Asya lo:ອາຊີ ltg:Azeja la:Asia lv:Āzija lb:Asien lt:Azija lij:Asia li:Azië ln:Azía jbo:zdotu'a lmo:Asia hu:Ázsia mk:Азија mg:Azia ml:ഏഷ്യ mt:Asja mi:Āhia mr:आशिया arz:اسيا mzn:آسیا ms:Asia cdo:Ā-ciŭ mwl:Ásia mn:Ази my:အာရှ nah:Asia na:Eija nl:Azië nds-nl:Azie ne:एशिया new:एसिया ja:アジア nap:Asia frr:Aasien pih:Asya no:Asia nn:Asia nrm:Âsie nov:Asia oc:Asia mhr:Азий or:ଏସିଆ om:Asia uz:Osiyo pa:ਏਸ਼ੀਆ pfl:Asie pag:Asia pnb:ایشیاء pap:Asia ps:آسيا koi:Азия km:អាស៊ី pms:Asia tpi:Esia nds:Asien pl:Azja pnt:Ασίαν pt:Ásia kbd:Азиэ kaa:Aziya crh:Asiya ro:Asia rm:Asia qu:Asya rue:Азія ru:Азия sah:Азия se:Ásia sm:Asia sa:एशिया sc:Asia sco:Asie stq:Asien sq:Azia scn:Asia si:ආසියාව simple:Asia sd:ايشيا sk:Ázia cu:Асїꙗ sl:Azija szl:Azyjo so:Aasiya ckb:ئاسیا srn:Asi (doti) sr:Азија sh:Azija su:Asia fi:Aasia sv:Asien tl:Asya ta:ஆசியா kab:Asya roa-tara:Asie tt:Aziə te:ఆసియా tet:Ázia th:ทวีปเอเชีย tg:Осиё chr:ᏓᎶᏂᎦᏍᏛ tr:Asya tk:Aziýa udm:Азия uk:Азія ur:ایشیاء ug:ئاسىيا za:Yacouh vec:Axia vi:Châu Á vo:Siyop fiu-vro:Aasia zh-classical:亞細亞洲 war:Asya wo:Asi wuu:亚洲 ts:Asia yi:אזיע yo:Ásíà zh-yue:亞洲 diq:Asya bat-smg:Azėjė zh:亚洲

name	Ludu U Hla
birth date	January 19, 1910
birth place	Mandalay, British Burma
death date	August 07, 1982
death place	Mandalay, Burma
occupation	Writer
spouse	Ludu Daw Amar
children	Soe WinThan Yin MarPo Than GyaungTin WinNyein Chan }}

''Ludu'' U Hla (; ; 19 January 1910 – 7 August 1982) was a Burmese journalist, publisher, chronicler, folklorist and social reformer whose prolific writings include a considerable number of path-breaking nonfiction works. He was married to fellow writer and journalist Ludu Daw Amar.

He collected oral histories from people in a diverse range of occupations which included a boatmaster on the Irrawaddy, a bamboo raftsman on the Salween, the keeper of a logging elephant, a broker for Steele Bros. (a large trading company during the colonial period), a gambler on horses, a bureaucrat and a reporter. These were published in a series of books titled "I the ------".

A library of 43 volumes of folk tales, a total of 1597 stories, that he collected between 1962 and 1977 from most of the ethnic minorities of Burma was a truly Herculean undertaking. Many of these have been translated into several languages. There are 5 other volumes of folktales from around the world to his credit.

During the U Nu era of parliamentary democracy, he spent over three years in Rangoon Central Jail as a political prisoner after publishing a controversial news story in his Mandalay newspaper ''Ludu'' (The People). Whilst in prison he interviewed several inmates and wrote their life stories as told in the first person narrative, the best known collection of which was published in ''The Caged Ones''; it won the UNESCO award for literature in 1958, and has been translated into English.

Kyipwa Yay U Hla

Born in Pazun Myaung village near Nyaunglebin in Lower Burma, and educated at the Rangoon Government High School, by the age of 20, U Hla had secured a valuer's position with the Rangoon Municipal Corporation; the Depression had hit Burma culminating in a peasant uprising and the founding of the nationalist ''Dobama Asiayone'' (We Burmans Association). He joined the ''Lu nge mya kyipwa yay a thin'' (Progress for Youth Club) which started as the Friendly Correspondence Club cum debating society among high school students in 1926, and his high-minded reformist zeal for all-round betterment of the country's youth had remained a lifelong passion since. He also wrote articles assuming the pen names Kyipwa Yay Maung Hla and Maung Kan Kaung. He invited on board upcountry writers such as Shwe Kaingtha ( a monk from Sagaing and former archaeologist who was already one of the Kyipwa Yay regulars under the name ''Yadanabon Hpo Hmatsu'') and Marla, an old school friend of Amar, in addition to the usual stable of writers such as Maha Swe, Zawgyi, Min Thu Wun, Theippan Maung Wa, Zawana, Maung Hpyuu and Maung Htin. who also translated "The Rainbow" (''Thettant yaung'') by the Polish Communist writer Wanda Wasilewska in 1945.

