Asia: Location, Extent, Political and Physical Features
ICSE Class 8 · Geography · Chapter 7
What this chapter covers
- Asia: the largest continent
- Location and extent of Asia
- Regions of Asia
- Political divisions of Asia
- Physiography of Asia and the central highlands
- Plateaus and deserts of Asia
- The northern lowlands
- River basins and lakes of Asia
- Islands and peninsulas of Asia
Key definitions
Physiography is the study of the physical features of the land surface, such as mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, lakes and islands.
Key points
- Asia is the largest and most populous continent, covering about one-third of the Earth's land.
- It lies mainly in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, from about 10° S to 77° N and from about 26° E to 170° W.
- The Equator, the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle all cross Asia.
- The Arctic, Pacific and Indian Oceans border Asia; the Urals, Caspian Sea, Caucasus and Black Sea separate it from Europe.
- Asia is divided into East, North, Central, South-East, South and West Asia.
- Asia has about 48 countries; China is the largest wholly Asian country, the Maldives the smallest, and India the most populous.
- The central highlands meet at the Pamir Knot and the Armenian Knot; Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth.
- Great plateaus include Tibet, Mongolia, Iran, Anatolia, Arabia and the Deccan; major deserts include the Arabian, Gobi and Thar.
- The northern lowlands are drained by the Ob, Yenisei and Lena, which flow to the Arctic and flood in spring.
- The Yangtze, Huang He, Mekong, Ganga-Brahmaputra, Indus and Tigris-Euphrates basins support most of Asia's people.
- Indonesia and the Philippines are great archipelagos; Japan's islands lie on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Questions answered
Name the three oceans that border Asia.
The Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south.
Between which latitudes and longitudes does Asia lie, roughly?
From about 10° S to about 77° N, and from about 26° E to about 170° W.
Which features form the boundary between Asia and Europe?
The Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea and the Bosporus.
Name the six regions of Asia and one country in each.
East Asia (Japan), North Asia (Asian Russia), Central Asia (Kazakhstan), South-East Asia (Thailand), South Asia (India) and West Asia (Iran). Other correct examples are acceptable.
What is a landlocked country? Name two in South Asia.
A landlocked country is surrounded by land on all sides and has no coastline on the open sea; Nepal and Bhutan are two in South Asia.
Why is the Pamir Knot called the Roof of the World?
It is a very high meeting point of great ranges such as the Himalaya, Karakoram, Kunlun, Tien Shan and Hindu Kush, so it stands high above most of the land around it.
Explain why the rivers of the northern lowlands flood in spring.
Ice melts first in their southern upper courses while their northern mouths are still frozen, so the meltwater cannot reach the Arctic Ocean and spills over the flat land.
Why is the Huang He called China's Sorrow?
It carries so much loess that its bed rises; the river then overflows and changes course, causing destructive floods.