The astronomical position of Asia is the location of the different geographical coordinates of planet Earth in which the Asian continent is located. Astronomical position is understood to be the place that a certain physical space occupies within the Earth, defined through its limits that are reflected in the form of coordinates.
The astronomical position can establish the location of a specific point, but in the case of a continent, its entire surface can be covered with its extreme points.
The Asian continent has an area of 44,541,138 km² and has 61% of the world's human population. The area it occupies makes it the largest continent in the world.
However, the reasons for its delimitation are still controversial, because it shares a physical border with Europe, from which it is separated for historical and cultural reasons, but not geographic ones.
The border between Europe and Asia is completely terrestrial, so there are limits that are not clear and affect the stability of an astronomical position.
For the north, there are differences of criteria. While some consider that the northernmost point is located at 81 ° 10′N 95 ° 50′E on Schmidt Island located in the Sievernania Zemlia archipelago of the Russian Federation, for others the northernmost point in Asia is in the Cape Fligely of the Land of Francisco José, also in Russia and very close to the North Pole, located at 81 ° 50'N, 59 ° 14'E.
Asia ends south at 11 ° S on the Indonesian island of Pamana. Due to the demarcation of the international line of the change of date in the Pacific Ocean established at the 180th meridian, the astronomical position of Asia is bordered to the east by Russia itself, but at the other extreme.
It is the island of Diomedes Greater, located in the Bering Strait that separates the eastern part of Russia with the state of Alaska in the United States. Finally, Asia ends to the west at 39 ° 29′N 26 ° 10′E at Cape Baba, in the Republic of Turkey.
North asia
It is the Asian region established by the UN that has the least population, and is made up only of the Asian part of Russia.
Despite this, it is the region that occupies the most territory, exceeding 13 million square kilometers.
This region is precisely the one that covers from end to end the most extreme areas of the Asian continent and has to its credit two of them: Cape Fligely and Schmidt Island, in addition to the island of Diomedes Mayor at the other end, bordering with the international date change line.
South Asia
Nine countries make up this region of Asia, which is the most populous of the entire continent with 1,831,046,000 inhabitants.
To the north, it finds its borders with Central Asia and East Asia, while Southeast Asia rises to the east along with the Indian Ocean and its different seas.
At the extreme west of this region is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which borders the Arab world of Western Asia.
In addition to Iran and Afghanistan, the region is dominated by the late British Raj, who today constitute India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. There are also other countries that have operated in that orbit, such as the Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
East Asia
It is the other most populous Asian region, with 1,620,807,000 and more than 12 million square kilometers in area.
It limits to the north with the eastern part of Russia, that is, North Asia, to the east with the Pacific Ocean and South Asia, and to the west with Central Asia.
This region occupies the territories of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Mongolia.
Economically speaking, it is the most developed region in Asia. The population of this area is Sino-speaking and its borders are geographically and culturally marked, distinguishing itself from Russians, Muslims and Hindus.
Central Asia
It is the smallest Asian region, with just 4 million square kilometers. It is made up of five countries that belonged to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Across the northern part of Central Asia is the strongest country in the region, Kazakhstan. Central Asia is bordered to the north by Russia in North Asia, to the east by China in East Asia, to the west by the Caspian Sea and to the south by Iran and Afghanistan, from South Asia.
Across the Caspian Sea is Azerbaijan, from West Asia. All roads pass through Central Asia, which has been historically important on the Silk Road.
Southeast Asian
The insular part of Asia is constituted in the region of Southeast Asia. Its area is approximately five million square kilometers and is divided into two large areas: Indochina, which is the mainland, and the Malay archipelago, which is the insular.
On the continent are Burma, Cambodia, partially Malaysia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are found on the continent, bordering East Asia and South Asia.
In contrast, the archipelago is scattered with Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia, the other part of Malaysia, Singapore and East Timor.
Indonesia constitutes the other intercontinental land border by limiting the island of New Guinea with the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, belonging to the continent of Oceania.
Western asia
It occupies the region that borders Europe, to the west. Its surface area reaches 4,607,160 square kilometers and encompasses the Asian Arab and Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan, in addition to the other Muslims like Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Christians Armenia, Cyprus and Georgia and the Hebrew Israel.
The region is made up of a narrow space that is bordered to the west by the Mediterranean Sea and to the east by South Asia.
To the north its border is drawn with the Black Sea and European Russia. In the south, there is the Arabian Peninsula, surrounded by the Persian Gulf on one side and the Red Sea on the other, which separates it from Africa.
References
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