THE ASIAN CONTINENT  Tallest Plateau – Tibetan (Roof of the World)

 Largest Desert – Arabian Desert (Rub-al Khali)

 Coldest Desert – Gobi Desert
 Largest Island – Borneo
ASIA

Is the largest continent in the world in terms of its size and population.
It covers almost one-third of the world’s land area and about three-fifths of its people.  MOUNTAIN RANGES OF ASIA
Approximate population as of June 2019 (4.5 billion).
49 UN Members, 1 Observer, 5 other states  Altai Mountain Ranges – form a loft range that runs north-west across the borders of
The first to use the word Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny the Elder. Western Mongolia and Kazakhstan.
-it is among the oldest mountains in Asia, and they contain much deposits of lead.
BOUNDARIES  Elburz Mountain Ranges – stand along Iran’s northern border.
-They form a spectacular wall between the Caspian Sea coast region and the interior
 Ural Mountains – Kara Sea – Bering Sea – Sea of Okhotsk –Sakhalin Island – Pacific Ocean plateau. Iran’s highest peak, Mt. Damavand at 18,386 ft. can also be found in the Elburz.
including the island of Taiwan and Philippines – East Timor – Indian Ocean – Arabian Sea  Himalayas Mountain Ranges – the highest mountain system in the world. The term
including the Persian Gulf – Gulf of Aden – Red Sea – Suez Canal – Mediterranean Sea – “Himalayas” comes from the Sanskrit language which means, “The House of Snow” or the
Strait of Dardanelles and Bosporus – Black Sea – Caspian Sea – Ural Mountains. “Snowy Range.” Among the Tibetans, Mt. Everest is “CHOMULUNGMA” meaning
“Goddess Mother of the World.”
REGIONS or DIVISIONS  Hindu Kush – is a chain of mountains in Central Asia. The name “kush” which means
“death” was probable given to the mountain ranges because of their dangerous passes.
 Northern Asia/Central Asia
 Karakoram Mountain – is a range of mountains in Kashmir in Nortwestern India, which
 West/Southwest Asia
also extends to Tibet and China.
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia
 East Asia
 RIVER SYSTEMS IN ASIA

BASIC FACTS ABOUT ASIA  Amur River – found in Eastern Siberia and formed by the joining of the Argun and Silka
Rivers. Among the Chinese, the Amur is called “Heilong Jiang” or “Black Dragon River”
 Tallest Mountain – Mt. Everest  Brahmaputra River – one of the most important waterways of South Asia which can be
 Lowest Point –Dead Sea found in India. The northern part of the river is known as “Yarlung Zangbo” among the
 Largest Lake – Caspian Sea Tibetans.
 Longest River – Yangtze River or Chang Jiang – third longest river in the world.  Euphrates River – is the longest river in Southwest Asia.
 Smallest Country – Maldives  Ganges River – is the most important waterways among the Hindus because it plays a very
 Largest Country – China crucial part in their religious rituals.
 Deepest Lake – Lake Baikal  Huang Ho – is the longest river in China. It is called “China’s Sorrow” because of the many
 Largest Archipelago – Indonesia floods which brought death and hunger to the people living along its bank. The river is also
 Largest Peninsula – Arabian known as Yellow River because it carries large amount of soft yellow earth material called
“loess”.
 Highest Mountain Range – Himalayas
 Indus River – is the great river in Pakistan.
 Largest Sea – West Philippine Sea
 Irrawady River – is the chief river of Myanmar.
 Largest Bay – Bay of Bengal
 Mekong River – is the largest stream in the Indo-China.

