Eurasia
African-Eurasian aspect of
Earth is a large
landmass covering about 52,990,000 km
2 (20,846,000 mi
2) or about 10.6% of the
Earth's surface (36.2% of the land area). Often considered a single
continent,
[ "Most people recognize seven continents—Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia, from largest to smallest—although sometimes Europe and Asia are considered a single continent, Eurasia."] Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of
Europe and
Asia (and
Eurasia is a
portmanteau of the two), concepts which date back to
classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary. Eurasia, in turn, is part of the yet larger landmass of
Afro-Eurasia, whereby Eurasia is joined to
Africa at the
Isthmus of Suez.
Eurasia is inhabited by almost 4.8 billion people, more than 71% of the world's
population.
History and culture
Jared Diamond, in his book
Guns, Germs and Steel, credits Eurasia's dominance in world history to the east-west extent of Eurasia and its
climate zones, and the availability of Eurasian animals and plants suitable for
domestication. He sometimes includes
North Africa in his definition of Eurasia.
The
Silk Road symbolizes trade and cultural exchange linking Eurasian cultures through history and has been an increasingly popular topic. Over recent decades the idea of a greater
Eurasian history has developed with the aim of investigating the genetic, cultural and
linguistic relationships between European and Asian cultures of antiquity. These had long been considered distinct.
Geology
Eurasia formed 325 to 375 million years ago. It formed when
Siberia (once an independent continent),
Kazakhstania, and
Baltica (which was joined to
Laurentia, now North America, to form
Euramerica) joined. Chinese cratons collided with Siberia's southern coast.
Use of term
Anthropology and genetics
In modern usage, the term
Eurasian usually means "of or relating to Eurasia", or "a native or inhabitant of Eurasia". However, it may also refer to a person of both Asian and European parentage, especially in '
New World' countries such as the
United States,
Canada,
Singapore and
Australia.
West or Western Eurasia is a loose geographic definition used in some disciplines, such as
genetics or
anthropology, to refer to the region inhabited by the relatively homogenous population of
West Asia,
Europe and related areas, specially
North Africa. The peoples of this region are often described collectively as
West or
Western Eurasians.
Geography
Located primarily in the
eastern and
northern hemispheres, Eurasia is considered a
supercontinent, part of the
supercontinent of
Afro-Eurasia or simply a continent its own right. In
plate tectonics, the
Eurasian Plate includes Europe and most of Asia but not the
Indian subcontinent, the
Arabian Peninsula or the area of the
Russian Far East east of the
Chersky Range.
Post-Soviet countries
Eurasia is also sometimes used in
geopolitics as a neutral way to refer to organizations of or affairs concerning the
post-Soviet states, in particular
Russia, the
Central Asian republics, and the
Transcaucasian republics. A prominent example of this usage is in the name of the
Eurasian Economic Community, the organization including Kazakhstan, Russia, and some of their neighbors, and headquartered in
Moscow and
Astana.
The word "Eurasia" is often used in
Kazakhstan as the name of the continent or region in which that country is located. Numerous institutions in that country use it in their name, e.g., L.N. Gumilev Eurasian National University (; ) (
Lev Gumilev's
Eurasianism ideas having been popularized in Kazakhstan by
Olzhas Suleimenov), the
Eurasian Media Forum, the Eurasian Culture Foundation (), the
Eurasian Development Bank (), or the Eurasian Bank. In 2007, Kazakhstan's President
Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed that a "
Eurasia Canal" be built to connect the
Caspian Sea and the
Black Sea via the
Kuma-Manych Depression in Russia, providing Kazakhstan and other Caspian-basin countries with a more efficient access path to the ocean than the existing
Volga-Don Canal. This usage is somewhat analogous to the U.S. usage of the term
Western Hemisphere when referring to the concepts and organizations dealing with the
Americas (e.g.,
Council on Hemispheric Affairs or
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).
History of the Europe and Asia division
In ancient times, the
Greeks classified Europe (derived from the mythological
Phoenician princess
Europa) and Asia (derived from
Asia, a woman in
Greek mythology) as separate "lands." Where to draw the dividing line between the two regions is still a matter of discussion. Especially whether the
Kuma-Manych Depression or the
Caucasus Mountains form the south-east boundary is disputed, since
Mount Elbrus would be part of Europe in the latter case, making it (and not
Mont Blanc) Europe's highest mountain. Most accepted is probably the boundary as defined by
Philip Johan von Strahlenberg in the 18th century. He defined the dividing line along the
Aegean Sea,
Dardanelles,
Sea of Marmara,
Bosporus,
Black Sea,
Kuma-Manych Depression,
Caspian Sea,
Ural River, and
Ural Mountains. This distinction between Europe and Asia has spread to the rest of the world, even though
Asia contains multiple
regions and cultures as large and populous as Europe, and as different and geographically separated from each other as they are from Europe.
Use in fiction
Eurasia is a
fictional country,
state or
supranational entity appearing in several works of speculative fiction, including books, movies, television series and video games:
- A Eurasia comprising approximately the same land area as the real-life landmass appears in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. This superstate excludes Britain and Ireland (both controlled by Oceania) and Eastasia, the latter of which was formed after a 'decade of confused fighting' by an alliance of the states of the real-life East Asia region, the most important three being Korea, China and Japan. India was a contested border zone between Eurasia and Oceania and was the most famous state involved.
- In S. M. Stirling's dystopian Draka alternative history series, the analogue to World War II is known as "The Eurasian War". Somewhat similar in its geography to Orwell's scenario, the war ends with most of Eurasia—excluding the British Isles, India and southeast Asia—being conquered by the extremely oppressive Draka who literally enslave everybody else.
- Eurasia is also used as the name of the fictional space colony that X and Zero must stop from colliding with Earth in the video game Mega Man X5.
- Eurasia is also the name of the super-state in the Japanese film Casshern. Unlike most other fictional "Eurasias" this one has more Chinese/Japanese motives than Russian, although Russian seems to be the official written language.
- In the 1980 animated film Animalympics, some of the athletes come from "Eurasia". Although not specifically noted in the film, the names and accents of these athletes suggest that "Eurasia" signifies the Soviet Union at the time. The Soviet Union was, by far, the biggest country in the Eurasian continent at the time.
See also
- Laurasia, a geological supercontinent joining Eurasia and North America.
