c
c



the world's largest and most diverse continent. It occupies the eastern four-fifths of the giant
Eur n landmass. c  is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use
of the term to describe this vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the enormous
diversity among the the regions it encompasses. c  has both the highest and the lowest points
on the surface of the 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. In addition, the peoples of c  have established the
broadest variety of human adaptation found on any of the continents.

The name c  is ancient, and its origin has been variously explained. The Greeks used it to
designate the lands situated to the east of their homeland. It is believed that the name may be
derived from the Assyrian word O
, meaning ³east.´ Another possible explanation is that it was
originally a local name given to the plains of Ephesus, which ancient Greeks and Romans
extended to refer first to Anatolia (contemporary c  Minor, which is the western extreme of
mainland c ), and then to the known world east of the Mediterranean. When Western
explorers reached South and East c  in early modern times, they extended this label to the
whole of this immense landmass.

c  is bounded by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean
to the south, the inland seas of the Atlantic Ocean²the Mediterranean and the Black²to the
southwest, and Europe to the west. c  is separated from North America to the northeast by the
Bering Strait and from Australia to the southeast by the seas and straits connecting the Indian and
Pacific oceans. The Isthmus of Suez unites c  with Africa, and it is generally agreed that the
Suez Canal forms the border between them. Two narrow straits, the Bosporus and the
Dardanelles, separate Anatolia from the Balkan Peninsula.

The land boundary between c  and Europe is a historical and cultural construct that has been
defined variously; only as a matter of agreement is it tied to a specific borderline. The most
convenient geographic boundary²one that has been adopted by most geographers²is a line that
runs south from the Arctic Ocean along the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains and then turns
southwest along the Emba River to the northern shore of the Caspian Sea; west of the Caspian,
the boundary follows the Kuma-Manych Depression to the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.

The total area of c , including the Cauc n isthmus and excluding the island of New Guinea,
amounts to roughly one-third of the land surface of the Earth. The islands²including the
Japanese islands, Taiwan, the Indonesian islands, Sakhalin and other c n Russian islands, Sri
Lanka, Cyprus, and numerous smaller islands²account for about 7 percent of the total.
(Although New Guinea is mentioned occasionally in this article, it generally is not considered a
part of c .) The farthest terminal points of the c n mainland are Cape Chelyuskin in north-
central Siberia, Russia (77°43ƍ N), to the north; the tip of the Malay Peninsula, Cape Piai, or
Bulus (1°16ƍ N), to the south; Cape Baba in Turkey (26°4ƍ E) to the west; and Cape Dezhnev
(Dezhnyov), or East Cape (169°40ƍ W), in northeastern Siberia, overlooking the Bering Strait, to
the east.

c  has the highest average elevation of the continents and contains the greatest relative relief.
The tallest peak in the world, Mount Everest, which reaches an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850
metres); the lowest place on the Earth's land surface, the Dead Sea, which averages about 1,312
feet (400 metres) below sea level; and the world's deepest continental trough, occupied by Lake
Baikal, which is 5,315 feet (1,620 metres) deep and whose bottom lies 3,822 feet (1,165 metres)
below sea level, are all located in c . These physiographic extremes and the overall
predominance of mountain belts and plateaus are the result of the collision of tectonic plates. In
geologic terms, c  comprises several very ancient continental platforms and other blocks of
land that merged over the eons. Most of these had coalesced as a continental landmass by about
160 million years ago, when the core of the Indian subcontinent broke off from Africa and began
drifting northeastward to collide with the southern flank of c  about 50 million years ago. The
northeastward movement of the subcontinent continues at about 2.4 inches (6 cm) a year. The
impact and pressure continue to raise the Plateau of Tibet and the Himalayas.

c 's coastline²some 39,000 miles (62,800 km) in length²is, variously, high and
mountainous, low and alluvial, terraced as a result of the land's having been uplifted, or
³drowned´ where the land has subsided. The specific features of the coastline in some areas²
especially in the east and southeast²are the result of active volcanism; thermal abrasion of
permafrost (caused by a combination of the action of breaking waves and thawing), as in
northeastern Siberia; and coral growth, as in the areas to the south and southeast. Accreting
sandy beaches also occur in many areas, such as the Bay of Bengal.

The mountain systems of Central c  not only have provided the continent's great rivers with
water from their melting snows but also have formed a forbidding natural barrier that has
influenced the movement of peoples in the area. Migration across these barriers has been
possible only through mountain passes.

A historical movement of population from the arid zones of Central c  has followed the
mountain passes into the Indian subcontinent. More recent migrations have originated in China,
with destinations throughout Southeast c . The Korean and Japanese peoples and, to a lesser
extent, the Chinese have remained ethnically more homogeneous than the populations of other
c n countries.

c 's population is unevenly distributed, mainly because of climatic factors. There is a

concentration of population in western c  as well as great concentrations in the Indian
subcontinent and the eastern half of China. There are also appreciable concentrations in the
Pacific borderlands and on the islands, but vast areas of Central and North c ²whose
forbidding climates limit agricultural productivity²have remained sparsely populated.
Nonetheless, c , the most populous of the continents, contains almost three-fifths of the
world's people.
c  is the birthplace of all the world's major religions²Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism,
Islam, and Judaism²and of many minor ones. Of these, only Christianity developed primarily
outside c ; it exerts little influence on the continent, though many c n countries have
Christian minorities. Buddhism has had a greater impact outside its birthplace in India and is
prevalent in various forms in China, Korea, Japan, the Southeast c n countries, and Sri Lanka.
Islam has spread out of Arabia eastward to South and Southeast c . Hinduism has been mostly
confined to the Indian subcontinent.

Chakravarthi V. NarasimhanYury Konstantinovich Yefremov

This article surveys the physical and human geography of c . For in-depth treatment of c 's
major geographic features,  specific articles by name²e.g., Himalayas, Gobi, and Tigris and
Euphrates rivers. For discussion of individual countries of the continent,  specific articles by
name²e.g., China, India, and Japan. For discussion of major cities of the continent,  specific
articles by name²e.g., Bangkok, Jerusalem, Beijing, and Seoul. The principal treatment of
c n historical and cultural development is contained in the articles on c n countries, regions,
and cities and in the articles Palestine, history of and Islamic world. Related topics are discussed
in articles on religion (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam) and arts and literature (e.g.,
Chinese literature, Japanese literature, Central c n arts, Southeast c n arts, and South c n
arts). Area (including c n Russia but excluding the island of New Guinea), 17,226,200 square
miles (44,614,000 square km); insular area, 1,240,000 square miles (3,210,000 square km). Pop.
(2001 est.), 3,772,103,000.


 
c  is not only the Earth's largest but also its youngest and structurally most complicated
continent. Although c 's evolution began almost four billion years ago, more than half of the
continent remains seismically active, and new continental material is currently being produced in
the island arc systems that surround it to the east and southeast. In such places, new land is
continuously emerging and is added to the bulk of the continent by episodic collisions of the
island arcs with the mainland. c  also contains the greatest mountain mass on the Earth's
surface: the Plateau of Tibet and the bordering mountains of the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu
Kush, Pamirs, Kunlun, and Tien Shan. By virtue of its enormous size and relative youth, c 
contains many of the morphological extremes of the Earth's land surface²such as its highest and
lowest points, longest coastline, and largest area of continental shelf. c 's immense mountain
ranges, varied coastline, and vast continental plains and basins have had a profound effect on the
course of human history. The fact that c  produces about half of the world's petroleum and
coal, in addition to being a significant contributor to the global production of many minerals
(e.g., about three-fifths of the world's tin), heavily underlines the importance of its geology for
the welfare of the world's population.


  




The morphology of c  masks an extremely complex geologic history that predates the active
deformations largely responsible for the existing landforms. Tectonic units (regions that once
formed or now form part of a single tectonic plate and whose structures derive from the
formation and motion of that plate) that are defined on the basis of active structures in c  are
not identical to those defined on the basis of its fossil (i.e., now inactive) structures. It is
therefore convenient to discuss the tectonic framework of c  in terms of two separate maps,
one showing its paleotectonic (i.e., older tectonic) units and the other displaying its neotectonic
(new and presently active) units.

According to the theory of plate tectonics, forces within the Earth propel sections of the Earth's
crust on various courses, with the result that continents are formed and oceans are opened and
closed. Oceans commonly open by rifting²by tearing a continent asunder²and close along
subduction zones, which are inclined planes along which ocean floors sink beneath an adjacent
tectonic plate and are assimilated into the Earth's mantle. Ocean closure culminates in continental
collision and may involve the accretion of vast tectonic collages, including small continental
fragments, island arcs, large deposits of sediment, and occasional fragments of ocean-floor
material. In defining the units to draw c 's paleotectonic map, it is useful to outline such
accreted objects and the lines, or sutures, along which they are joined.

Continuing convergence following collision may further disrupt an already assembled tectonic
collage along new, secondary lines, especially by faulting. Postcollisional disruption also may
reactivate some of the old tectonic lines (sutures). These secondary structures dominate and
define the neotectonic units of c . It should be mentioned, however, that most former
continental collisions also have led to the generation of secondary structures that add to the
structural diversity of the continent.

The paleotectonic units of c  are divided into two first-order classes: continental nuclei and
orogenic (mountain-building) zones. The continental nuclei consist of platforms that stabilized
mostly in Precambrian time (between roughly 3.8 billion and 543 million years ago) and have
been covered largely by little-disturbed sedimentary rocks; included in this designation are the
Angaran (or East Siberian), Indian, and Arabian platforms. There are also several smaller
platforms that were deformed to a greater extent than the larger units and are called
paraplatforms; these include the North China (or Sino-Korean) and Yangtze paraplatforms, the
Kontum block (in Southeast c ), and the North Tarim fragment (also called Serindia; in
western China). The orogenic zones consist of large tectonic collages that were accreted around
the continental nuclei. Recognized zones are the Altaids, the Tethysides (further subdivided into
the Cimmerides and the Alpides), and the circum-Pacific belt. The Alpides and circum-Pacific
belt are currently undergoing tectonic deformation²i.e., they are continuing to evolve²and so
are the locations of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The Precambrian continental nuclei were formed by essentially the same plate tectonic processes
that constructed the later orogenic zones, but it is best to treat them separately for three reasons.
First, the nuclei occupy only about one-fourth of the area of c , and less than one-third of this
area (i.e., less than 10 percent of c 's total) consists of exposed Precambrian rocks that enable
geologists to study their development. Second, Precambrian rocks are extremely poor in fossils,
which makes global or even regional correlations difficult. Finally, during most of Phanerozoic
time (i.e., the past 543 million years), the nuclei have remained stable and have acted as hosts
around which the tectonic collages have accumulated in the Phanerozoic orogenic zones.

The paleotectonic evolution of c  terminated some 50 million years ago as a result of the
collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eur . c 's subsequent neotectonic development
has largely disrupted the continent's preexisting fabric. The first-order neotectonic units of c 
are Stable c , the Arabian and Indian cratons, the Alpide plate boundary zone (along which the
Arabian and Indian platforms have collided with the Eur n continental plate), and the island
arcs and marginal basins.


 

The oldest rocks in c  are found in the continental nuclei. Rocks more than 3 billion years old
are in the Precambrian outcrops of the Angaran and Indian platforms and in the North China
paraplatform. They consist of primitive island-arc magmatic and sparse sedimentary rocks
sandwiched between younger basaltic and ultrabasic rocks, exposed along what are called
greenstone belts. The basement of the Angaran platform was largely formed by about 1.5 billion
years ago. The final consolidation of the Indian platform, however, lasted until about 600 million
years ago and included various mountain-building episodes with peaks of activity between 2.4
and 2.3 billion years ago, at about 2 billion years ago, between 1.7 and 1.6 billion years ago, and
between 1.1 billion and 600 million years ago. In the Arabian platform the formation of the
present basement commenced by arc and microcontinent accretion some 900 million years ago
and ended about 600 million years ago, although some of the accreted microcontinents had
basements more than 2.5 billion years old and may be detached fragments of Africa.

In the North China paraplatform, Chinese geologists have identified a period of intense island-
arc magmatism (a process by which molten rock, often formed by the melting of subducted
oceanic crust, rises and solidifies to form igneous rock) between 3.5 and 3 billion years ago.
These arcs then coalesced into protonuclei by collisions until the end of the Archean Eon (2.5
billion years ago). Final consolidation of the North China paraplatform occurred approximately
1.7 billion years ago. The Yangtze paraplatform is younger, the oldest identified orogenic event
being 2.5 billion years old. Its final consolidation took place some 800 million years ago. The
Kontum block is poorly known. It contains Precambrian metamorphic rocks with minimum ages
of about 2.3 billion years, although the oldest well-dated widespread thermal event falls into the
Middle Cambrian (about 520 million years ago) and indicates the time of its final consolidation.
The North Tarim fragment is really a thin sliver caught up in younger orogenic belts. Its
Precambrian history is not entirely dissimilar to that of the Yangtze paraplatform, although not
all major breaks in their sedimentary and structural evolution or the details in their sedimentary
successions correlate. The Tarim fragment was also stabilized some 800 million years ago.

While other c n continental nuclei were completing their consolidation, orogenic deformation
recommenced along the present southeast and southwest margins of the Angaran platform. This
renewed activity marked the beginning of a protracted period of subduction, the development of
vast sedimentary piles scraped off sinking segments of ocean floor in subduction zones and
accumulated in the form of subduction-accretion wedges at the leading edge of overriding plates,
and subduction-related magmatism and numerous collisions in what today is known as Altaid
c  (named for the Altai Mountains). Orogenic deformation in the Altaids was essentially
continuous from the Late Proterozoic (about 850 million years ago) into the early part of the
Mesozoic Era (about 220 million years ago), in some regions²such as Mongolia and Siberia²
lasting even to the end of the Jurassic Period (144 million years ago).

The construction of the Altaid collage was coeval with the late Paleozoic assembly of the
Pangaea supercontinent (between about 320 and 245 million years ago). The Altaids lay to the
north of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean (also called Paleo-Tethys Sea), a giant triangular eastward-
opening embayment of Pangaea. A strip of continental material was torn away from the southern
margin of the Paleo-Tethys and migrated northward, rotating around the western apex of the
Tethyan triangle much like the action of a windshield wiper. This continental strip, called the
Cimmerian continent, was joined during its northward journey by a collage of continental
material that had gathered around the Yangtze paraplatform and the Kontum block, and, between
about 210 and 180 million years ago, all this material collided with Altaid c  to create the
Cimmeride orogenic belt.

While the Cimmerian continent was drifting northward, a new ocean, the Neo-Tethys, was
opening behind it and north of the Gondwanaland supercontinent. This new ocean began closing
some 155 million years ago, shortly after the beginning of the major disintegration of
Gondwanaland. Two fragments of Gondwanaland, India and Arabia, collided with the rest of
c  during the Eocene (some 50 million years ago) and the Miocene (some 13 million years
ago) epochs, respectively. The orogenic belts that arose from the destruction of the Neo-Tethys
and the resultant continental collisions are called the Alpides and form the present Alpine-
Himalayan mountain ranges. Both the Cimmerides and the Alpides resulted from the elimination
of the Tethyan oceans, and collectively they are called the Tethysides.

Most of the island arcs fringing c  to the east came into being by subduction of the Pacific
Ocean floor and the opening of marginal basins behind these arcs during the Cenozoic Era (the
past 65 million years). This activity continues today and is the major source of tectonism
(seismic and volcanic activity often resulting in uplift) in South and Southeast c . In the south
and in the southwest, India and Arabia are continuing their northward march, moving at an
average of about 1.6 to 2.4 inches (4 to 6 cm) per year. These movements have caused the
massive distortion of the southern two-thirds of c  and produced the nearly continuous chain
of mountain ranges between Turkey and Myanmar (Burma) that in places widen into high
plateaus in Turkey, Iran, and Tibet. Within and north of these plateaus, geologically young
mountains such as the Caucasus and the Tien Shan, large strike-slip faults such as the North
Anatolian and the Altun (Altyn Tagh), and rift valley basins such as Lake Baikal²all of which
are associated with seismic activity²bear witness to the widespread effects of the convergence
of Arabia and India with Stable c , in which no notable active tectonism is seen.
  
 




The recorded history of the Precambrian, which covers more than 80 percent of the Earth's
geologic history, is divided into two eons: the Archean, between roughly 3.8 and 2.5 billion
years ago, and the Proterozoic, between 2.5 billion and 543 million years ago. In c  rocks of
Archean age are found in the Angaran and Indian platforms, in the North China and the Yangtze
paraplatforms, and in smaller fragments caught up in younger orogenic belts such as the North
Tarim fragment. In all these places especially, the early Archean evolution was dominated by
intrusions of granodiorite that largely represented subduction-related magmatism and by the
formation and deformation of greenstone belts that are probably relicts of old oceanic crust and
mantle and immature (i.e., basalt-rich) island arcs. In India the more than 3-billion-year-old
mafic-ultramafic associations of Kolar type with only subordinate sedimentary rocks represent
the old greenstone belts that have either intrusive or tectonic contacts with Peninsular gneiss of
similar age. The so-called Sargur schist belts within the Peninsular gneiss may be the oldest
suture zones in the Indian subcontinent. In the Angaran platform the older (i.e., more than 3
billion years) gneiss-granulite basement shows a progressive development in time from
ophiolites (pieces of former ocean floors) and immature basaltic island-arc volcanic rocks to
more silicic (silicon-rich) rocks such as andesites. In the North China paraplatform this early
episode corresponds to the Qianxi Stage (3.5 to 3 billion years ago), in which mafic-ultramafic
rocks with silicic sediments developed concurrently with granitic gneisses that were
metamorphosed to a high degree.

After about 3 billion years ago the coalesced ³granitic´ island arcs, with intervening greenstone
sutures that included more immature arc remnants, began forming the earliest continental nuclei:
the Fuping (Fupingian) Stage in the North China paraplatform (3 to 2.5 billion years ago); the
earlier Dharwar-type greenstone belts in south-central India; and the Olekma, Timpton-
Dzheltula, Batomga, Cupura, and Borsala gneiss-granulite series, in addition to the Chara
complex of gneisses and greenstones in the Angaran platform.

The present-day continental nuclei largely formed during the Proterozoic through the further
agglomeration of the smaller Archean assemblages. The basement structure of the Angaran
platform was formed for the most part between 2.1 and 1.8 billion years ago by repeated
collisions along what have been dubbed the ³second-generation greenstone belts.´ This interval
also corresponds with the most intense granitic intrusive activity in the history of the platform.
Some 1.45 billion years ago, shortly after the Angaran platform stabilized, it underwent a rifting
event that created its southern and western continental margins and the large grabens (elongated
downthrown fault blocks between two higher-standing blocks) that extend into the platform from
those margins. This rifting may have separated Angara from the North American platform.
Orogenic activity, which initiated the evolution of the Altaids, started along this margin about
850 million years ago and created the Baikal mountain belt.

In India the activity of the Dharwar greenstone belts lasted into the Early Proterozoic (until about
2.3 billion years ago). Farther to the northwest the Aravali (Aravalli) and the Bijawar groups of
sedimentary rocks were deformed by the Satpura orogeny some 2 billion years ago. The Bijawar
Group contains the only piece of evidence in c  for an Early Proterozoic ice age: the Gangan
tillite (lithified glacial sediment), probable age about 1.8 billion years. The Aravali orogeny in
the same place occurred between 1.7 and 1.6 billion years ago. In northeastern India, orogeny
began some 1.7 billion years ago and culminated in a continental collision 950 million years ago
in the present Singhbhum area. Widespread granitic magmatism in north-central India lasted
until 600 million years ago, and it continued well into the Middle Ordovician (about 466 million
years ago) in what later became the Himalayas.

In the Arabian platform, the youngest of the major continental nuclei in c , a hypothetical
rifting event sometime between 1.2 billion and 950 million years ago is thought to have created
an ocean basin that clearly existed 950 million years ago in the northeastern part of the platform.
The same rifting event may have also created some of the microcontinents with basements older
than 2 billion years (such as that exposed at Mount Khidā in Saudi Arabia) that later
participated in what is known as the Pan-African episode, a tectonic evolution that also
encompassed large parts of present-day Africa and other parts of the Gondwanaland
supercontinent. This tectonic evolution was the one that eventually formed the Arabian platform.
Following the emergence of the ocean, a variety of island arcs formed between 900 and 650
million years ago by intraoceanic subduction. These arcs and some of the preexisting
microcontinents coalesced by collisions that occurred between 715 and 630 million years ago.
Following this amalgamation, intracontinental deformation occurred between 630 and 550
million years ago, giving rise mainly to the northwest-southeast±oriented Najd fault belt in
central Saudi Arabia and the associated crustal extension along north-south±oriented faults that
became especially prominent in the present-day Persian Gulf and the surrounding areas. The
Najd faults were predominantly of the strike-slip variety that moved right-laterally during an
initial interval of about 20 million years (between 640 and 620 million years ago) but then acted
as left-lateral faults until about 570 million years ago. The clastic sedimentary rocks of the
Jubaylah Group in Saudi Arabia were deposited in narrow elongate basins formed by the Najd
strike-slip faults. These north-south extensional structures have the same genetic relationship
with the Najd faults as the present Basin and Range extensional system does with the San
Andreas Fault in North America; the Hormuz evaporites (halite, anhydrite, dolomite) of latest
Proterozoic to middle Cambrian (Cambrian B) age were deposited in this system.

The oldest rocks in the Yangtze paraplatform are exposed in the southwest in eastern Yunnan
province, where those in a gneiss-greenstone association have ages ranging from 2.5 to 1.7
billion years. In the northern part of the block, granites 2.1 billion years old are known from the
Dabie Mountains. In the northwest, along the easternmost edge of the Plateau of Tibet, the oldest
rocks are granites known to be about 1 billion years old. A widespread intermediate to silicic
volcanism ended the tectonic evolution of the basement of the Yangtze paraplatform between
800 and 650 million years ago.

Evidence is scant for the ice age at the beginning of the Proterozoic, but the occurrence of at
least three ice ages in the Late Proterozoic is known from rocks in the North Tarim fragment and
the Yangtze paraplatform and from Kazakhstan, central India, and northern Korea. The record of
these ice ages, plus the laterally consistent stratigraphy of the Late Proterozoic, has enabled
geologists to construct a tentative correlation between the rock layers of the continental nuclei in
c . Another rock group that has aided in internuclei correlation has been the evaporites,
particularly halite, gypsum, and anhydrite. Evaporites from the Late Proterozoic to early
Cambrian (Cambrian A) time (i.e., dating to about 590 to 530 million years ago) exist in the
Arabian (Hormuz evaporites), northwestern Indian (Punjab evaporites), and Angaran platforms.
On the basis of their orogenic history and the presence of evaporites, it is now thought that these
nuclei may have coalesced at the end of the Pan-African episode and that Angara may have
pulled out later, perhaps in the Early Ordovician (about 480 million years ago).




The tectonic events in c  of the Paleozoic Era (543 to 248 million years ago) may be
summarized under three categories: events in the Altaids, events in the Tethysides, and events in
the continental nuclei. The identification of c n Paleozoic tectonic events with those
associated with the Caledonian and Hercynian orogenies of Europe, as was done in the older
literature, largely has been abandoned owing to the recognition of the haphazard nature of
tectonic events whose temporal limits widely overlap.


 c 

The Altaids constitute a large and complex tectonic collage that accreted around the Angaran
platform from late in the Proterozoic to early in the Mesozoic Era. Its oldest part, the Baikalides,
formed between about 850 and 570 million years ago along the southern periphery of the
Angaran platform. A number of island arcs and microcontinents were accreted onto Angara
along a suture containing ophiolitic remnants of old ocean floor.

After the Baikalian collisions, rifting outboard of the accreted fragments opened a new oceanic
area, the floor of which had begun subducting under the enlarged continental nucleus in early
Paleozoic time²perhaps during the Ordovician Period (490 to 443 million years ago). This
subduction accumulated a large accretionary prism (wedge of deformed and partially
metamorphosed sediments and rocks scraped from the ocean floor as it subducted) consisting of
deep-sea muds (now slates), sandstones (deposited by large submarine turbidity currents), and
siliceous sedimentary rocks (cherts) that were all structurally mixed with ophiolites (fragments of
oceanic crust). These rocks now form the basement of much of the Altai Mountains. Much
subduction-related magmatism was associated with the growth of the Altai accretionary prism.
Another accretionary prism was growing at the same time in the ocean, far from the Altai, and
this material now forms the basement of much of Kazakhstan. It was consolidated and made into
a small continent by repeated deformation and magmatism throughout the early Paleozoic.

The later Paleozoic development of the Altaid tectonic collage included the convergence and
final collision of the Kazakhstan continental block with the enlarged Angaran nucleus during the
middle of the Carboniferous Period (about 320 million years ago). The collision occurred along
the southwestern Altai suture, the northerly continuation of which is now buried under the
younger Mesozoic deposits of the West Siberian Plain. To the east it continues into Mongolia
and there unites with the circum-Altaid suture zone coming from the west²i.e., from the Tien
Shan. Another Carboniferous collision in the Tien Shan welded the North Tarim fragment to the
Altaid collage. Shortly afterward, in the Early Permian Epoch (between 290 and 256 million
years ago), north-plunging subduction along the present-day Kunlun Mountains²which
originally lay flush to the south of the North Tarim fragment²rifted open the Junggar
(Dzungarian) and Tarim basins. These are analogous in their tectonic setting to the present-day
Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The Altaid evolution came to an end in the west when the Russian platform collided with c 
along the Ural Mountains between the Arctic Ocean and the Aral Sea. This collision occurred
during the Carboniferous (354 to 290 million years ago) in the south but later²during the
Permian Period (290 to 248 million years ago)²in the north, creating the supercontinent of
Laur . Later collisions in the south and southeast terminated the Altaid evolution.


