POPULATION OF ASIA
 Map Question. Study the population map of Asia and the symbols'on it.
Quantity and Density of Population. Asia, the largest of the parts of the world, has also the largest population. Within Asia live over 1,750 million people, over one-half of the human race and more than two and a half times the population of Europe.
The average density of population in Asia (40 persons to the square kilometre) is about one-half that in Europe. There are vast areas in Asia where the population is very thin, but in others it is as dense as in the most populous regions of Western Europe. Sparsely populated are the tundra and taiga lands of Asia, the desert
areas of Arabia, the Turan Lowland and Central Asia. Only under Soviet power was agriculture introduced into Northern Siberia and the exploitation of the vast timber and mineral resources begun. Large irrigation canals and reservoirs are being built on the Turan Lowland and watered lands expanded. As a result, new villages and towns have sprung up in the formerly uninhabited tundra and taiga, new populated oases have appeared in the deserts of the Soviet Union.
The Great China Plain and the coastal areas of China, the Japanese Islands, Hindustan and the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the island of Java (one of the Greater Sunda Islands) — these are the densely
populated regions.
The Peoples of Asia, There is a great variety of peoples in Asia. The various peoples that make up the population of Asia differ in language, economic activities, customs and cultural level.
Most of the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Asia are members of the Yellow Race. The characteristic features of this race are most distinct in the Mongols of the Plateau of Gobi, for which reason the Yellow Race is also called the Mongoloid Race.
The Buryats who live near Lake Baikal are considered members of the Mongolian group. Their language has much in common with the Mongolian.
 Eastern Asia is inhabited by the Chinese, the most numerous among the Asiatic peoples. Kindred to the Chinese are the Tibetans of the Plateau of Tibet and the peoples of Indo-China (the Burmese, Tais, Viet-Namese).
The southern part ofIndo-China is inhabited by the Malays, Indonesia by the kindred Indonesians. There are also many branches of the Turkic group in Asia: the Turks of Asia Minor, the Turkomans, Uzbeks, Kirghiz and Kazakhs of the Turan Lowland and the neighbouring regions and the Yakuts of North-Eastern Siberia.
Most of the inhabitants of Siberia are either Russians or Ukrainians, who came from Europe and settled down in the south of Siberia.
The Russians have contributed greatly to the exploration of Siberia's vast expanses. Within 60 years in the 16th and 17th centuries Russian Cossacks crossed Siberia from end to end, from the Ural Mountains to the seas of the Pacific Ocean, and discovered far-away Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. Many of the native inhabitants knew nothing of agriculture or handicraft till the coming of the Russians.
Hindustan and the Indo-Gangetic Plain are inhabited by a number of peoples collectively called Indians. They speak different but kindred languages.
The south of Hindustan is inhabited by the Dravidians, whose language differs greatly from that of the principal population of India. Almost all Dravidians have dark skins and other features of the Black Race.
Kindred to the Indians are the Persians and Afghans of the Plateau of Iran, the Tajiks of the Pamirs and a number of peoples of the Caucasus.
The native inhabitants of Arabia are the Arabs, who later settled in North Africa.
Questions and Assignments.
\. Study the population map and determine which parts of Asia are most densely populated and which most thinly.
2. Put down the names of the peoples of Asia on the outline map. |