Both U Hla and Daw Amar became involved in the Resistance movement; they formed the ''Asha Lu Nge'' (Asia Youth) in Mandalay, ostensibly to collaborate with the Japanese, and engaged mainly in rescue and sanitation operations, but it became a ready source of young Resistance fighters for Bohmu Ba Htoo in Upper Burma.

It has been said that, in the history of Burmese literature, no other writer has been as prolific as U Hla. Ludu Daw Amar (b. 1915) died recently on 7 April 2008 at the age of 93.

Ludu U Hla was a prime example of what an individual could achieve in a lifetime for the common good, although he would be the first to condemn one-upmanship. History is full of able men who fell by the wayside and lost sight of their own goals and forsook their own principles and convictions. U Hla was of the people, for the people, and never abandoned the people he loved and set out to serve from a very young age. To paraphrase one of his younger colleagues, Ludu Sein Win, even though U Hla had never taken up arms in the revolutionary struggle from colonial times, for he had such great compassion, and if his far-sightedness and forbearance were seen as ineptitude by young radicals, he was a "saintly revolutionary", to be compared with China's Lu Hsun, though not a revolutionary saint.

See also

Ludu Daw Amar

References

External links

''The Rightful Owner'' Karen Folk Tales by Ludu U Hla

''The Cocksparrow and the Hensparrow'' a Kayin folktale as retold by Ludu U Hla

Ludu U Hla (1910-1982) - writer, journalist ''The Myanmar Chronicle'', January 2006

''The Wedding'' a short story by Nyi Pu Lay

Half a Century of Publishing in Mandalay by Anna Allott (PDF full article), Center for Burma Studies, Northern Illinois University, USA

Junta Reins in Mandalay Writers Yeni,''The Irrawaddy'',October 17, 2006

Ludu Daw Amar celebrates 91st birthday at different venue Mungpi, ''Mizzima News'', November 29, 2006

Ludu Sein Win hospitalised ''Mizzima News'', February 8, 2007

Category:1910 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Burmese writers Category:Burmese journalists Category:Burmese activists

my:လှ၊ ဦး (လူထု)

name	Hla Myint
native name
native name lang	my
pronunciation
order	Mayor of Yangon
term start	6 April 2011
predecessor	Aung Thein Lin
successor	Incumbent
office2	Myanmar Ambassador to Japan
term start2	2005
term end2	2010
office3	Myanmar Ambassador to Argentina and Brazil
term start3	2002
term end3	2005
successor3	Htein Win
birth date	1948 or 1949
party	USDP
residence	Yangon
alma mater	Defence Services Academy
allegiance	Myanmar
branch	Myanmar Army
serviceyears	1971–2002
rank	Brigadier General
commands	Northeastern Command
awards	}}

Hla Myint (, ) is a Burmese politician, and mayor of Yangon. He was also a former brigadier general in the Myanmar Army and a former diplomat. He studied at the Defense Services Academy from 1967 to 1971. He retired as brigadier general in 2002. After military service, he was appointed ambassador to Argentina and Brazil from 2002 to 2005, and ambassador to Japan from 2005 to 2010.

References

Category:Burmese politicians Category:Burmese diplomats Category:Burmese military personnel Category:Mayors of Yangon Category:Ambassadors of Burma Category:Ambassadors to Argentina Category:Ambassadors to Japan Category:1940s births Category:Living people Category:Defence Services Academy alumni

name	DJ Muggs
background	solo_singer
birth name	Lawrence Muggerud
alias	Muggs
birth date	January 28, 1968
origin	Queens, New York
genre	Hip hop
occupation	DJ Producer
label	Columbia Records
associated acts	Cypress HillFunkdoobiestSoul AssassinsGZASick JackenThe 7A3Ill Bill
website	djmuggs.com }}

Lawrence Muggerud (born January 28, 1968), better known as DJ Muggs, is Cypress Hill's DJ and producer. He also produced tracks for Funkdoobiest on the albums Which Doobie U B? and Brothas Doobie.

Life and career

Cypress Hill (1988 - 2004)

Muggs was born in Queens, New York of Italian and Norwegian descent. Muggs moved to L.A. at fourteen. He briefly DJ'd the group 7a3, putting out one album before disbanding. After linking up with B-Real and Sen Dog to form the group Cypress Hill, he went on to produce seven studio albums with the group, from 1991 to 2004. Of the seven, four reached platinum status, and three gold. Meanwhile, he scored hits on the side with Ice Cube's "Check Yo Self" and House of Pain's "Jump Around." During Cypress Hill's early years, DJ Muggs met The Alchemist and his Dilated Peoples brethren on tour, deciding to take the young producer under his wing, providing a jump-start for his career.