   

Along the northern margin of the Tethysides, there was a continuous transition from the Altaid
evolution into the Tethyside or, more strictly speaking, into the Cimmeride evolution. In northern
Tibet the Kunlun Mountains (a part of the Cimmerides) may also be considered the southernmost
representatives of the Altaid collage that was described above. They are made up of a huge
subduction-accretion complex and of arc-related magmatic rocks²such as granites,
granodiorites, and andesites, the ages of which range from Cambrian A to Late Triassic (i.e.,
from about 543 to 206 million years ago)²that had begun accumulating along the southern
margin of the North Tarim fragment, from which this subduction-accretion complex was later
separated by the opening of the Tarim Basin during the Permian. This accretionary complex
continues westward into the Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges in Tajikistan and northern
Afghanistan and finally constitutes almost the entire pre-Triassic basement of Turkmenistan. The
North China block became a part of c  during the late Paleozoic, although a small westerly
vanishing, wedge-shaped ocean between it and the rest of nuclear c  remained open along a
line roughly following the present course of the Shilka River in southern Siberia.

Orogenic deformation, magmatism, and metamorphism during the Carboniferous and Permian
periods have become known in parts of c  that then either belonged to Gondwanaland or had
just separated from it as a result of the rifting of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean behind the separating
Cimmerian continent. In northern and eastern Turkey, southwestern Iran, and Oman, folding and
thrust faulting were in places accompanied by granitic and andesitic magmatism and high-
temperature, low-pressure metamorphism, all collectively suggesting the activity of a subduction
zone dipping under Gondwanaland. The same subduction zone may have been responsible for
the rifting of the Neo-Tethys in the middle Permian as a back-arc basin similar to the present-day
Sea of Japan.

Late Permian andesitic volcanics in the Hoh Xil Mountains in northern Tibet and late Paleozoic
granites in western and peninsular Thailand, accompanied by compressional deformation and
metamorphism, also suggest that a subduction zone existed along the northern margin of the
Cimmerian continent. In these parts of c , the separation of parts of the Cimmerian continent
from northern Gondwanaland may have already been under way during the Carboniferous, as
shown by the deposition of the Phuket Group²a formation of glacially modified clastic
sedimentary rocks in western Thailand some 3,600 feet (1,100 metres) thick²and of correlative
rocks in adjacent Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The Yangtze paraplatform and the Kontum block are believed to have been parts of
Gondwanaland during the early Paleozoic, but they rifted away from it sometime in the
Devonian Period (417 to 354 million years ago). Two other fragments in southeastern China, the
Huan'an and Dongnanya, have basements that had been consolidated mainly in the Late
Proterozoic and that also may have rifted from Gondwanaland sometime during the middle
Paleozoic.

At least two island arcs collided with the Kontum block along its northeastern margin during the
Paleozoic to enlarge it to what is called the Annamia block. The earlier island arc docked along a
suture that now coincides with the Annamese Cordillera in northern Vietnam in the Devonian or
slightly earlier. The later one collided along a suture zone farther to the north, along the present-
day Ma River, during the Early Carboniferous and caused a major south-directed deformation
that included considerable thrusting.

Subduction during Carboniferous to Permian times was active along the present-day western
margin of the Annamia block, giving rise to much arc-related magmatism and mineralization.
This same magmatic zone extended down into the eastern half of the Malay Peninsula.
Subduction was probably also active along the present western margins of the Huan'an and
Dongnanya blocks, although late Paleozoic magmatism there was much sparser than in Southeast
c .


 



Only three major nuclei underwent Paleozoic tectonic events not obviously related to their
flanking orogenic belts. The Arabian platform underwent a major extensional tectonic event
from the Late Proterozoic to the middle Cambrian that created large north-south (³Arabian-
trend´) and northwest-southeast (³Najd-trend´) rift basins in which clastics and evaporites
(Jubaylah and Hormuz) were deposited. These extensional basins were reactivated repeatedly
until the Early Carboniferous and then again in the Late Permian. Active normal faulting in
central Saudi Arabia late in the Ordovician (between 449 and 443 million years ago) was coeval
with sediment deposition caused by the Saharan glaciation (the Ra an shales with striated
sandstone boulders). A major marine invasion from the east in the Late Permian covered more
than half of the Arabian platform. The submergence of the platform coincided with the opening
of the Neo-Tethys along its eastern margin and with a global rise in sea level following the Late
Carboniferous±Early Permian glaciation in Gondwanaland. Striated pavements and glacial
sedimentary deposits in the southern part of the Arabian platform (e.g., the Al-Khlata Formation
in Oman) provide evidence of this glaciation.

A prolonged period of emergence up to the Late Carboniferous characterized the Paleozoic

history of the Indian platform, except for its northern margin, which was involved in the later
Himalayan deformation. Late in the Carboniferous, glacially influenced terrestrial sedimentation
commenced with the Talcher tillite formation in erosional bedrock depressions. In the Early
Permian a number of rift valleys oriented east-west and northwest-southeast originated, possibly
related to extensions that farther north led to the opening of the Neo-Tethys. Terrestrial
deposition continued in these rifts and in the surrounding areas, with local interruptions, until
early in the Cretaceous (144 million years ago), forming the Gondwanan deposits. Farther north
in what later became the Himalayas, there was continuous marine sedimentation, with only local
interruptions related to global changes in sea level and gentle oscillations of the platform.

After the early Cambrian deposition of evaporites in extensional basins, the Angaran platform
remained geologically calm, and shallow marine clastic and carbonate rocks were deposited on
it. In the Late Devonian (370 to 354 million years ago), however, the platform's present
northeastern margin was rifted; in addition to creating a major ocean, this activity produced two
large rift valleys that now extend into the Angaran platform (the Vilyuy, or Viliui, and Chatanga
rifts). Extensive basaltic volcanism accompanied this rifting event, followed by a period of heavy
sedimentation along a northeast-facing continental margin.

 


The events in c  of the Mesozoic (248 to 65 million years ago) may be summarized as
follows: events in the Tethysides, events in the Altaids, events in the continental nuclei, and
events in the circum-Pacific orogenic belts.

 
   

As the Cimmerian continent was moving across the Tethyan realm²eliminating the Paleo-
Tethys Ocean in front of itself while enlarging the Neo-Tethys behind it²it also began falling
apart internally. Thus, a northern fragment (consisting of the Farāh block in Afghanistan, the
central Pamirs, and the western Qiangtang block in Tibet) became separated from a southern
fragment (including the Helmand block in Afghanistan, the southern Pamirs, and the Lhasa block
in southern Tibet) by an ocean whose ophiolitic remnants are today encountered in the mountain
ranges of eastern Iran, along the Farāh River in Afghanistan, and in the Tanggula Mountains in
Tibet continuing to Mandalay in Myanmar. This ocean opened in the Permian and closed early in
the Cretaceous (i.e., earlier than about 125 million years ago).

The northern fragment of the Cimmerian continent, including much of modern-day Iran and the
mountains of northern Turkey along the Black Sea, collided with the Altaid collage along a
suture zone that passes north of the Elburz Mountains and south of the Kopet-Dag Range in
northern Iran, through the Hindu Kush range in Afghanistan, south of the northern Pamirs and
the Kunluns in northern Tibet, and then follows the Jinsha (upper Yangtze) River and continues
through western Thailand and into the Malay Peninsula. The collision occurred late in the
Triassic in Iran and Southeast c  (about 220 million years ago) and in the Early Jurassic (about
200 million years ago) between Iran and Indochina. This collision created a massive wall of
mountains along the southern border of c , called the Cimmeride Mountains (the name taken
from the ancient people the Cimmerians, in whose homeland north of the Black Sea the first
pieces of evidence for this chain were found at the beginning of the 20th century). These
mountains extended from Turkey well into Southeast c . The large, rich tin-bearing granite
belt of western Thailand and Malaysia was formed during this collision.

The southern fragment of the Cimmerian continent soon caught up with the northern fragment;
and, following the emplacement in the Late Jurassic (159 to 144 million years ago) of a part of
the floor of the intervening ocean onto the Lhasa block in the form of a giant ophiolite sheet, the
southern fragment also collided with c , eliminating the entire Paleo-Tethys and its marginal
basins. Widespread aridity in much of Central c  during the Late Jurassic was probably a
result of the rain shadow that formed behind the wall of the Cimmeride Mountains to the south.

The interval from the Late Triassic through the Late Jurassic (about 227 to 144 million years
ago) was also the time when the Yangtze paraplatform and the Huan'an, Dongnanya, and
Annamia blocks collided with one another and also with the eastern end of the Cimmerian
continent and the rest of c . This created the multibranched Cimmeride mountain ranges of
eastern and southeastern c , including the Qin (Tsinling) Mountains that separate North China
from South China. Some of the metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountains were buried to depths
reaching 60 miles (100 km) during the collision of the Yangtze and the North China
paraplatforms. These collisions formed another vast tin-bearing granite province in southern
China.

In the Middle East the rifting of the Cimmerian continent opened the eastern Mediterranean in
the Late Triassic (between 227 and 206 million years ago), with Turkey moving away from
Africa. In the Early Jurassic (206 to 180 million years ago) the Turkish part of the Cimmerian
continent continued to disintegrate and to open a number of new Tethyan branches.

The fragmentation of the southern supercontinent Gondwanaland accelerated in the middle

Mesozoic. This fragmentation led to the opening of the central and the southern Atlantic and
Indian oceans that was partially compensated by the beginning closure of the Neo-Tethys. In
c  the main subduction zones consuming the Neo-Tethyan ocean floor began forming in the
Late Jurassic along the northern margin of the ocean in Iran and in what later became the
Himalayas. A unified subduction zone²extending from northern Turkey, south of the Pontic
Mountains, through southwestern Iran (the present northern slope of the Zagros Mountains) and
Makrān, north of the Salt Range in Pakistan to the present-day Himalayan suture zone along the
valleys of the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers, and from there to Myanmar and Sumatra²came
into being during the Early Cretaceous (about 120 to 100 million years ago). The vast Late
Cretaceous granitic intrusions of the Trans-Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges and the andesitic
volcanics that occupy a thin strip from northern Turkey through Iran and Pakistan to the
Karakorams and extend beyond the Himalayas into Myanmar, Sumatra, and Borneo are the
result of the rapid destruction of the Neo-Tethyan ocean floor.

In the Early Cretaceous other entirely intraoceanic subduction zones also formed just north of the
former Gondwanan continental margins in Turkey, Iran, and Oman. The attempted subduction of
these margins resulted in the emplacement of vast portions of the Neo-Tethyan ocean floor on
top of these margins in the form of giant ophiolite sheets, such as the Semail Nappe in Oman.
These ophiolite nappes (i.e., thrust sheets) are major sources of chromite deposits. Also in the
Early Cretaceous a small sliver of continental crust that now forms much of southwestern
Sumatra rifted from northwestern Australia. This eventually collided with the rest of Sumatra in
the Late Cretaceous, resulting in the opening of the northeastern segment of the Indian Ocean.

 
 c 

Most of the Mesozoic events in the Altaids were the echoes of the Cimmeride collisions farther
south. In places these collisions split the old Altaid edifice at high angles to the collision front,
creating extensional basins such as the Torghay Valley, just north of the Aral Sea, and the West
Siberian Plain, which contains little-deformed Jurassic and younger shallow-water and
continental sedimentary rocks with significant hydrocarbon reserves. In other places closer to the
collision front, the basement was uplifted along major thrust faults, creating mountain ridges
(e.g., in the Tupqaraghan Peninsula on the east coast of the Caspian Sea and the Kyzylkum
Desert of southern Kazakhstan). Between these, large compressional basins formed (e.g., the
Turkmenian basins) or older ones became accentuated (the Tarim and Junggar), within which
large sedimentary thicknesses and important hydrocarbon reserves accumulated. The
compressional structures were connected in places with extensional structures through large
strike-slip fault systems, the best-known of which runs through the Fergana Valley in southern
Central c .

 
 



The Angaran platform was also affected by the Cimmeride collisions but reacted more mildly
than the Altaids. The vast Tunguska trap basalts erupted in the transition between the Permian
and Triassic periods, and the eruptions lasted well into the Triassic. They were related to the
rifting of the West Siberian Plain and were coeval with basaltic eruptions in the Torghay Valley.
The old Proterozoic rifts on the Angaran platform were compressed at the end of the Jurassic,
probably in response to the ongoing shortening of the Cimmeride continent.

Major Late Jurassic±Early Cretaceous extension and basaltic volcanism affected especially the
northern part of the Arabian platform. This extensional event was part of a much wider
extensional province in north-central Africa. Yet another such event occurred in the northern and
eastern parts of the platform in the Late Cretaceous, creating deep shelf basins.

During the Mesozoic, the Indian subcontinent separated from Gondwanaland. Its eastern margin
formed early in the Cretaceous (about 140 million years ago), when India separated from
Australia. The Early Cretaceous rifting event that affected the eastern margin of the Indian
platform also led to some rejuvenation of the older Gondwanan rifts. India separated from
Madagascar some 85 million years ago. Another rifting along this margin, about 66 million years
ago, removed the Seychelles and Saya de Malha banks in the present western Indian Ocean from
India and also gave rise to the huge Deccan trap basalt eruptions, which involved about 50
distinct flows in probably less than a million years.
 
 

 


 

The subduction of the floor of the Pacific Ocean dominated the evolution of the Pacific margin
of c , especially during the second half of the Mesozoic Era. Large subduction-accretion
complexes formed in Japan and in Borneo, and the Kolyma block²forming present-day
northeastern c ²collided with the Angaran platform during the Late Jurassic±Early
Cretaceous interval. This collision produced the 375-mile- (600-km-) wide Verkhoyansk fold-
and-thrust belt, in the front of which coal was deposited in postcollisional molasse basins.

A major magmatic arc flanked c  between Japan and Indochina in the Late Jurassic to Late
Cretaceous interval and joined the Neo-Tethyan arc system in Borneo. Late Cretaceous to early
Tertiary extensional tectonics along this arc formed many of the offshore basins along the
Chinese continental margin.




The Cenozoic (65 million years ago to the present) was the time when c  acquired its present
appearance.


 c c

 

The most important tectonic event in the Cenozoic history of c  was its collision with India
some 50 million years ago. This collision took place about 1,250 miles (2,000 km) south of the
present location of the line of collision along the Indus-Brahmaputra suture behind the main
range of the Himalayas. Since the collision India has ³bulldozed´ the southern margin of c ,
crumpling both c  and its own northern margin. A horizontal shortening of some 500 miles
(800 km) has accompanied this action, much of the distance taken up by massive thrust sheets in
the Himalayas. The Plateau of Tibet, the largest and thickest concentration of continental crust
on Earth, is a consequence of considerable compression of the c n continental lithosphere. The
plateau has a crustal thickness of some 43 miles (69 km), and widespread volcanicity results
from the melting of the lower parts of the thickened continental crust. Extensional basins
oriented north-south in Tibet indicate that the massive plateau is spreading under its own weight
like a piece of Silly Putty. India still moves northward with respect to c  at a speed of about
2.4 inches (6 cm) per year, maintaining the high elevations of both the Himalayas and the Plateau
of Tibet.

The effects of the convergence reach farther north to Lake Baikal. The old Cimmeride
compressional basins of Tarim, Dzungaria, and the other smaller ones have been all rejuvenated,
as have the intervening mountain ridges such as the Tien Shan. Large strike-slip faults such as
the Altun and the Karakoram have redistributed continental material in front of the moving
indenter. In the south the collision created the large Ganges basin south of the Himalayas and
may have led to a shortening of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent in the vicinity of Anai
Peak.

The Arabian platform, which collided with c  in the Middle Miocene (about 13 million years
ago), has continued to converge with it at a rate of some 1.6 inches (4 cm) per year, in the
process uplifting both the Zagros Mountains and the entire high-plateau system of Turkey and
Iran, which resembles the Plateau of Tibet. A part of eastern Turkey has been pushed out of the
way of the indenting Arabian platform along the North Anatolian Fault.

The widespread and complicated deformation caused or influenced by the two major Alpide
collisions characterizes the Alpide plate boundary zone, the major neotectonic province in c .
The vast salt steppes and deserts of c  are located in this province, behind the rain shadow of
the Alpide ranges.

Subduction under c  continues in the Tethysides and contributes to tectonism in the Alpide
plate boundary zone. Subduction has been consuming the floor of the eastern Mediterranean to
the south of c  Minor, the floor of the Arabian Sea off the coast of the Makrān, and the floor
of the Indian Ocean around Southeast c . The Banda arc of mainly volcanic islands in
Indonesia collided with Australia in the Pliocene Epoch (about 5 million years ago), and arc-
related magmatism has not yet ceased.


  c 

North of the Alpide plate boundary zone are the vast expanses of Siberia, where the absence of
seismic activity and the subdued relief indicate an absence of active tectonism. The only
exception to this is where the Gakkel spreading centre of the Arctic Ocean is propagating into
c  along the Sadko Trough and the Chersky Mountains.


  
  

The subduction zone that was active along the eastern margin of c  late in the Mesozoic
started migrating away from the continent in the Late Cretaceous in China. This led to crustal
extension that created a number of the present-day offshore basins along the Chinese continental
margin. The South China Sea opened as an ocean-floored marginal basin in the Oligocene Epoch
(33.7 to 23.8 million years ago). Earlier, a midoceanic subduction zone had come into being
along the Kyushu-Palau Ridge, and above it the West Mariana Basin opened in the Oligocene-
Miocene interval. Some 5 million years ago the East Mariana Basin began opening behind the
present Mariana Island arc. Japan moved away from mainland c  in the Middle Miocene,
opening behind it the Sea of Japan. The Kuril Basin behind the Kuril Islands arc has a similar
age.

The Cenozoic history of the island arc systems and the marginal basins they delimit against the
Pacific Ocean has been dominated by extensional tectonics of the arc massifs concurrent with
mainly basaltic and subordinate andesitic volcanism, limited subduction-accretion, and strike-
slip faulting (e.g., the Philippine Fault). Some arcs, such as Sengihe and Halmahera, collided
with each other, while others have split apart in recent geologic time to create newer marginal
basins such as the Okinawa Trough. Some islands, such as eastern Taiwan or those of the Banda
arc, have collided with continents. Of the young marginal basins, only the Sea of Japan may have
begun closing again. The extraordinarily complex tectonic evolution of the East and Southeast
c n island arcs and marginal basins constitutes an excellent present-day analogue of the
processes that may have produced the Altaid collage during the Paleozoic.

A.M. Celâl Şengör

!
"

  

O Physiographic regions of c  and New Guinea.

Characteristic of the surface of c  is the great predominance of mountains and plateaus,

constituting about three-fourths of the continent's total area. The mountains are grouped into two
belts: those located on the stable platforms (cratons) and those located in active orogenic zones.
The former usually occur on the margins of the platforms and generally are characterized by
smooth eroded peaks and steep faulted slopes. Marginal mountain ranges, with average heights
of 8,200 to 9,850 feet (2,500 to 3,000 metres), usually enclose the inner tablelands and plateaus;
examples of such ranges include the Western and Eastern Ghats in India, the mountains of the
Hejaz and Yemeni highlands on the Arabian Peninsula, and the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon
mountains in the Levant. The Aldan Plateau and Stanovoy Mountains lie along the eastern
margin of the Angaran (Siberian) platform, where the isolated and uplifted Putoran Mountains
are located in central Siberia.
 O Rocky steambed in the Kyrgyz Range of the Tien Shan, near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Mountains of the orogenic zones are much higher in elevation and have a more complicated
structure. Tectonic movements in these zones have given rise to structures of different age and
composition. Mesozoic and Cenozoic foldings created boundaries between basic types of
mountains over vast areas of c . The largest mountain belt on Mesozoic structures extends
from the Chukchi Peninsula at the eastern extremity of c  through the Kolyma, Dzhugdzhur,
and Stanovoy ranges to the mountains of southern Siberia (the Sayans and the Altai) and to the
Tien Shan and Gissar-Alay. The Chersky and Verkhoyansk ranges are the western spurs of this
belt.

Along the edges of the Central c n plateaus extend the elongated mountain chains of the Da
Hinggan (Greater Khingan), Taihang, and Daxue ranges. The Hinggan-Bureya mountains (Xiao
Hinggan [Lesser Khingan] and Bureya ranges) demarcate the Zeya-Bureya Depression; the
Manchurian-Korean and Sikhote-Alin mountain ranges separate the plains of the Amur and
Sungari (Songhua) rivers, the Lake Khanka lowland, and the Manchurian (Northeast) Plain. The
coastal ranges in the southeast consist of the mountains of southern China and the Annamese
Cordillera. A generally latitudinal branch springs from the Pamirs region and runs eastward
through the Kunlun, Qilian, and Qin (Tsinling) mountains.

The Alpine-Himalayan mountain belt runs in a west-east direction and includes the Taurus
Mountains, the Caucasus, the Zagros and Elburz mountains, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the
Karakoram Range, the Plateau of Tibet, and the Himalayas; it then turns to the south and
southeast, running through the Rakhine (Arakan) Mountains to the islands of the Malay
Archipelago. The western part of this belt consists, for a considerable distance, of two series of
mountain chains that converge in dense knots in the Armenian Highland, in the Pamirs, and in
the southeast of the Plateau of Tibet; the two chains then diverge to encompass the interior
plateaus. The average elevation of highlands and marginal ranges increases from west to east
from about 2,600 to 3,000 feet (800 to 900 metres) on the Anatolian Plateau to about 13,000 to
16,400 feet (4,000 to 5,000 metres) on the Plateau of Tibet and from about 8,200 to 11,500 feet
(2,500 to 3,500 metres) in the Pontic and Taurus mountains to 19,000 feet (5,800 metres) in the
Himalayas.

On the northeastern and eastern edges of c , a vast belt of Cenozoic folding extends from the
Koryak Mountains of the Kamchatka-Koryak arc along the Sredinny (Central) range of the
Kamchatka Peninsula. The marginal seas of the western Pacific Ocean are bordered by the East
c n islands, which form the line of arcs running from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the north to
the Sunda Islands in the south. Volcanic and seismic activity is characteristic of this belt.
  

Low plains occupy the rest of the c n mainland, particularly the vast West Siberian and Turan
plains of the interior. The remaining lowlands are distributed either in the maritime regions²
such as the North Siberian and Yana-Indigirka lowlands and the North China Plain²or in the
piedmont depressions of Mesopotamia, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and mainland Southeast c .
These plains have monotonously level surfaces with wide valleys, through which the great c n
rivers and their tributaries flow. The topography of the plains in densely populated regions has
been greatly modified through the construction of canals, dams, and levees. To the south of the
zone of piedmont depressions lie extensive tablelands and plateaus, including the Deccan Plateau
in India and the Syrian-Arabian Plateau in the west. In addition, there are the intermontane
basins of Kashgaria, Junggar, Qaidam (Tsaidam), and Fergana and the plateaus of central Siberia
and the Gobi, all of which lie at elevations of 2,600 to 4,900 feet (800 to 1,500 metres). Most of
their surfaces are smooth or gently rolling, with isolated hillocks. The plateaus inside Tibet, the
Tien Shan, and the Pamirs lie at elevations of some 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) or more.

  

O Mount Fuji, Japan.

A large proportion of the islands of c  are mountainous. The highlands of Sri Lanka rise to
8,281 feet (2,524 metres); Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia reaches 13,455 feet (4,101 metres);
Mount Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu has an elevation of 12,388 feet (3,776 metres); and
many volcanoes of Sumatra, Java, and Mindanao reach 10,000 feet (3,000 metres).




 
 

The contemporary relief of c  was molded primarily under the influences of (1) ancient
processes of planation (leveling), (2) larger vertical movements of the surface during the
Cenozoic Era, and (3) severe erosive dissection of the edges of the uplifted highlands with the
accompanying accumulation of alluvium in low-lying troughs, which were either settling
downward or being uplifted more slowly than the adjoining heights.
The interior portions of the uplifted highlands and the plateaus and tablelands of peninsular
India, Arabia, Syria, and eastern Siberia²all of which are relatively low-lying but composed of
resistant rock²largely have preserved their ancient peneplaned (i.e., leveled) surfaces.
Particularly spectacular uplifting occurred in Central c , where the amplitude of this uplift of
the mountain ranges of Tibet and of the Pamirs and the Himalayas has exceeded 13,000 feet
(4,000 metres). The eastern margin of the highlands, meanwhile, underwent subsidences of up to
2,300 feet (700 metres). Uplifting as a result of fractures at great depths, of which the Kopet-Dag
and Fergana ranges provide typical examples, and of folding over a large radius, examples of
which may be seen in the Tien Shan and Gissar and Alay ranges, played a significant role.

Erosional dissection transformed many ancient plateaus into mountainous regions. Majestic
gorges were carved into the highlands of the western Pamirs and southeastern Tibet; the
Himalayas, the Kunlun and Sayan mountains, the Stanovoy and Chersky ranges, and the
marginal ranges of the West c n highlands were deeply cut by the rivers, which created deep
superimposed gorges and canyons.

Vast areas of Middle, Central, and East c , particularly in the Huang He (Yellow River) basin,
are covered with loess (a loamy unstratified deposit formed by wind or by glacial meltwater
deposition); the thickness of these deposits on the Loess Plateau of China sometimes exceeds
1,000 feet (300 metres). There are broad expanses of badlands, eolian (wind-produced) relief,
and karst topography (limestone terrain associated with vertical and underground drainage).
Karst terrain is characteristic of the Kopet-Dag, the eastern Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Gissar and
Alay ranges, the Ustyurt Plateau, the western Taurus Mountains, and the Levant. Tropical karst
in South China is renowned for its picturesque residual hills.

The mantle of Pleistocene glaciation embraced northwestern c  only to latitude 60° N. East of
the Khatanga River, which flows from Siberia into the Arctic Ocean, only isolated glaciation of
the mantle debris and of the mountains occurred, because of the extremely dry climate that
existed in northeastern c  even at that time. The high mountain regions experienced primarily
mountain glaciation. There are traces of several periods during which the glaciers advanced²
periods separated by warmer interglacial epochs. Glaciation continues in many of the
mountainous areas and on the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. The Karakoram Range, the
Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Himalayas, and the eastern Hindu Kush are noted for the immensity
of their contemporary glaciers. Most of the glaciers are retreating. The elevation of the
permanent snow line is relatively high, averaging between 14,800 and 16,400 feet (4,500 and
5,000 metres) and reaching 21,000 feet (6,400 metres) in central Tibet.

An enormous area of permafrost²some 4.25 million square miles (11 million square km)²
covers northern c  and extends to lower latitudes there than anywhere else in the world. Little
snowfall occurs, because of the aridity, and deep freezing of the soil takes place. The depth of the
permafrost in continental northern and eastern Siberia exceeds 1,000 to 1,300 feet (300 to 400
metres).

