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Asia (/ˈeɪʒə/ ^ⓘ AY-zhə, UK also /ˈeɪʃə/ AY-shə) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilisations. Its estimated 4.8 billion people in 2025 constituted approximately 59% of the world's population.

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

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

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B-29 Superfortress bombers dropping incendiary bombs on Yokohama in May 1945

Allied forces conducted air raids on Japan from 1942 to 1945, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on Japanese military positions in the Kuril Islands from mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and continued with increasing intensity until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also attacked Japan during 1945.

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) campaign against Japan began in earnest in mid-1944. While plans for attacks on the Japanese home islands had been prepared prior to the Pacific War, these could not begin until the long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber was ready for combat and produced at scale. From June 1944 until January 1945, B-29s stationed in India and staged through bases in China made nine raids on targets in western Japan, but this effort proved ineffective. The strategic bombing campaign was greatly expanded from November 1944, when airfields in the Mariana Islands became available as a result of the Mariana Islands Campaign. Initial attempts to target industrial facilities using high-altitude daylight "precision" bombing were ineffective in significantly degrading Japanese war economy. Much of the Japanese military industry's early-stage manufacturing process was carried out in small, geographically disparate workshops and private homes, reducing the effectiveness of bombing larger factories. Partially in an attempt to address this, beginning February 1945 the USAAF transitioned to a strategy of low-altitude nighttime firebombing against urban areas. This approach caused severe damage to Japan's industrial output, while resulting in widespread urban destruction and high civilian casualties. On 6 and 9 August 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were mostly destroyed after being struck by American atomic bombs. (Full article...)

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Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk in the north, and the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside over 14,000 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of almost 123 million as of 2026, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. (Full article...)

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Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān (8 February 882 – 24 July 946), better known by the title al-Ikhshīd (Arabic: الإخشيد) after 939, was a Abbasid commander and governor who became the autonomous ruler of Egypt and parts of Syria (Levant) from 935 until his death in 946. He was the founder of the Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled the region until the Fatimid conquest of 969.

The son of Tughj ibn Juff, a general of Turkic origin who served both the Abbasids and the autonomous Tulunid rulers of Egypt and Syria, Muhammad ibn Tughj was born in Baghdad but grew up in Syria and acquired his first military and administrative experiences at his father's side. He had a turbulent early career: he was imprisoned along with his father by the Abbasids in 905, was released in 906, participated in the murder of the vizier al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i in 908, and fled Iraq to enter the service of the governor of Egypt, Takin al-Khazari. Eventually he acquired the patronage of several influential Abbasid magnates, chiefly the powerful commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar. These ties led him to being named governor first of Palestine and then of Damascus. In 933, he was briefly named governor of Egypt, but this order was revoked after the death of Mu'nis, and Ibn Tughj had to fight to preserve even his governorship of Damascus. In 935, he was re-appointed to Egypt, where he quickly defeated a Fatimid invasion and stabilized the turbulent country. His reign marks a rare period of domestic peace, stability and good government in the annals of early Islamic Egypt. In 938 Caliph al-Radi granted his request for the title of al-Ikhshid, which had been borne by the rulers of his ancestral Farghana Valley. It is by this title that he was known thereafter. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling (from Culture of Asia)
Image 2The Hindu-Buddhist temple of Angkor Wat. (from History of Asia)
Image 3Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with the rival "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878) (from History of Asia)
Image 4Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruslam (from Culture of Asia)
Image 5Some henges at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge, by over seven millennia. (from History of Asia)
Image 6Ancient ziggurat, Iraq (from Culture of Asia)
Image 7The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 (from Asian Century)
Image 8Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of Asia)
Image 9India's middle-class population of 300 million is growing at an annual rate of 5%. Shown here is the skyline in South Mumbai. (from Asian Century)
Image 10Borobudur, a Buddhist temple in Indonesia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 11Balhae in the north, Later Silla in the south. (from History of Asia)
Image 12The Qing conquest of the Ming and expansion of the empire (from History of Asia)
Image 13Map of Marco Polo's travels (from History of Asia)
Image 14A Confucian ritual ceremony in Jeju, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 15Expansion of the Delhi Sultanate (from History of Asia)
Image 16The First Persian Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 17Hinduism expansion in Asia, from its heartland in Indian subcontinent, to the rest of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, started circa 1st century marked with the establishment of early Hindu settlements and polities in Southeast Asia. (from History of Asia)
Image 18Here a Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666), is dressed as an official of the Chinese Department of Astronomy. (from History of Asia)
Image 19East Asian cultural sphere (from Culture of Asia)
Image 20Korean peninsula in 476 AD. There are three kingdoms and Gaya Union in the picture. This picture shows the heyday of Goguryeo. (from History of Asia)
Image 21Map of Vietnam showing the conquest of the south (the Nam tiến, 1069–1757). (from History of Asia)
Image 22Expansion of the Mongol Empire 1206–1294 (from History of Asia)
Image 23Sun temple at Konarka, Odisha, India (from Culture of Asia)
Image 24Daian-ji temple at Nara, Japan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 25Deoksugung, the palace where Emperor Gojong established the Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 26Eunpyeong Hanok Village in Seoul, South Korea (from Culture of Asia)
Image 27Kabsa also called Majboos, famous in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (from Culture of Asia)
Image 28The global contribution to world's GDP by major economies from 1 AD to 2003 AD according to Angus Maddison's estimates. Before 18th century, China and India were the two largest economies by GDP output. (from Asian Century)
Image 29Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 30Gyeonghoeru of Gyeongbokgung, the Joseon dynasty's royal palace. (from History of Asia)
Image 31The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830 by Hokusai, an example of art flourishing in the Edo Period (from History of Asia)
Image 32The Russian Znamensky Cathedral in Tyumen built in 1768 (from Culture of Asia)
Image 33The early Muslim conquests, 622–750 (from History of Asia)
Image 34The Grand Mosque in Kuwait City, one of the largest mosques in the region (from Culture of Asia)
Image 35the Goryeo ware, which shows splendid culture of Goryeo in mediaeval Korea. (from History of Asia)
Image 36Gojong (1852–1919), the 26th king of Joseon dynasty and the first emperor of Korean Empire. (from History of Asia)
Image 37Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman (from History of Asia)
Image 38Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the South Asian cooking style. (from Culture of Asia)
Image 39Language families in South Asia (from Culture of Asia)
Image 40A stone image of the Buddha (from Culture of Asia)
Image 41Indonesian Balinese cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 42Badshahi Mosque built under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore, Pakistan (from Culture of Asia)
Image 43Philippine cuisine (from Culture of Asia)
Image 44Angkor Wat, Khmer Empire (from Culture of Asia)
Image 45Battle of Talas between Tang dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate c. 751 (from History of Asia)
Image 46Projected shares of global GDP by region to 2050 (from Asian Century)
Image 47The Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618 negotiating with Shah Abbas the Great of Iran. (from History of Asia)
Image 48Machiya in Heian period (from History of Asia)
Image 49Invasions, destruction and possible population movements during the Late Bronze Age collapse, beginning c. 1200 BC (from History of Asia)
Image 50The Song dynasty and main polities in Asia c. 1200 (from History of Asia)

