Asias Role In The Four Industrial Revolutions
The principal treatment of Asian historical and cultural development is contained in the articles on Asian countries, regions, and cities and in the articles Palestine, history of and Islamic world. Related topics are discussed in articles on religion (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam) and arts and literature (e.g., Chinese literature, Japanese literature, Central Asian arts, Southeast Asian arts, and South Asian arts). The mountain systems of Central Asia not only have provided the continent’s great rivers with water from their melting snows but also have formed a forbidding natural barrier that has influenced the movement of peoples in the area. Migration across those barriers has been possible only through mountain passes. Today, Asian countries rank as some of the top producers of many agricultural, forest, fishing, mining, and industrial products. This increased production has brought both extreme wealth and negative environmental impacts to the continent. The geographic ter...