Asia, the great mass of land that constitutes the northeastern part of the Old World. The meaning of Asia is unknown. Belonging originally to a small city in Asia Minor, the term was extended by the Greeks to the region immediately adjacent, and was used finally by writers for the entire grand division now known by the name. Asia is the largest of the six continental divisions. The distance from the most southwesterly part of Arabia to the extreme northeastern point of Siberia is nearly 7,000 miles. The total area is estimated at 17,300,000 square miles, about one-third of the earth's entire land surface, and about one-twelfth of the entire surface of the globe. It is bounded by three oceans. The Arctic coast is the most regular. The eastern coast is indented by five border seas, inclosed by curved chains of continental islands. The southern coast is prolonged into the three extensive peninsulas of Farther India, Hindustan, and Arabia. The entire coast line is about 35,000 miles in length. TOPOGRAPHY. The mountain systems of Asia are the most complex of any of the grand divisions. Its plateaus are the most elevated in the world. The Pamir is called, not improperly, the "roof of the world." So far as altitude is concerned, the Alps might be buried a mile beneath the mountain mass of Tibet. The Himalayas are the loftiest chain of mountains in the world. Mount Everest, the culminating peak, 29,002 feet, is the loftiest peak known. It is nearly twice as high as Mt. Blanc, and is a half higher than Mount McKinley, the highest peak of North America. Two of its neighbors are over 28,000 feet in altitude. Travelers desiring to penetrate this region must cross the ranges by means of passes from 15,000 to 22,000 feet in height, a tremendous climb for yaks, horses, camels, or men. RIVERS. Asia has nine great rivers, any one of which is larger than the Rhine and the Danube combined. The Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena carry the icy waters of Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. The Amur, the Hoang-Ho, and the Yang-tse pour a yellow flood into the Pacific. The Brahmaputra, the sacred Ganges, and the Indus flow south to the Indian Ocean. Asia possesses not only the highest table-lands and mountains, but shares with southeastern Europe the greatest area of interior drainage and of land depression known. The basin occupied by the Sea of Aral and the Caspian is not less than 2,000,000 square miles in extent. The surface of the Caspian lies eighty-three feet below that of the sea. SOIL AND CLIMATE. As might be expected, Asia possesses a great diversity of soil and climate. It has vast river plains of unsurpassed fertility, and extensive, rainless regions of drifting sands as barren as the Sahara. It lies in three zones, the tropical, the north temperate, and the arctic. The flora and fauna of the jungles in the south are rivaled only in the valley of the Amazon and in equatorial Africa. The mountains of Central Asia rise into a region of cold, lifeless, eternal, glittering stillness. The shores of the Arctic Ocean are, for the most part, vast, tenantless, frozen tundras, with at best a little moss or flowers and shrubs growing in earth that thaws out for a few inches during the brief summer. Between these extremes may be found every variety of soil and climate known on the globe. POPULATION. Three of the chief divisions of mankind are represented in Asia. The Ethiopic or black division is found in a part of Malaysia. Southwestern Asia, including Arabia, and the Caspian Region, Persia and Afghanistan, with a large part of India, and a share of Siberia and Manchuria as well, are inhabitated by white people. The eastern coast is for the most part occupied by inhabitants of the yellow race. Ignoring the black element, the entire population of Asia is estimated at 280,000,000 whites and 540,000,000 of the yellow race. POLITICAL DIVISIONS. Asia is divided into eighteen countries or political divisions. For a further account the reader is referred to the various articles on Asiatic countries, cities, rivers, islands, plants, and animals. As in the case of Africa, the greater part of Asia has been occupied by European states. Russia owns the central and northern part of the continent, from the Caspian to the Bering Sea. England has grasped all India, Burma, and other valuable territory. France, at one time the leading European power in Hindustan, now has the better part of the southeastern peninsula. The Dutch East Indies belong to the Netherlands. Even the United States comes in for the Philippine Islands. The only genuinely independent Asiatic countries are now Japan and China. Formosa and Korea belong to Japan. Inasmuch as the Turkish seat of government is at the European city of Constantinople, it is not out of place to say that Asia Minor and parts of Arabia are in Turkish possession. Persia, though claimed as independent, is subject to the influence of England, Russia, and Turkey. Afghanistan and Siam are mere buffer states. The following shows the partition of Asia among the powers. The smaller islands are omitted: 1. Independent-- Japan, China, Persia, Oman, Central Arabia (Bedouins). 2. Nominally Independent-- Afghanistan, Siam. 3. Under Russian Ownership or Protection-- Trans-Caucasia, Siberia, Steppes provinces, Turkestan, Trans-Caspian province, Bokhara, Khiva. 4. Under English Ownership or Protection-- Aden, Borneo, Ceylon, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Baluchistan, Sikkim, Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Laccadive Islands, The Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, State of Johor, Weihaiwei. 5. Under French Ownership or Protection-- French India, French Indo-China, Annam, Cambodia, Cochin-China, Tonking, Laos. 6. Dutch East Indies (The Netherlands)-- Java, Sumatra, Borneo (in part), Celebes, New Guinea (in part). 7. Turkish Territory-- Asia Minor, Arabia (in part). 8. United States Possession-- Philippine Islands.