Volcanism has added broad lava plateaus and chains of young volcanic cones to the relief of
c . Ancient lavas and intrusions of magma, exposed by later erosion, cover the terraced
plateaus of peninsular India and central Siberia. Extensive zones of young volcanic relief and
contemporary volcanism, however, are confined to the unstable arcs of the East c n islands,
together with the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Philippines, and the Sunda Islands. The highest
active volcano in c , Klyuchevskaya, rises to 15,584 feet (4,750 metres) on Kamchatka.

Geologically recent volcanism is also characteristic of the West c n highlands, the Caucasus,
Mongolia, the Manchurian-Korean mountains, and the Syrian-Arabian Plateau. In historical
times eruptions also occurred in the interior of the continent in the Xiao Hinggan Range and the
Anyuy highlands.

 c 

It is common practice in geographic literature to divide c  into large regions, each grouping
together a number of countries. These physiographic divisions usually consist of North c ,
including the bulk of Siberia and the northeastern edges of the continent; East c , including the
continental part of the Far East region of Siberia, the East c n islands, Korea, and eastern and
northeastern China; Central c , including the Plateau of Tibet, the Junggar and Tarim basins,
Inner Mongolia, the Gobi, and the Sino-Tibetan ranges; Middle c , including the Turan Plain,
the Pamirs, the Gissar and Alay ranges, and the Tien Shan; South c , including the Philippine
and Malay archipelagoes, Indochina and peninsular India, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and the
Himalayas; and West (or Southwest) c , including the West c n highlands (Anatolia,
Armenia, and Iran), the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. Sometimes the Philippines, the
Malay Archipelago, and the Indochinese Peninsula, instead of being considered part of South
c , are grouped separately as Southeast c . Yet another variation of the basic categories is
commonly made to divide c  into its cultural regions.

#c 

Northeastern Siberia comprises faulted and folded mountains of moderate height, such as the
Verkhoyansk, Chersky, and Okhotsk-Chaun mountain arcs, all Mesozoic structures that have
been rejuvenated by geologically recent tectonic events. The Koryak Mountains are similar but
have a Cenozoic origin. Volcanic activity took place in these areas during the Cenozoic. Some
plateaus are found in the areas of the ancient massifs, such as the Kolyma Mountains. Traces of
several former centres of mountain glaciers remain, as well as traces of lowland originally
covered by the sea, such as the New Siberian Islands. The Prilenskoye and Aldan plateaus²
comprising an ancient peneplain resting on the underlying platform that sometimes outcrops on
the surface²are located in the region. Traces of ancient glaciation also can be distinguished.

The dominant feature of north-central Siberia is the Central Siberian Plateau, a series of plateaus
and stratified plains that were uplifted in the Cenozoic. They are composed of terraced and
dissected mesas with exposed horizontal volcanic intrusions, plains formed from uplifted
Precambrian blocks, and a young uplifted mesa, dissected at the edges and partly covered with
traprock (Putoran Mountains). On the eastern periphery is the Central Yakut Lowland, the
drainage basin of the lower Lena River, and on the northern periphery is the North Siberian
Lowland, covered with its original marine deposits.

The West Siberian Plain is stratified and is composed of Cenozoic sediments deposited over
thicknesses of Mesozoic material, in addition to folded bedrock. The northern part was subjected
to several periods of glaciation throughout the Quaternary Period (the past 1.8 million years). In
the south, glaciofluvial and fluvial deposits predominate.

In the northern part of the region are the mountains and islands of the c n Arctic. The
archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya is formed of fragments of fractured Paleozoic folded
structures. Throughout the region there has been vigorous contemporary glaciation.

 c 

The main features in the northern region of East c  include the Da Hinggan, Xiao Hinggan,
and Bureya ranges; the Zeya-Bureya Depression and the Sikhote-Alin ranges; the lowlands of
the Amur and Sungari rivers and Lake Khanka; the Manchurian-Korean highlands running along
North Korea's border with China; the ranges extending along the eastern side of the Korean
peninsula; the Manchurian Plain; the lowlands of the Liao River basin; and the North China
Plain. Most of these features were formed by folding, faulting, or broad zonal subsidence. The
mountains are separated by alluvial lowlands in areas where recent subsidence has occurred.

The mountains of southeastern China were formed from Precambrian and Paleozoic remnants of
the Yangtze paraplatform by folding and faulting that occurred during the Mesozoic and
Cenozoic eras. The mountain ranges are numerous, are of low or moderate elevation, and occupy
most of the surface area, leaving only small, irregularly shaped plains.

The islands off the coast of East c  and the Kamchatka Peninsula are related formations. The
Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands are uplifted fragments of the Ryukyu-
Korean, Honshu-Sakhalin, and Kuril-Kamchatka mountain-island arcs. Dating from the
Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, these arcs have complex knots at their junctions, represented by the
topography of the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Hokkaido. The mountains are of low or
moderate height and are formed of folded and faulted blocks; some volcanic mountains and
small alluvial lowlands also are to be found.

Kamchatka is a mountainous peninsula formed from fragments of the Kamchatka-Koryak and

Kuril-Kamchatka arcs, which occur in parallel ranges. The geologically young folds enclose
rigid ancient structures. Cenozoic (including contemporary) volcanism is pronounced, and the
peninsula has numerous geysers and hot springs. Vast plains exist that are composed of
alluviums and volcanic ashes.

c    

Central c  consists of mountains, plateaus, and tablelands formed from fragments of the
ancient platforms and surrounded by a folded area formed in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.

The mountains of southern Siberia and Mongolia were formed by renewed uplift of old faulted
and folded blocks; ranges are separated by intermontane troughs. The Alpine mountains²the
Altai, Sayan, and Stanovoy mountains²are particularly noticeable. They have clearly defined
features resulting from ancient glaciation; contemporary glaciers exist in the Altai.

The Central c n plains and tablelands include the Junggar Basin, the Takla Makan Desert, the
Gobi, and the Ordos Desert. Relief features vary from surfaces leveled by erosion in the
Mesozoic and Cenozoic to plateaus with low mountains, eroded plateaus on which loess had
accumulated, and vast sandy deserts covered with wind-borne alluvium and lacustrine deposits.

Alpine c ²sometimes known as High c ²includes the Pamirs and the eastern Hindu
Kush, the Kunlun Mountains, the Tien Shan, the Gissar and Alay ranges, the Plateau of Tibet,
the Karakoram Range, and the Himalayas. The Pamirs and the eastern Hindu Kush are sharply
uplifted mountains dissected into ridges and gorges in the west. The Kunlun Mountains, the Tien
Shan, and the Gissar and Alay ranges belong to an alpine region that was formed from folded
structures of Paleozoic age. Glaciers are present throughout the region but are most concentrated
at the western end of the Himalayas and in the Karakoram Range.

The Plateau of Tibet represents a fractured alpine zone in which Mesozoic and Cenozoic
structures that surround an older central mass have experienced more recent uplifting. Some of
the highlands are covered with sandy and rocky desert; elsewhere in this region, alpine highlands
are dissected by erosion or are covered with glaciers. The Karakoram Range and the Himalayas
were uplifted during late Cenozoic times. Their erosion has exposed older rocks that were
deformed during earlier tectonic events.

 c 

South c , in the limited sense of the term, consists of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, peninsular
India, and Sri Lanka. The Indo-Gangetic Plain is formed from the combined alluvial plains of the
Indus, Ganges (Ganga), and Brahmaputra rivers, which lie in a deep marginal depression running
north of and parallel to the main range of the Himalayas. It is an area of subsidence into which
thick accumulations of earlier marine sediments and later continental deposits have washed down
from the rising mountains. These sediments provide fertile soil in the Ganges and Brahmaputra
basins and in irrigated parts of the Indus basin, while the margins of the Indus basin have become
sandy deserts. Peninsular India and Sri Lanka are formed of platform plateaus and tablelands,
including the vast Deccan Plateau, uplifted in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The region includes
tablelands with uplifted margins, such as the Western and Eastern Ghats, and terraced and
dissected plateaus with lava mantles or intrusions.

  c 
Southeast c  is composed of the Indochinese Peninsula and the islands and peninsulas to the
southeast of the c n continent. The mainland consists of the western mountain area and the
central and eastern mountains and plains. The western mountain area of Myanmar (Burma) is a
fold belt of Cenozoic age. Mountains of medium elevation constitute folded blocks that decrease
in size and elevation to the south; the valleys are alluvial and broaden out to the south. Central
and eastern Thailand and central and southern Vietnam are characterized by mountains of low
and moderate height that have been moderately fractured. The region is one of Mesozoic
structures surrounding the ancient mass known as the Kontum block, which comprises plateaus
and lowlands filled with accumulated alluvial deposits.

Archipelagoes border the southeastern margin of c , consisting mainly of island arcs bordered
by deep oceanic trenches. The Indian Ocean arcs²Sumatra, Java, and the Lesser Sunda
Islands²consist of fragments of Alpine folds that constitute a complex assemblage of rock types
of different ages. Vigorous Cenozoic volcanic activity, continuing up to the present, has formed
volcanic mountains, and their steady erosion has filled the adjacent alluvial lowlands with
sediment.

Borneo and the Malay Peninsula are formed from fractured continental land situated at the
junction of the Alpine-Himalayan and East c tic downwarp regions. The mountains are
composed of folded and faulted blocks; the lowlands are alluvial.

The Pacific Ocean island arcs, including Celebes (Sulawesi), the Moluccas, the Philippine
Islands, and Taiwan, have been built by ongoing tectonic processes, particularly volcanism.
Mountain areas of moderate height, volcanic ranges, alluvial lowlands, and coral reef islets are
present throughout these regions.

c 

Middle c  includes the plains and hills lying between the Caspian Sea to the west and Lake
Balkhash to the east. This area is composed of flat plains on continental platforms of folded
Paleozoic and Mesozoic bedrock. Individual uplifted portions form low, rounded hills in the
Kazakh region, low mountains on the Tupqaraghan and Türkmenbashy (Krasnovodsk)
peninsulas of the Caspian Sea, and mesas (isolated hills with level summits and steeply sloping
sides) in areas of earlier marine sedimentation, such as the Ustyurt Plateau and the Karakum
Desert. Thick accumulations of alluvium have been transported by the wind, forming sandy
deserts in the south. Original marine and lacustrine sediments adjoin the shores of the Caspian
and Aral seas and Lake Balkhash.

$ c 

West c  includes the highlands of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the Armenian and Iranian
highlands.
The highlands of Anatolia²the Pontic Mountains that parallel the Black Sea, and the Taurus and
Anatolian tablelands²are areas of severe fragmentation, heightened erosional dissection, and
isolated occurrences of volcanism. The Greater Caucasus Mountains are a series of upfolded
ranges generally running northwest to southeast between the Black and Caspian seas. The
Armenian Highland is a region of discontinuous mountains including the Lesser Caucasus and
the Kurt mountains. Geologically recent uplifting, in the form of a knot of mountain arcs, took
place during a period of vigorous volcanism during the Cenozoic. The region is seismically
active and is known for its destructive earthquakes.

The Iranian highlands comprise mountain arcs (the Elburz, the Kopet-Dag, the mountains of
Khorāsān, the Safīd Range, and the western Hindu Kush in the north; the Zagros, Makrān,
Soleymān, and Kīrthar mountains in the south), together with the plateaus of the interior and the
central Iranian, eastern Iranian, and central Afghanistan mountains. There are isolated volcanoes
of Cenozoic origin, a predominance of accumulated remnants resulting from ancient erosion, and
saline and sandy deserts in the depressions and stony deserts (hammadas) on the tablelands.

  c 

Southwest c , like much of southern c , is made up of an ancient platform²the northern

fragments of Gondwanaland²in which sloping plains occur in the marginal downwarps. Its
principal components are the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia.

The Arabian Peninsula is a tilted platform, highest along the Red Sea, on which the stratified
plains have undergone erosion under arid conditions. Plateaus with uplifted margins, Cenozoic
lava plateaus, stratified plains, and cuestas (long, low ridges with a steep face on one side and a
long, gentle slope on the other) all occur. Ancient marine sands and alluvium, resulting from
previous subsidence and sedimentation, now take the form of vast sandy deserts.

Mesopotamia consists of the Tigris and Euphrates floodplains and of the deltas from Baghdad to
the Persian Gulf. The original lowland is covered with late Cenozoic sedimentation; the elevated
plain, on the other hand, has been dissected by erosion and denudation under the continental
conditions prevailing in the late Cenozoic.

%

" 
 O Scenic rock formations on the middle section of the Lena River, eastern Siberia.

c  is a land of great rivers. The Ob, Irtysh, Yenisey with the Angara, Lena (with the waters of
the Aldan and the Vilyuy), Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma rivers all flow into the Arctic Ocean.
Among rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean are the Anadyr, Amur (combined with the Sungari
and the Ussuri), Huang He, Yangtze (Chang), Xi, Red, Mekong, and Chao Phraya. The Salween,
Irrawaddy, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Godavari, Krishna, and Indus flow into the Indian Ocean, as
does the Shatt al-Arab, which is the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Kura and
Aras rivers flow into the Caspian Sea. Only small mountain rivers flow from c  into the Sea of
Azov, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. The Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Ili, Tarim, Helmand,
and Harīrūd (Tejen) rivers empty into vast interior basins. Some of these rivers end in lakes;
others end in deltas in the sands or salt marshes; and still others flow into oases, where all the
water is used to irrigate fields or else evaporates.

All the Siberian rivers freeze over in the winter, and some freeze to the bottom. In spring
widespread flooding occurs as snow fields melt. These rivers are important communication
routes, being used by boats during the summer and as roads for sleighs in winter; they also teem
with fish.

In the dry regions where drainage is landlocked, many large rivers are temporary ones fed by
melting snow and glaciers in the mountains; they reach their peak water levels in summer. Rivers
in dry regions that are not fed by mountain runoff have little water; their levels vary sharply, and
periodically or occasionally they dry up completely. The rivers of the monsoon climate regions
reach their maximum volume in summer and are utilized for irrigation. The c n rivers in the
vicinity of the Mediterranean that are not fed by mountain snows grow shallow in summer and
sometimes even dry up. In the tropical regions, however, the rivers perennially are full of water.

! 

O Salt deposits on the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea near Masada, Israel.

The many lakes of c  vary considerably in size and origin. The largest of them²the Caspian
and Aral seas²are the remains of larger seas. The Caspian has been fluctuating in size, and the
Aral has been shrinking, primarily because its tributaries, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya,
have been tapped heavily for irrigation purposes. Lakes Baikal, Ysyk-Köl, and Hövsgöl
(Khubsugul), the Dead Sea, and others lie in tectonic depressions. The basins of Lakes Van,
Sevan, and Urmia are, furthermore, encircled by lava, and Lake Telets was gouged out by
ancient glaciation. A number of lakes were formed as the result of landslides (Lake Sarez in the
Pamirs), karst processes (the lakes of the western Taurus, in Turkey), or the formation of lava
dams (Lake Jingpo in northeastern China and several lakes in the Kuril Islands). In the volcanic
regions of the eastern c n islands, in the Philippines, and in the Malay Archipelago, lakes have
formed in craters and calderas. The subarctic has a particularly large number of lakes; in addition
to lakes formed as a result of melting permafrost and subsidence, there are also ancient glacial
moraine lakes. Many lagoonal lakes occur along low coastlines.

O Harbour of Bolshiye Koty on Lake Baikal, southeastern Siberia.

The lakes in the internal drainage basins²such as Koko Nor, Lake Tuz, and others²are usually
saline. Lake Balkhash has fresh water in the west and brackish water in the east. Lakes through
which rivers flow are freshwater and regulate the flow of the rivers that issue from them or flow
into them; examples of these are Lake Baikal, associated with the Angara River; Lake Khanka
(the Song'acha and Ussuri rivers); Dongting Lake and Lake Poyang (the Yangtze River); and
Tonle Sap (the Mekong). Large reservoirs have also been created by constructing hydroelectric
stations.

 

In arid regions groundwater (subterranean water) is often the only source of water. Large
accumulations are known to exist in artesian basins and beneath the dipping plains at the foot of
mountains; these are associated with the extensive oases of Central c , Kashgaria, and many
other regions.

 

The soils of c  are marked by the combined effects of climate, topography, hydrology, plant
and animal life, age, and economic activities. All of these factors vary considerably from one
part of this vast continent to another, from north to south, and from lower to higher elevations in
mountainous regions. The soil also shows a horizontal zonality that is especially clearly defined
in the continental plains.

c


In the Arctic, where glacial and Arctic deserts predominate, the processes of soil building occur
only in rudimentary form. The soils are skeletal and low in humus. The subarctic north of c  is
occupied by a timberless zone of tundra vegetation. The subarctic climate and tundra vegetation
give rise to specifically tundra-type soils, which are characterized by poor drainage (due to
permafrost) and only a short period in which it is possible for organic substances to decompose.
This results in the accumulation of undecomposed organic residues in the form of particles of
peat. The poor drainage creates an oxygen-free medium in which a bluish substance known as
gley is formed. Thus, peaty-gley soils are most characteristic of the tundra. There are widespread
occurrences of movement by solifluction (or mudflows), heaving of the ground because of frost,
settling or caving in of the ground from thawing, and formation of stone rings around central
areas of debris in regions covered with boulders.

  

Farther south stretches the transitional belt of the forest tundra, where tundra and sparse forest
alternate with regularity. Tundra soils alternate with the soils of the taiga (the cold, swampy
forested region). The soils below the frozen taiga are called cryogenic (influenced by frost
action). In the mountainous regions the peaty-gley soils are replaced by mountain tundra and
weakly developed, often embryonic soils of detritus and stony fragments.

 

The forest zone occupies the largest part of the temperate zone. Characteristic of soil formation
in the forest zone is the leaching process. The forest leaves and needles that fall, together with
dead remains of the sparse grass cover, are subjected to decomposition by organic acids in the
litter of the forest floor. The duration of the summer season and the amount of precipitation are
sufficient for complete decomposition of the soluble soil components, and the soil solutions
transport them and leach them into deeper soil horizons (layers). The undecomposed quartz
grains remain in the upper horizon, which is therefore infertile; this layer resembles light-gray
ashes, which is the reason soils of this type are called podzols (Russian: ³under ashes´).
Different degrees of leaching occur in the various subzones of the forest zone. A dense rusty
brown horizon of wash-down (deposition in an underlying layer of soil) underlies the podzolic
portion of the soil profile (or layer); its colour is related to the accumulation of iron and
aluminum oxides. This layer, called orstein, or iron pan, is impervious to water and contributes
to the self-swamping of the taiga forests. East of the Yenisey River, where permafrost occurs
across the entire breadth of the forest zone, soil drainage (and consequently the leaching process)
is made more difficult, and the typical podzols are therefore replaced by specific cryogenic taiga
soils. Marshes and bog-type soils are widely distributed over a considerable part of the taiga
subzones.

The deciduous forest subzones of c  form two distinct areas. In western Siberia there are
small-leafed (primarily birch or aspen) forests on gray forest soils. They are more gray in colour
than the podzols because of the greater amount of organic substances²such as tree leaves and a
more abundant grass cover²feeding these soils. This explains their higher humus content, as
well as their greater fertility. The second section of the deciduous forest subzone has survived in
East c , stretching from the Xiao Hinggan Range in the west to the Japanese island of Honshu
in the east; in this subzone abundant warmth and moisture intensify chemical weathering, and
iron oxides accumulate even in the surface soil horizons. In this manner brown forest soils,
known as forest burozems, are formed.

   

Soil cover in the forest-steppe region is formed when the ratio of precipitation to evaporation is
in equilibrium and as the leaching process of the wet season alternates with the upward flow of
the soil solutions during the dry period. Under these conditions, with organic material resulting
from the dense vegetation abundantly available, humus accumulation in the soil is considerable,
and dark-coloured soils are formed that are the most fertile in all c ; known as chernozems,
they are the thickest of the forest-steppe and mixed-grass soils. Characteristic of the wooded-
meadow plains of the Amur River basin (the ³Amur prairies´) are meadow soils that are dark,
moist, and often composed of blue gley. In the drier steppes, where vegetation is sparse, the
amount of humus is reduced and the content of unleached mineral salts is increased; transport of
the dissolved salts to the surface by the upward flow of soil solutions is also intensified.
Associated with this process is a bleaching and salinization of the soil. The drier steppes thus
form a transitional zone from the shallow southern chernozems to the chestnut soils. Broad
expanses of the forest-steppe and steppe are under cultivation and serve as rich granaries. Severe
wind erosion occurs during the hot, dry seasons. In many areas surface washout and gully
erosion have also impoverished the soil, despite preventive efforts.

  

Through inner Kazakhstan and Mongolia stretches a zone of semidesert, and in Middle c , the
Junggar (Dzungarian) Basin, the Takla Makan Desert, and Inner Mongolia, there is a belt of
temperate-zone deserts. A belt of subtropical deserts extends through the Levant, the Iranian
highlands, and the southern edge of Middle c . Beneath the semideserts, with their mosaic of
desert and arid-steppe vegetation, light chestnut and light brown semidesert soils form; these are
low in humus but contain an abundance of strongly alkaline soil. Beneath the deserts, where the
supply of organic substances, as well as the humus content, is extremely low, gray-brown soils
form in the temperate zone, while gray desert soils (sierozems) develop in the arid subtropics. A
great deal of saline soil is present there, and agriculture is possible only with the use of irrigation,
which gives rise to specific cultivated types of sierozems.

Only in western c  is the tropical desert zone clearly defined. Broad expanses of this area are
characterized by embryonic soils and desert crusts, as well as by blowing sands.
c 

In the maritime areas of the c tic Mediterranean²Anatolia and the Levant²xerophytic

vegetation (vegetation structurally adapted to exist with very little water) of the Mediterranean
scrub-woodland types, known as maquis (evergreen), shiblyak (deciduous), and frigana (low-
growing thorny, cushionlike bushes), is prevalent. The predominant soils under such vegetation
are brown; they have accumulated iron as a result of the intense chemical weathering during the
wet Mediterranean winter and of the upward flow of soil solutions during the dry summer.
Frigana vegetation is widely represented in the West c n semidesert highlands. Here soils have
developed that are transitional between the brown soils and the sierozems.

 
  

Typical of c 's monsoonal subtropics are soils that formed beneath the evergreen forests that
once occupied the southern portion of the Korean peninsula, southwestern Japan, and
southeastern China. Intensive chemical weathering during the warm and wet summer monsoon
season results²as it also does in the more southerly torrid zones²in the decomposition and
leaching of many soil minerals, the accumulation of residual iron and aluminum oxides, and the
consequent predominance of red and yellow soils as well as of podzolized soils. Agriculture is
especially widespread on the alluvial soils of the plains and on terraced slopes in hilly terrain, in
both cases dominated by irrigated paddy-rice cultivation.

 & &  

Savannas (grassy parklands) and dry-tropical deciduous forests predominate in the rain shadow
on the leeward slopes of hills, and wet-tropical evergreen forests grow on the rainy windward
slopes of hills. Intensive leaching followed by evaporation is characteristic of these soils. Under
the wet-tropical forests, red-yellow laterites (leached and hardened iron-bearing soils)
predominate; beneath the savannas and dry-tropical forests, there are red lateritic soils that
change, with increasing aridity, to red-brown and desert brown soils. Beneath the dry savannas
of peninsular India are unique black soils called regurs that are thought to develop from basalt
rock.

In the equatorial zone (southern Malaysia and the Greater Sunda Islands), typical tropical
rainforests have developed. In southwestern Sri Lanka and in Java, they have been almost
entirely replaced by an agricultural landscape in which mountain slopes and hills are covered
with plantations of tea, coconut palms, and rubber trees. The soils are lateritic and are red-yellow
or brick-red, with marginal degrees of laterization.
In the valleys of the subequatorial and equatorial zones, alluvial soils predominate; they have
been developed by thousands of years of cultivation and irrigation of the rice fields. Artificial
terracing of the slopes is practiced on a large scale in the mountainous regions, both for purposes
of irrigation and to prevent soil erosion.

  

In the mountains zones of different soil types are found at different elevations. As a rule they are
skeletal, underdeveloped soils, clearly reflecting the differences in rock structure and origin and
in the degree of exposure of the slopes. The boundaries of the vertical zones become higher from
north to south, and the number of zones increases. Mountain soils also correspond to the
different vegetation zones that occur at different elevations.

The vertical soil zones correlate with the landscape zones as elevation increases. A zone of
forest, followed higher up by meadows and with snow cover at the highest altitudes, is
characteristic of the western maritime regions. On lower slopes in the western Caucasus, for
example, broad-leaved mountain forests occur on brown mountain-forest soils; above these are
coniferous forests on mountain podzolic soils, followed by stunted trees, followed in turn by
subalpine and alpine meadows on mountain-meadow soils, while the highest ridges are covered
in perennial snow and glaciers. Associations of desert, steppe, meadowland, and snow zones are
widespread in the interior of c  and sometimes include mountain-forest zones. Characteristic
of the Tien Shan, for example, is the predominance of mountain-desert and semidesert
landscapes, which occur in association with gray-brown and brown mountain soils in the
foothills of the ranges, while higher up are mountain steppes associated with mountain chestnut
soils and mountain chernozems. Under parts of the mountain forest-steppe and the mountain
forests, the soils are podzolized.

Typical of the mountains of eastern Siberia are the taiga-tundra spectra that occur in vertical
zones. Thus, mountain taiga on taiga-cryogenic soils is followed by a zone of dwarfed trees, then
by mountain tundra, and finally by bald peaks.

In eastern c  the subalpine and alpine meadow zones with mountain-meadow soils sometimes
disappear; instead, mountain-forest landscape extends as far up in elevation as the vicinity of the
crests and is succeeded only by a zone of stunted trees and shrubs. The spectra of the alpine
regions of South c  (notably the Himalayas) are distinguished by the most complex variety of
vegetation and soil types.


