asia physical geography. southwest asia euphrates and tigris rivers are the region’s most...

ASIA PHYSICAL

GEOGRAPHY

SOUTHWEST ASIA

• Euphrates and Tigris Rivers are the region’s most important river

• Often called Fertile Crescent - the two river’s flooding produces great farm lands

• AKA – Mesopotamia – (land between rivers)– First great empires

• Babylonians

SOUTHWEST ASIA

PERSIAN GULF• Between the Arabian

Peninsula and Iran• Known as the Arabian

Gulf by the Arabs• 60% of all the Earth’s

oil can be found here• Was once the world’s

leading Pearl producer

SOUTHWEST ASIA

• Arabian Peninsula– Largest Peninsula

in Asia– Birth place of

Islam– Contains many oil

rich countries

• Subcontinent – Indian Plate has all characteristics of a continent, only smaller– Moves at a rate of two inches yearly– Himalayas are the largest mountain range

in the world• Sanskrit word meaning “Home of Snow”

– Language brought by Aryans

INDIAN

SOUTH ASIA PHYSICAL

• Mostly tropical– Sari – tradition

clothing made of single clothe ideal for India’s hot climate

• Thar Desert – in the west and in Pakistan– Great India desert

• Some Highland climate in the Himalayas

SOUTH ASIA CLIMATE

SOUTH ASIA• Monsoons – seasonal

winds• Largest influence on climate

– Wet Summer winds bring flooding

– Cold Winter winds bring drought

East ASIA CHINA

East Asia - china• Western 2/3 of

China are uninhabitable due to landforms:– Deserts • Gobi• Taklimakan

– Mountains• Himalayas• Plateaus of Tibet• Tian Shan• Hindu Kush

GobiDESERT

• Gobi – natural border of Mongolia and north China– “waterless place”– Caused by rain

shadow of the Himalayas

EAST ASIA – CHINA RIVERS

• Yellow (Huang)– northern central– Empties into the Yellow

Sea is yellow because of the surrounding soil

– Called “China’s Sorrow” due to flooding

• Yangtze (Chang)– central China– Most fertile– Site of Three Gorges

Dam

• Xi [shee] (Pearl)– southern most

Asian Wildlife• Panda Bear is

considered a national treasure

long-eared jerboa

Giant Salamander

Rainbow Mountain

• Made up of two large peninsulas– Malaysian – Indochina

• Many Archipelagos– Indonesia is the larges

country with 17,508 islands• Largest is Sumatra

– Philippines alone has 7,107 islands

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

• Climate mostly tropical

• Also affected by monsoon winds in the southern region

Southeast Asia