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

Gobi DESERT 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

Climate mostly tropical Also affected by monsoon winds in the southern region

Southeast Asia