131-423: – in Asia (tan & white) – in Arabia (tan) South Yemen , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen , abbreviated to Democratic Yemen , is a country in West Asia that existed from 1967 to 1990 as the only communist state in the Middle East and the Arab world . It was made up of the southern and eastern governorates of the present-day Republic of Yemen , including
262-505: A one-party , socialist state . The official name of the state was changed a year after the reforms to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), and was able to establish strong relations with Cuba , East Germany , North Korea , China , and the Soviet Union . Despite its efforts to bring stability into the region, it was involved in a brief civil war in 1986 . The PDRY unified with
393-500: A South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago. Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in
524-688: A Soviet naval and air base on the island of Socotra for operations in the Indian Ocean. Unlike the early decades of other partitioned states such as East Germany and West Germany , North Korea and South Korea , or North Vietnam and South Vietnam , all of which faced tense relations or sometimes total wars , the relations between the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) remained relatively friendly throughout most of their existence, although conflicts did arise. Fighting broke out in 1972 , and
655-566: A collapsed economy. Civilian workers and businessmen left, British support stopped, and the closure of the Suez Canal in 1967 reduced the number of ships crossing Aden by 75%. The National Liberation Front had approximately 4,000 members, a small number of university-educated leaders, and all of them, without exception, had no experience in government. The front was divided into two right-wing and left-wing sections. The right-wingers and their popular leader, Qahtan, did not want to make major changes in
786-619: A kind of blueprint for the PDRY's first constitution. The new government embarked on a programme of nationalisation , introduced central planning , put limits on housing ownership and rent , and implemented land reforms . By 1973, the GDP of South Yemen increased by 25 percent. Despite the conservative environment and resistance, women became legally equal to men, polygamy , child marriage and arranged marriage were all banned by law and equal rights in divorce were sanctioned; all of supported and protected by
917-659: A major hub for outsourcing. Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa (see also: Indo-Pacific ), from there to Djibouti , then through
1048-567: A marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος . The term was later adopted by the Romans , who used it in reference to the province of Asia , located in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny . The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia , South Asia , Southeast Asia , Central Asia , and West Asia . The coastal periphery
1179-679: A mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot deserts in parts of West Asia , Central Asia and South Asia , temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in North Asia . The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Suez Canal , the Gulf of Suez , the Red Sea , and the Bab-el-Mandeb . This makes Egypt a transcontinental country , with
1310-540: A name by numeral . The state changed this practice in the mid-1980s but gave the governorates geographical or historical names and ensured that their borders did not coincide with tribal allegiances. Today, this legacy contributes to misunderstanding and confusion when discussing political issues and allegiances in Yemen. The islands of Kamaran (until 1972, when it was seized by North Yemen), Perim , Socotra , Abd-el-Kuri , Samha (inhabited), Darsah and others uninhabited from
1441-889: A national identification card. In November 1989, after returning from the Soviet–Afghan War , Osama bin Laden offered to send the newly formed al-Qaeda to overthrow the South Yemeni government on behalf of Saudi Arabia , but Prince Turki bin Faisal found the plan reckless and declined. In 1990, the parties reached a full agreement on joint governing of Yemen, and the countries were effectively merged as Yemen . South Yemen's ethnic groups were, as of 2000, ethnic Yemeni Arabs (92.8%), Somalis (3.7%), Afro-Arab (1.1%), Indians and Pakistanis (1%), and other (1.4%). South Yemen has maintained control over religious expression and has worked to diminish
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#17328519651381572-583: A number of collective farms, however, those set up following the Soviet model produced poorer results than cooperative-run farms. The national budget was 13.43 million dinars in 1976, and the gross national product was US$ 650 - 500 million. The total national debt was $ 52.4 million. Limited natural resources posed challenges to the economic development of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Despite this constraint, significant, albeit modest, oil reserves were discovered shortly after
1703-543: A poor economy, the government ensured a basic level of living standard for all citizens and established a welfare state . Income equality improved, corruption was reduced, and health and educational services expanded. Overall, the population was assured of a basic but adequate living standard for all. Democratic Yemen had a "National Science Day" on 10 September. According to the UNESCO in 1985, education in Democratic Yemen
1834-462: A productive capacity of 10,000 barrels per day (bpd), that between 5,000-10,000 bpd were being trucked to the Aden refinery, and that there were plans to increase the number of trucks on the oil run to bring deliveries up to 25,000 bpd, considerably more than the PDRY's total domestic need at the time. The discovery was viewed as a potential pathway to reduce dependence on external sources of income and improve
