105-575: Ulmus pumila , the Siberian elm , is a tree native to Asia . It is also known as the Asiatic elm and dwarf elm , but sometimes miscalled the 'Chinese elm' ( Ulmus parvifolia ). U. pumila has been widely cultivated throughout Asia, North America, Argentina, and southern Europe, becoming naturalized in many places, notably across much of the United States. The Siberian elm is usually
210-531: A 2-year effect on the X. luteola population. Since overwintering elm leaf beetles infest the homes of those close to an elm leaf beetle infestation, it is suggested that all cracks outside the house should be sealed. It is discouraged to use insecticides unless there are really heavy colonies. Nearly all chemicals currently used commercially in Australia to treat Elm Leaf Beetle, regardless of brand name or delivery method, are neonicotinoid insecticides. This
315-507: A South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago. Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in
420-474: A consequence is now commonly found in nearly all states. Valued for the high resistance of some clones to Dutch elm disease , over a dozen selections have been made to produce hardy ornamental cultivars, although several may no longer be in cultivation: A variegated weeping elm, with cream, dark green and light green variegation, is cultivated in China as Ulmus pumila 'Variegata'. Some authorities consider
525-480: A high sunlight requirement and is not shade-tolerant; with adequate light it exhibits rapid growth. The tree is also fairly intolerant of wet ground conditions, growing better on well-drained soils. While it is very resistant to drought and severe cold, and able to grow on poor soils, its short period of dormancy , flowering early in spring followed by continuous growth until the first frosts of autumn, renders it vulnerable to frost damage. As an ornamental U. pumila
630-404: A large number of genes to be involved in the oviposition response process. (See Tritrophic interactions in plant defense .) Jasmonic acid is released during gravid females' herbivory on Ulmus spp. The first and most apparent symptoms are of skeletonization. During feeding, elm leaf beetle larvae skeletonize the leaves. They leave the outer edge and veins of the leaf intact, which gives
735-676: A major hub for outsourcing. Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa (see also: Indo-Pacific ), from there to Djibouti , then through
840-575: A marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος . The term was later adopted by the Romans , who used it in reference to the province of Asia , located in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny . The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia , South Asia , Southeast Asia , Central Asia , and West Asia . The coastal periphery
945-410: A small to medium-sized, often bushy, deciduous tree growing to 25 metres (82 feet) tall, the diameter at breast height to 1 m (3 ft 3 in). The bark is dark gray, irregularly longitudinally fissured. The branchlets are yellowish gray, glabrous or pubescent, unwinged and without a corky layer, with scattered lenticels. The winter buds dark brown to red-brown, globose to ovoid. The petiole
1050-459: A two-lobed style . Unlike most elms, the Siberian elm is able to self-pollinate successfully. The wind-dispersed samarae are whitish tan, orbicular to rarely broadly obovate or elliptical, 1 cm–2 cm × 1 cm–1.5 cm ( 3 ⁄ 8 in– 3 ⁄ 4 in × 3 ⁄ 8 in– 5 ⁄ 8 in), glabrous except for pubescence on stigmatic surface;
1155-420: Is 4–10 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 4 – 1 ⁄ 2 inch), pubescent, the leaf blade elliptic-ovate to elliptic-lanceolate , 2–8 by 1.2–3.5 centimetres ( 3 ⁄ 4 in– 3 + 1 ⁄ 8 in × 1 ⁄ 2 in– 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 in), the colour changing from dark green to yellow in autumn. The perfect , apetalous wind-pollinated flowers bloom for one week in early spring, before
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#17327806889531260-399: Is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity . The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on a spectrum. China and India traded places as the largest economies in
1365-490: Is a very poor tree, tending to be short-lived, with brittle wood and poor crown shape, but it has nevertheless enjoyed some popularity owing to its rapid growth and provision of shade. The Siberian Elm has been described as "one of the world's worst... ornamental trees that does not deserve to be planted anywhere". Yet in the US during the 1950s, the tree was also widely promoted as a fast-growing hedging substitute for privet , and as
1470-690: Is found as high as 8000 feet in the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico and is invading coniferous forest there. New Mexico may be a center of genetic diversity in North America. Owing to its high sunlight requirements, it seldom invades mature forests, and is primarily a problem in cities and open areas, as well as along transportation corridors. The species is now listed in Japan as an alien species recognized as established in Japan or found in
1575-1112: Is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains , and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression ) and the Caspian and Black Seas . It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them ( Georgia , Azerbaijan , Russia , Kazakhstan and Turkey ) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe . Geographically, Russia
1680-514: Is growing rapidly. In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$ 1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. In 2011, Asia topped Europe in number of millionaires. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At
1785-575: Is highly susceptible to damage from many insects and parasites, including the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola , the Asian 'zigzag' sawfly Aproceros leucopoda , Elm Yellows , powdery mildew , cankers, aphids , leaf spot and, in the Netherlands, coral spot fungus Nectria cinnabarina . U. pumila is the most resistant of all the elms to verticillium wilt . In North America, Ulmus pumila has become an invasive species in much of