  
 

Virgin soils have been greatly transformed in the areas where agriculture has long been
practiced. Sometimes primary soils are buried under a thick cultivated layer that is high in
humus, nitrogen, phosphorus, and trace elements. The irrigated soils of valleys and deltas of the
Murgab (Middle c ), the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Indus rivers have a layer of agricultural
deposits 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 metres) thick. The ³black-land´ (÷
) soils of the Loess Plateau in
China consist of a fertile layer 1 to 3 feet (30 to 90 cm) thick of organic material accumulated by
local farmers. Rice cultivation in the monsoonal regions of c  has a particular impact on
primary-soil cover. The upper layer of these so-called ³rice soils´ is degraded as a result of
regular flooding and is subject to the gleying process. The basic properties of these soils remain
constant for centuries, but the soils do not exhibit high fertility.

The most harmful and extended phenomenon among the effects of irrigation on soil cover in
c  is that of secondary salinization. This process, which is a result of improper agricultural
practices, is widespread in the soils of the arid, semiarid, and subhumid zones of c  that are
irrigated without appropriate drainage. Salt-affected soils account for large areas in Central c ,
South c , and Southwest c .

Soil degradation from erosion has also hurt agricultural production. The areas of most significant
erosion have occurred in the Ganges River basin, the lower elevations of the Himalayas, the
Huang He basin, and the Loess Plateau. Severe soil erosion has resulted from year-round
cultivation of the plains and from deforestation of water-catchment areas in the mountains.



c   

The enormous expanse of c  and its abundance of mountain barriers and inland depressions
have resulted in great differences between regions in solar radiation, atmospheric circulation,
precipitation, and climate as a whole. A continental climate, associated with large landmasses
and characterized by an extreme annual range of temperature, prevails over a large part of c .
Air reaching c  from the Atlantic Ocean, after passing over Europe or Africa, has had time to
be transformed into continental air²i.e., air that has often lost much of the moisture it absorbed
over the ocean. As a result of the prevalent eastward movement of the air masses in the
midlatitudes, as well as the isolating effect of the marginal mountain ranges, the influence of sea
air from the Pacific Ocean extends only to the eastern margins of c . From the north, Arctic air
has unimpeded access into the continent. In the south, tropical and equatorial air masses
predominate, but their penetration to the centre of c  is restricted by the ridges of the
moutainous belt stretching from the highlands of West c  through the Himalayas to the
mountains of South China and Southeast c ; in the winter months (November through March),
such penetration is further impeded by the density of the cold air masses over the interior.

The contrast between the strong heating of the continent in the summer months (May to
September) and the chilling in winter produces sharp seasonal variations in atmospheric
circulation and also enhances the role of local centres of atmospheric activity. Winter chilling of
the c n landmass develops a persistent high-pressure winter anticyclone over Siberia,
Mongolia, and Tibet that is normally centred southwest of Lake Baikal. The area affected by the
anticyclone is characterized by temperature inversions and by very cold, calm weather with little
snowfall. The winter anticyclone is fed by subsiding upper air, by bursts of Arctic air flowing in
from the north, and by the persistent westerly air drift that accompanies the gusty cyclonic low-
pressure cells operating within the Northern Hemisphere cyclonic storm system. The high
pressure propels cold, dry air eastward and southward out of the continent, affecting eastern and
southern c  during the winter. Only a few of the winter cyclonic lows moving eastward out of
Europe carry clear across c , but they do bring more frequent changes in weather in western
Siberia than in central Siberia. The zone of lowest temperature²a so-called cold pole²is found
in the northeast, near Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, where temperatures as low as í90 °F (í68
°C) and í96 °F (í71 °C), respectively, have been recorded.

The outward drift of winter air creates a sharp temperature anomaly in eastern and northeastern
c , where the climate is colder than the characteristic global average for each given latitude.
On the East c n islands, the effect of the winter continental monsoon is tempered by the
surrounding seas. As the air masses pass over the seas, they become warmed and saturated with
moisture, which then falls as either snow or rain on the northwestern slopes of the island arcs.
Occasionally, however, strong bursts of cold air carry cold spells as far south as Hong Kong and
Manila.

Cyclonic storms form and move eastward through the zone where the temperate and tropical air
masses are in contact, called the polar front, which shifts southward in winter. The winter rainy
season in the southern parts of the West c n highlands, which is characteristic of the
Mediterranean climate, is associated with this southward movement of the polar front. In
northern areas of West and Middle c , the effect of cyclonic action is particularly strong in the
spring, when the polar front moves north and causes the maximum in annual precipitation to
occur then.

During the northern winter, South and Southeast c  are affected by northeasterly winds that
blow from high-pressure areas of the North Pacific Ocean to the equatorial low-pressure zone.
These winds are analogous to the trade winds and are known in South c  as the northeast (or
winter) monsoon. The weather is dry and moderately warm. Rainfall occurs only on the
windward side of maritime regions (e.g., Tamil Nadu state in southeastern India and southern
Vietnam). Some of the cyclonic storms that move eastward through the Mediterranean Basin
during the winter are deflected south of the Plateau of Tibet, crossing northern India and
southwestern China. Such storms do not often bring winter rain, but they create short periods of
cloudy, cool, or gusty weather and are accompanied by snow in the higher mountain ranges.

In summer the polar front shifts northward, causing cyclonic rains in the mountains of Siberia. In
West, Middle, and Central c , a hot, dry, dusty, continental tropical wind blows at this time.
Over the basin of the Indus River, the heating creates a low-pressure area. Known as the South
c n (or Iranian) low, it appears in April and is fully developed from June to August. The onset
of monsoon in India and mainland Southeast c  is related to changes in the circulation pattern
that occur by June²specifically, the disintegration of the southern jet stream and the formation
of low pressure over southern c . The monsoon air masses flow into this monsoonal low-
pressure zone from a cell of high pressure just off the eastern coast of southern Africa. Because
of the Coriolis force (the force caused by the Earth's rotation), winds south of the Equator change
direction from southeast to southwest in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. This southwest
monsoon bursts upon the Malabar Coast of India in early June and gradually extends northward
over most of India and mainland Southeast c . It brings considerable rainfall, which in most of
these areas accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the total annual precipitation.

In eastern c  the Pacific Ocean polar front creates atmospheric disturbances during the
summer. From a summer high-pressure centre over the western Pacific, the warm and moist
summer monsoon blows from the southeast toward the continent. To the south of latitude 38° N,
where the warm Kuroshio (Japan Current) approaches the coast of Japan, the summer monsoon
brings protracted rains and high humidity; together with high temperatures, this creates a
hothouse atmosphere. Becoming chilled as it passes over cold ocean currents to the north, this air
brings fogs and drizzling rains to Northeast c .

Summer in China is a time of variable air movement out of the western Pacific. If that drift is
strong and low pressure over the continental interior is intense, the summer monsoon may carry
moisture well into Mongolia. If neither the drift nor the continental low is strong, the China
summer monsoon may fail, falter over eastern China, or cause irregular weather patterns that
threaten the country with crop failure. The monsoon there is less dramatic than in other areas,
accounting for 50 to 60 percent of China's annual rainfall.

Tropical cyclones, or typhoons, may occur in coastal South, Southeast, and East c  throughout
the year but are most severe during the late summer and early autumn. These storms are
accompanied by strong winds and torrential rains so heavy that the maximum precipitation from
the typhoons locally may exceed the total amounts received during the normal summer
monsoons.

In winter continental tropical air prevails in tropical c ; in summer it is replaced by equatorial

ocean air. The winter season's dry and warm winds, directed offshore toward the equatorial low-
pressure axis, are analogous to trade winds but simultaneously act as the South c n continental
monsoon. The dry spring that follows changes abruptly and dramatically into the rainy summer
with the onset of the monsoon. The summer monsoon brings enormous amounts of rain (up to
about 25 inches [635 mm] in a month). Over the areas of c  closest to the Equator²southern
Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the Greater Sunda Islands²equatorial air prevails continuously,
accompanied by even temperatures and abundant rainfall in all seasons. The Lesser Sunda
Islands have a tropical monsoon climate; their wet and dry seasons are regulated by the calendar
rhythm of the Southern Hemisphere, which is characterized by a wet summer from November to
February and a dry winter from June to October.

 


Differences between the climatic conditions of the various regions of c  are determined to a
considerable degree by topography. Different elevation-based climatic zones are most clearly
defined on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, where they vary from the tropical climates of
the foothills, at the lowest levels, to the extreme Arctic-like conditions of the peaks, at the
highest elevations. The degree of exposure also plays a large role. The sunny southern slopes
differ from the shady northern ones, and windward slopes exposed to moist ocean winds differ
from leeward slopes, which, lying in the wind (and rain) shadow, are necessarily drier. The
barrier effect is most pronounced in the zone of monsoon circulation (i.e., East, Southeast, and
South c ), where rain-bearing winds have a constant direction. In addition to the physical
isolation of the leeward slopes from the moisture-laden winds, these slopes also experience the
foehn effect, in which a strong wind traverses a mountain range and is deflected downward as a
warm, dry, gusty, erratic wind. Contrasts of climate resulting from exposure are manifested
clearly in the Himalayas, the Elburz Mountains, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, the Tien Shan,
the region to the east of Lake Baikal (Transbaikalia), and many other places.

The isolating barrier effect of the relief on the climate is demonstrated most clearly in the West
c n highlands and in Central c . In these regions the surrounding mountains isolate the
tablelands of the interior from moisture-laden winds. The massiveness of the interior highlands is
also a significant factor; it gives rise to local anticyclones during the cold months of the year.

 

The average January temperature over a considerable part of Siberia is below í4 °F (í20 °C),
and in the Verkhoyansk region it reaches í58 °F (í50 °C). Near the coast Pacific Ocean air
moderates the average temperature to from 23 to 5 °F (í5 to í15 °C). The January isotherm (a
line connecting points of equal temperature) of 32 °F (0 °C) extends eastward from the Anatolian
and Iranian highlands; skirts the southern edge of the Pamirs, the Karakoram Range, and the
Himalayas; and runs northeastward through China to south of the Shandong Peninsula and
through the southern Korean peninsula and central Honshu. An isotherm of 68 °F (20 °C) is
traced along the Tropic of Cancer and one of 77 °F (25 °C) farther south. In July the maximum
temperatures are found in the lowlands of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula and in the
Thar and Takla Makan deserts. The 68 °F (20 °C) isotherm moves as far as latitudes 55° to 60°
N, but, in the eastern Gobi and near the cool Pacific Ocean, it bends to the south. Along the far
northeastern coast of c , the average temperature in July is below 50 °F (10 °C), which is
typical for a tundra climate. The greatest amplitude in annual temperature range on Earth occurs
near the ³cold pole,´ which has remarkably warm summers; the annual range may exceed 175 °F
(97 °C).




Annual rainfall in the equatorial belt is approximately 80 inches (2,000 mm); it is 80 to 120
inches (2,000 to 3,000 mm) and more (300 to 500 inches [7,600 to 12,700 mm] in places) on
windward maritime slopes in South, Southeast, and East c . In Cherrapunji in northeastern
India, some 900 inches (22,900 mm) of rain fell in seven months in 1891. Precipitation averages
less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) annually on tropical lee slopes. In the subtropical and temperate
monsoon climates there is adequate rainfall, amounting to about 24 to 80 inches (600 to 2,000
mm) annually. Annual precipitation is less than 10 inches (250 mm) in northeastern Siberia and
averages 6 to 8 inches (150 to 200 mm) but may be less than 4 inches (100 mm) in some places
in the deserts of West, Middle, and Central c .


 

The distribution pattern of precipitation throughout the year is varied. Relatively uniform
moisture is characteristic of the c n equatorial zone. Maximum summer precipitation and
minimum winter precipitation are the rule in the subequatorial zones and in other regions with
monsoon climates, as well as in those areas where there is summer movement of the fronts²the
polar front in the mountains of southern Siberia and the Arctic front in the subarctic regions. Wet
winters and dry summers are typical of the Mediterranean climatic region in West c , where
precipitation is associated with the winter activity of the polar front. This polar-front activity,
accompanied by maximum precipitation, occurs in the spring in the interior parts of the West
c n highlands. Summer and winter precipitation merges in some parts of c . In the Kolkhida
area east of the Black Sea, the summer rains²brought by the northwesterly Atlantic air
currents²merge with the cyclonic Mediterranean winter rains. In some areas of Japan, Korea,
and eastern China, there is uniform precipitation when, in addition to the summer monsoon, the
winter monsoon brings moisture.

As the aggregate result of these various meteorological patterns, the following types of climate
may be distinguished in c : the tundra climate (associated with the cold, treeless plains of the
Arctic lowlands of c ); the cold, sharply continental climate of eastern Siberia; the cold,
moderately humid western Siberian climate; the humid, subtropical climate associated with the
Kolkhida region; the desert climate of the temperate zone; the Mediterranean subtropical climate
of the western edge of West c ; the subtropical desert climate; the mountain-steppe highland
subtropical climate of West and Central c ; the alpine desert climate; the climate of the eastern
Pamirs, the Karakoram Range, and the Plateau of Tibet; the climate of the tropical deserts; the
temperate monsoon climate of the East c n part of Siberia and the northern parts of Japan and
eastern China; the subtropical monsoon climate of southern Japan and of southeastern China; the
subequatorial monsoon climate of South c , eastern Java, and the Lesser Sunda Islands; and
the equatorial climate of the Greater Sunda Islands. All the various features of the types of
climate mentioned exert a strong influence on other natural conditions, as well as on the
landscape as a whole.

'


Human activities, both cultural and economic, have distinctive effects on climate. One example
of this is provided by the microclimates associated with cities and with large industrial
complexes. The emission in these areas of quantities of dust and gases can alter temperatures and
change wind patterns. Such conditions are characteristic, for example, of the Tokyo metropolitan
area and the industrial region of northern Kyushu in Japan, of Kolkata (Calcutta) and the
industrial area of the northeastern part of peninsular India, and of the industrial regions of the
Kuznetsk Coal Basin in south-central Siberia.

Yury Konstantinovich YefremovAleksandr Maximovich RyabchikovNina Nikolaevna Alexeeva



An immense range of vegetation is found in c , the result of the continent's wide diversity of
latitude, elevation, and climate. Natural conditions, however, are not entirely responsible for the
associations of trees, plants, and grasses of c ; natural landscapes have been transformed by
more than eight millennia of farming and other human activities.




#c 

O Thawed surface of the permafrost on the tundra in summer, Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia.

The natural landscape has been least affected by people in sparsely populated North c . Vast
plains, continentality, and the nearness of the Arctic Ocean explain the presence there of a zone
of tundra²cold-tolerant low-lying vegetation in an area of permafrost (permanently frozen
subsoil)²similar to that found in the European part of Russia and in Canada and Alaska. In
more flourishing parts, the tundra has a discontinuous covering of lichens, mosses, sedges,
rushes, some grasses, cushions of bilberries, and dwarf trees of willow and birch; in the far north,
lichens grow on favourable hillsides. Because of the greater number of hours of daylight during
the summer months, when the Arctic Circle receives the same amount of light energy as the
tropics, the tundra in this season is covered with bright flowers. Nevertheless, climate conditions
are extreme. In the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, off the Arctic coast, thawing begins in May
and frosts begin in August, although in some years frosts may occur at night throughout the short
summer. The soil never thaws below a depth of 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm); consequently, hollows
are badly drained and turn into peat bogs. Windy conditions speed evaporation, and the frozen
soil cannot absorb water to compensate for this, so surface drought often results in wind erosion
and the removal of sediments deposited by annual riverine floods.

The tundra belt extends still farther south on higher ground. In the Arctic, tundra in the Ural
Mountains begins at about 3,000 feet (900 metres), but at latitude 53° N it begins at 4,250 feet
(1,300 metres). Tundra extends over large areas of the Chersky, Verkhoyansk, and Kamchatka
mountain ranges.

The taiga (boreal forest) zone²a belt of mainly coniferous forest²begins south of the tundra,
after a transitional zone of ³wooded tundra´ and forest galleries found along streams between the
tundra-covered watersheds. Taiga, although essentially coniferous, contains hardy deciduous
trees such as aspen and birch; there are sections of grass and shrub steppe in the drier zones.
Larches account for more than one-third of the vast Siberian forest, while pines cover about one-
fourth and spruces a tiny fraction. The geographic distribution of particular types of vegetation is
determined chiefly by climate. Spruce, for example, unable to survive temperatures below í36
°F (í38 °C), is not found east of the Yenisey River. The taiga has a thin undergrowth of
cranberries and bilberries, and there are numerous extensive peat bogs.

The broad-leaved deciduous forest of western Siberia also does not extend east of the Yenisey²
where it gives way to the coniferous forests of central Siberia²but it reappears in eastern Siberia
near the Sea of Okhotsk; poplars, birches, and alders are numerous there, as are various conifers
and larches. Forests around the Ussuri River include maples, ashes, walnuts, elms, and lindens,
in addition to species already mentioned.

South of the Siberian forests are found forest-steppes, with forest galleries lining the rivers.
Forest-steppe and meadow-steppe vegetation is predominant on the Manchurian (Northeast)
Plain. The steppe (grassland) zone runs from Kazakhstan through the Altai Mountains to the Da
Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range. Herbaceous cover of feather grass, rootstock grasses, and
sagebrush is utilized for grazing. Farther south discontinuous semidesert and desert vegetation
predominates. To the east the steppes stretch toward the southern part of the Ordos Desert,
forming the transition to the monsoonal landscapes of eastern China.

Tibet, which is chiefly dry and cold, has a scattered vegetation of halophilic (salt-tolerant) bushes
and species of the genus c  O.

 c 

The monsoonal climate in East c  brings hot and rainy summers, giving rise to a great variety
of temperate and tropical vegetation. China has the most varied vegetation of any country in the
world, with about 30,000 species, excluding mushrooms and mosses. This enormous variety of
plants, which includes a large number of relict forest species, is explained by the negligible
impact that Pleistocene glaciations had on the region's climate.

About two-thirds of Japan's total area is forested, whereas much of China is deforested (roughly
one-seventh of China is under forest cover); sizable tracts remain untouched, however, in the
remote rugged regions of China, and many small areas have been reforested. One reason for this
difference between the two countries is the traditional respect the Japanese have had for their
scenery and, consequently, the strict forestry regulations that have been promulgated and
enforced. In addition, the rugged topography and inaccessibility of many of Japan's forested
areas have limited the possibilities for economic exploitation. The best examples of East c n
forest, therefore, are found in Japan, such as in the Kii Peninsula of Honshu.

North of the Yangtze River, much of China was once covered by primeval deciduous forest,
most of which has been removed to create farmland. South of the Yangtze, the ³true´ Chinese
forest was prevalent before 1800. A wild growth of trees and shrubs survives, however,
throughout the cultivated areas, and parklike tree growth and stands of bamboo are widespread.
The original forest cover included 60 different genera of tall trees; among the temperate genera
were oak, maple, linden, chestnut, hornbeam, and a species of hickory, and among the tropical
genera were magnolia, the tulip tree, the camphor tree, the Spanish cedar, sweet gum, catalpa,
and lianas (vines). A variety of conifers of both hemispheres also occurred there, and in the
mountains of eastern Sichuan there grew a rare and ancient Chinese conifer, the dawn redwood
(½O 
O
    ). Palm trees are found throughout South China and southern
South Korea, as well as in the southern parts of Japan; many varieties of bamboo also are found
in these regions.

China has been proceeding energetically with a program of reforestation. The new forests,
however, consisting largely of pines, do not resemble the primeval forests.

    c 

The wettest parts of peninsular India (such as the Western Ghats) and of Southeast c  have
magnificent tropical forests noteworthy for the variety of their plant life. A significant feature of
South c n vegetation is the family Dipterocarpaceae (yielding aromatic oils and resins), which
is represented there by more than 500 species. In parts of peninsular India and Southeast c 
that have a seasonal monsoon climate (with four to eight dry months per year), moist- and dry-
deciduous forests thrive. Many of the tree species, such as teak, sal, and sandalwood, are highly
valuable and are heavily exploited. In areas with a prolonged dry season and less precipitation
(e.g., northwestern India, the interior of the Deccan Plateau, and the ³dry zone´ of Myanmar
[Burma]), savanna woodland and thorny thickets of acacias and euphorbias are the predominant
natural vegetation. In all of the major climate zones of South and Southeast c , and
particularly on the alluvial plains, much of the natural vegetation has been cleared to make way
for agriculture.

O Mangroves (÷÷ OO

OO) at low tide on the coast of Thailand.
Mangrove swamps thrive in the sheltered muddy coasts and deltas. Their outermost edges are
represented by species of ÷÷ O (red mangrove), followed by those of 

 O and
c
O (white mangrove). The bogs on the landward edges of these swamps abound with the
semiaquatic nipa palm.

Primeval evergreen rainforest remains in a few parts of South and Southeast c . Secondary
forest covers a much larger area. The once universally dense forest has given way to parklike
forest and wooded savanna as a result of intensive grazing, tree harvesting, and shifting (slash-
and-burn) agricultural practices. Extensive fires in such areas have produced a herbaceous
landscape, as in the cogonales (areas of coarse tall grasses, used for thatching) of the Philippines.

A
O O 
  , the rubber tree introduced into tropical c  from South America in the
1870s, is particularly important in plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

In the higher mountains of Southeast c , the cooler humid-tropical climate gives rise to
deciduous and coniferous temperate forest at elevations of between about 4,250 and 10,000 feet
(1,300 and 3,000 metres). Above this level low forests of plants, mostly shrubs of the heath
family, are often found. Diverse types of trees grow in the mountain forests of the region. The
Rakhine (Arakan) Mountains of Myanmar, for example, are covered with a thick mantle of little
bamboos. In the eastern Himalayas sal is intermingled with ŒO O  (a small genus of nut-
bearing trees) and pines. Above these are found forests of shrubs and trees of the laurel family
and, higher still, oaks and conifers; between about 10,000 and 13,000 feet (3,000 and 4,000
metres), forests of firs occur. The central Himalayas present strikingly beautiful landscapes in the
following upward succession: dry sal forest; pine forest; cedars, spruces, pines, and oaks; firs,
birches, and tall rhododendrons; rhododendron bushes and junipers above 13,000 feet (4,000
metres); and perpetual snows above 16,000 feet (4,900 metres).

$ c 

In West c  naturally wild vegetation no longer occurs in clearly defined zones but is dispersed
in small areas. The region is predominantly arid; desertlike depressions such as the Kyzylkum
Desert of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan, and the Rub al-
Khali (Empty Quarter) of the Arabian Peninsula contrast with the moist, forested mountains that
lie between them. Three climatic zones, however, characterize West c : a continental climate
in the northern regions; a dry zone, except where northerly winds bring moisture to the
mountains, to the south; and a Mediterranean climate along the western edges.

A few examples of the variety of vegetation associated with these climatic zones may be cited. In
the Karakum Desert grows a strange xerophytic tree, the saxaul, which is oddly shaped, gnarled,
and leafless; it is widely used for firewood, and its young sprouts make excellent fodder for
camels. Between the galleries of saxauls the desert is interspersed at wide intervals with bushes
and tufts of grass. A fringe of steppe covers the area between the Fertile Crescent (which sweeps
in an arc from the Tigris-Euphrates valley to the Mediterranean) and the north and west of the
Syrian Desert. With more than 2,000 species of plants²more than in the whole of the Sahara²
the borders of the Syrian Desert are noteworthy for their floral variety. The moist northern slopes
of the Pontic Mountains in northern Turkey are covered by magnificent forests of beeches and
conifers, with an undergrowth of tall cherry laurels, hollies, and creepers. This type of forest is
also found in Georgia and on the northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains in Iran. Along the
Mediterranean border of c , the natural vegetation is similar to that in other parts of the
Mediterranean region: holm oak (an evergreen oak), Aleppo pine (used in shipbuilding), cistus,
mastic tree (which yields mastic, an aromatic resin), and other species are found in landscapes of
thick underbrush and open scrubland. Extensive forests, with such species as the cedar of
Lebanon, once grew in this region, but logging and heavy grazing by livestock have reduced
many once-forested areas to grassland and scrubland.

( 



(



c 's indigenous vegetation has provided many of the world's food crops²including most of
the cereal grains, oilseeds, fruits, and vegetables²and its lands provided one of the great cradles
of agriculture. Three primary centres for the domestication of these plants have been postulated.
One was in the southwest, consisting of sites in the Levant and northern Syria, southeastern
Anatolia, Transcauc , and the Zagros Mountains. Wild strains of wheat, barley, certain
legumes, cherry and peach trees, and grapevines were domesticated in those regions. The second
centre was in the south and east (northeastern India, peninsular Southeast c , the Sunda
Islands, and southern China), where rice, root crops such as taro and yams, and fruit trees such as
bananas and mangoes were domesticated. The third centre was in North China and adjacent
regions, where foxtail millet, soybeans, and hemp were first cultivated.

c n plant life also has provided building materials, such as wood, bamboo, and thatch; ramie
and flax for clothing and hemp for rope and sacks; bamboo, widely used in the making of
utensils; and the bark of the paper mulberry, used in the manufacture of bark cloth and paper. In
addition, silkworms are fed mulberry leaves; lacquer is made from the lacquer tree (÷


  O); and a multitude of other items are obtained from plants, including many drugs and
pharmaceuticals.

A 
 
 

Agriculture (both rain-fed and irrigated), livestock grazing, and forestry have transformed c n
ecosystems. Three areas have undergone the greatest modification by agriculture: the broad band
of predominantly wheat, corn (maize), and barley cultivation across southern Siberia and
northern Kazakhstan; a large belt of wheat, corn, millet, and soybean cultivation across North
China; and the monsoonal zone of rice cultivation that stretches from India through Southeast
c  and South China to the Korean peninsula and Japan. Agricultural landscapes predominate
in those regions, and natural vegetation is confined to rugged terrain. The impact of human
activity in the arid regions is intensive in the irrigated areas of Mesopotamia, Middle c , the
Indus River valley, and scattered oases. Pastoral activities have had a major impact on the vast
belt of c n steppes and deserts from the Arabian Peninsula to the Gobi and on the scrublands
and former woodlands of the c n Mediterranean region.