1965-576: A radical Marxist wing of the NLF formed a presidential committee of five people, Salim Rubaya Ali , who became president, Muhammad Saleh Al-Awlaki, Ali Antar, Abdel Fattah Ismail, and Muhammad Ali Haitham, who became prime minister. they gained power in an event known as the Corrective Move . This radical wing reorganised the country into the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) on 30 November 1970. Subsequently, all political parties were amalgamated into
2096-502: A range of essential goods such as plastics, batteries, cigarettes, matches, tomato paste, dairy products, and fish canning. Within the industrial sector, the state implemented welfarist labor laws that were widely enforced. These laws included regulations aimed at safeguarding women in the workforce by prohibiting night shifts and hazardous occupations. Additionally, the legislation ensured that workers received salaries that enabled them to maintain reasonable living standards. Trade unions in
2227-647: A rebellion led by leftist factions in the army in May of the same year. On another level, in the months of July, August and December of 1968, the popular Qahtan faced new rebellions from leftist parties because all Arab countries welcomed the front. The National Liberation Front received a cold reception, as regimes like Egypt wanted to merge the National Front with the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen. The leftist section
2358-537: A spectrum. China and India traded places as the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during
2489-956: Is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains , and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression ) and the Caspian and Black Seas . It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them ( Georgia , Azerbaijan , Russia , Kazakhstan and Turkey ) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe . Geographically, Russia
2620-506: Is growing rapidly. In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$ 1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. In 2011, Asia topped Europe in number of millionaires. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At
2751-462: Is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia
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#17328519651382882-569: Is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere , and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan. Climate change is particularly important in Asia, as the continent accounts for the majority of the human population. Warming since the 20th century is increasing
3013-699: Is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation , both culturally and politically. The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north. There are various approaches to
3144-486: Is projected to move to third place, behind China and India. While nearly half of the world's new renewable energy capacity is built in Asia, this is not yet sufficient in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement . They imply that the renewables would account for 35% of total energy consumption in Asia by 2030. Asia has the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values, and
3275-429: Is the fastest growing economic region. As of 2023 , China is by far the largest economy on the continent, making up nearly half of the continent's economy by GDP nominal. It is followed by Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are all ranked among the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of
3406-553: The 14 October Revolution which was influenced by the 26 September Revolution against the Imams in the North . The British had announced that they would withdraw by 1968 as a result of the revolution. The NLF and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) appeared in the 1960s, supporters of the NLF were from the countryside of Radfan , Yafa , and Ad-Dali , while the supporters of
3537-721: The Aden Settlement subordinate to the Bombay Presidency and then as a Chief Commissioner's province. After the collapse of Aden Protectorate, a state of emergency was declared in 1963, when the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) rebelled against the British rule. The Federation of South Arabia and the Protectorate of South Arabia were overthrown to become
3668-565: The Arctic Ocean . The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct , as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits , the Ural Mountains and Ural River , and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe. Since
3799-776: The Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. During the Hellenistic period , this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo and Ptolemy . The border between Asia and Europe
3930-658: The British Aden Protectorate in what would become South Yemen . The Federation of six states was inaugurated in the British Colony of Aden on 11 February 1959, and the Federation and Britain signed a “Treaty of Friendship and Protection,” which detailed plans for British financial and military assistance. It subsequently added nine states and, on 4 April 1962, became known as the Federation of South Arabia . This
4061-577: The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC ). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2027. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of
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4192-427: The Federation of South Arabia on 1965, four sheikhdoms out of twenty-one had joined the union. The Qu'aiti and Kathiri sultanates of Hadhramaut refused to join either of the federations. Several resistance movements emerged, such as the National Liberation Front (NLF), whom were responsible for the wounding of British High Commissioner Kennedy Trevaskis on 10 December 1963 using a grenade, an event that sparked