1890-467: Is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia
1995-538: Is native to Central Asia , eastern Siberia , the Russian Far East , Mongolia , Tibet , northern China , India (northern Kashmir ) and Korea . It is the last tree species encountered in the semi-desert regions of Central Asia. The tree has considerable variability in resistance to Dutch elm disease ; for example, trees from north-western and north-eastern China exhibit significantly higher tolerance than those from central and southern China. Moreover, it
2100-588: Is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere , and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan. Climate change is particularly important in Asia, as the continent accounts for the majority of the human population. Warming since the 20th century is increasing
2205-669: Is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation , both culturally and politically. The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north. There are various approaches to
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#17327806889532310-493: Is projected to move to third place, behind China and India. While nearly half of the world's new renewable energy capacity is built in Asia, this is not yet sufficient in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement . They imply that the renewables would account for 35% of total energy consumption in Asia by 2030. Asia has the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values, and
2415-545: Is said to have been introduced to the US in 1905 by Prof. John George Jack , and later by Frank Nicholas Meyer , though 'Siberian elm' appears in some 19th-century US nursery catalogues. The tree was cultivated at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Experimental Station at Mandan , North Dakota , where it flourished. It was consequently selected by the USDA for planting in shelter belts across
2520-429: Is the fastest growing economic region. As of 2023 , China is by far the largest economy on the continent, making up nearly half of the continent's economy by GDP nominal. It is followed by Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are all ranked among the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of
2625-678: The Arnold Arboretum in 1908 and, as U. pekinensis , via the Veitch Nurseries in 1910 from William Purdom in northern China. A specimen obtained from Späth and planted in 1914 stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk , in the early 20th century. The tree was propagated and marketed by the Hillier & Sons nursery, Winchester, Hampshire , from 1962 to 1977, during which time over 500 were sold. More recently,
2730-598: The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC ). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2027. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of
2835-731: The Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah —and later to Christians in the Old Testament , and to Muslims in the Quran —is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology , in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh . Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required
2940-621: The Hindu Kush region will become more unstable as its enormous glaciers , known as the "Asian water towers", gradually melt. These changes to water cycle also affect vector-borne disease distribution, with malaria and dengue fever expected to become more prominent in the tropical and subtropical regions. Food security will become more uneven, and South Asian countries could experience significant impacts from global food price volatility. Historical emissions from Asia are lower than those from Europe and North America. However, China has been
3045-493: The North Caucasus , along with other local flora, appear in the opening description of Tolstoy 's story 'The Raid' (1853). Nicholas Roerich describes a specimen discovered on his travels through Mongolia: We are in the deserts of Mongolia. It was hot and dusty yesterday. From faraway thunder was approaching. Some of our friends became tired from climbing the stony holy hills of Shiret Obo. While already returning to
3150-707: The Späth nursery of Berlin to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in 1902 as U. pumila , in addition to specimens of the narrow-leaved U. pumila cultivar 'Pinnato-ramosa'. One was planted in RBGE; the two not planted in the Garden may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city. Kew Gardens obtained specimens of U. pumila from
3255-722: The Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. During the Hellenistic period , this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo and Ptolemy . The border between Asia and Europe
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3360-915: The Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains , although it is sometimes placed further north. The border between Asia and Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Indonesia Archipelago , specifically in Eastern Indonesia . The Wallace Line separates
3465-596: The century of humiliation , with the British-supported opium trade and later Opium Wars resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported. Foreign domination of China was furthered by the Japanese colonial empire , which controlled some of East Asia and briefly much of Southeast Asia (which had earlier been taken over by the British, Dutch and French in
3570-591: The egg parasitoid Oomyzus gallerucae . U. minor is able to distinguish between oviduct secretions ( small molecule proteinaceous compounds) and damage which occurs in the natural course of oviposition, releases different volatiles upon detection of the oviduct compounds. O. gallerucae is then able to distinguish between these different sets of volatiles and is only attracted to oviposition. Gravid X. luteola females also respond, but inversely: They are attracted to volatiles indicating undamaged and/or unoviposited Ulmus material. Gene expression studies have shown