Soul Assassins

In 1997, Muggs released an album under the name Soul Assassins. The album, ''Soul Assassins I'', reached #86 on the Billboard 200 and earned critical praise. Produced by DJ Muggs, it featured a variety of rappers including Dr. Dre, B-Real, LA The Darkman, Mobb Deep, RZA, GZA, Goodie Mob, KRS One and Wyclef Jean. In 2000 he returned to the Soul Assassins with ''Soul Assassins II'', which reached only #178 on the charts but garnered similarly positive reviews. He also put out the record ''Dust'', an atmosphere-heavy trip-hop affair with Greg Dulli, Amy Trujillo and Everlast on vocals. After the 2004 album ''Til Death Do Us Part'', which didn't reach gold but landed #23 on the Billboard 200, Cypress Hill went on a hiatus from recording, enabling its members to focus more on their side projects.

Further Solo Projects & Return of Cypress Hill (2005 - 2010)

In 2005, DJ Muggs teamed up with Wu-Tang Clan's GZA for the album ''Grandmasters'', the first project released on his label Angeles Records. Patterned after a chess game, it received highly positive reviews; Muggs also announced a ''Soul Assassins III'' album, produced jointly by himself and Alchemist, reportedly to be preceded by a record called ''Cloak & Dagger'', also featuring Alchemist. Instead, Muggs produced an album for Psycho Realm member Sick Jacken, ''Legend of the Mask and the Assassin'' two years later, in 2007. In 2008, Muggs announced that his album with California rapper Planet Asia would be the third Soul Assassins album, but the two released ''Pain Language'' later that year as a simple collaboration.

Before the release of his solo album ''Smoke N Mirrors'' in 2009, B-Real reported that Cypress Hill has been working on an album for roughly a year. Currently in the mixing phase, Muggs has produced half of the album's material so far, going to DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Mike Shinoda for the rest. In 2009, Muggs entered the Gumball 3000 cross-country race, and on June 23, 2009, ''Soul Assassins: Intermission'' was released, featuring RZA, Prodigy, Evidence, The Alchemist and Bun B. The first single for the album was "Gangsta Shit," by Bun B and M1 of Dead Prez. Despite its high-profile guest list, the release was met with lukewarm reception, and Muggs later clarified its status as a preview before the release of ''Soul Assassins III'', the next full-fledged installment of his Soul Assassins series. Muggs plans next on recording his 5th V.S. album with group member B-Real.

On the Soul Assassins Official Website, it was also revealed that Muggs will contribute Production to the new album from rapper Apathy, "Honkey Kong" Due out in early 2011. The Track is Titled "Fear Itself"

In 2011, Muggs plans on releasing a New Album called "Bass For Your Face" which he describes as a West Coast "Dubstep" Album. Although he says the album will feature an extensive guest list, thus far the only guest named is London Grime MC P-Money

Discography

2003: ''Dust''

With Cypress Hill

:''For the main article see the Cypress Hill discography.

1991: ''Cypress Hill''

1993: ''Black Sunday''

1995: ''Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom''

1998: ''Cypress Hill IV''

2000: ''Skull & Bones''

2001: ''Stoned Raiders''

2004: ''Till Death Do Us Part''

Vs. Series

2005: ''Grandmasters'' with GZA

2007: ''Legend of the Mask and the Assassin'' with Sick Jacken featuring Cynic

2008: ''Pain Language'' with Planet Asia

2010: ''Kill Devil Hills'' with Ill Bill

2011: ''West Coast Dubstep Street Sessions'' with 6BLOCC

2011: ''vs. B-Real''

2012: ''vs. Heavy Metal Kings''

Soul Assassins

1997: ''Soul Assassins I''

2000: ''Soul Assassins II''

2009: ''Soul Assassins: Intermission''

With Chace Infinite

2004: ''The Last Assassin'' with Chace Infinite

With DJ Warrior

2005: ''Mash Up Radio (Hip Hop vs. Rock) Vol. 1'' with DJ Warrior

2005: ''Mash Up Radio (Hip Hop vs. Rock) Vol. 2'' with DJ Warrior

With Tricky & Dame Grease

1999: ''Juxtapose'' with Tricky & Dame Grease

See also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Muggs_production_discography

References

External links

Official Site

Interview With HipHopDX

Category:Hip hop DJs Category:American hip hop musicians Category:Hip hop record producers Category:People from Queens Category:People from New York City Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American musicians of Norwegian descent Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Cypress Hill members

bg:Диджей Мъгс de:DJ Muggs es:DJ Muggs fr:DJ Muggs it:Dj Muggs pl:DJ Muggs fi:DJ Muggs sv:DJ Muggs tr:DJ Muggs