4323-703: The Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah —and later to Christians in the Old Testament , and to Muslims in the Quran —is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology , in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh . Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required
4454-615: The Hindu Kush region will become more unstable as its enormous glaciers , known as the "Asian water towers", gradually melt. These changes to water cycle also affect vector-borne disease distribution, with malaria and dengue fever expected to become more prominent in the tropical and subtropical regions. Food security will become more uneven, and South Asian countries could experience significant impacts from global food price volatility. Historical emissions from Asia are lower than those from Europe and North America. However, China has been
4585-652: The Mahra Sultanate due to his old age. The commander of the Hadhrami Bedouin Legion was killed by one of his men in the same year, and Ali Salem Al-Beidh and Muhammad Salem Akash played a major role in gathering supporters in favor of the National Liberation Front, taking advantage of the near absence of the English presence in al-Mahra. Qahtan Al-Shaabi was the only person the British knew because he
4716-566: The National Liberation Front , which later transformed into the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party . The legislative body, the Supreme People's Council , was elected by the people for a period of five years. The collective head of state, also known as the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council, was elected by the Supreme People's Council for a period of five years as well. The executive body
4847-667: The Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa. The threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on
4978-820: The Stasi in the country to train the nation's secret police and establish another arms trafficking route to Palestine . The East Germans did not leave until 1990, when the Yemeni government declined to pay their salaries which had been terminated with the dissolution of the Stasi during German reunification . However by the middle 1980s the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev largely shunned South Yemen. Relations between South Yemen and several nearby states were poor. Saudi Arabia only established diplomatic relations in 1976, initially hosting pro-British exiles and supporting armed clashes in
5109-692: The United Arab Republic , to whom they lost 14–0. On 5 November 1989, South Yemen played its last international match against Guinea , to whom they lost 1–0. The team stopped playing when the North and South united in 1990 to form the modern state of Yemen . In 1988, the South Yemen Olympic team made its debut in the Summer Olympics in Seoul . Sending only eight athletes, the country won no medals. This
5240-487: The Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains , although it is sometimes placed further north. The border between Asia and Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Indonesia Archipelago , specifically in Eastern Indonesia . The Wallace Line separates
5371-446: The Yemen Arab Republic , on 22 May 1990 to form the present-day Republic of Yemen . In 1838, Muhsin Bin Fadl, Sultan of Lahej ceded 194 km (75 sq mi) of Aden to the British . On 19 January 1839, the British East India Company landed Royal Marines at Aden to occupy the territory and stop attacks by pirates against British shipping to India making Aden a part of British colonial rule from 1839 until 1937. In
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5502-418: The century of humiliation , with the British-supported opium trade and later Opium Wars resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported. Foreign domination of China was furthered by the Japanese colonial empire , which controlled some of East Asia and briefly much of Southeast Asia (which had earlier been taken over by the British, Dutch and French in
5633-638: The monsoons will experience more flooding. The waters around Asia are subjected to the same impacts as elsewhere, such as the increased warming and ocean acidification . There are many coral reefs in the region, and they are highly vulnerable to climate change, to the point practically all of them will be lost if the warming exceeds 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Asia's distinctive mangrove ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to sea level rise . Asia also has more countries with large coastal populations than any other continent, which would cause large economic impacts from sea level rise. Water supplies in
5764-432: The steppes . The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans , who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia , was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra . These areas remained very sparsely populated. The center and
5895-406: The 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty . The Islamic Mughal Empire (preceded by the Delhi Sultanate of the 13th to early 16th century) and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Western imperialism in Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and
6026-431: The 1920s, the British began expanding and annexing the multiple sheikhdoms surrounding Aden under the claim of protecting them. This was more a precautionary measure to prevent the Yemeni imams from storming Aden than a desire to annex the small sheikhdoms to the empire. In the mid-1950s, the British realized that they would not be able to manage the colonies and needed a stable political unit that would distance Aden from