3675-548: The landmass of Eurasia with Europe , and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa . In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean , and on the north by the Arctic Ocean . The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct , as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to
3780-638: The monsoons will experience more flooding. The waters around Asia are subjected to the same impacts as elsewhere, such as the increased warming and ocean acidification . There are many coral reefs in the region, and they are highly vulnerable to climate change, to the point practically all of them will be lost if the warming exceeds 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Asia's distinctive mangrove ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to sea level rise . Asia also has more countries with large coastal populations than any other continent, which would cause large economic impacts from sea level rise. Water supplies in
3885-553: The steppes . The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans , who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia , was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra . These areas remained very sparsely populated. The center and
3990-767: The 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty . The Islamic Mughal Empire (preceded by the Delhi Sultanate of the 13th to early 16th century) and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Western imperialism in Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and
4095-528: The 1990s, with extreme poverty now below 20%; India and China's rise has coincided with growing tension between the two, with the Indo-Pacific now an actively contested area between China and counterbalancing forces. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres (39,022 mi). Asia
4200-587: The 7th century; Islam also spread over centuries to the southern regions of India and Southeast Asia through trade along the Maritime Silk Road . The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people. The Black Death , one of
4305-542: The Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms, a transition zone of deep water straits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Weber's Line split the region in two with regard to the balance of fauna between Asian origin or Australo-Papuan origin. Wallacea's eastern boundary with Sahul is represented by the Lydekker's Line . The Maluku Islands (except the Aru Islands) are often considered to lie on
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4410-606: The Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach . The melting of the Arctic is also paving the way for new shipping routes from Northeast Asia to Europe and North America. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade,
4515-818: The Bering Strait, with Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States . The Aleutian Islands are an island chain extending westward from the Alaskan Peninsula toward Russia's Komandorski Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula . Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost Near Islands group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the North Aleutians Basin and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow
4620-539: The Hittite king Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Roughly contemporary Linear B documents contain the term aswia ( Mycenaean Greek : 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊 , romanized: a-si-wi-ja ), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area. Herodotus used the term in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Achaemenid Empire , in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia
4725-424: The Indian Ocean respectively in the late 15th century. The Russian Empire also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. Among non-European empires, the Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onward, while in
4830-454: The Japanese wild. U. pumila was introduced into Spain as an ornamental, probably during the reign of Philip II (1556–98), and from the 1930s into Italy. In these countries it has naturally hybridized with the field elm ( U. minor ). In Italy it was widely used in viniculture, notably in the Po valley, to support the grape vines until the 1950s, when the demands of mechanization made it unsuitable. Three specimens were supplied by
4935-482: The Middle East has been affected since 1948 by the Arab–Israeli conflict and American-led interventions . East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth " tiger economies "; China, having undergone capitalistic reforms under Deng Xiaoping , regained its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century. India has also grown significantly because of economic liberalisation that started in
5040-400: The Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century led to the Middle East also being contested and partitioned by the British and French. With the end of World War II in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule. The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for
5145-504: The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become
5250-445: The Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces. Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion ), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in
5355-440: The Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ), there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe . A particularly significant part of