Areas with some of the least-disturbed ecosystems occur in northern and eastern Siberia, the
Plateau of Tibet, and the mountain ranges of Central c . By contrast, areas exhibiting some of
the most drastic changes to natural conditions include the eastern margins of the Thar Desert in
India, Inner Mongolia and the Ordos region in China²all of which have been subject to
intensive desertification from livestock overgrazing²and the Aral Sea basin in Middle c .
Regarding the latter, large-scale irrigation for cotton cultivation reduced the flow of the Amu
Darya and Syr Darya, which feed the sea, and thus severely reduced its area; a toxic mixture of
salts and pesticide residue from the dried seafloor has been spread by dust storms throughout the
region.

Pierre GourouAleksandr Maximovich RyabchikovNina Nikolaevna Alexeeva

c

The Himalayas, stretching from east to west, form a barrier that largely prevents the movement
of fauna southward or northward. Thus, c  north of the Himalayas, with parts of western c 
and most of East c , belongs to the Palearctic (Old World) subregion of the Holarctic
zoogeographic region (roughly, the Northern Hemisphere north of the tropics). c  south of the
Himalayas is called the Oriental, or Indian, region. The boundary dividing these zones east and
west of the Himalayas is not well marked, however, as the mountain chains there often have a
north-south trend facilitating migration of animals between them.

c n faunal habitats have been subjected to the same disruption from human activities that has
affected the continent's vegetation, particularly in regions of extremely dense population (e.g.,
the great Indian river valleys and the plains and lowlands of eastern and southern China). c 's
vastness and its numerous remote regions, however, have made it possible for many animal
species to live practically undisturbed by human activity. Nonetheless, the threat of extinction
remains for many species, most notably for the giant panda of China and the Sumatran
rhinoceros and orangutan of Southeast c .





A distinction can be made between the animal life of the tundra in the north and that of the
adjacent taiga farther south. The taiga in turn merges into the steppes, which have their own
distinctive forms of animal life. Finally, the faunas of East and Southwest c  have their own
distinguishing characteristics.

 
Since the tundra subsoil is frozen throughout the year, burrowing animals cannot live there; and,
as the tundra is partly free from snow only during the short summer, conditions for life are poor.
Most animals, including the reindeer, Arctic hare, Arctic fox, and wolf, live there in summer
only and migrate in autumn, but the lemmings stay, feeding on the herbage buried beneath the
snow. Polar bears are occasionally found throughout the year along the coasts of the Arctic and
northern Pacific oceans, where they feed mainly on seals and fish. Hibernation is impossible, for
the short summer does not allow enough time for the necessary accumulation of food reserves in
the body.

Birds are numerous during the summer, but they also desert the tundra in winter²except for
such birds as the willow grouse and the ptarmigan, which live in tunnels in the snow and feed on
berries and leaves. Many species of waders, such as the gray plover, the sanderling, and several
kinds of sandpipers, migrate to the tundra and breed there in the summer, feeding principally on
mosquitoes in the wet areas. Mosquitoes are also the staple food of passerine birds (true perching
birds), such as the snow bunting and the Lapland bunting. Gyrfalcons (large Arctic falcons),
rough-legged buzzards, and skuas (large dark-coloured rapacious birds of northern seas) prey on
these smaller birds and on lemmings. Several kinds of geese and ducks, the Arctic tern, and
species of divers occupy the moist parts.



The taiga fauna is much richer than that of the tundra. The taiga is the haunt of the brown bear,
wolf, glutton (a kind of wolverine), otter, ermine, sable, lynx, elk, forest reindeer, hare, and
several kinds of squirrels. Birds include species of grouse and woodpeckers and the pine
grosbeak, crossbill, siskin, redpoll, red-spotted bluethroat, rubythroat, redwing, fieldfare (a
medium-sized thrush), nutcracker, and Siberian jay. Wading birds include the terek sandpiper,
which frequents marshes and pools.

O Baikal seals (÷O   O), endemic to Lake Baikal, southeastern «

The rivers of North c  are inhabited by many common freshwater fishes and by several kinds
of sturgeons, including the sterlet. Lake Baikal has a unique aquatic life, including many
endemic species of sponges, worms, and crustaceans and the Baikal seal (÷O   O; 
photograph).

  
The animal life of the steppes differs as much from that of the taiga as from that of the tundra. It
includes many burrowing rodents, such as jerboas, marmots, and pikas, and larger mammals,
such as numerous antelope. The steppes were the original home of the northern cattle ( 
O

), the horse, and probably the Bactrian (two-humped) camel; it is doubtful that any of these
remain as truly wild animals. Typical birds are bustards, quails, sand grouse, and the red-legged
hobby. Hoopoes and rollers are common locally, and bee-eaters and the common sand martin
nest along riverbanks. Waterfowl inhabit the reed beds of the great rivers, as do locusts, which
periodically migrate in immense swarms, devastating crops.

Wild sheep and goats live in the mountains and on the plateau regions to the north of the
Himalayas. Tibet is the home of the wild yak, which is in great danger of extinction, although the
domesticated yak survives.

    c 

O Giant panda (c

O
O

O) feeding in a bamboo forest, «

The eastern part of the region²consisting of northeastern and eastern China, the Korean
peninsula, and Japan²has several endemic varieties of deer. The Siberian tiger, originally native
to southeastern Siberia, northeastern China (Manchuria), and Korea, now survives only in a
small region along the border between Russia and China. The endangered giant panda inhabits
the mountain forests of central China; the lesser, or red, panda²the giant panda's only close
relative²is a much smaller Himalayan mammal. Some species of animals are endemic to Japan,
including a monkey related to the tailless Barbary macaque of Gibraltar.

The large rivers of China have a rich fish life, among which a species of paddlefish ( ÷



O
) from the Yangtze and Huang He is of interest, as it is one of the two survivors of an
otherwise extinct family, the other remnant of which is the paddlefish of North America. Another
freshwater animal is the giant salamander, found in Japanese waters. Southeast c  and
southern China are the home of most members of the carp family, from which the various forms
of goldfish are derived.

The animal life of Anatolia is much like that of the rest of the Mediterranean region, but that of
Israel, Syria, and Arabia also includes an African element, such as a species of hyrax and²in
Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) and the Jordan River²fish of the African genus 
OO,
including the Nile perch. The donkey may have been domesticated in Southwest c , and the
dromedary (one-humped) camel was originally native to the drier portions of Middle c .

)

 

The greater part of the Oriental region is tropical. The northwestern part is dry and partly desert,
so animal life is chiefly confined to the forms related to those of the dry parts of the Ethiopian
and Palearctic regions. Elsewhere, monkeys are common. Apes are found only in tropical
rainforests; gibbons inhabit regions of Assam (in northeastern India), Myanmar, the Indochinese
Peninsula, and the Greater Sunda Islands, while orangutans are restricted to the islands of
Sumatra and Borneo, where they are in danger of extinction.

The c tic distribution of the African lion is now confined to the Gir Forest National Park of
the Kathiawar Peninsula in India, where it is protected, but a few specimens may still occur in
southeastern Iran. The tiger is now found from the Himalayas to Sumatra, though its range was
once much wider. Leopards range throughout the region, except in Sumatra. Civets and
mongooses are numerous. The badgerlike ratel lives in the hilly districts of peninsular India and
is even to be seen as far west as Israel. Jackals are plentiful in India; the striped hyena is confined
to drier parts. Both are absent from the east.

Flying and ordinary squirrels are common in woodlands; the gaur (a large wild ox) is found in
India and Myanmar, the banteng (the Malayan wild ox) in Myanmar and south to Borneo and
Java but not in Sumatra.

The most common antelope is the blackbuck, found in open brush-covered wild areas and
cultivated plains throughout India, except on the Malabar Coast; the nilgai, or blue bull, and the
chousingha (a four-horned antelope of northern India) occupy hilly regions south of the
Himalayas. Species of deer include musk deer in the pine zone of the Kashmir region, Nepal, and
the Indian state of Sikkim; sambar deer practically over the whole region; and muntjac (barking
deer) ranging northward into southernmost China.

Chevrotains (small hornless deerlike ruminants) are typical, and wild pigs are also widely
distributed. The Indian one-horned rhinoceros is protected and confined to Nepal and Assam; the
Sumatran two-horned rhinoceros is now restricted to the deep forests of Malaysia, southern
Sumatra, and northern Borneo; the one-horned Javan rhinoceros population numbers only a few
dozen. The c n tapir lives in dense forests in southern Myanmar, Malaysia, and Sumatra. The
Indian elephant is found throughout the region. Scaly anteaters, or pangolins²also found in
Africa²are characteristic. The tropical breed of cattle ( 
), known as the Brahman or
zebu and recognizable by its shoulder humps, was domesticated in India, as was the water
buffalo, which is now distributed from Egypt to central China and the Philippines.
G 

Game birds are important. The Indian peacock can be seen throughout India, whereas another
species of peacock (O


) is restricted to Java. Numerous species of pheasants live in
the forests of Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo. Jungle fowl are
unique to the Oriental region and are the source of all domesticated chickens. Pigeons occur in
great variety, but the number of species of parrots is small compared with other tropical regions.
Water and wood kingfishers are represented by many species. Hornbills show their greatest
development in the Oriental region. The Indian hoopoe is common in India but is only a
migratory bird in the southeastern part of the region. Among cuckoos the brain-fever bird²an
c n hawk cuckoo that takes its name from the suggested effect of its repetitious cry²is well
known. Eagles, osprey, falcons, hawks, kites, and buzzards all occur; in the western part vultures
are numerous and are found even in towns. The forests are inhabited by many species of
woodpeckers. The barbets (loud-voiced tropical birds) are characteristic, the best known being
the coppersmith bird. Bee-eaters and rollers are common in India, but, whereas the former can be
found as far as the Malay Archipelago and beyond, rollers are absent in the southeast except in
Celebes and beyond. The passerine birds are very numerous. The house crow, the Indian grackle,
and the common mynah are familiar birds in India. Drongos (Old World passerines, usually
black with hooked bills), flycatchers, bulbuls, tailorbirds, orioles, and many others are widely
distributed, and broadbills are typical. Among the herons the white cattle egret is common
throughout the region, whereas spoonbills, cranes, and gulls are mostly confined to the western
part.

"  

Of the crocodiles the gavial, which has long slender jaws and a soft inflatable nose tip, is
restricted to the large rivers of northern India; a species of an allied genus is found in Sumatra
and Borneo; and the mugger (the common freshwater crocodile) and the estuarine crocodile have
a wider distribution. Freshwater turtles and land tortoises are well represented. Lizards are
numerous, and flying lizards are also typical of the region. Chameleons are chiefly African, but
one species is found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Snakes are numerous, among them the
poisonous krait, cobra, and Russell's viper. Frogs and toads are abundant.

* 

The freshwater fish life of the Oriental region is rich. The carp and catfish families have many
native genera and species. The labyrinth fish (so named for a labyrinthine outpocketing of the
gill chamber that permits them to take oxygen from air as well as from water), to which the
climbing perch and the gourami belong, are characteristic of the fish life of the region, as are
spiny eels.

 

Insects, arachnids (scorpions, spiders, ticks, and mites), mollusks, and other invertebrates inhabit
the region in great numbers. Large birdwing butterflies, allied to the well-represented
swallowtails, are typical. Almost all known families of scorpions are present. Among land shells
the absence of Helicidae (a family of land snails that have lungs), common in the Palearctic
region, is noteworthy. Their place is taken by other forms, such as A
O, and by land
mollusks that have horny or shelly plates on their posterior dorsal surfaces.

Lieven Ferdinand de BeaufortAleksandr Maximovich RyabchikovNina Nikolaevna Alexeeva


Fossil evidence indicates that c  has been under occupation by human species for at least one
million years and possibly longer. The first humans in c  may have descended from groups of
the extinct species A 
that migrated to the continent from Africa. There is much
debate as to whether modern c n peoples evolved from these early humans or represent the
descendants of anatomically modern peoples who migrated out of Africa beginning about
100,000 years ago.

A discussion of c n peoples and their cultural development cannot entirely exclude other parts
of the Old World. The relatively recent, Western conceptual division of the Eur n landmass
into ³Europe´ and ³c ´ has only minor significance in relation to the historic patterns of
human occupation of the continent. The cultural diversity of c  is greater than that of any other
continent, because it represents ethnic types and linguistic systems that have evolved over long
periods of time in separated regional homelands with distinct physical environments, as well as
repeated patterns of modification and intermixture that have resulted from both peaceful and
militant migrations. Some c n territories have become highly diversified ethnic and linguistic
mosaics in which there are mixed and overlapping elements.


  

 

 
 

The two primary prehistoric centres from which migrations of modern human populations over
the continent took place were Southwest c  and a region comprising the Mongolian plateaus
and North China.

From prehistoric to historic times, possibly beginning as early as 60,000 years ago, movements
from Southwest c  continued toward Europe and into Central c  (including Middle c )
and East c ; significant movements into India and Southeast c  also took place. There were
probably small divergent migrational movements in other directions that became swallowed up
in later patterns of mixing.
Important c tic migrations, however, also originated in Central Eur . Such movements
must have begun as early as 10,000 years ago, but probably the most significant of these
migrations for the present ethnic and linguistic makeup of the continent were those of the Indo-
European-speaking peoples, beginning about 2500 BC. These peoples migrated both west into
Europe and south and southeast into Southwest and South c . The Aryans, speaking a
language ancestral to the modern Indo-Aryan languages, invaded northern India beginning about
2000 BC. People speaking an early Iranian language probably spread into Iran about the same
time. Migrations out of Central c  continued into the early centuries AD as Mongols pushed
westward Turkic peoples, who occupied large parts of western Central and Southwest c .
These westward c tic movements also produced, over a period of time, much mixing of early
European and c tic peoples in Central and West c . Northern c  continued to be inhabited
chiefly by thinly distributed residual elements of ancient eastern c n peoples, although some
fairly late northward movements of Turkic peoples did take place. In addition, prehistoric
countermovements along the China coast may have carried early c tic migrants from South
China and Southeast c  northward into southern Korea and Japan; in the latter these peoples
mixed with and gradually supplanted the indigenous Ainu, who were of uncertain origin.

Within the broad zone of Central c , recurrent movements retracing older migratory routes
have created overlapping and fragmented ethnic groups. Secondary and tertiary intermixing of
many of these regionally derived groupings has resulted in still more complex patterns of ethnic
identity and distribution. Thus, the original speakers of Uzbek, a Turkic language, were probably
people from eastern Central c  similar in appearance to Mongolians; some of them migrated
westward to near the Volga River at an early date, then moved southward to become intermixed
with peoples who probably spoke Iranian languages and looked much like modern Iranians.
Uzbeks are now widely distributed in Central c .

An ancient migration similar in impact to that of the Indo-European-speakers in West c  was

that of the Austronesian speakers in Southeast c . Both linguistic and archaeological evidence
suggest that the first Austronesian languages may have been spoken on the island of Taiwan
about 4000 BC. Some Austronesian speakers traveled south and west to settle Indonesia, the
Malay Peninsula, and parts of Indochina, where they may have mixed with preexisting
populations; from Indonesia, Austronesian speakers later colonized Madagascar, off the coast of
Africa. Others spread first south and then east along the coasts of New Guinea and the Bismarck
Archipelago, probably mixing with earlier inhabitants. From there, speakers of the Oceanic
subgroup of Austronesian²which includes the Polynesian languages, most of the languages of
Micronesia, and many languages of Melanesia²spread to nearly all of the islands of the Pacific,
including distant Hawaii and Easter Island. Today, Austronesian languages are spoken
throughout insular Southeast c  and beyond.

Another major series of prehistoric and early historic migrations originating in what is now
southern China involved the ancestors of many of the present-day inhabitants of mainland
Southeast c . As Chinese civilization and Chinese-speaking people expanded southward from
their original homeland in North China beginning during the Zhou period (1111±255 BC) and
increasingly from the Qin and Han periods (221 BC±AD 220) up to modern times, the original
inhabitants of South China, speaking languages in the Tibeto-Burman, Tai, and Hmong-Mien
(Miao-Yao) families, either merged with the Chinese-speaking population or migrated southward
or into upland enclaves in southern China. Those who migrated to the south were among the
ancestors of the Burmans, the Lao, the Thai, and Southeast c n minorities such as the Hmong,
the Shan, and the Karen.

There have been many small-scale movements apart from the main trends, and these have
complicated the ethnic picture of particular regions. For example, some scholars hypothesize that
a nomadic ethnic group moved out of India about 1000 BC and became the ancestors of the
contemporary European Roma (Gypsies). A great variety of peoples also settled in the Caucasus
region, including speakers of Iranian and other Indo-European languages, speakers of languages
in at least two language families found only in the Caucasus, and speakers of Turkic languages.

A 
 

Within historic time the aggressive expansion of particular ethnic groups has either driven
weaker groups away from their territory or resulted in the newcomers' assuming control of the
territory and reducing the older inhabitants to the status of ethnic minorities. Some of these
weaker ethnic groups eventually have lost their identity through intermixture. In some instances
a new ethnic group with its own dialect has resulted from the mixing. Some areas now consist of
multiple enclaves of distinct ethnic groups, each following its own way of life. In parts of
Southeast c , for example, ethnic distinctions correspond to topography, with larger groups
dominating state societies based in the coastal and riverine lowlands and minority groups with a
smaller-scale tribal or clan-based organization occupying the interior uplands. Within what are
now India and Pakistan the migration of Indo-Aryan speakers eastward and southward produced
discontinuous patterns of ethnicity.

Militant campaigns of Arabs spread Islam and Arab political structures out of Arabia westward
into Africa and Spain, northward through the Levant into Anatolia, and eastward into Central
c , Persia, India, and the Malay Archipelago. Beginning in the 7th century AD and lasting until
the 16th century, these efforts brought a substantial Arab migration to Southwest c .

During the period of European imperialism, the penetration by Russians into North and Central
c  and by western Europeans into the oceanic fringes of South and East c  carried these
peoples to all parts of the Eur n continent. The expansion of commerce after the arrival of
Europeans gave further impetus to a preexisting stream of migration from coastal China to
Southeast c . The British also encouraged migration from the Indian subcontinent to Malaysia
and Singapore. Since the 17th century the resultant intermixing of peoples has produced new
ethnic identities, including the Anglo-Indians of India and the Burghers of Sri Lanka.
Intermarriage between Chinese immigrant men and local women has produced many people of
mixed origin in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The introduction of
American soldiers of European and African American ancestry to East and Southeast c 
during and after World War II has further complicated the ethnic mosaic in China, South Korea,
Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. These modern mixings of peoples were once considered a
new phenomenon but are increasingly being viewed as a continuation of historical patterns of
migration and cultural diffusion.
 
  

The development of modern forms of political administration among c n states has produced
some distinctive regional patterns. The Soviet Union was the first state to organize administrative
districts on an ethnolinguistic basis; some 100 separate ethnic groups were officially recognized
during the Soviet period, with about 60 occupying ethnic territories with administrative status at
major or minor levels. The larger units, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, became separate
republics with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, while others have retained some degree of
autonomy within Russia. China under the communist regime adopted a similar system and
modified the imperial political structure in regions containing ethnic or linguistic minorities²
primarily in South and southwestern China, northwestern China, and Central c . Ethnic
territorialism was relatively fixed and stable in the Soviet Union; but in China changes have
occurred in the boundaries of its autonomous regions, and not all minorities have been granted
internal territorial autonomy.

In India, where hundreds of languages are spoken and many ethnic groups coexist,
ethnolinguistic recognition occurs only at the state level. The boundaries of many Indian states
now roughly follow linguistic limits. Many minorities have not been given territories of their
own, and the question of ethnic and linguistic territorial autonomy has given rise to considerable
unrest within India. In both India and Pakistan, the tribal and frontier agencies formed during
British rule have become full states on the basis of their cultural unity.

Myanmar (formerly Burma) attempted with some success to resolve the problems of integrating
ethnic minorities into a modern political structure after several upland ethnic minority groups
militantly opposed forms of limited territorial autonomy offered by the government. Throughout
most of the countries of Southeast c , ethnic minorities have been slow to receive formal
recognition, although many governments now have developed policies for incorporating
minorities into the national life.

Malaysia is a multiethnic state in which Malays constitute roughly half the total population and
Chinese about one-third, with Indians and tribal minorities making up the remainder. The
Malaysian constitution does not recognize the country's pluralistic composition: Malay is the
official language, with English also being recognized officially; Islam is a state religion
(although religious freedom is guaranteed); and the head of state must be a Malay. Political
parties, however, often represent ethnic groupings, and there are²in practice²many ways in
which all ethnic elements are represented.

In most states of Southwest c , ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities exist without formal
recognition of their status. Lebanon, for example, is ethnically and linguistically Arab, but a
significant proportion of its people are Christian and its Muslim population is divided between
Sunnites and Shī ites. Israel has a sizable Arab minority, and Iran is only about half Persian in
ethnic and linguistic terms. In the Arab-majority states of the Persian Gulf, there are substantial
populations of migrant workers from South and Southeast c , as well as significant minorities
of Shī ite Muslims.
!  

The languages of c  are richly diverse. The vast majority of the people of continental c 
speak a language in one of three large language families: Altaic (consisting of Turkic,
Mongolian, and Manchu-Tungus [Tungusic] subfamilies), Sino-Tibetan (consisting of Chinese
and Tibeto-Burman languages), and Indo-European (consisting of Indo-Aryan, Iranian, and
Slavic languages, as well as Armenian). The peoples of peninsular and insular c , however,
speak numerous other languages, including those in the Austro tic, Tai, Hmong-Mien (Miao-
Yao), and Dravidian families, as well as Japanese, Korean, a vast number of Austronesian
languages, and the unrelated languages lumped together within the Paleo-Siberian areal category.
Also spoken on the western bounds of c  are Arabic and Hebrew (both Afro-c tic
languages) and the Cauc n languages, consisting of at least two unrelated families. Except for
the extensive eastward expansion of Russian (a Slavic language), the pattern of language
distribution in c  has remained relatively stable since the 18th century.

However, many of the languages spoken by ethnic groups numbering a few thousand or less
have become functionally extinct and exist today, if at all, only in the records of linguists. These
fragile groups cannot long withstand the onslaught of more politically and economically
influential languages that often are imposed along with new cultural patterns.

Among the dominant languages that have gained speakers is Russian, which remains the primary
public language in Siberia and is still important in the Central c n republics, having been
taught to large numbers of non-Slavic inhabitants. Similarly, Mandarin Chinese²now generally
called 
 ÷
O (³common language´) in China²is spoken by more people than any other
language in the world, although such regional languages as Wu and Cantonese also retain their
vitality.

In India, where some 20 languages are officially recognized, the larger regional languages are
not losing ground, despite enormous increases in the Hindi-speaking population. The major
languages of northern India, including Hindi, evolved from Sanskrit and are members of the
Indo-European language family, while the languages of southern India belong to the Dravidian
family and include Tamil and Telugu. More than 10 different scripts are used in India. An Indian
banknote has its value written on it in 13 Indian languages and also in English. Hindi is the
official language, though English is also used officially. The dominance of Hindi has become a
political issue in parts of India where it is not the primary language, particularly in the
Dravidian-speaking south.

The island nations of Southeast c , each with hundreds of local languages, have adopted
national languages to facilitate communication. Indonesia's official national language is Bahasa
Indonesia, but hundreds of local languages and dialects remain in use across the vast archipelago.
Javanese, for example, has more than twice as many native speakers as Bahasa Indonesia. The
Philippines, which also has hundreds of local languages and dialects, has adopted Pilipino (a
standardized form of Tagalog) as a national language, although it is the first language of only
about one-fourth of the population. English²the language of administration when the
Philippines was a U.S. possession²remains in wide use; both English and Pilipino are official
languages.

Factors such as ethnic migration, extended commerce, and political flux continue to complicate
language patterns in many parts of c . Around the old Central c n oases and in southern
Siberia, migrants from Russia and exiled ethnic groups have created ethnically and linguistically
mixed regional populations. As European Russians moved into the new cities in Central c 
and western Siberia, Russian became the language of the cities; the older languages have been
confined chiefly to the countryside. In other areas, the economic attraction of the cities, both for
foreigners and for the rural poor, has created urban linguistic patterns of increasing complexity.

Joseph E. SpencerClifton W. PannellGraham P. Chapman

"

c  is the birthplace of all the world's major religions and hundreds of minor ones. Like all
forms of culture, c n religions may be considered geographically in terms of both their places
of origin and their distribution.

 c 

Hinduism, with a polytheistic and ritual tradition comprising numerous cults and sects, is the
oldest of several religions that originated in South c . It remains a unifying force of Indian
culture and the social caste system²which Hindu tradition sees as a reflection of the relative
spiritual purity of reincarnated souls. The religion has had little appeal outside the Indian cultural
context. Except on Bali and other ³Hinduized´ islands of Indonesia, Hinduism is practiced
outside the subcontinent mainly by Indian expatriates.

O Prayer flags mark the place where the Buddha achieved Enlightenment in Bodh Gaya,
India.

Jainism and Buddhism emerged in reaction to prevailing Hindu practices in the 6th and 5th
centuries BC, respectively. Although Jainism never spread significantly beyond two present-day
states of northwestern India, its principles of nonviolence and asceticism have deeply influenced
Indian thought.

Buddhism arose in northeastern India as a ³universal´ alternative to hierarchical religion,

offering nirvana, or enlightenment, to individuals regardless of culture or social station. In the
centuries following its foundation, Buddhism gave rise to two main divergent schools:
Theravada, which claimed orthodox adherence to the teachings of the religion's founder, the
Buddha, and Mahayana, which held its teachings to be the fullest account of the Buddha's
message. The monastically oriented Theravada predominates today in Sri Lanka and mainland
Southeast c , while the more liberal Mahayana, with its proliferation of philosophical schools
and sects, has had an immeasurable impact on the civilizations of China, Korea, and Japan.
Vajrayana, or Tantrism, is an esoteric form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and
Mongolia. In India itself, the once sizable Buddhist population has diminished to a small number
of adherents.

Sikhism, a monotheistic Indian religion, was founded in the Punjab in the late 15th century AD
and has fueled that region's modern demands for independence. The current Indian state of
Punjab has a Sikh majority.

  c 

Southwest c  (the Middle East) is the cradle of three great monotheistic systems: Judaism and
its offshoots Christianity and Islam. Judaism, founded in the eastern Mediterranean region some
4,000 years ago, posits a covenant relationship between God²the source of divine law²and
humankind. Most c n Jews now live in Israel, although there are small Jewish communities in
various other areas of the continent. In the 20th century a number of Jewish sects and reform
movements founded elsewhere accompanied immigrants to Israel. Christianity, which began as a
movement within Judaism emphasizing salvation of the soul over observance of the law, has
become in the course of 2,000 years the most widespread of the world's religions, predominating
in Europe and in European-derived cultures. It is practiced by sizable minorities in many c n
countries and by a Roman Catholic majority in the Philippines.