6157-416: The 1990s, with extreme poverty now below 20%; India and China's rise has coincided with growing tension between the two, with the Indo-Pacific now an actively contested area between China and counterbalancing forces. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres (39,022 mi). Asia
6288-468: The 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism , Zoroastrianism , Judaism , Jainism , Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity , Islam , Sikhism , and many other religions. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It also has
6419-466: The 7th century; Islam also spread over centuries to the southern regions of India and Southeast Asia through trade along the Maritime Silk Road . The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people. The Black Death , one of
6550-427: The Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms, a transition zone of deep water straits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Weber's Line split the region in two with regard to the balance of fauna between Asian origin or Australo-Papuan origin. Wallacea's eastern boundary with Sahul is represented by the Lydekker's Line . The Maluku Islands (except the Aru Islands) are often considered to lie on
6681-441: The Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach . The melting of the Arctic is also paving the way for new shipping routes from Northeast Asia to Europe and North America. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade,
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#17328519651386812-502: The Bering Strait, with Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States . The Aleutian Islands are an island chain extending westward from the Alaskan Peninsula toward Russia's Komandorski Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula . Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost Near Islands group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the North Aleutians Basin and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow
6943-407: The Egyptians promoting Nasser’s agendas inside the country, the operations of these factions against the British were known to them as the Aden Emergency. The British tried to reach a compromise with these groups and found themselves waging a war on two fronts, trying to thwart the Republic in the north and the anti-English factions in the south. By 1965, most of the western protectorates had fallen to
7074-407: The FLOSY were mainly from Aden; This is because tribal affiliations played a major role in attracting supporters. The leaders of the NLF came from within the protected sheikhdoms and were not supported by the Egyptians at first, while the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen ran its operations from Aden and received support from Gamal Abdel Nasser , which made it appear as a follower of
7205-417: The Hittite king Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Roughly contemporary Linear B documents contain the term aswia ( Mycenaean Greek : 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊 , romanized: a-si-wi-ja ), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area. Herodotus used the term in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Achaemenid Empire , in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia
7336-424: The Indian Ocean respectively in the late 15th century. The Russian Empire also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. Among non-European empires, the Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onward, while in
7467-482: The Middle East has been affected since 1948 by the Arab–Israeli conflict and American-led interventions . East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth " tiger economies "; China, having undergone capitalistic reforms under Deng Xiaoping , regained its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century. India has also grown significantly because of economic liberalisation that started in
7598-402: The National Front or leaving for North Yemen. Abdullah Al-Asanj and Muhammad Basindwa left for North Yemen. The last British soldier left Aden on 30 November 1967, and the sheikhdoms of the Eastern Protectorate in Hadhramaut were annexed to the new country. The lands of South Yemen are rugged and barren, a fact that played a role in the social, cultural and economic development of the south, unlike
7729-482: The National Liberation Front, renamed the Yemeni Socialist Party , which became the only legal party. This group took an extreme leftist line and declared its support for the Palestinians and the Dhofar Revolution . West Germany severed its relationship with the state due to its recognition of East Germany. The United States also severed its relationship in October 1969. The new powers issued a new constitution, nationalized foreign banks and insurance companies, and changed
7860-407: The National Liberation Front. As for Hadhramaut, it seemed calm until 1966 because the English presence there was less than its counterpart in the western protectorates. Ali Salem al-Baidh and Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas joined the National Liberation Front in Hadhramaut and prevented the sultans of the Kathiri Sultanate and the Qu'aiti Sultanate from entering the country, but allowed the Sultan of
7991-400: The Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century led to the Middle East also being contested and partitioned by the British and French. With the end of World War II in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule. The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for