Name	Planet Asia
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jason Green
Born	Fresno, California
Born	October 24, 1976
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	1995–present
Label	Interscope, Avatar, Gold Chain, Wandering Worx
Associated acts	Cali AgentsDilated PeoplesTha LiksZion ITalib KweliTermanologyGrand AgentSwollen MembersStrong Arm SteadyFashawnLee BannonSelf ScientificAsterix (musician) }}

Planet Asia aka King Medallions (real name Jason Green, born October 24, 1976) is an underground hip hop MC from Fresno, California who is a member of hiphop groups the Cali Agents, and Skhool Yard. He is also well known for his vast discography of mixtapes.

History

During the 1990s, Planet Asia moved from Fresno, California to San Francisco, California and started rapping religiously. From 1997-2001, Planet Asia had been releasing various popular 12 inch singles. These singles such as "Definition of ILL" and "Place of Birth" were released by various labels such as Stones Throw and ABB Records. He reached full acclaim in 2001 when The Source gave him the First Round Draft Pick and Independent Album of the Year awards for ''How the West Was One''. ''How The West Was One'' was recorded with fellow rapper Rasco under the group name Cali Agents and landed him a deal with Interscope Records.

While signed to Interscope Records, Planet Asia was not promoted like more popular Interscope acts Eminem and 50 Cent. The Fresno rapper stayed with Interscope until 2003 without releasing an album. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002 for the song "W" by Mystic. Planet Asia has collaborated with famous artists such as Linkin Park, Bun B, Talib Kweli, Tupac and Ghostface Killah.

In 2003, Avatar Records signed Planet Asia to an exclusive world-wide recording contract and in 2004 released Planet Asia's debut album, ''The Grand Opening'', to positive feedback. It earned him another Independent Album of the Year award from The Source. Avatar also released 12" vinyl records including "Summertime In The City" b/w "G's & Soldiers" featuring Kurupt produced by J. Wells, "Its All Big" b/w "Right or Wrong", and "Real Niggaz" featuring Ghostface. His record "G's & Soldiers" featuring Kurupt was prominently featured in John Travolta's 2005 film "Be Cool" released by MGM. After leaving Avatar, Planet Asia started his own record label, Gold Chain Music, with Walt Liquor.

His latest album, ''The Medicine'', was released on October 3, 2006 on ABB Records. The entire album was produced by Evidence of Dilated Peoples, with co-production credits from The Alchemist, Nucleus & Bravo.

On June 26, 2007, Planet Asia released "The Jewelry Box Sessions: The Album" on Gold Chain Music. The album featured the single "Havin' Things".

Discography

Albums

2002: ''Still in Training''

2004: ''The Grand Opening''

2006: ''The Medicine''

2007: ''Jewelry Box Sessions: The Album''

2008: ''Pain Language (with DJ Muggs)''

2010: ''Crack Belt Theatre''

2011: ''The Bar Mitzvah''

2011: ''Each Step Becomes Elevated'' (with TriState as General Monks)''

EPs

''Planet Asia'' (1998)

''The Last Stand'' (2000)

Mixtapes

''The Steady Gang Mix'' (2004)

''The Sickness Part 1 - (2006)

''Direct from C.A.'' (2008)

''Planet Asia & The Architekt: Blak Majik - King Medallion vs. Arch Angel'' (2008)

''DJ Warrior Present DJ Muggs vs. Planet Asia: The Pain Language Mixtape'' (2008), Angeles Records

''Planet Asia Present: Turbin - The Boys a Problem Vol.1'' (2009)

''Planet Asia & F. L. O. : Planet F. L. O.'' (2009)

Compilations

''Collabos and Bullets'' (2003)

''Throwbacks (Classics 1997-2001)'' (2004), Liquor Barrel

''Faliure is Not an Option'' (2010)

''Follow The Leaders'' (2011)

with Cali Agents

''How The West Was One'' (2000), Ground Control

''Head of the State'' (2004), Pockets Linted/Groove Attack

''Fire & Ice'' (2006), Pockets Linted Entertainment

with Skhoolyard

''Representation EP'' (1997), Black Scorpion Records - as Yard Massive

''A New Way Of Thinking'' (2002), Threshold Records

with Gold Chain Military

''Chain of Command'' (2010)

References

External links

Planet Asia's Official Website

Interview with DJ Muggs

"Havin' Thangs MP3"

Planet Asia's Career History

Discography

Last Plane to Jakarta review of ''The Grand Opening''

Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Members of the Nation of Gods and Earths Category:African American rappers Category:Living people Category:1976 births

de:Planet Asia es:Planet Asia fr:Planet Asia it:Planet Asia