Islam dominates as the state religion of most Southwest c n countries, and a substantial
majority of Muslims live in c . From the Arabian Peninsula, where it was founded in the 7th
century, Islam spread throughout the Middle East, into Central c  and parts of South c , and
across the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia and to Indonesia, which remains predominantly Muslim.
The majority of c n Muslims belong to the orthodox Sunnite branch, except in Iran and Iraq,
where members of the more esoteric Shī ite branch are in the majority. Muslims constitute
important minority populations in India, the Philippines, and China. Among the other religions
that developed in Southwest c  are Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that survives in Iran
and India and contains both monotheistic and dualistic elements; and Bahā ī, a universalist faith
founded in Persia (Iran) in the mid-19th century.
 c 

Ancient Chinese religious and philosophical traditions survive in the form of two main schools,
Daoism (Taoism) and Confucianism, both of which originated in the 5th or 6th century BC. The
two schools differ in orientation²Daoism stressing mystical experience and the individual's
harmony with nature and Confucianism emphasizing the duty of the individual in society and
government²but both have profoundly influenced Chinese and Chinese-derived culture.
Indigenous Chinese folk religious traditions continue to influence the practice of both Daoism
and Confucianism, as well as Buddhism, which has many adherents in China. Confucianism,
Daoism, and Buddhism are also widespread in Korea, where indigenous Korean religious
traditions remain important as well.

O Torii (symbolic gateway) marks the entrance to a Shintō shrine on Mount Hakone, east-
central «

Shintō encompasses the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Japanese people.
Although among some practitioners this tradition has absorbed the influences of other belief
systems, such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, its fundamental principles linking
sacred power, ritual observance, and imperial nationhood remain unique to Japanese culture.

) 

In addition to the major religions discussed above, numerous localized spiritual practices are
found throughout c . Animism, for example, is particularly common among some ethnic
minorities of South and Southeast c . Mystical shamanism remains characteristic of numerous
North and Central c n peoples, and shamanistic cults are also found in South Korea and Japan.

 




 

Agriculture remains the mainstay of c , though the proportion of the population engaged in
agriculture is steadily declining. Although marginal lands in many parts of South and East c 
have been brought under cultivation, and many former pastoral ranges in Southwest and Central
c  are now irrigated, the broad ecological factors touched upon above have continued to give
rise to geographic variations in population and economic activity. Parts of South and East c 
can support dense populations. Moister regions in the southwest²for example, in Turkey and
northern Iran²support large populations. In Southwest and Central c  in general, however,
agricultural productivity and population density vary markedly with the regional pattern of
precipitation or the availability of water from humid highlands nearby. In the Central c n
republics the older pastoral nomadism has been transformed into organized transhumance (i.e.,
the seasonal migration of stock between lowlands and mountains); consequently, the families
that were formerly nomadic have become permanent residents in villages, and only herders
accompany the flocks and herds. Northern c  remains a semideveloped frontier region with
short-season crops growing in favoured southern localities, even though breeding of newer
varieties has extended agriculture northward. The Arctic fringe is being developed on the basis
of mineral resource exploitation, but only in particular localities. Siberia has remained lightly
populated, with the population concentrated in scattered local centres. The agriculturally
productive river plains of South c , China, and Southeast c  have supported dense rural
populations and large cities since the beginnings of civilization. Irrigated agriculture has
provided the surplus to sustain urban elites.

"  

O A Lisu hill settlement near Pai, northwestern Thailand.

Population densities have everywhere increased, and the modernization of agriculture, increased
mineral exploitation, and industrialization have brought cultural change. Some of the small
ethnic groups have been dying out, but larger groups often have accepted change and have
increased in numbers. In South and East c , growing lowland populations have been pressing
hard on the available land as population densities exceed 2,000 persons per square mile (750 per
square km). In Indonesia, government programs have encouraged farmers to relocate from Java,
one of the most densely populated places on Earth, to more thinly populated Indonesian islands,
where ethnic Javanese have sometimes come into conflict with indigenous peoples.

Similarly, in Central c , both Chinese and Russian settlement programs have moved peoples
from heavily populated regions into frontier zones in order to develop both agricultural and
industrial resources. In southern Siberia the Soviet settlement program spread a thick wedge of
European Russians and assorted ethnic minorities eastward to the Pacific Ocean and northward
along every river valley to the Arctic Ocean. As a result, many of the Paleo-Siberian ethnic
groups have been submerged and absorbed. Old trading posts, oasis towns, and the few old cities
of southern Siberia and the Central c n republics have been developed into modern industrial
centres; these have been linked to modern transport systems by which raw materials and
manufactured products flow to the European regions. Most new cities have been populated
largely by European Russians, with c n peoples remaining chiefly in the rural areas. The
modernization of Southwest c ²through the renaissance of Turkey and the impact of
petroleum exploitation on the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Iran²has altered many of the old
patterns of ethnic groupings in those areas. A further alteration of the historic pattern came in
1948 with the creation of the State of Israel, to which large numbers of Jews from North Africa,
the Middle East, Europe, and North America have migrated.

' 

O Central Manila, Philippines.

About two-fifths of all c ns live in and around cities and towns, and increasing urbanization is
heightening regional contrasts in population density. Israel, Japan, and Singapore are among the
most highly urbanized countries in the world, and c  claims several of the world's largest
metropolises. Two basic factors account for this concentration: natural population growth in the
cities themselves and large-scale rural-to-urban migration. In many cities, such as Kolkata
(Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, and even Shanghai, the ceaseless
influx overwhelms the existing capacity to provide jobs, services, and appropriate shelter for new
arrivals. The results are squatter settlements and shantytowns that may contain as many as half of
the city's people. Such areas typically lack proper water supply, electricity, sanitation, and
transportation facilities, although over time the quality of the makeshift dwellings often
improves.

A distinctive adaptation on a large scale, called the extended metropolis, is emerging in some
areas. In this development, the expanding peripheries of the great cities merge with the
surrounding countryside and villages, where a highly commercialized and intensive form of
agriculture continues yet where an increasing portion of the farmers' income is derived from
nonfarm work. Some decentralization of urban industry occurs, and many new industrial and
service jobs become available for the rural population. Movement of goods and people is
extensive, if basic, achieved with bicycles, mopeds, carts, trucks, buses, and trains. The quasi-
rural environs of urban centres offer to investors and residents alike advantages such as lower
land costs, better labour markets, and less congestion and environmental pollution than exist in
the cities proper. The extended metropolis model is thus an alternative form of urban growth that
helps to divert what might otherwise be an overwhelming flood of migrants to the great cities.
Beijing-Tianjin, Shanghai-Nanjing, Hong Kong±Guangzhou, Delhi±New Delhi, Mumbai-Pune,
and Seoul are examples of a form of growth that can lead eventually to the kind of megalopolitan
development found in the Tokyo-Yokohama±Ōsaka-Kōbe corridor of Japan.

%
 

c  comprises roughly one-third of the world's land area and about three-fifths of its population.
The continent includes the two most populous countries, China and India, which together
account for some two-fifths of all people.

   

About 1750 it would have been relatively easy to describe the population and ethnic distribution
of c . The whole of northern Eur  was rather lightly populated by diverse Paleo-Siberian,
Tungusic, and Turkic peoples who engaged in hunting, foraging, fishing, or herding. Some
groups, such as the Nenets, Sakha, and Chukchi, had somewhat distinctive economies focused on
a single activity or on activities that changed seasonally.

Central c , Tibet, and Mongolia formed a mixed zone dominated by nomadic pastoralists such
as the Buryat Mongols and the Kyrgyz, while the lower plateaus and river valleys were sprinkled
with agricultural districts settled by the Tajik, Uighur, Uzbek, and other groups. Population
density was relatively light; mountain regions were occupied only in summer, but there were
locally concentrated populations centred on such large oases as Tashkent, Samarkand, Kashi
(Kashgar), and Ürümqi (Urumchi), with smaller groupings around lesser sources of water. A
similar pattern prevailed in Southwest c , which at that time was inhabited by Iranian, Arab,
and Turkic peoples, with a scattering of minority ethnic groups. Population was concentrated
around cultivable areas, water resources, or grass pastures.

South and East c  showed a more complex dual set of patterns. The largest components
consisted of the highly civilized lowland populations, long settled on their land and engaged in
sedentary agriculture and handicraft manufacturing. Market towns and cities were scattered over
the countryside, and many small port towns dotted the seacoasts. Population density was heaviest
in the best agricultural lowlands, which had also been occupied the longest, such as the North
China Plain, the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) valley, southern Japan, coastal Vietnam, the
lowlands of Java, and the Ganges (Ganga) and Indus river valleys.

Smaller components included the diverse ethnic groups scattered in wet deltaic lowlands, such as
those of the Ganges, Irrawaddy, Chao Phraya, and Mekong rivers; the central plain of the island
of Luzon in the Philippines; and northern Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Groups also were
scattered throughout most of the hill and lower-mountain country. Their economies combined
hunting and gathering with sedentary or shifting cultivation (the cultivation of new land for each
successive crop). Generally, these less-densely populated areas had small populations scattered
in village settlements that were sustained by subsistence economies; limited handicraft
manufacturing took place, and trade was confined to minor products. The Naga of northeastern
India, the upland Karen of Myanmar, and the Hmong (also known as Miao) of Laos exemplified
this lifestyle. Toward the end of the 18th century, European colonial efforts were beginning to
integrate the production systems of eastern Eur  into patterns of world trade. Supplying
Europe with raw materials, which was to characterize the early 20th century, also commenced at
this time.

+,
 
 

By the 20th century, great changes had taken place in both the ethnic patterns and the associated
lifestyles in c . Many smaller ethnic groups faced challenges to their autonomy as the spread
of nation-states and economic exchange across the continent integrated them into larger social,
political, and economic units. By the mid-20th century, the Soviet Union and China had
extended their economic and political control over Siberia and Central c , the former colonial
lands of South c  had achieved independent statehood, and the component territories of the old
Ottoman Empire had been reshaped into the modern nations of Southwest c . Meanwhile, the
introduction of modern forms of transportation, communication, and finance integrated even
formerly remote regions into national and global economies. Many of the hundreds of small
ethnic groups were absorbed into the populations of nation-states, many old languages declined,
and many formerly distinctive ways of life persisted only as remnants or artificially preserved
societies.

Political and economic predominance in nearly all of the new or expanded nation-states lay in
the hands of one or more of the country's ethnic groups. In the former Soviet Union and present-
day Russia, ethnic Russians have been the dominant group. In China, ethnic Chinese hold most
positions of power. In Indonesia, the Javanese have dominated political life, while power in other
Southeast c n countries has tended to remain with lowland peoples such as the Vietnamese in
Vietnam and the Burmans in Myanmar; in those areas, upland tribal peoples such as the Hmong
(in Vietnam) or the Shan (in Myanmar) often face disadvantages.

The expansion of dominant ethnic groups has steadily restricted the territory available for older,
simpler societies; and modern economic patterns have largely replaced earlier practices. It is still
possible to identify the region in which the Yukaghir formerly lived as a separate culture group
in eastern Siberia, but²for the few hundred Yukaghir who remain²political absorption,
acculturation, and internal social decay have made the classic description of the group largely a
historic one. Many former horse-riding, tent-dwelling, sheep-herding Karakalpak now drive
tractors on the grain farms established by the Soviets, live in permanent villages, and speak
Russian in public. Some men of the Chota Nagpur hill region of eastern India, who formerly
engaged in hunting and practiced shifting cultivation, now work in the steel mills of Jamshedpur.
The remnant Ainu of northern Japan today are gathered into ³cultural villages,´ where their
traditional wood carving and bear dances attract a flow of tourists from other parts of Japan.
 

There is a great variation in population growth rates in c . Growth rates are falling in most
c n countries, but, even so, the United Nations has estimated that the continent's population
will exceed five billion by 2050²an increase of more than two-fifths from its estimated
population in 2000. By 2050, according to these estimates, India's population will have
overtaken that of China. Advanced Japan has an almost static, but aging, population. Kazakhstan,
Armenia, and Georgia have falling populations. The Arab countries of the Middle East, however,
have some of the world's highest population growth rates: more than 3 percent annually in some
Arab countries. In part this reflects Muslim traditions, which have frowned on birth control and
granted women less control over fertility. The next fastest-growing area is South c . The
growth rate in the region's largest country, India, though high, fell significantly during the 1990s,
as did that in Bangladesh, although Pakistan maintained a high rate of growth. The growth rate in
Southeast c  as a whole is somewhat lower, but it varies widely by nation, with the highest
rate in Laos and a relatively low rate in Thailand. East c , currently the most populous region,
has a relatively low growth rate. This reflects not only Japan's nearly static population, where the
fertility rate has actually dropped below the replacement level, but also the impact of China's
one-child policy, which contributed to an annual growth rate of less than 1 percent by the late
1990s. The regions with the lowest growth rates are North and Central c , where some
countries' populations are actually declining. These variations across c  reflect differences in
culture, religion, education, economic development, and government policies.

Most non-Islamic c n countries, aware of the adverse impact high rates of population growth
have on economic growth and social progress, embarked on official birth-control programs,
which have met with considerable success. Japan's program perhaps has been the most effective.
In existence since World War II, it includes well-publicized family-planning services, legalized
abortion, and the provision of contraceptive devices. Indeed, the birth rate in Japan has dropped
so dramatically that the median age of the population is increasing, and the population is
projected to begin declining by 2010. In China fines and other penalties have been imposed on
parents who have a second child without government approval, although China announced in
1999 that this one-child policy would gradually be liberalized. South Korea, Taiwan, India, and
Sri Lanka offer family-planning and birth-control services. Similar policies and plans exist in
some Islamic countries, such as Pakistan, but have less overt public support. The Southeast and
Southwest c n countries lag behind in formal programs, but public consciousness and basic
planning have grown.

In some c n countries, particularly India and Sri Lanka, as well as in Pakistan and a few other
predominantly Muslim countries, males outnumber females in all age groups, while other
countries, such as China, show a marked surplus of males in most age groups. This sex ratio
differs from that found in Western industrial countries, and there is controversy about its cause.
In many c n societies, there is a cultural preference for sons, and there is evidence that female
fetuses in several c n countries have been selectively aborted. In some countries social
attitudes may account for the difference in mortality rates of the sexes after birth, through
preferential treatment and feeding of males, for example. In China the one-child policy has led to
an imbalance in favour of male children. In many countries marriage still occurs earlier than in
Western countries, and this may further tip the overall balance in favour of males because of the
relatively high mortality rate of young mothers in childbirth.

Sripati ChandrasekharClifton W. PannellGraham P. Chapman




  

While the economies of most c n countries can be characterized as developing, there is

enormous variation among them. The continent contains one of the world's most economically
developed countries, Japan, and several that are impoverished, such as Afghanistan, Cambodia,
and Nepal. This variation has a regional dimension. Most of the countries of Southwest c  fall
within one of the middle-income categories as defined by the World Bank. Exceptions are Israel
and the Persian Gulf states of Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which are
considered high-income. Most of the countries of North and Central c  fall within the low-
income category, except Russia (Siberia), Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, all considered lower-
middle-income. Likewise, all the countries of South c  are considered low-income, apart from
lower-middle-income Sri Lanka. Except for China and North Korea, which are considered low-
income, East c  is the most prosperous part of the continent. Most countries in this region are
considered upper-middle-income, and Japan is considered high-income. China, which has
experienced dramatic rates of economic growth since the late 20th century, may be poised to
achieve lower-middle-income status. Many of the countries of Southeast c  have likewise
achieved high rates of growth and have moved into one of the middle-income categories or even,
in the case of Singapore and Brunei, into the high-income category. Exceptions are Myanmar
(Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, which remain within the low-income group.

The explanation for these varying degrees of development is complex and multifaceted. Before
World War II, Japan was alone in c  in having developed a domestically owned, financed, and
managed industrial base. Other countries relied on the exchange of basic raw materials and
commodities such as rubber, tea, and tin for industrial products, often supplied by Western
colonial powers. Since then different countries have adopted different strategies to achieve
economic development. From the 1950s through the '70s, the continent's two largest countries²
India and China²both adopted policies of self-sufficiency and internal development, limiting
the role of external trade and investment. During that period, countries also chose between
socialism²i.e., relying on state ownership of economic enterprises as a pathway to
development²and capitalist development based on private ownership. The contrasting success
of these two economic systems can be seen nowhere better than in the Korean peninsula, where
capitalist South Korea has achieved a relatively high level of prosperity, while socialist North
Korea has experienced repeated famines and economic difficulties. The economic success of
capitalist Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore was undoubtedly one of the reasons why China
moved during the 1980s and '90s from state socialism to increasing reliance on private
ownership and capitalist economic relations, even though the Chinese Communist Party retained
absolute political power.
Industrialization has provided the primary means of economic development. For some
economies this has meant manufacturing consumer goods, such as electronics, footwear, or
clothing, often as contractors for foreign firms. The countries that have experienced the most
dramatic growth, however, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, have provided state
support for domestically owned firms, invested heavily in education, and moved from low-cost
manufacturing to more advanced economic activities generating greater returns. For countries
such as Saudi Arabia, other Persian Gulf states, and Brunei, growth has come from exploiting
valuable petroleum and natural gas reserves²but in general these countries have found it hard to
develop economic sectors independent of oil production for future sustainable growth.

Despite these changes, a majority of people in c  are still engaged in agriculture, usually
working small peasant holdings. In China and India, agriculture is still by far the biggest
employer, though it provides a diminishing share of gross domestic product. The greatest poverty
in these countries is thus usually found in rural areas. But the acceleration of urbanization since
the mid-20th century has meant that increasing numbers of rural peasants are leaving the land for
the cities.

The population shift from rural areas to the cities in c  is an unprecedented migration. In
China, systems of residential permits aim to control the flow, but many peasants move to
Chinese cities even without official permits. In Indonesia, by contrast, there is effectively no
control, although there are policies to try to diffuse the location of new industrial employment.
As industry has become increasingly mechanized, it has often not provided much proportional
growth in employment. It is the service sectors of the expanding cities that have shown the
fastest growth in employment in recent years. In the poorer countries much of the employment
growth is in what is known as the informal sector²a term referring to small, often family-owned
businesses operating outside state regulation or control and mainly engaged in petty services or
petty manufacturing.

To date, increases in food production have allowed most countries to feed their growing
populations, but the balance between population growth and food supply has been delicate. The
dominant methods by which the major grain crops are produced remain labour-intensive. Crop
yields vary greatly throughout c . For example, rice production per acre in Bangladesh is
about half that of South Korea. Only about one-fifth of c 's land is arable, and it has been
increasingly difficult to expand production by extending the amount of cultivated land, although
in some areas, such as western Indonesia, forest has continued to be cleared for colonization. In
most tropical and subtropical parts of c , cropping intensity has risen²i.e., arable land
increasingly has been cultivated for more than one crop (and in some areas, such as Bangladesh,
sometimes even three crops) each year. Major efforts to increase production have occurred
through the so-called Green Revolution, which involved introducing hybrid seed strains that
have been responsive to chemical fertilizers. This technology has required controlled water
supplies and has led to increases in irrigation and the use of pesticides. Mechanization has been
important for some crops, such as wheat and corn (maize), but in general it has not been so
important for rice growing. It is thought that a more significant barrier to further agricultural
development has been the uneven distribution of land. This problem has been particularly acute
in the poorer countries of c . While governments have made concerted efforts to produce
workable land-reform programs, progress has been slow; this has been particularly conspicuous
in the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. In the socialist countries, land reform was
attempted through collectivization, but in general land has been given back to peasants to farm
individually. Anxiety that the growth potential of the Green Revolution has been slackening has
contributed to arguments for introducing genetically modified organisms. c n countries,
however, have responded cautiously to such proposals.

c n economic interdependence grew significantly during the late 20th century as a product of
trade, investment, and better access to information. Japanese investment has dominated much of
East and Southeast c . Formal organization of the regional economy remains relatively weak,
although the Association of Southeast c n Nations (ASEAN) has worked reasonably well. For
most of these countries, however, trade with other Southeast c n countries has grown less
quickly than trade with Japan. In 1995 the South c n Association for Regional Co-operation
proclaimed a South c n Free Trade Area as one of its policy goals, but such a zone has not yet
been realized. The Persian Gulf countries have sometimes achieved sufficient unity to act
together through the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC; which includes
non-c n members) to control oil prices, but otherwise there has been little regional integration
in Southwest c . Siberia, the c n portion of Russia, suffered after the collapse of Soviet
central planning in the early 1990s, and the Russian central government subsequently abandoned
the region to manage on its own. The remote location and fierce climate have discouraged
private investors from trying to exploit much of Siberia's vast mineral and timber resources,
except for the heavily developed petroleum and gas deposits of western Siberia.

"  
 

The immensity of the continent and its geologic diversity explain the mineral wealth of c ,
which includes reserves of almost every important mineral. Abundant reserves of coal,
petroleum, natural gas, uranium, iron, bauxite, and other ores are either being exploited or
awaiting development; much wealth also remains to be surveyed. However, at times the
inaccessibility of some of these reserves has constituted a barrier to their exploitation.

  
 



c  has enormous reserves of coal, amounting to nearly three-fifths of the world's total, but they
are unevenly distributed. The largest reserves are found in Siberia, the Central c n republics,
India, and especially China; Indonesia, Japan, and North Korea have smaller but nevertheless
economically important reserves. China has chiefly high-grade coal reserves. Every province has
at least one coalfield, but the largest reserves are in Shanxi and Shaanxi in the Ordos River basin
in the north. Sichuan, Shandong, and the Northeast (Fushun, in Liaoning province) are old coal-
producing regions with good reserves, and a coal-mining area with large deposits has been
developed in central Anhui, north of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Mines in Ningxia and
Gansu supply northern industrial plants, but their reserves are not clearly known. The long-
known reserves in western Hebei are being exploited.

Enormous coal reserves are found in North and Central c , and some 200 fields have been
worked throughout the region. Most of the known coal supplies of North c  lie in Siberia, but
the total extent and quality of Siberian deposits have not been fully explored. The Ural
Mountains are not rich in coal, but there are some small fields of lower-grade coals. The
Kuznetsk Basin in south-central Siberia has become a giant producer. The Minusinsk Basin in
the central region of western Siberia, the Kansk region to the north along the Trans-Siberian
Railway, the Cheremkhovo area west of Lake Baikal in south-central Siberia, and the Bureya
River basin in the southeast also are the major areas of Siberian production. Many smaller
deposits have been worked to supply local regions, such as the small and scattered fields north of
Vladivostok and on Sakhalin Island in the Far East. The Qaraghandy fields in east-central
Kazakhstan contain the largest deposits in Central c ; during the Soviet period, however,
mining was not expanded there after sources of better coals began to be worked in western
Siberia. The Ekibastuz field, north of the main Qaraghandy fields, also is a producer of high-
quality coal. Smaller deposits also are worked in Uzbekistan, as well as in the valleys of
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Chinese and Indian economies in particular have depended
heavily on coal, and their coal consumption has grown along with their industrial economies
since the late 20th century. Concern has been raised by environmentalists about the possibility
that increasing coal consumption in these two countries would raise global atmospheric carbon
dioxide levels.

   

At least two-thirds of the world's known crude oil and natural gas reserves are found in c ; the
proportion may prove higher as Siberia, the Caspian basin, and the seas of southeastern c  are
further explored. Many of the island chains bordering eastern c  have geologic formations
favouring petroleum accumulation, and oil fields²both on land and offshore²are in production
in the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo and in China, Brunei, and Malaysia.
Western c  has the largest known oil reserves, located in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran,
Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Other regions in Southwest c  have limited amounts of
oil, and known petroleum reserves on the Indian subcontinent are small as well. However,
significant deposits of natural gas were discovered in Bangladesh during the 1990s.

Malaysia is the only important oil-producing area on the mainland of Southeast c , although
offshore waters may yield production after further exploration; Vietnam also has some offshore
potential. The area of the South China Sea has been actively tested, but disputes among the
surrounding countries about sovereignty over the Spratly Islands has inhibited development. The
Philippines is negligible as a producing region, and the petroleum production of Japan is also
small. North and South Korea appear to have virtually no prospects of production, but China has
a number of oil-producing fields in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Xinjiang and in the
Northeast. The Qaidam Basin in northwestern Qinghai province also is a producing region. Some
oil has been derived regularly from oil shales found in the Northeast, and natural gas is exploited
in Sichuan and in the Northeast.
Siberia produces more natural gas than Southwest c  and is a significant oil producer as well.
The flanks of the Ural Mountains have a number of large oil fields and small gas fields. The rich
gas field in the northern Ob River basin at Berezovo indicates that the entire Ob basin may yield
natural gas. In the east the Lena River basin, north of Yakutsk, also contains large gas reserves.

O Oil derricks in the Caspian Sea near Baku, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and the former Soviet republics of Central c  also possess large deposits of oil and
natural gas. Much of this is centred in the Caspian basin, particularly in areas claimed by
Azerbaijan. The capital, Baku, has become a new world centre for oil exploration. The reserves,
which the former Soviet Union hardly noticed, may prove to be substantial. Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan share in Caspian output. Uzbekistan has a major gas field at Gazli in the Kyzylkum
Desert southeast of the Aral Sea and oil fields in the southeastern part of the country. Although
the landlocked region is not as remote as Siberia, its oil and gas producers have debated whether
to export production to the world market through Russia or to build pipelines across Iran to the
Persian Gulf, across the politically unstable Caucasus region to the Black Sea, or to the
Mediterranean ports of Turkey.

' 

Reserves of uranium ore are found in c 's ancient crystalline rocks. The richest ore fields are
found in Kyrgyzstan, between Osh and Tuya Muyun. China and India have their own deposits.
Chinese uranium resources are thought to be in northern Xinjiang and southern Hunan provinces.



