Asia 1852

This map of Asia is from “The College Atlas” by H.G. Collins, 22 Paternoster Row, London which was published in 1852. The descriptive text that follows is compiled from the “Universal Gazetteer and Geographical Dictionary" published by John Thomson & Co, Edinburgh in 1843.

Asia – under this name are comprehended the countries to the east of Europe and those on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, and of the Red Sea. The early accounts say that there was a place named Asia on the shores of the Aegean Sea, and well-known to the Greeks. In progress of time, all the country now called Asia Minor was designated Asia; but afterwards the name Asia was applied to the whole continent, now one of the great divisions of our globe. Asia lies on the east of Europe, and is separated from Africa by seas, except at one place, where these two great divisions of the globe are joined by the isthmus of Suez. With Europe it is connected by extensive tracts of land. Asia, whose extent is five times that of Europe, differs in its physical figure from Europe and Africa. The great mass of Asia may be compared to a four-sided figure, approaching a square. As Asia is the most extensive division of the globe, so it far exceeds the rest in the number and variety of its inhabitants. More than 400 millions of people occupy its surface, being twice as many as the inhabitants of Europe, and more than eight times that of America, although this continent approaches nearer to it than any of the others in area.