Asia, a'she a, the largest of the grand divisions of the earth, is situated between 1 degree 15' and 77 degree 37' north latitude, and 26 degree and 130 degree east longitude. Its greatest length from east to west is 5500 miles, and from north to south, 5100 miles, and its area, exclusive of islands, is 16,000,000 square miles, and including the islands, about 17,000,000 square miles. The continent is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the Pacific, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the west by the Red and Mediterranean seas. The eastern and southern coasts have a number of prominent indentations. These are Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea and South China Sea on the east, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea with its extension, the Persian Gulf, on the south, while to the north of the western extremity is the Black Sea, joined to the Mediterranean by the Bosporus, Sea of Marmora and Dardanelles. The adjoining islands include the Japan Islands, the Philippines and the large group usually known as the East Indies, in which are Sumatra, New Guinea and Borneo, among the largest islands of the world. This archipelago is subdivided into numerous smaller groups. The important isolated islands are Formosa and Hongkong, off the coast of China, and Ceylon. at the southern extremity of India. The continent is separated from Europe by a mere depression, extending from the Caspian Sea northward to the Ural Mountains, which complete the boundary. During the Tertiary Period this portion of the continent was submerged, and Europe and Asia formed two separate continents (See TERTIARY PERIOD). Asia is separated from a portion of Africa by the Red Sea and the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and is joined to it by the Isthmus of Suez, which is about one hundred miles wide.