Many regions of c  have deposits of iron ore, although not every country has its own domestic
supply. South Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and several smaller countries in Southwest c  appear
to have only small iron ore supplies. Japan has far less than is needed by its large iron and steel
industry and depends largely on imported supplies. The Philippines exports ore. Malaysia
produces a considerable volume. Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan have fair amounts of
relatively low-grade ores, and Vietnam and Turkey have good ores in substantial volume.
Indonesia and India both have large deposits of good iron ores that are reasonably distributed.

Although China formerly was regarded as deficient in iron ores, huge quantities of varying
grades of ores have been discovered that are widely distributed and often located close to coal
supplies. Regional centres of ore mining, smelting, and fabrication are located at Anshan in
Liaoning province; near Beijing; in southern Anhui, west of Shanghai; in central China, east of
Wuhan; in southern Inner Mongolia, north of Baotou; in central western Gansu; and on Hainan
Island, off the southern coast. Large iron ore deposits also occur near Chongqing. Iron ore in
small local volumes is widely located in Guizhou and Yunnan in the southwest. China now ranks
among the world's major producers of iron ore.

Iron ore long has been extracted from the Ural Mountains, and there appears to be a virtually
unlimited supply of low-grade ore in the Qostanay Basin east of the Southern Urals in
northwestern Kazakhstan and southwestern Siberia. Large deposits of medium-grade ore have
been found northwest of Lake Baikal, close to the Cheremkhovo coal deposits. Smaller deposits
have been located in several locations in eastern Siberia. In Central c  the main deposits are
found in eastern Kazakhstan.

* 

c n resources of nickel are not extensive. There is a notable ore field at Norilsk, in north-
central Siberia; Indonesia, China, and the Philippines also possess reserves and produce
substantial quantities of nickel. c n countries with reserves of chromium include Turkey, the
Philippines, India, Iran, and Pakistan; reserves are also found in northwestern Kazakhstan.
Manganese is found in abundance, with large reserves in Transcauc , Central c , Siberia,
and India; Chinese reserves also are considerable. Southern China has exceptionally large
deposits of tungsten. Tungsten reserves in Central c  also are important, as are those of
molybdenum.

#   

c  is not richly endowed with copper. In Central c  the main sites are Olmaliq, southeast of
Tashkent (Uzbekistan); Zhezkazgan, west of Qaraghandy; and Qongyrat, on Lake Balkhash
(Kazakhstan). In Siberia, production is mainly from the Kuznetsk Basin. Japan's once
widespread copper ore reserves are no longer worked, and the Philippines has limited reserves.
China has deposits in Gansu, Hebei, Anhui, and Hubei, but production is insignificant. Turkey,
Myanmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, India, and North Korea have small reserves.

Significant reserves of tin exist along a north-south axis running from southwestern China
through the Malay Peninsula to Indonesia. Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Yunnan
province in China also have deposits of tin. Siberia has substantial reserves in Transbaikal and
also in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains of the Far East.

The largest reserves of lead and zinc in c  are located in the Kuznetsk Basin of Siberia and in
central and eastern Kazakhstan. China also has abundant deposits of zinc and lead ores, and
North Korea has important lead resources.
c  has enormous reserves of bauxite. The largest fields are located in Kazakhstan and in south-
central Siberia in the Sayan Mountains. There also are large deposits in India, Indonesia, Turkey,
and Malaysia, as well as significant reserves in China.

Important quantities of mercury occur in south-central China and in Siberia. Magnesite is

common in c . There are large deposits of antimony in central China; Turkey and Thailand
also have substantial reserves.


  

Many c n countries have produced gold from alluvial stream deposits in past centuries, and
some have continued to do so. Small volumes of alluvial gold are produced in Myanmar,
Cambodia, and Indonesia, and the headwaters of the Yangtze River in the Tibetan border region
yield some gold. India formerly was a large producer of gold from lode mines, but the best ores
appear to have been exhausted. North and South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines have
significant gold ore reserves and periodically produce gold from small lode mines.

Gold has been produced from Siberian lode mines in the Central Ural Mountains for centuries,
and in the 19th century there were several gold rushes to work alluvial stream deposits farther
east on the Lena and Yenisey rivers. Siberian gold production is now considerable, and lodes are
worked in several locations, centring on the upper reaches of the Kolyma River in the northeast.
In addition, platinum is mined near Norilsk in the Central Siberian Plateau in northern Siberia.
Another major lode is in eastern Kazakhstan at Auezov, south of Semey.

#
 

Reserves of asbestos are localized; it is abundant in China, in South Korea, and on the eastern
slope of the Central Urals in Siberia. Mica is abundant in eastern Siberia and is also found in
large quantities in India. c  has vast reserves of rock salt, but the hills and ³glaciers´ of salt in
southern Iran have not been exploitable. Deposits of sulfur and gypsum are abundant in Central
and West c . Japan has large reserves of sulfur. Kazakhstan has large deposits of phosphates
in the Tupqaraghan Peninsula on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and other scattered
deposits of lesser value. Diamonds are produced in east-central Siberia and in India. India and
Sri Lanka are significant producers of rubies, sapphires, and many semiprecious stones, such as
moonstones and agates. Myanmar and Cambodia also have important supplies of rubies,
sapphires, and other gems.

$  
 

c 's water resources constitute a vast potential, both for generating hydroelectricity and for
irrigating crops. Water is important for irrigation in many c n regions that are either arid (as in
much of Central and Southwest c ), subject to long dry seasons because of pronounced
monsoonal (seasonal) variation in rainfall (as in much of South and Southeast c ), or subject to
seasonal high water and floods (for example, from the spring snowmelt in Siberia, the
Himalayas, and the mountains of Central c ). Other regions, such as Indonesia, are particularly
susceptible to longer-term climate variation, such as that caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

The management of water has been a prime focus of c n peoples since the earliest civilizations
were established on the continent; perhaps the most graphic expression of this is the Islamic
tradition of building a garden in the desert, complete with splashing fountains. As ever-larger
dams have been built, however, resistance has increased from opponents concerned with the
environmental and social harm that such dams can cause.

Siberian rivers have an excellent hydroelectric potential, for when dammed they provide low
falls with an enormous flow volume. However, the extreme cold temperatures of winter freeze
lakes and streams and keep water levels low for much of the year, which hinders exploitation.
The Far East, with its abundant precipitation and great differences in water level, has an
immense generating potential, although the remoteness of eastern Siberia has discouraged
industrialization.

East c 's waterpower potential varies by region. Japan, a mountainous country whose short
rivers have steep drops but relatively small volumes of water flow, has already harnessed much
of its hydroelectric potential; generating capacity, however, is increased by heavy rains,
particularly in summer. The waterpower potential of northern China is extremely limited because
the flow of the Huang He and other northern rivers is erratic and because these rivers carry heavy
volumes of silt. The hydroelectric potential of China south of the Qin (Tsinling) Mountains,
however, is great.

The Yangtze River has considerable waterpower potential. The Three Gorges Dam project on the
central Yangtze near Yichang, which has been under construction since 1993, has been the
largest and most ambitious attempt to harness this potential. When completed, the dam will
create a vast reservoir that will facilitate ship transport upstream and control the river's periodic
flooding, and the dam is expected to generate an enormous quantity of hydroelectricity.
However, the project has attracted considerable controversy. Flooding the river basin will
submerge numerous cities, towns, and villages and several sites of archaeological and cultural
interest, and it will necessitate resettling more than a million people in a region with a shortage
of available land.

The hydroelectric and irrigation potential in South c  also varies by region. In Pakistan nearly
all agriculture depends on the Indus River and its tributaries in the Punjab, and the waters of the
Indus basin are highly regulated, with numerous barrages and canals providing water for
irrigation. The Western Ghats, which slope down abruptly to the western maritime plains, would
theoretically allow dams to harness water flowing down the steep slope; however, the rivulets
that rise on the summit have an insignificant volume of flow in winter. Rivers on the eastern
slope of the Deccan Plateau, such as the Mahanadi and the Godavari, lend themselves to the
construction of low dams with great volumes of flow, as also do the Himalayan rivers entering
the Gangetic Plain. Nearly all of the highly seasonal rivers of peninsular India have been
dammed. One exception was the Narmada River, where work began in the 1990s on the first in a
series of 30 large dams. Construction of these dams has been vigorously opposed by
environmentalists both within India and internationally.

The Himalayan ranges represent one of the world's greatest ³water towers,´ with rich
possibilities for utilizing steep drops for generating hydroelectricity. During the summer
monsoon the heaviest precipitation on Earth falls there on the highest mountains. Nepal has a
vast theoretical hydroelectric potential. Environmentalists worry that earthquakes in this
seismically active region could cause the dams to fail. Some also argue that large dams might
themselves instigate earthquakes, because the weight of the water in reservoirs could press on
faults in the mountains and because water under pressure lubricates faults. Engineers, however,
believe that they can address these problems. An obstacle to such development is the fact that the
Ganges (Ganga)±Brahmaputra basin spans five countries²China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and
Bhutan. Power, irrigation water, and flood control would benefit India and Bangladesh most, but
the sites of the projects would be mostly in Nepal and Bhutan.

In Southeast c  the Mekong passes through six countries; again development has been stalled
by regional political difficulties. In arid West c  water politics are highly serious, as shown by
the tensions among Syria, Israel, and Jordan over the use of the Jordan River. Another dispute,
between Iraq and Syria on the one hand and upstream Turkey on the other, concerns the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers, whose headwaters lie in Turkey. Turkey had already built several dams,
including the Atatürk Dam, on the two rivers, and construction has been underway on two more
dams on the Euphrates, at Birecik and Kargamış, since the 1990s. Iraq and Syria have objected
strongly to both projects, because they feared that the water supply would be reduced, that they
would not be able to control water-flow timing, and that the quality of water would be
diminished. Concern was also raised that water issues might give rise to future armed conflicts
within the region.

G
  
 

c 's vastness and widely varying climatic conditions have produced the enormous diversity of
life described in the discussions of plant and animal life. The distribution of economically
valuable species, however, is highly uneven. The Arctic north of the continent and large areas of
the central mountain massif²known as ³the roof of the world´²are practically barren. In
addition, even where there is water²and nowhere is water conservation pursued more carefully
than in c ²there are still many areas of undrained swamp. Conservationists, who believe
these swamps are resources in their own right, hope that they will remain undrained. The
continent's naturally occurring biological resources²combined with the produce of intensive
crop cultivation and widespread animal husbandry²constitute a large portion of its total
economic output.

G
  
 
Much of northern Siberia, south of the Arctic Circle, is covered by commercially exploitable
coniferous and mixed forest. The great deciduous forests of northeastern India, Myanmar,
Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia contain teak and other valuable hardwoods, as well as
bamboo. Mangrove forests line the waters of the Ganges and Irrawaddy deltas and many small
stretches of coast along the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines. But in the Indian
subcontinent lowland, forest has given way to cultivated land as population has expanded;
agriculture has similarly reduced the natural forest areas of China to insignificance, except in the
Northeast. Japan, on the other hand, is relatively heavily forested in relation to its area and
population, although much of the present cover is planted forest. At one time, more than half of
the Philippines was heavily forested, but tree cover in those areas²particularly in the good
commercial forests²has been reduced considerably. Interest in the genetic resources of the
forests is increasing. India's neem tree, for example, produces an insecticide, used by farmers for
generations, that is now being exploited commercially.

Grasslands in uncultivated steppe and semidesert areas form the other class of economically
significant vegetation. These regions are the homeland of numerous animal species important to
humans, such as the horse, and they continue to support huge livestock populations.

c  
 

Domesticated animals²principally sheep and goats, but also cattle, poultry, and pigs in
agricultural areas²are the most economically important animal species. Hides, wool, and dairy
products are of great economic significance in many areas. In Central c  the horse and the yak
traditionally are the riding animal and the beast of burden, respectively; in Arabia the camel is
both. Reindeer herds are kept in the northern tundra of Siberia, where they feed on mosses and
shrubs. In India cattle are especially prized as sources of milk and butter, and the oxcart is still
ubiquitous in rural areas. In India, Myanmar, and Thailand elephants work as draft animals in the
lumbering industry; particularly in Southeast c  the water buffalo is an important draft animal
as well as a source for milk and butter.

Among c 's populations of wild animals, the valuable fur-bearing mammals of Siberia have
long been hunted. North of the Himalayas, game birds such as ptarmigans, grouse, plovers, and
various kinds of waterfowl are found. South of the Himalayas, pigeons, pheasants, and other
game birds are taken. Various kinds of hawks and falcons, trained to hunt, have their habitat in
Arabia and other parts of c .

Fish and other sea creatures and various kinds of crustaceans and mollusks are heavily exploited
by the populations of East and Southeast c . The coastal areas of India, Bangladesh, and
Thailand are being developed for export shrimp farming on a large scale. Numerous freshwater
species²such as the sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and the rivers of Siberia, which is prized for its
caviar²are also commercially significant, although the Caspian is threatened with polluted
water from the Volga and by contaminants and spills from the oil industry. The Indus has its own
species of blind dolphin, and the great rivers of South c  are home to the giant mahseer fish,
threatened by pollution, overfishing, and habitat loss.
Pierre GourouThomas R. LeinbachGraham P. Chapman

"  


The utilization of c 's natural resources has depended, to a large extent, not only on the
development of technology but also on political circumstances. Thus, until the end of World War
II and the beginning of the process of decolonization in c , most c n countries were not free
to develop their own natural resources independently and without reference to the economic
interest of a colonial power. Cultural attitudes also have affected the utilization of resources. In
India cultural taboos prohibit the slaughter of cattle either for food or to conserve resources when
the animals are no longer productive.

The value of natural resources also varies with the prevailing technology. For example, by
applying new technology to the production of cereals, the same area of land can give greatly
increased yields. Modern technology has enabled improvements in many other areas²e.g., in
Japanese production of silk or cultured pearls. Technology also may make it possible to exploit
mineral wealth that previously was unusable because it was inaccessible or juxtaposed with other
minerals.



c  extracts an immense wealth of minerals, of which its mineral fuels²coal, petroleum, and
natural gas²are of greatest value. The largest c n coal producers are China and Russia
(Siberia), followed by India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. Considerably
smaller quantities of coal are mined in a number of other countries. The Arab countries of
Southwest c  collectively are the principal producers of petroleum in the world. The major
Middle Eastern mines are in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, and
Iraq. Russian Siberia is also a major petroleum producer, as are China, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
The biggest supplier of natural gas is Siberia, and the Central c n republics, Indonesia, Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran are also important.

The largest producers of iron ore and ores for ferroalloys are China, Siberia, India, Iran,
Kazakhstan, and North Korea. Together these six account for almost all of the ore mined on the
continent. India and China are among the major world producers of manganese ore and between
them account for virtually all of c 's output. c 's biggest producer of chromite is
Kazakhstan, followed by Turkey, India, and Iran. Some tungsten is mined in China, Central
c , North and South Korea, Thailand, and Myanmar. Nickel is extracted in Indonesia, Siberia,
China, and the Philippines. Central c  has become an increasingly important producer of many
of the ferroalloys.

c  is one of the world's main producers of tin-in-concentrates (i.e., tin ore that has been
partially processed to increase the proportion of tin in it), providing more than half of the world's
total output. The most important c n tin producers are China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. There
is also considerable production of copper ore in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, China,
and Indonesia.

The bauxite produced in c  represents only a small part of total world production, and China,
India, Siberia, and Kazakhstan are the most important c n producers. China and Siberia are
among the world's leading producers of gold, and Uzbekistan and the Philippines are also
important. c  accounts for more than half of the world's output of graphite, mostly from China
and South Korea.

-  - 

Logs are exported from China, Siberia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar to industrialized and
timber-deficient countries, especially Japan. Thailand and Myanmar produce special varieties of
timber such as teak. Thai teak is also exported to other parts of the world. Malaysia and
Indonesia are among the world's leading producers of commercial hardwoods. Although output
from Philippine forests has been reduced, valuable hardwoods and the soft ³Philippine
mahogany´ are still produced.

Wood in the enormous forestland of Siberia ranges from pine around the Bratsk area to a mixture
of pine, larch, aspen, birch, and other species in the region south of Lake Baikal. Logging and
transport operations are highly mechanized and have been facilitated by a road-building
program.

Bamboos are an important component of wet-evergreen, moist-deciduous, and dry-deciduous

forests in the tropical parts of Southeast c . At higher elevations and in temperate climates of
c ²as in Bhutan, China, Japan, and Nepal²many of the genera found in tropical parts are
represented by different species, and other genera are common in China and Japan. Pure bamboo
forests are common on slopes where temporary cultivation has been practiced in Myanmar,
Bangladesh, and other areas.

The exploitation of c n fisheries increased during the late 20th century. Japan has created a
well-organized fishing fleet that can go nearly anywhere in search of catches, although it has
been accused of environmental insensitivity, because the techniques used to catch tuna have also
killed many dolphins and turtles. Freezing and canning fish products have allowed international
trade to increase dramatically. In some countries freshwater fish are an important component of
the diet of the local people; raising fish in culturally controlled ponds is significant in southern
China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Fish from big delta regions such as the Ganges in
Bangladesh provide local populations with a valuable source of protein. Overall, China catches
the world's greatest tonnage; however, Thailand has become one of the world's most important
fish exporters, largely because of its shrimp and prawn farming.

Raising sheep and goats for meat and wool is especially important in China, India, Pakistan, and
Iran; these animals also are raised in nearly all the other countries of c , although the sheep
population of Southeast c  is small. Seminomadic pastoralism is practiced on the steppelands
of Central c , as it is in parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Angora goats
are herded in Anatolian Turkey to provide the silky mohair for which they are noted. Silkworms
are raised for their silk in China, Japan, India, and the Central c n republics.

While dairying is important in a few areas such as India, Pakistan, Central c , and Turkey,
there is little large-scale beef-cattle farming; the Central c n republics, however, have
attempted to develop such patterns. Both China and Japan have discarded their traditional
avoidance of milk products, and both countries have growing urban dairy industries. China, the
world's largest producer of pork, is the principal producer in c , with Japan a distant second.
The poultry industry has made rapid strides, and the production of both eggs and broiling
chickens has gathered much momentum. Feed availability for poultry is one of the major factors
limiting the sector's growth and development. Straw, obtained from rice crops, is the primary
fodder for livestock in southern c , with cattle feed usually supplemented by concentrates such
as oil cake.

In spite of the large number of cattle and sheep in the region, the production of hides and skins is
only slowly reaching internationally significant levels. For many tanneries the quality of flaying
and curing has to be improved.

c
 

By far the greater part of c  remains uncultivated, primarily because climatic and soil
conditions are unfavourable. Conversely, in the best growing areas an extraordinarily intensive
agriculture is practiced, made possible by irrigating the alluvial soils of the great river deltas and
valleys. Of the principal crops cultivated, rice, sugarcane, and, in Central c , sugar beets
require the most water. Legumes, root crops, and cereals other than rice can be grown even on
land watered only by natural precipitation.

c
 


The traditional method of irrigation in c  is by gravity water flow. The water from upstream
storage reservoirs or diversion dams is carried through canals to field distributaries. In some
systems the fields adjoin one another, and the water is able to flow from one field to the next; it
may, however, take some time for the water to move across the fields back to the canal system.
The disadvantages of this system include water loss by evaporation and seepage and the
possibility that the continuously flowing water will carry with it soil nutrients, fertilizers, and
pesticides. In Japan and Taiwan water is moved by small electric pumps, which operate
continuously during the growing seasons.

Increasing attention has been given to pumping underground water. The use of ordinary pumps
as well as of deep-bore well turbine pumps has become common, especially in India, Pakistan,
and Iran. Such irrigation avoids some of the disadvantages of flow irrigation and allows for
easier drainage.

The most important modern development in c n agriculture has been the introduction of new
high-yielding strains of cereals. Several c n countries have utilized this technology, and the
yield per acre for cereals has increased substantially since the late 1960s. These improved yields
can be attributed to partnership between international organizations, such as the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, and national agricultural research stations.
Thus, in the case of rice, countries have adapted the IRRI strains to local conditions and have
implemented their own seed improvement programs and extension (advisory) services to
farmers. Access to a reliable water supply has been crucial to the new agricultural technology,
which has also required using fertilizer in conjunction with the improved cereal seeds that have
been developed. Huge irrigation projects in southern Siberia, Central c , and Pakistan have
been rapidly altering traditional agricultural patterns.



 

  

O Rice paddies on the island of Bali, Indonesia.

Rice is the staple food crop for most c ns. c  produces some 90 percent of the world's total
supply of rice. Except in the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Siberia, Central c , and
Malaysia, rice occupies more land area than any other single crop. The total proportion of land
under rice cultivation, as compared with total arable land, is highest in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and
Sri Lanka; it varies between one-fourth and half in most c n countries outside the Middle East,
Central c , and Siberia. In spite of this, many countries (among them Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh) are not self-sufficient in rice. Thailand, Pakistan, and Vietnam are notable rice
exporters.

The black-earth (chernozem) belt across southern Siberia is cultivated with several grains, of
which wheat is the most important. Wheat is also the dominant crop in Central c  (notably
Kazakhstan), the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Grain crops, chiefly wheat, are
cultivated in North China²where soybeans are also grown²and in Japan. Barley is grown in
China and India, among other countries. Corn (maize) is raised in China, Siberia, Central c ,
India, the Philippines, Thailand, North Korea, and other countries. India, China, Pakistan, and
Central c  also grow sorghum and millet. Intensive use of water resources from wells and
from river-fed irrigation systems has enabled grain crops to be raised in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and
northern India.

*   

The continent produces a variety of tropical and subtropical fruit, mainly for domestic
consumption. Transport facilities, where available, can be used only for limited distances. In
view of the climatic conditions and the general lack of refrigerated transport, consumption tends
to be seasonal and confined to areas close to centres of production. Among the main varieties of
fruit produced are bananas, mangoes, apples, oranges and other citrus fruits, pineapples, papayas,
and some specialities such as mangosteen (a dark reddish brown fruit), litchi (a grape-shaped
fruit in a brittle red rind), and durian (a large oval fruit with a prickly rind, a soft pulp, and a
distinctive odour). Citrus fruit is produced in the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea, in
Transcauc , and in China and Japan. Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia export bananas to
Japan.

Except in a few countries²such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia, which grow and can
pineapples for export²canning surplus fruit has been developed only to a limited extent. In view
of the tremendous potential for greater fruit production, it is possible to increase canning of both
fruits and fruit juices for export.

The same factors affect the production of vegetables. Vegetables are grown mainly for local
consumption, and only tubers can be transported over distances and stored for any period of
time. Taiwan has had success canning mushrooms and asparagus, and both products have
become leading exports.

 
 

O Latex being tapped from trees on a rubber plantation near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

c  is noted for several plantation cash crops, of which the most important are tea, rubber, palm
oil, coconuts, and sugarcane. Jute, a commercial fibre, though it has decreased in significance,
remains a major export crop of Bangladesh. Cotton is important to the states of Central c  and
is also a major crop in India and Pakistan. Rubber was brought to c  from Brazil in the 19th
century; the major producers are Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, with lesser amounts from
India, China, and the Philippines. Palm oil has become important in Indonesia and Malaysia. Tea
is grown on commercial plantations in the uplands of India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia; and China,
Taiwan, and Japan produce several types of tea on smallholdings. Coconuts are an important
crop in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka. India, the world's leader in sugarcane
production, grows primarily for domestic use, whereas the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan
produce for both domestic consumption and export. Tobacco is grown widely, notably in China,
India, Turkey, Central c , Pakistan, and Indonesia. Date palms are cultivated, particularly in
the Arabian Peninsula. Licorice is grown in Turkey. A large variety of spices are grown in India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Southeast c , particularly Indonesia.

 
 

Industrial development in c  has been remarkable since the end of World War II. Most
spectacular was Japan's emergence as a global manufacturing superpower in the first postwar
decades, but more recently the focus has been on countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and
Malaysia. Nonetheless, c 's industrial output is still far less than its proportion of world
population. Although heavy industry has been important to the economies of the larger c n
countries, light manufacturing has been more conspicuous. In the lesser-developed and newly
industrialized countries, labour-intensive industries have remained the most important. Medium-
technology industries have been significant in many c n economies regardless of their stage of
development. Unequal regional development is a political problem in large countries such as
China and India. Parts of western India are developing rapidly, while the east stagnates;
similarly, China's prosperous coastal belt is outstripping inland areas.

A 

The wide variety of mineral resources in c  provides the basis for several metallurgical
industries. Some, as in Russia (Siberia), are based on local resources, while others, as with
Japan's steel industry, rely on imported ores. The major producers of steel are China and Japan,
respectively first and second in the world; other important steel producers in c  are Siberia,
South Korea, India, Taiwan, and Turkey. Japan, China, South Korea, India, and Taiwan are the
major steel consumers, although the consumption of steel is increasing in other countries. Japan,
China, and India also are the region's leading producers of metallurgical coke.

The leading primary producers of aluminum in c  are China, Russia, India, and the Persian
Gulf countries, particularly Bahrain. There is also some production of copper, zinc, lead, and tin
in c , with China and Japan leading in the production of zinc and lead and Malaysia in the
production of tin. Japan, China, and India are leading consumers of tin.
Japan produces every variety of engineering goods, from tankers and locomotives to
miniaturized electronic equipment. Since World War II, India has also gradually diversified its
engineering industries and now produces heavy capital goods (machines and tools used to
manufacture other goods), various types of industrial machinery, prime movers (engines and
other sources of motive power) and boilers, diesel engines, sewing machines, machine tools,
agricultural machinery, and all types of electrical equipment. In addition, India produces radio
receivers, metal manufactures, railway rolling stock, automobiles, bicycles, and precision
instruments. China has also made considerable progress in the field of engineering industries.
Other c n countries have primarily concentrated on producing durable consumer goods.
Manufacturing based on computer hardware, software, and information processing has grown
fast in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea and has also established fast-
growing enclaves in India²particularly around Bangalore and Mumbai (Bombay).


 

 

The consumption of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers has greatly increased in c , largely
because additional countries have begun to use the advanced techniques and improved seeds that
have become available. The major consumers of fertilizers, per acre of arable land, have been
Japan and South Korea. Because of their vast size and the increased use of fertilizers, India and
China are, in absolute terms, among the major consumers. India has greatly increased its
production, especially of ammonium sulfate, and has also experimented with fertilizers that have
a much higher nitrogen content, such as urea. Production of phosphatic fertilizers has also been
increased in c , especially in Indonesia.