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#17327806889535460-454: The U.S. state of Alaska as well as the United States itself to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their inhabitants , who have historically been related to Indigenous Americans . St. Lawrence Island in
5565-407: The US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen /US$ . Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim , known as the Asian tigers , which are now all considered developed economies, having among
5670-518: The area of multinational corporations , but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure. According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia,
5775-443: The beetle are often heavily predated by the chalcidoid wasp Oomyzus gallerucae . Insecticide sprays are of little use since by the time the infestation is apparent, the application will be too late to be effective. However, tree trunks banded with insecticides can limit repetition the following year by killing the larvae as they descend before hibernation. Soil injection presents a non-invasive alternative to trunk injections with
5880-404: The border of southeast Asia, with the Aru Islands and Western New Guinea , to the east of the Lydekker's Line, being wholly part of Oceania, as both lie on the Australian continental plate. Culturally, the Wallacea region denoted the transition between Austronesian and Melanesian people , with varying degrees of intermixing between the two. In general, the further west and coastal a region is,
5985-431: The camp, we noticed in the distance a huge elm tree – 'karagatch', - lonely, towering amidst the surrounding endless desert. The size of the tree, its somewhat familiar outlines attracted us into its shadow. Botanical considerations led us to believe that in the wide shade of the giant there might be some interesting herbs. Soon, all the co-workers gathered around the two mighty stems of the karagatch. The deep, deep shadow of
6090-406: The combined efforts of emperors and divinities to control. The Abrahamic religions including Judaism , Christianity , Islam , Druze faith , and Baháʼí Faith originated in West Asia. Xanthogaleruca luteola Xanthogaleruca luteola , commonly known as the elm-leaf beetle , is a beetle species in the family Chrysomelidae that is native to Europe but invasive in other parts of
6195-432: The continent of Asia". Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass— Afro-Eurasia —and share a common continental shelf . Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate , adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with
6300-451: The cultivar ' Berardii ' a form of U. pumila . Nottingham elm , considered an Ulmus × hollandica by Richens , was marketed from the 19th century as 'Siberian elm'. The species has been widely hybridized in the United States and Italy to create robust trees of more native appearance with high levels of resistance to Dutch elm disease: Other hybrid cultivars involving crossings with U. pumila : The unripe seeds have long been eaten by
6405-443: The cultural borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus, a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe , the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of
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#17327806889536510-537: The dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies. The British Empire first became dominant in South Asia, with most of the region being conquered by British traders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before falling under direct British rule after a failed 1857 revolt ; the 1869 completion of the Suez Canal , which increased British access to India, went on to further European influence over Africa and Asia. Around this time, Western powers started to dominate China in what later became known as
6615-420: The east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits , the Ural Mountains and Ural River , and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe. Since the concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia
6720-439: The easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Chersky Range ) on the North American Plate . The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa ( Hittite : 𒀸𒋗𒉿 , romanized: aš-šu-wa ) which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia . The term appears in Hittite records recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including Troy unsuccessfully rebelled against
6825-405: The elm. Repeated heavy infestation rarely kills the tree outright, but weakens it, rendering it vulnerable to disease. Falling branches encourage elm bark beetles ( Scolytus multistriatus and S. schevyrewi ) to proliferate; the beetles are vectors of Dutch elm disease. Elm leaf beetles become active in the spring once temperatures rise above 52 °F (11 °C). In fact, weather is one of
6930-428: The end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $ 100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people. With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for
7035-413: The equatorial south via the hot deserts in parts of West Asia , Central Asia and South Asia , temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in North Asia . The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Suez Canal , the Gulf of Suez , the Red Sea , and the Bab-el-Mandeb . This makes Egypt a transcontinental country , with the Sinai peninsula in Asia and
7140-414: The first time a city of a country from Asia ( Bangkok ) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors. East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in
7245-409: The foliage a net-like appearance. Areas around the feeding site dry up and die, causing the leaf to drop prematurely. Adults, on the other hand, chew small, irregularly shaped holes in the expanding leaves. Trees that lose their leaves often develop a second set, only to have them consumed when the next generation is produced. In North America, there are few natural enemies, but in Europe, the larva of
