History of Asia

The history of Asia can be seen as the collective history of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia. The continent is home to two of the world's oldest, continuous civilizations, Chinese civilization and Indian civilization.

Asia was also home to the Mesopotamian, Ancient Egypt, Indus Valley and Yellow river civilizations. These civilizations were among the first in the world, and developed around fertile river valleys as they were conducive to agriculture. They shared many similarities and likely exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other inventions such as writing likely developed independently as did Cities, states, and empires.

The steppe region had long been inhabited by nomads, and from the central steppes, they could reach all parts of the Asian continent. The northern part of the continent, covering much of Siberia was inaccessible to the steppe nomads due to the dense forests and the tundra. These areas in Siberia were very sparsely populated. Mountains and deserts such as the Caucasus, Himalayas, Karakum and Gobi Desert formed natural barriers against the steppe nomads. The urban centers were technologically and culturally more advanced, but could do little militarily to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grassland to support a large horse mounted force. Thus the nomads who conquered states in West Asia were soon forced to adopt local customs.

Asia has been the birthplace of many religions. They include Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Other religions include Zoroastrianism and the now dead religion of Manichaeism. The spread of Islam ushered in the Islamic Golden Age and the Timurid Renaissance, which later went on to influence the Islamic gunpowder empires.

The history of Asia includes major developments such as the invention of gunpowder in medieval China, which was later developed by the Gunpowder empires, mainly the Mughals and Safavids, and led to significant advancements in warfare. The Silk Road, helped spread cultures, languages, religions, as well as diseases throughout Asia and Europe.