Eurasia

Eurasia is the name given to the vast landmass shared by the continents of Europe and Asia. The two continents have no natural boundary between them; they are separated only by a line of culture and history that people have agreed upon, usually running through the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains.

Eurasia is the largest continent in the world by area and population. More than a billion people live there, including some of the most populous countries such as China and India. If Africa is included, the term 'Afro-Eurasia' is used, since Africa and Asia are connected by the Sinai Peninsula.

The boundary between Europe and Asia

The division between Europe and Asia is cultural rather than strictly geographical. The conventional understanding, proposed by European scholars centuries ago, is that the Ural Mountains form the eastern boundary. For this reason, countries such as Russia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan have territory on both sides and are called 'Eurasian' countries.

Landscape

Eurasia comprises diverse terrain types: the frozen tundra of northern Siberia, the taiga forest, the steppe (grassland) of the interior, deserts such as the Gobi and the Rub' al Khali, and some of the world's highest mountain ranges, including the Himalayas. Major rivers include the Volga, Yangtze, Ganges, Indus, and Danube.

History and connections

The Eurasian steppe served for long periods as a route for pastoral and trading peoples. The trade routes known as the Silk Road connected China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, transmitting goods, religion, technology, and disease. Many languages spoken in Europe and India also derive from a common origin called Indo-European languages.

Political usage

The term 'Eurasian' is also used in a political sense. For example, the Eurasian Economic Union is an economic alliance led by Russia and includes countries from Central Asia. The ideology of 'Eurasianism' is a school of thought holding that Russia and neighbouring regions share a cultural path distinct from Western Europe.