7350-446: The highest GDP per capita in Asia. Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum , forests , fish , water , rice , copper and silver . Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan , South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in
7455-478: The late 19th century), New Guinea and the Pacific islands ; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the Meiji era of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia. One significant influence on Japan had been the United States, which had begun projecting influence across the Pacific after its early-to-mid-19th century westward expansion . The breakup of
7560-458: The leaves emerge, in tight fascicles (bundles) on the last year's branchlets. Flowers emerging in early February are often damaged by frost (causing the species to be dropped from the Dutch elm breeding programme). Each flower is about 3 mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) across and has a green calyx with 4–5 lobes, 4–8 stamens with brownish-red anthers , and a green pistil with
7665-800: The lower part of the trees in search of bark crevices in which to pupate. The next generation emerges in midsummer after two to three weeks' pupation, and begins feeding on the leaves. The female can lay about 800 ova, but this ovipositing may be interrupted by shortening of the photoperiod to less than 14 hours, inducing a brief feeding bout before the search for a hibernation site. Hosts are known to include English elm ( U. minor 'Atinia' ), wych (Scots) elm ( Ulmus glabra ), American elm ( Ulmus americana ), Siberian elm ( Ulmus pumila ), and Chinese elm ( Ulmus parvifolia ), as well as complex hybrids such as 'Homestead' . The beetle has also been reported on Zelkova serrata . When X. luteola oviposits , U. minor releases plant volatiles which recruit
7770-516: The lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large equestrian force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies. The Islamic Caliphate 's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its conquests of
7875-728: The majority of South Asian Muslims , which in 1971 further split into the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh ; Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally. The end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union by 1991 saw the independence of the five modern Central Asian countries. Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential, though stability in
7980-516: The most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road . European involvement in Asia became more significant from the Age of Discovery onward, with Iberian-sponsored sailors such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama paving the way for new routes from Atlantic Europe to Pacific Asia and
8085-430: The most limiting factors in their population growth. A late spring freeze or long winter can kill off entire colonies. The imagines depart their hibernation sites (often houses), the females laying their ova on the underside of the elm leaves. The ova hatch after one week, and the larvae immediately feed on the underside of the leaves. This larval stage lasts between two and three weeks, at the end of which larvae migrate to
8190-540: The native field elm ( U. minor ), contributing to conservation concerns for the latter species. Research is ongoing into the extent of hybridisation with U. minor in Italy. Ulmus pumila is often found in abundance along railroads and in abandoned lots and on disturbed ground. The gravel along railroad beds provides ideal conditions for its growth: well-drained, nutrient poor soil, and high light conditions; these beds provide corridors which facilitate its spread. It
8295-716: The northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks , being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to
8400-589: The peoples of Manchuria , and during the Great Chinese Famine they also became one of the most important foodstuffs in the Harbin region. The leaves were also gathered, to the detriment of the trees, prompting a prohibition order by the authorities, which was largely ignored. The leaves eaten raw are not very palatable, but stewed and prepared with Kaoliang or Foxtail millet make a better tasting and more filling meal. The "dwarf-" or "shrub-elms" of
8505-470: The peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However,
8610-628: The popularity of U. pumila in the Great Britain has been almost exclusively as a bonsai subject, and mature trees are largely restricted to arboreta. In the UK the TROBI Champions grow at Thorp Perrow Arboretum , Yorkshire, 19 m (62 ft 4 in) × 70 cm (2 ft 4 in) in 2004, and at St Ann's Well Gardens, Hove , Sussex 20 m (65 ft 7 in) × 60 cm (2 ft 0 in) in 2009. U. pumila
8715-994: The prairies in the aftermath of the Dustbowl disasters, where its rapid growth and tolerance for drought and cold initially made it a great success. However, the species later proved susceptible to numerous maladies. Attempts to find a more suitable cultivar were initiated in 1997 by the Plant Materials Center of the USDA , which established experimental plantations at Akron, Colorado , and Sidney, Nebraska . The study, no. 201041K, will conclude in 2020. The US National Champion, measuring 33.5 m (109 ft 11 in) high in 2011, grows in Berrien County, Michigan . The seeds lose their viability rapidly after maturity unless placed on suitable germination conditions or dried and placed at low temperatures. The species has
8820-540: The region from central Mexico northward across the eastern and central United States to Ontario , Canada. It also hybridizes in the wild with the native U. rubra (slippery elm) in the central United States, prompting conservation concerns for the latter species. In South America, the tree has spread across much of the Argentine pampas . In Europe it has spread widely in Spain, and hybridizes extensively there with
