Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/149

ASIA. latitude 77° 37' N. is 5100 miles, although with its islands it extends to latitude 10" S. By means of the Isthmus of Suez, Asia has a slight connection with Africa, from which it is sepa- rated by the narrow Red Sea, occupying a rift valley of comjiaratively recent formation. The continent has an average elevation al)ove the sea of over 3000 feet. The coast-line is about 33,000 miles in length, and onthesouthandeastisgreatly diversified l)y seas, bays, and gulfs, affording ad- vantages to navigation and commerce farsuperior to those of Africa and South America, but inferior to those posses.sed by Europe and North America. The indented and broken northern coast is not available for navigation, because of being ice- bound throughout the greater part of the year. Asia is bounded northward by the Arctic Ocean, eastward by the Pacific Ocean, southward by the Indian Ocean, and westward by Europe, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterrane- an, and tlie Red Sea. On the extreme northeast, it is separated from North America only bj' the narrow Bering Strait, about 40 miles wide. On the southeast, the vast eastern archipelago, com- prising numerous great islands, Luzon and ilin- danao in the Philippines, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Celebes, New (luinea, and hundreds of smaller ones, extends toward Australia. The body of the inntincnt may be regarded as a trapezi- um, of which the projections, consisting of several large peninsulas, bear some resemblance to those of Europe, though in Asia everj-thing is on a greater scale. On the west is the peninsvila of Asia Minor, or Anatolia, separated from Europe by the Bosporus, the Sea of ilarmora, and the Dardanelles, with the Black Sea on the north, the -'Egean Sea on the west, and the Levant (the easternmost part of the Mediterranean) on the south. On the south of Asia, Arabia may be con- sidered as a counterpart of the Iberian Peninsula ; Italy, with its neighfioring island, Sicily, is repre- sented by India and Ceylon ; and as the broken Grecian Peninsul.a in Europe has numerous isl- ands extending toward Asia on the southeast, so in Asia, the Malay Peninsula has an island con- nection with Australia on the southwest ^)y means of the eastern archipelago. The eastern coast of Asia is characterized by the deep in- dentations made by the Paeilic Ocean, forming the Cliina Sea on the southeast, and the Yellow, Japan, Okliotsk, and Bering Seas on the east, all island-liound, and the last four separated respec- tively by the Peninsula of Korea, the island of Saghalin, and the Peninsula of Kamchatka. On the north the Silierian coasts are also deeply indented, but rather by the embouchures of large rivers than by arms of the sea. Topography. The relief features of this con- tinent are characterized by great extremes and by an unparalleled variety; it has the most ex- tensive lowlands, the greatest table-lands, the highest chains of mountains, and the most ele- vated sununits in the world. Tracts doomed to everlasting snow and scorching sterility, salu- brious valleys of continual verdure, and noisome jungles of the rankest growth are found within its limits. About 1000 miles southwest of the centre of the continent, where Inilia, Turkestan, and Afghanistan meet, is an elevated region known as the Pamirs, and to its inhabitants as the 'roof of the world.' It is of great height, even the valleys exceeding 11,000 feet in altitude above the sea, while the mountains are many thousand feet higher. From this region as a centre, mountain systems and ranges radiate in various directions, but mainly eastward and westward, inclosing between them elevated plateau-like areas. These mountain systems with the inclosed plateaus, form the Viroad back- bone of .sia, running with a widely differ- ing breadth, nearly east and west across the continent. It is widest in the east, where it stretches from the Indo-Chinese Peninsula across Western China and Manchuria, to Southeastern Siberia, extending from latitude 20° to 50° N. ; it narrows in the Pamiis, and broadens again westward to include most of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Persia, and Asia Minor. From the mountain knot of the Pamirs stretches a moun- tain system, bordering the northern margin of the main plateau. The ranges comprising the. sys- tem are somewhat broken and disconnected, and many of them arranged en echelon. They extend, under various names, to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, and thence along the coast to Bering Strait. North of them lies Siberia, a great plain with a breadth of 130° of longitude, sloping gently over 25° of latitude to the Arctic Ocean. East of the Pamirs the great plateau is limited on the south by the Himalayas, while between this great range and the northern system are many other ranges traversing it. This table-land con- tains the plateau of Tibet and the vast elevated expanse of Han-hai, which includes the Desert of Gobi or Shamo, and the Takla Makan Desert. The plateau of Tibet lies directly north of the Himalayas, and is limited on the north by the Karakarum, Kuenlun, Altyn Tagh, and Nan- shan ranges, and on the east by the broken moun- tainous country in the west of China. Its surface is a plain, diversified by many moiuitain ranges, trending generally east and west. It is the most eleated plateau on earth, its western part rang- ing in height from 14,000 to 17,000 feet, sloping eastward down to 1)000 feet. It is a bleak, arid region, and its few inhabitants are occupied mainly in pastoral pursuits. The great plateau of Hanhai, which lies north and northeast of Tibet, is limited on the north by the succession of ranges which commence with the Tian-shan, and are followed by the Alatau. Altai, Tannu, Sa}'an- skii, Yahlonoi, and Stanovoi ranges, and e.xtend northeastward to the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Strait; and on the east by the Khingan Moun- tains, mainly comprised in Mongolia. Its other- wise level surface is intersected by many moun- tain groups, and has an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet. On the south the ])Iateau region is separated from the plains of Hindustan by the Himalaya Mountains, manv of whose summits rise from 25,000 to 29,000 'feet above the level of the sea. Even the passes over this enormous range are almost as high as the sunin-.it of Mont Blanc. Here Dhwalagiri, long supposed to be the Mont Blanc of the Himalayas, rises to 26,800 feet, leaving all the peaks of the Andes far below, while Kunchinjinga reaches beyond 28,000 feet, and Jtount Everest, now believed to be the loftiest summit on earth, attains the height of 29,000 feet. From the Pamirs stretches westward a great succession of mountain ranges, which, beginning with the Hindu Kush (which attains a height of 25,000 feet), and prolonged westward by the