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Featured picture

Seaweed farming

Credit: Jean-Marie Hullot

A farmer harvests seaweed growing on a rope, on the small island of Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia. Wooden posts demarcate the bay into rectangular plots that are owned by different families. Seaweed farming is a fairly simple process: Attached plants are placed in the sea and allowed to grow naturally, with little human intervention.

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Did you know...

... that Red Sea tuna and seashells found at the roadside station of Khirbet es-Samra suggest that long-distance trade reached deep into Roman Arabia?
... that the Philippine consulate in Guam facilitated the construction of a statue that may have led to a Guamanian mayor losing re-election?
... that the Netflix-released film A House in Jerusalem is inspired by the history of the director's Palestinian family, who were expelled in 1948 from what had become Israel during the Nakba?
... that fewer than one in fifteen residents of China live in the western 64 percent of the country?
... that coins minted by Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokhba Revolt counted their years by the "redemption" and "freedom of Israel", while its leader was described as the nasi of Israel?
... that Stellar Blade's Eve was described as "a woman born from South Korea's culture and philosophy" by The Washington Post?
... that the Tochigi–Gunma–Saitama border is a rare example of a prefectural tripoint in Japan located on flat land?
... that Japanese girls found the song "Ai Uta" by the band Greeeen to be a perfect love song for the autumn, according to a 2007 Oricon survey?
... that the Mseilha Fort is strategically located to overlook the crossing of the Jaouz River near Ras ash-Shaq'a, a promontory in Lebanon?
... that the roof designs of Bukit Gombak and Bukit Batok stations were based on the logo of the Singapore Housing and Development Board?

Updated: 1:05, 17 October 2026

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In the news

17 October 2026 –: Ten tourists are killed and nine others sustain injuries after a resort catches fire in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (AA); Eight people are killed and eight others are injured after a minibus carrying 23 passengers plunges into a drain along the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway near Kota, Rajasthan, India. (The Times of India)
16 October 2026 – 2026 anti-CEC protests: Cockroach Janta Party leader Abhijeet Dipke is detained in Delhi, India, ahead of the party's planned march. (BBC News)
15 October 2026 – Yemeni civil war: Houthi–Saudi conflict; Saudi Arabia says that it has intercepted a missile intended for Medina. However, the Houthis denied launching a missile at the city. (The Hill) (France 24); The Houthis launch missiles against Al-Maashiq Palace, headquarters of the Presidential Leadership Council and official residence of President Rashad al-Alimi, in Aden, Yemen, killing five people and injuring 16. No member of the council is harmed in the attack. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)

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Related portals

Major Religions in Asia

Middle East (West Asia)

Central Asia

Indian Subcontinent

Southeast Asia

East Asia

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Selected panorama

Credit: Guillaume Piolle

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

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