8925-708: The regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories. Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from Arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It
9030-693: The remainder of the country in Africa. The threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on the Black Sea coast, through
9135-435: The single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the 21st century, while India is the third-largest. As a whole, Asia currently accounts for 36% of world's primary energy consumption, which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. By 2040, it is also expected to account for 80% of the world's coal and 26% of the world's natural gas consumption. While the United States remains the world's largest oil consumer, by 2050 it
9240-446: The south Gobi , with a girth of 5.55 m (18 ft 3 in) in 2009, may exceed 250 years (based on average annual ring widths of other U. pumila in the area). The species was described by Peter Simon Pallas in the 18th century from specimens from Transbaikal . Two varieties were traditionally recognized: var. pumila and var. arborea , the latter now treated as a cultivar, U. pumila 'Pinnato-ramosa' . The tree
9345-544: The stalk 1–2 mm ( 5 ⁄ 128 – 5 ⁄ 64 in), the perianth persistent. The seed is at centre of the samara or occasionally slightly toward apex but not reaching the apical notch. Flowering and fruiting occur March to May. Ploidy : 2 n = 28. The tree also suckers readily from its roots. The tree is short-lived in temperate climates, rarely reaching more than 60 years of age, but in its native environment may live to between 100 and 150 years. A giant specimen, 45 kilometres (28 miles) southeast of Khanbogt in
9450-605: The stronger the Austronesian influences, and the further east and inland a region is, the stronger the Melanesian influences. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of
9555-608: The threat of heatwaves across the entire continent. Heatwaves lead to increased mortality, and the demand for air conditioning is rapidly accelerating as the result. By 2080, around 1 billion people in the cities of South and Southeast Asia are expected to experience around a month of extreme heat every year. The impacts on water cycle are more complicated: already arid regions, primarily located in West Asia and Central Asia , will see more droughts , while areas of East , Southeast and South Asia which are already wet due to
9660-541: The top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul . Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. According to economic historian Angus Maddison , India had the world's largest economy during 1000 BCE and 1 CE. India was the largest economy in the world for most of
9765-412: The tree covered about 50 feet across. The powerful tree-stems were covered with fantastic burr growths. In the rich foliage, birds were singing and the beautiful branches were stretched out in all directions, as if wishing to give shelter to all pilgrims. Asia Asia ( / ˈ eɪ ʒ ə / AY -zhə , UK also / ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / AY -shə ) is the largest continent in
9870-533: The two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output. China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India. For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as
9975-489: The undersides of the elm leaves. These beetles are common in the Western Palearctic realm from Portugal to Central Asia . Indigenous to Europe , they were accidentally introduced to North America and Australia , and are now widespread, and are serious pests in Australia and parts of North America. X. luteola is a serious pest of the elm . Both the adults and larvae feed on the emergent leaves of
10080-476: The various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process." The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America , as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This national and continental boundary separates the Diomede Islands in
10185-489: The world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia
10290-409: The world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth 's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population. Asia shares
10395-408: The world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy. Nepal ,
10500-643: The world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed. Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates . Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue , more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in
10605-509: The world. The imago (adult beetle) is 6–8 mm in length, and ranges from yellow to green in colour, with a spot on its head, an hourglass mark and two spots on the pronotum , and a broad, dark stripe along the edge of each elytron . The larvae are usually black, occasionally black and yellow, with multiple rows of dots on the back and on the sides and < 13 mm long. The pupae are orange-yellow with black chaetae . The ova are yellow, and laid in spindle-like clusters of < 25 on
10710-522: Was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until
10815-766: Was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel . Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from
10920-477: Was named after the wife of Prometheus , but that Lydians say it was named after Asies , son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis . In Greek mythology , "Asia" ( Ἀσία or Ἀσίη ) was the name of a " Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia". The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer ) mentions two Phrygians in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also
11025-442: Was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism , Zoroastrianism , Judaism , Jainism , Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity , Islam , Sikhism , and many other religions. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It also has a mix of many different climates ranging from
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