Asia

**Asia** is the largest and most populous continent on Earth. It sits mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, with mainland locations as far as Russia's Taymyr Peninsula and as far south as the Malay Peninsula; as far east as the Chukotka Peninsula and as far west as Anatolia. Most of the world's most prominent civilizations began here, including the Chinese, Indus Valley, and Sumerian civilizations. Asia is nearly bisected by High-Mountain Asia, a nearly-continuous chain of mountains and elevated plateaus running from Mongolia around Tibet and Myanmar and down the Malay Peninsula. This enormous region of rugged highlands historically prevented the two largest countries by population, China and India, from having a geopolitical struggle over their spheres of influence in Asia; however, modern diplomatic maneuvering has placed Pakistan firmly within China's influence, and the Kashmir Region, divided between Pakistan, China, and India, continues to be a hotly-disputed region.

The southwest of Asia is dominated by the mainly Arab and Muslim Middle East. This region encompasses the Arabian Peninsula, Iranian Plateau, the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, and the Levant, as well as regions of Africa. This region has been contested between various empires and civilizations throughout history, as the fertile banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, as well as the holy cities of Abrahamic religions, are magnets of geopolitical strife. To the northwest, the vast, fertile plains of metropolitan Russia are bounded by the Ural Mountains, a region of low mountains that rises to the north, and the Caspian Sea, the world's largest endorheic basin. To the east of the Ural Mountains lies another vast, fertile plain that generally comprises eastern and southern Siberia. This area is home to the steppes, a treeless grassland ideal for pasturing livestock as well as cultivation. This area is also home to the "stans," a collection of Turkic peoples that have often confusing borders as well as internal divisions. Further south, and still part of the stans, lies Afghanistan, a rugged, mountainous region, which provided a strong fortress to any empire that controlled it. However, so many empires tried and failed (largely due to the ruggedness of the land rather than local resistance) that it has been called the Graveyard of Empires.

To the north and northeast lies Siberia, a vast region largely composed of deciduous larch forests and meadows. During the winter, this region is frozen by some of the coldest temperatures outside of the polar regions, owing to the northern winds from the Arctic and a lack of flat, warm plains to the south. Mongolia is a Turkic nation and geographic region extending into Russia and China. China is by itself a diverse region, spanning the temperate and mountainous Manchurian region, the densely-populated and fertile central and southeastern China, the arid and mountainous west, and the the limestone karst cavern systems under modern-day Yunnan. To the east lies Korea, a divided peninsula, and Japan, a rich island country. To the south of China lies the Indonesian Archipelago and Southeast Asia, a region characterized by rapidly growing economies and a growing position on the world stage. Thousands of islands, spanning from Sumatra to New Guinea and the Philippines, contain over 300 million people and host rapidly growing economic powers. India, a subcontinent, is a smaller region than China, but its population is spread out throughout the country, with a concentration in the north along the extremely fertile Ganges, Bhramaputra, and Indus Rivers. India is about 10 years behind China economically and militarily, but its economy and population are surging as megalopolises form from sprawling urban areas around Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and other cities. Bangladesh and Pakistan are Muslim-majority nations in an otherwise Hindu region of the world, and are both mostly artificial creations of the modern world.

Asia's biological diversity is just as varied as its topography. While the steppes of Central Asia and Siberia are mainly grasses, northern Siberia consists of the world's largest and northernmost deciduous larch forests, giving way to barren tundra as one moves further north. The desert-mountain regions spanning in a massive bubble from Mongolia to Tibet include large sandy deserts, scrub vegetation, and unique alpine climates. The tropical forests of India, China, and Southeast Asia are some of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, both in terms of flora and fauna. The Middle East is mainly arid, but Anatolia is wetter, as are the northern regions of Iran. The Rub al-Khali is the world's largest sand sea, or erg.