While c 's main sources of natural gas and crude oil lie in the Persian Gulf region, western
Siberia and Central c , China, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the continent's petrochemical industry
is more widely distributed, with especially heavy concentrations in countries with skilled
workforces and strong domestic demand for petrochemical products. Thus, the leading centres of
petrochemical manufacturing in c  are Japan, China, and Siberia. Saudi Arabia, the world's
leading crude oil producer, refines only slightly more petroleum than South Korea, which, like
Japan, has to import nearly all of its crude oil and natural gas. Other countries with significant
petrochemical industries are India, Iran, Indonesia, Singapore, the smaller Persian Gulf countries,
Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan.

c  also produces and consumes common chemicals such as caustic soda, soda ash, and sulfuric
acid; Japan and China are the leading producers of these, followed by India.

.  

 

The textile industries, particularly cotton, have expanded greatly in c  since World War II.
China (including Hong Kong) is the world's largest exporter of cotton textiles. Pakistan is
another major exporter, while Japan, India, South Korea, Turkey, and Bangladesh also are
prominent in the international market. The industry produces cotton yarn, cloth, and finished
garments. There is also some processing of wool (both yarn and woven fabrics) in the region.
China, Japan, India, and Turkey are among the main producers and consumers; China is c 's
chief producer of woolen fabrics. South Korea, Japan, and India also have become major
producers of woven rayon and acetate fabrics. South Korea and Japan have turned to
noncellulose synthetic fibres, especially nylon, acrylic, and polyester, as well.

Industries based on processing agricultural products²e.g., canning, food and beverage

processing, and footwear manufacture²continue to be important in most c n countries. The
consumption of pulp and paper throughout the continent has grown steadily, largely because
standards of living are higher. The major consumers are China, Japan, and India, and the major
producers are China, Japan, Siberia, and India. Feedstock includes grasses and bamboos as well
as timber.

Pharmaceutical manufacture also has become important, although its development has varied
from country to country. Japan, for example, has established a pharmaceutical industry, the
research and development capabilities of which are comparable to those achieved in western
Europe and the United States; whereas in many of the other c n countries pharmaceutical
manufacture consists of only fabricating products from basic drugs, imported in bulk, which are
then marketed for domestic consumption or for export.

A
 

Traditional cottage industries and handicrafts continue to play an important role in the economies
of all c n countries. They not only constitute major manufacturing activities in themselves but
are also often the only available means to provide additional employment and raise the level of
living for both rural and urban populations. In view of the growing world market for products of
traditional c n cottage industries and for c n handicrafts, there is room for considerable
expansion. During the 1990s significant improvements were made in marketing these products in
wealthy countries. Some, however, have raised ethical questions about the use of child labour in
some of these industries, such as carpet making in South c .



The per capita consumption of energy in c  outside the oil-producing countries of the Middle
East is considerably lower than the world average. China is by far the largest producer in c .
While Japan produces about half as much, it consumes more energy than China in per capita
terms. India produces slightly less energy than Japan, but, with its vast population, its per capita
consumption is much lower. In China and India coal is the dominant source of energy for
generating electricity, but in both countries about one-sixth of the electricity supply comes from
hydroelectric sources. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan both largely depend on hydropower from the
Pamir and Tien Shan ranges, and Sri Lanka also relies heavily on hydropower. Japan and South
Korea are the only countries in c  where a substantial portion of the electricity (about one-
third) comes from nuclear power. China and India have nuclear power plants, but they contribute
little to national supplies. Many countries of the Middle East have per capita energy-
consumption figures considerably higher than the world average. Electricity there is generated
using domestic oil and gas supplies.

Geothermal power in c  is most developed in Siberia, with plants at Makhachkala, Lake

Baikal, and Kamchatka; Uzbekistan has a plant at Tashkent; and Japan has two small plants. The
only other c n country to use geothermal power is the Philippines. Small gas-turbine
generating stations also have been installed in many countries. Pakistan uses natural gas for both
thermal and gas-turbine generation. Bangladesh is expanding electricity generation from
domestic gas supplies.


 

The service sector has grown markedly in c  since the mid-20th century, and in most countries
it now constitutes the most important component of the economy. Service activities account for
some three-fifths or more of the gross domestic product (GDP) of economically advanced
countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore and exceed half of the GDP in countries such as
South Korea and Thailand. In China the service sector's proportion of the GDP jumped
dramatically after the country reacquired sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macau, both with
economies that are based largely on services. Banking and other financial activities have grown
significantly in importance, and Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, and other major c n cities
have become integral parts of the global banking system; nearly all such cities also have stock
exchanges.

O Beach at a resort on Bangaram Island, Lakshadweep, India.

Tourism has developed considerably since World War II and has been a major component in the
growth of the c n service sector. There have been increases not only in the number of non-
c n visitors but also in the number of c n travelers within c . The Japanese in particular
have been avid tourists in c , notably in Southeast c n countries. The most-visited places
include Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, China, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, and
Israel. Hong Kong and Singapore both have a large entrepôt trade and attract visitors partly
because they are duty-free ports. The number of tourists visiting China has grown since that
country began lifting travel restrictions in the 1970s. India and Thailand both have well-
established tourist sectors, which cater to visitors not only of their historic cities and palaces but
also of their coastal resorts; Thailand is also known for its sex trade. Nepal is a popular
destination for trekkers in the Himalayas, while nearby Bhutan strictly rations the number of
visitors it allows into the country. Parts of Indonesia, particularly Bali, have become popular
with tourists from Australia and Europe, as reaching those destinations has become easier. Israel
has a large and multifaceted tourist industry, while Turkey has become a major holiday resort for
Europeans. Vietnam is emerging as a destination for tourists wishing to see less heavily visited
countries. Siberia and Kamchatka have begun to attract travelers seeking wilderness experiences.



A 

 

In ancient times, regions of c  had commercial relations among themselves as well as with
parts of Europe and Africa. In the earliest days nomadic peoples traded over considerable
distances, using barter as the medium of exchange. Particularly important in such trade were fine
textiles, silk, gold and other metals, various precious and semiprecious stones, and spices and
aromatic products. Trade between Europe and c  expanded considerably during the Greek era
(about the 4th century BC), by which time various land routes had been well established
connecting Greece, via Anatolia (c  Minor), with the northwestern part of the Indian
subcontinent. Further development of land and sea routes from the Mediterranean basin,
especially to southern India, occurred during Roman times. This east-west trade flourished in the
first four centuries AD but was subject to considerable vicissitudes in later centuries. During that
period trade also expanded considerably to Southeast c  and to China through what are now
Malaysia and Cambodia.

After Spain and Portugal, in the 15th century, became interested in discovering a direct sea route
to c ²an interest that led to the European discovery of the Western Hemisphere²the era of
the great circumnavigators arrived in the 16th century. Portugal was one of the first countries to
attempt to establish a monopoly over the lucrative spice trade with the East, and it founded a
network of trading outposts in c . The Spanish, meanwhile, established control over the
Philippines. The Dutch and the British started similar enterprises at the beginning of the 17th
century, each country establishing its own East India company. The British began by centring
their activities on the Indian subcontinent and extended their control to Burma (now Myanmar),
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Malaysia. The Dutch first concentrated on Ceylon but later
expanded into and concentrated on Southeast c , particularly Indonesia. The French were able
to establish only minor footholds on the Indian subcontinent, but their 19th-century penetration
of the Indochinese Peninsula was more successful. Over time these European trading companies
developed into colonial empires.

The East India companies of Europe came seeking the exotic products of c : silks, cottons,
and precious commodities such as spices and aromatic products. These products required the
skilled labour of weavers and farmers or soil and climatic conditions unique to the region.
As the East India companies developed and imposed colonial rule, a new pattern of trade
emerged. Generally speaking, the colonial countries became the exporters of raw materials and
imported the finished products from their colonial rulers. For example, Britain ceased importing
finished cotton goods from India and instead imported raw cotton to be spun and woven in the
new industrial mills. Cotton cloth was then exported back to India, where indigenous weavers
lost their employment. Steel products from cutlery to railway locomotives were exported to
c n countries from Europe. During that period tea and tobacco also entered into international
trade, and jute became a monopoly product of the Indian subcontinent. After the British went to
war with China to block Chinese efforts to ban opium imports, opium was traded legally by
British merchants from India to China and was a source of tax revenue for the government of
India. From the 17th to the second half of the 19th century, Japan had limited trading relations
primarily with Korea and China and prohibited trade with Western countries apart from a small
Dutch trading post in southern Japan.

The latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th constituted the heyday of
colonial rule. By the first decade of the 20th century, Japan had emerged as a major military and
naval power, and it gradually developed into an important trading partner with the rest of the
world. The era that followed was that of the colonies' struggle for political independence, which
reached its climax immediately after World War II. Less than two decades after the end of the
war, the great British, French, and Dutch empires had virtually ceased to exist in c .

After independence many countries in c  sought to develop industries of their own to produce
substitutes for their former imports. This happened under both socialist and nonsocialist regimes.
A few countries²Japan the most notable among them²lacking natural resources but endowed
with an educated labour force, opted for promoting new industrial production for export instead
of import substitution. In general this strategy has paid off better, particularly for Japan and the
³four tigers´²Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. At the beginning of the 21st
century nearly all countries were responding to the globalization of production by promoting
exports and opening domestic markets to international competition to varying degrees. Such
liberalization exposed those economies to the volatility of international markets, and there were
major currency collapses and episodes of capital flight in the late 1990s. Although most c n
economies had begun to recover by 2000, there was still a legacy of unemployment, poverty, and
resentment for many.

 

In view of the division of labour that existed between the colonial countries and the metropolitan
powers in colonial days, it is not surprising that until the 1970s the economies of the independent
countries of c  often were more competitive than complementary. For some countries
intraregional exports have amounted to only a small fraction of total exports. However, in East
and Southeast c  intraregional trade has grown in importance. Japan has assumed a prominent
role in c n trade, and South Korea, China, and Taiwan have also traded more heavily with
other c n countries. Because many of the countries of East and Southeast c  have
maintained substantial trade surpluses and because those regions as a whole have been net
exporters, many of those countries have derived most of their imports from other c n
countries, while their main export market has often been outside the region, often in the United
States.

c  is the biggest producer of rice in the world, and rice remains an important commodity of
intraregional trade. It is an important export item for countries such as Thailand, Pakistan, and
Vietnam.

The countries of Transcauc  and Central c , members of the Commonwealth of

Independent States, still trade largely within the former Soviet bloc as a result of both history and
location. However, those countries have also steadily increased trade with the countries of the
European Union and with Turkey and Iran. The most important trading partners of Turkey and
Cyprus are the countries of the European Union. Indeed, the chief trading partners of most South
and Southwest c n countries lie outside the region²in the European Union, North America,
and East c .

There has been an effort on the part of c n countries to improve their trading position by
joining organizations of commodity producers. Among these are the International Sugar
Agreement, the c n and Pacific Coconut Community, and the International Tea Committee.
These organizations have been designed not so much to promote intraregional trade as to help
stabilize the prices of primary products produced in c  and exported to other parts of the
world. The most prominent and occasionally successful of these groups is the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is dominated by the major oil-producing
countries of Southwest c .

The Association of Southeast c n Nations (ASEAN) has fostered joint economic ventures
among its member states and has worked to reduce trade barriers. Although some consider it the
most successful of the c n regional blocs, intrabloc trade accounts for less than one-third of its
members' exports. Trade between India and Pakistan, which could be of great mutual benefit, has
been hampered by poor political relations between the two countries. There are some hopes that
the South c n Association for Regional Co-operation will be able to implement a South c n
Free Trade Area by 2015, although commerce between member countries remains small. The
Gulf Cooperation Council embraces members from around the Persian Gulf. Trade within the
bloc has not grown much, because the economies are too similar. The c -Pacific Economic
Cooperation has been more successful, but this group is intercontinental, not strictly c n; it
includes the middle-income countries of Southeast (including most ASEAN members) and East
c  as well as Pacific-coast countries in both North and South America.

Exports from the Persian Gulf are still dominated by petroleum. Oil is Indonesia's most
important export, but it accounts for less than one-fourth of the country's export earnings.
However, apart from the countries of Central c , most other c n countries now earn more
from exports of manufactured goods than from any raw commodity. Bangladesh established a
successful apparel industry within a decade. Local manufacturing firms²for example,
automobile producers in Korea or Malaysia²increasingly have become part of multinational
combines. China exports an extensive range of inexpensive consumer goods. One of India's
fastest-growing exports is software and data processing²since it has become possible for
companies in Europe and North America to beam data by satellite for processing. The number of
trained programmers in India, the relatively low pay scale, and above all the common use of
English by educated people give India a comparative advantage over most other c n countries
in this international trade.

 

O The multiple-span Seto Great Bridge over the Inland Sea, linking Kojima, Honshu, with
Sakaide, «

Reference has already been made to the main transport systems that linked c  and the Western
world. Until the 19th century the land, or caravan, routes, supplemented by oceangoing vessels,
were predominant. In the latter half of the 19th century there was a major shift to seagoing
vessels. Rail and road transport has become important for moving passengers within individual
states and for transporting bulk goods over longer distances. Concurrently, there has been
considerable development of ports and harbours²including container facilities in the larger
ports²which have been linked to their hinterlands by rail and road. Air transport has proved to
be not only the speediest but also often the cheapest means of transport, especially for costly
items of relatively small weight and bulk. Air transport has played a particularly important role
in landlocked countries²such as Afghanistan, Nepal, and Laos²and in the opening up of
relatively inaccessible and fragmented areas, such as Indonesia.

Within c n countries, diesel trucks, buses, and jeeps have been replacing draft animals for
internal traffic, as roads and highways have been extended in most countries. Motorbikes and
motorcycles have also become common in many areas for hauling goods short distances. Carts
hauled by draft animals (mostly oxen or buffalo) are still used where roads are unpaved or poorly
maintained, and they may be seen in large cities of the poorer regions.

O Barge traffic on the Grand Canal, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China.

Inland navigation is important in certain countries; a good river and canal system is capable of
carrying goods and passengers at small cost over considerable distances. Among the countries
with well-developed inland water transport systems are Bangladesh, the countries of mainland
Southeast c , and China. There are also great riverine ports such as Kolkata (Calcutta) in
India, Yangôn (Rangoon) in Myanmar, Bangkok in Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Oceangoing ships can navigate the Mekong River to inland ports such as Phnom Penh, in
Cambodia, and can sail up the Yangtze River to Wuhan, China. Ultimately, it may be possible to
connect even Laos with the sea by improving navigation facilities on the Mekong. The Yangtze,
Sungari, and Xi rivers of China provide a wide network of routes for motorized barges,
supplementing traditional water transport.

A number of pipelines have been constructed to move petroleum products, especially in

Southwest c , western Siberia, and the Caucasus region. Pipelines have considerable
advantages, such as economy and speed, but they also have the disadvantage of being subject to
sabotage and to political vicissitudes when they cross international boundaries. For example, the
war between Russian troops and rebels in Chechnya was partly about control over possible
pipeline routes between the Caspian and Black seas.

Chakravarthi V. NarasimhanThomas R. LeinbachGraham P. Chapman

c"

 

Graham P. Chapman and Kathleen M. Baker (eds.), ÷Œ÷O   O÷c
 (1992), offers a country-
by-country survey of the continent. Good overviews are found in the Cambridge regional
encyclopaedias, including Francis Robinson (ed.), ÷ŒO  
OOOO O
O
O ÷ OOO
÷
OO÷½O

 (1989); Trevor Mostyn (ed.), ÷ŒO  

OO÷½
O O ÷c O (1988); Archie Brown, Michael Kaser, and Gerald S. Smith
(eds.), ÷ŒO  
OO
OO÷  
 (1994); Richard Bowring
and Peter Kornicki (eds.), ÷ŒO  
OOOO (1993); and Brian Hook (ed.), ÷
ŒO  
OOŒ÷O, 2nd ed. (1991). A useful overview of Southeast c  is Clive
J. Christie, 
÷O c
÷ ÷Œ
cO (1998).
Atlases of the regions and countries of c  include 
  c
O     !  (1977±
), a major publication on the Middle East, comprising a geographic atlas covering physical
geography and a historical atlas arranged chronologically, with text in both German and English;
Richard Ulack and Gyula Pauer, c
O 
÷O c
 (1989); Joseph E. Schwartzberg et al. (eds.), cA  O

c
O 
÷c
 (1978; reissued with additional material, 1992); ÷

Oc
O 
Œ÷O (1987), compiled by the Population Census Office of the Chinese government; ÷
OO
c
O Œ÷O (1994); P.J.M. Geelan and D.C. Twitchett (eds.), ÷ c
O 
Œ÷O (1974); A. Ebato and K. Watanabe (eds.), c
O OO÷ O
OO
, 2nd
rev. ed. (1974); ÷OO
c
O OO, rev. ed. (1990), compiled by the Geographical
Survey Institute of the Ministry of Construction; and S. Muthiah (ed.), cO
Oc
O 
O (1987), and cc
O O (1990).
Up-to-date statistics on demographic, social, and economic indicators are available in c

"O , published by the Far Eastern Economic Review; and #
$

 
(annual), published for the World Bank; as well as in major annuals such as ÷c
%O

 ; ÷
O#
"O ; ÷O O Oc
 O

; ÷½
O O
 ÷c O; and OO


c
O÷O, published by the United
Nations.
Graham P. Chapman


 

Works dealing with the general geology of c  include Peter Molnar and Paul Tapponnier, ³Cenozoic
Tectonics of c : Effects of a Continental Collision,´ , 189(4201):419±426 (August 8,
1975), the classic paper on the subject; Li Chün-yu et al., &
OO  ÷½O
c
 (1982); International Geological Congress,  c
 (1984); A.M. Celâl Şengör, ÷Œ 
!   O÷ 

 (1984), and ³Tectonic Subdivisions and Evolution
of c ,´ 

÷÷O

  O

, 40:355±435 (1987); A.M. Celâl Şengör et al.,
³Evolution of the Altaid Tectonic Collage and Palaeozoic Crustal Growth in Eur ,´ O
,
364(6435):299±307 (July 22, 1993); and S. Maruyama et al., ³Mesozoic and Cenozoic Evolution of
c ,´ in Zvi Ben-Avraham (ed.), ÷


÷O!O½O  (1989), pp. 75±99.
Magmatic and metamorphic development is examined in J.L. Whitford-Stark, c

Œ

O ½O
Oc
 (1987); and V.S. Sobolev et al. (eds.), ½O ÷Œ
& c

(1982; originally published in Russian, 1977). Duncan R. Derry et al., #
c
O 
 O
½ O
$  (1980), provides a graphic summary of the mineral wealth of c  and its
relation to its geology.
The following are regional studies. Treatments of North c  include International Geological Congress,

 ÷ (1984); and Victor E. Khain, 
 ÷, vol. 1, !
ΠO O
O


 (1985). East c  is analyzed in Robert Orr Whyte et al. (eds.), ÷



÷O c

 , 2 vol. (1984); Asahiko Taira and Masayuki Tashiro (eds.), A  O

  O÷O
O


OOOO  c
 (1987); Masaru Kono and B.
Clark Burchfield (eds.),  O  c
O#  OŒO
½O  (1990); and
J. Angelier (ed.), O


÷O  

½O  (1990), the last two
published as special issues of ÷  , respectively, vol. 181 and 183. Discussions of
Southeast c  include Warren Hamilton,  ÷ O  (1979); Dennis E. Hayes (ed.),
÷O
 



÷O c
O O
O , 2 vol. (1980±83); Pham
Quoc Tuong et al. (eds.),  Π
 ÷O (1986); Charles S. Hutchinson,

 O




÷O c
 (1988); and Dennis E. Hayes (compiler), c÷ O
c
O 
÷O O
÷O c
O (1978). South and Southwest c  are addressed by Harsh K.
Gupta and Frances M. Delany (eds.), 'O  A
'
÷AO
OOO


 (1981); K.
Nakazawa and J.M. Dickins (eds.), ÷÷ A O
  O÷OO
   O÷ 
O
½  (1985); Peter Molnar, ³A Review of Geophysical Constraints on the Deep
Structure of the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalaya, and the Karakoram, and Their Tectonic
Implications,´ in R.M. Shackleton, J.F. Dewey, and B.F. Windley (eds.), 


÷AO
OO 
O  (1988), pp. 33±88; A.M. Celâl Şengör et al. (eds.), 


÷÷O 
(1989); M.P. Searle, ÷
 O ÷'O O O½
O (1991); Allison Macfarlane,
Rasoul B. Sorkhabi, and Jay Quade (eds.), AO
OOO ½
O ½
O , Special
Paper No. 328 of the Geological Society of America (1999); and Lewis A. Owen and Frank Lehmkuhl (eds.),
³Late Quaternary Glaciation and Paleoclimate of the Tibetan Plateau and Bordering Mountains,´
´
O O  OO
, vol. 65±66, no. 1 (April 2000).
A.M. Celâl ŞengörLewis Owen

!

Broad surveys of physical features of the continent as a whole or of large parts of it include Dudley
Stamp, c
c O
O O÷, 12th ed. (1967); Pierre Pfeffer, c
cO
O

A   (1968); N.A. Gvozdetskiy and N.I. Mikhailov, ÷ O
 O÷÷c
O , trans.
from Russian (1971); Ewan W. Anderson, ÷½
O  O÷O
 (2000), rev. ed. of
W.B. Fisher, ÷½
O , 7th rev. ed. (1978); C.S. Pichamuthu, ÷ O
 O÷O, 4th ed.
(1980); O.H.K. Spate et al., OOO Oc O
O O
 O÷, 3rd rev. ed.
(1967); 
O Œ÷O (1987); Zhao Songqiao, ÷ O
 O÷Œ÷O (1986); and
Jin-bee Ooi, 

O ½O
O O, new ed. (1976). A useful bibliography of the physical geography
of the Indian subcontinent is Thomas A. Rumney, O ÷÷ O
 O÷
÷c

(1989). Specific ecological characteristics are addressed in R. Misra, ³Indian Savannas,´ in François
Bourlière (ed.),  O
O
OO (1983), pp. 151±166; Charles A. Reed (ed.), !   c 



(1977); and O
O
 
 A
 O
c
 (1974), a UNESCO research report.
Overviews of environmental zones include T.C. Whitmore,  O
O   ÷O O , 2nd
ed. (1984);  O
     (1978), a UNESCO report; H. Walter et al., ³The Deserts of
Central c ,´ in Neil E. West (ed.),  O$   O$   (1983), pp. 193±236; and
Vaclav Smil, ÷OO ÷
 O
$ OOŒ÷O (1984). Climatic patterns are
examined in William C. Brice (ed.), ÷
 O
A  ÷O O½
O ÷
O c  (1978); U. Schweinfurth, H. Flohn, and M. Domrös, 
 ÷Œ
O
 
÷c

(1970); and Jen-hu Chang, c ÷ Œ 

O  OŒ
O (1972). Plant life is treated
in Arnold Newman,  O
O  c#


!
½  O

O
OO  
AO O ÷O

   


O
(1990); and Harry G. Champion and S.K. Seth, c
 


÷   O (1968).
Lewis Owen



Marvin Harris, Œ



O
c 
 O
c÷ 
 , 5th ed. (1988),
puts the peoples of c  in comparative ethnic context. Among many works on comparative
religions, S.A. Nigosian, #
O÷ (1990), provides a cogent and thoughtful description of all of
c 's major and a number of minor religions; John Y. Fenton et al., 
  c
, 2nd ed. (1988),
gives a good explanation of East and South c n religions; and Joseph M. Kitagawa (ed.), ÷

 
 O c
 (1989), collects essays of leading scholars on the religions of South,
Southeast, East, and Central c . Ian Charles Harris (ed.), 
÷ O
  ÷Œ

c
 (1999), is a useful overview of the way religion affects contemporary society. Mustapha Kamal
Pasha, 
÷c
Œ

OO
 (1997), covers the region's contemporary
politics. For details of ethnicity and language in one very complex region, Roland J.-L. Breton, c
O 
÷O
O  O÷Œ
 
÷c
 (1997), is a remarkable work.
A comprehensive account of the cultures and history of South c  is to be found in Graham P.
Chapman, ÷
 
÷c
 (2000). Michael E. Brown and Sumit Ganguly (eds.), 
 

 O÷
O c
O÷O (1997), gives an excellent overview of
culture and contemporary politics. Peter Beaumont, Gerald H. Blake, and J. Malcolm Wagstaff, ÷½
O ,
2nd ed. (1988), surveys the human geography of Southwest c . Somewhat broader in regional
scope is Mushtaqur Rahman, ½

#
 (1987), which includes topics of physical geography. Akbar S.
Ahmed, $ 
  
O½O  ½

A  O (1988), perceptively
focuses on the Muslim peoples and their histories.
Urbanization and the growth of great cities as key human processes transforming the lives of
millions of c ns are considered in depth in Graham P. Chapman, Ashok K. Dutt, and Robert W. Bradnock (eds.),
 O  ÷O$

c
, 2 vol. (1999); and Fu-Chen Lo and Yue-man Yeung (eds.),
  #
ΠOc
 (1996), is also useful.




Up-to-date accounts of economic development in c  include Jonathan Rigg, 
÷O c
÷
A
OO O½  OO$

 (1997); Shireen T. Hunter, ΠO
c

 (1996); Ross H. McLeod and Ross Garnaut (eds.), O c
Œ     O½ O

 !( (1998); and Christopher Hudson (ed.), ÷Œ÷OAO  (1997). Christopher Howe (ed.),
Œ÷OOOOA    O   (1996), offers a more historical view of East
c n development. A discussion of development in India is Jagdish N. Bhagwati, O O 
  ÷ (1993). Frank M. Go and Carson L. Jenkins, 
 O$


c
Oc
 O

 (1997), treats the role of tourism in opening and changing c . The
linkage between environment and development and, in particular, the problem of water shortages
are the focus of Graham P. Chapman and M. Thompson (eds.), #O O÷´
  
OO

$

÷O   O

 (1995); and Nurit Kliot, #O  
 OŒ

÷
½
O  (1994).