Asian Geography

Abstract

A massive continent, stretching from Turkey and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and Red Seas to the Pacific, from the Indian Ocean to the vast desert of Mongolia right through the towering Himalayas and the plateau of Tibet, Asia is a colossal geographic collage. One can find in Asia virtually every form of landscape, both real and imagined, including James Hilton’s (1933) Shangri-La, planted in the imaginative geography of Western travelers and tourists (also see Bishop 1989). As the cradle of three of the world’s early civilizations, Asia is a magnificent tapestry of cultural diversity. Asia has also given birth to all the major institutional religions that are practiced today: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others. As such, few would deny its enormous historical significance and contributions to human progress in every respect—spiritually, materially, and intellectually. Home to some 60 per cent of the world’s population, Asia is a human mosaic that is unparalleled in history (Table 39.1). So it is hardly surprising that Asia offers endless research challenges and opportunities, in virtually every field of geographical studies. With this in mind, this chapter is divided into four major sections. First, we provide a brief journalistic survey of major regional political events across Asia. This is followed by a segment on the state of Asian geography in America in the second part. Third, we discuss some of the developments, trends, and research themes in Asian geography in America during the period 1988–2000. Finally, we conclude the chapter with some general remarks on the vexing question of what lies ahead for regional geography. We explore this question not because we foresee an imminent demise of regional geography, but because some of the remarkable developments during the 1990s have definite impacts on the way we see and do regional geography.