Asia Asia was the largest continent on Earth ; it made up a majority of the Eurasia n landmass . Western Asia was where some of the Middle East ern countries were located . A person who was from this continent was sometimes referred to as an Oriental . The equator , a line of latitude that divided the Earth into northern and southern hemispheres , passed through this continent . In the late 17th century , a cartographer created a map , from what was learned from European explorers and traders , of the lands that had coastlines on the Bay of Bengal , the Indian Ocean , and the Arabian Sea . The map included portions of the western , southern , and south - eastern Asian continent . ( , " opening credits " ) During the 19th and 20th centuries , the Orient Express was a train route that traveled from Paris , in Western Europe , to Istanbul , located in Western Asia . ( ) In the same century , the Asian continent was a location of many Brush Wars fought by the two main opponents in the Cold War , the USSR and the USA , where these two supplied different groups with weapon s to gain influence in Asia , but to prevent a full - scale war . This situation was similar to the involvement of the Federation and the Klingon Empire on the planet Neural in the mid - 23rd century as was remarked by Captain Kirk . ( ) In 1968 , a government " coup " took place in Asia which was considered by Spock to have been " dangerous " for Earth ' s political development . ( ) In the late 20th century , Asia was seen on the photograph " The Blue Marble " . ( ) From 1992 to 1996 , Khan Noonien Singh was absolute ruler of more than a quarter of Earth ' s land mass , from Asia to the Middle East . ( ) In 2153 , the first prototype of the Xindi weapon self - destructed over Earth ; portions of this probe were recovered by a Vulcan transport in Central Asia , due to an undetonated charge in the vessel ' s engine . ( ) A 21st century - era political map of Earth was stored in the ' s library computer in 2254 . The Asian continent was seen on this map . This map was among the materials viewed by the Talosian s when they scanned the " Enterprise " computer . ( ) Background information . In the real 1968 a " coup " took place in the Western Asian country of Iraq . The 17th century map , known as " Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus , totius universi creati cosmographiam generalem , et novam exhibens " , was created by . A scan of the original can be found here Retroactive continuity : Several 20th century - era maps depicting Asia , or portions of it , were stored in the library computer in 2254 . These maps included a continent projections map , an eastern hemisphere map , two political maps of the northern hemisphere , and a statistical map . These maps were among the materials viewed by the Talosian s when they scanned the " Enterprise " computer . ( ) Decades later , a Central Intelligence Agency map was used for the remastered " The Cage " . This map was published either in April 2007 or September 2008 . The difference , which was not noticeable at the resolution of the image from the episode , was the addition of Kosovo , which gained its independence between the releases .