CIVILIZATION
 Is the growth through the time of knowledge and skills that encourages or allowed men to
attain proper or right behaviour and correct values accepted by society.
 It is the development of human progress from savagery through barbarism to civilization
(breakthrough to a new level of human achievement).
BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION
 The earliest man appeared about 1 million years ago.
GLACIAL PERIOD (Ice Age) 1 million B.C. to 20,000 B.C.
 During this period, glaciers moved down from the arctic region and covered the
northern parts of Asia, America and Europe.
 The climate became warmer and men and animals migrated to the south
returned to the north.
4 Types of Men during the Glacial Age
Charles Darwin had argued that humanity evolved in Africa, because this is where great apes like
gorillas and chimpanzees lived. Though Darwin's claims have since been vindicated by the fossil
record, they were proposed without any fossil evidence. Other scientific authorities disagreed with
him, like Charles Lyell, a geologist, and Alfred Russel Wallace, who thought of a similar theory of
evolution around the same time as Darwin. Because both Lyell and Wallace believed that humans
were more closely related to gibbons or another great ape (the orangutans), they identified
Southeast Asia as the cradle of humanity because this is where these apes lived. Dutch anatomist
Eugène Dubois favored the latter theory, and sought to confirm it.[
1. Java Man – (Pithecanthropus erectus) the oldest hominin fossils.
- was discovered by Dr. Eugene Dubois, Dutch Army surgeon in 1891.
- It had a skullcap, small brain, two teeth, an a thigh bone and about 5 ½ feet
tall.
- He was liked an ape.
2. Peking Man – (Sinanthropus pekinensis)
- Was discovered by M.W.C. Pei, a young Chinese scientist, in a cave near
Peking.
- His remains consisted of a larger brain, rough stone tools, and traces of fire.
- The cultural complexity of Peking Man is fiercely debated. If the inhabitants
were capable of hunting (as opposed to predominantly scavenging), making
clothes, and controlling fire, they would have been well-equipped to
survive frigid glacial periods. If not, they would have had to retreat
southward and return later. It is further disputed how the Peking Man
fossils were predominantly deposited in the cave, either because they lived
and died there, or they were killed by giant hyenas (Pachycrocuta) and
dumped there, in addition to other natural process. Over 100,000 pieces of
stone tools were recovered, mainly small and inconsistently shaped flakes
no more than 5 cm (2.0 in) long, but they were sometimes refined into
scrapers, choppers, and, towards the later end of occupation, points,
burins, and awls.
3. Neanderthal Man – (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) – they went extinct probably
by competition or extermination by immigrating modern humans, great climactic
change, disease, or some others.
- Was discovered in a cave of Neander River, Germany around 100,000 B.C.
- They are short, stooped, low forehead, big jaws, receding chin with
powerful arms.
- This race disappeared during the last Glacial Period.
- The first Neanderthal remains—Engis 2 (a skull)—were discovered in 1829
by Dutch naturalist Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the Grottes d'Engis,
Belgium, but he thought it was a fossil modern human skull.
4. Cro-Magnon Man – a term derived from the Cro-Magnon rock shelter in
southwestern France in 1868.
- Came from Asia after the Neaderthals Man.
- He was taller than the Neaderthal Man, had broad face, high forehead, ,
and a well- developed animal skin with bone needles.
- He made fire by rubbing 2 dry objects and was a great hunter and skilled
artist.
- The name "Cro-Magnon" comes from the 5 skeletons discovered by French
palaeontologist Louis Lartet in 1868 at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter, Les
Eyzies, Dordogne, France, after the area was accidentally discovered while
clearing land for a railway station.
KINDS OF CIVILIZATION
Civilization is the sum total of what man has done as social being. We often
interchange it for culture. It embraces discoveries, inventions, industries, and all
other activities men have designed to improve himself.
o Material Civilization – refers to man’s control and employment of
nature to advance his way of life.
 o Intellectual Civilization – refers to man’s achievements in all fields of
learning: philosophy, literature, and all the sciences and the arts.
o Religious or Moral Civilization – refers to man’s religious ideas and
beliefs that give form to the standards of right and wrong known as
ethics.
 THREE STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE
 Savagery – the earliest stage of and the lowest form of culture was
savage system. They existed by hunting and fishing.
 Barbarism – this is the transitional stage between savagery and
civilization. Barbarians lived in huts and tended to their flocks and herds.
 Civilization – In general, people of the civilized stage lived in established
communities and had definite sources of food and clothing. They
recognized the value of culture, and enjoyed its refinements as
manifested in their knowledge of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
 PROCESS OF THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN
CIVILIZATION
 Political Organization – people need some form of government and laws to
govern their relation with one another and to afford their protection.
 Economic Activities – society must engage in economic activities and men must
labor to attain the necessities of life. And to acquire these necessities, they must
build industries, improve agriculture, and promote commerce.
 Social Institution – the most important social unit is the family where the father
is the head. In the family, children are born and reared. They are fed, sheltered,
and provided with some form of recreation. The existence of family as an
institution insures the propagation of the human race.
 Intellectual Activities – to solve mankind’s common problem, men have
pursued studies in medicine, law, science, and arts which have brought about
results that now form a part of man’s cultural heritage as well as encourage
research.
 Aesthethic Activities – man has a natural desire to express the beautiful in him
in the form of stories, poems, songs, paintings, carvings, and designs.