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#17328519651388122-468: The PDRY primarily functioned as state entities rather than as negotiating bodies, playing a significant role in upholding labor regulations and standards. A few months after The Events of '86 , the PDRY had discovered oil after more than 6 decades of unsuccessful exploration, the Soviet Union discovered oil in the Shabwah Governorate in late 1986, marking a turning point for the resource-scarce nation. Decades of unsuccessful exploration efforts, hampered by
8253-399: The PDRY to search for oil in a 13,500-square-mile area in Shabwa, and, in 1984, launched a program of exploratory drilling. This Soviet effort yielded only traces of oil over the next two years, a sharp contrast to the discovery and rapid exploitation of oil in the same period by an American company, Hunt Oil , in- the YAR's Marib basin, an area just to the west of Shabwa. Then, in late 1986,
8384-481: The PDRY was admitted into the United Nations as a member state. the British announced that they would withdraw from 1968, which sparked the battles between the National Liberation Front and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen to monopolize the right to self-determination after the British left. The National Liberation Front had the upper hand at the expense of the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen, whose members were divided between joining
8515-444: The People's Republic of Southern Yemen (PRSY) on 30 November 1967. On 22 June 1969, the Marxist–Leninist faction of the NLF led by Abdel Fattah Ismail and Salim Rubai Ali , overthrew the Nasserist President Qahtan al-Shaabi in an internal bloodless coup that was later called the Corrective Move . The Marxist–Leninist takeover later led to the creation of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), and South Yemen's transformation into
8646-504: The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become
8777-445: The Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces. Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion ), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in
8908-440: The Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ), there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe . A particularly significant part of
9039-418: The Socotra archipelago were districts ( mudiriyat ) of the First/Aden Governorate being under the Prime Minister's supervision. During British rule, economic development in South Yemen was restricted to the city of Aden , focused mainly on the port and on the British military bases. As a result, following the British withdrawal, there here was little to no industrial output or mineral wealth exploitation in
9170-432: The Soviets struck very high quality oil in western Shabwa, an occurrence confirmed by authorities in Aden in early 1987. By late March, Initial estimates placed the oil reserves at around 1 billion barrels, sparking plans for pipeline construction and full-scale production of the oil fields. events moved swiftly, and industry sources reported in mid-1987 that the three fields - lyad East , lyad West , and Amal already had
9301-454: The U.S. state of Alaska as well as the United States itself to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their inhabitants , who have historically been related to Indigenous Americans . St. Lawrence Island in
9432-651: The US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen /US$ . Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim , known as the Asian tigers , which are now all considered developed economies, having among
9563-535: The Yemeni reunification. Diplomatic relations with the United States had been broken on 24 October 1969 because of disagreements with US policy in the Middle East. They were not restored until shortly before reunification. The Supreme People's Council was appointed by the General Command of the National Liberation Front in 1971. In Aden, there was a structured judicial system with a supreme court . Despite
9694-564: The area of multinational corporations , but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure. According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia,
9825-524: The authorities, and that the new state not interfere in the affairs of any country in the Arabian Peninsula. The British were surprised by the presence of people they thought were loyal to them alongside the popular Qahtan. The NLF was invited to the Geneva Talks to sign the independence agreement with the British. During its occupation of Aden , the British had signed several treaties of protection with
9956-612: The border of southeast Asia, with the Aru Islands and Western New Guinea , to the east of the Lydekker's Line, being wholly part of Oceania, as both lie on the Australian continental plate. Culturally, the Wallacea region denoted the transition between Austronesian and Melanesian people , with varying degrees of intermixing between the two. In general, the further west and coastal a region is,
10087-401: The border regions of South Yemen. Relations with Oman declined through the 1970s as the South Yemeni government supported the insurgent Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO). Relations with Ba'athist Iraq were also low, as South Yemen offered asylum to a number of Iraqi communists . The United States listed South Yemen as a “state sponsor of terrorism” between 1979 and
10218-523: The combined efforts of emperors and divinities to control. The Abrahamic religions including Judaism , Christianity , Islam , Druze faith , and Baháʼí Faith originated in West Asia. Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia The Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia ( Arabic : اتحاد إمارات الجنوب العربي Ittiḥād ʾImārāt al-Janūb al-ʿArabiyy ) was an organization of states within
10349-489: The concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity . The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on
10480-693: The confidence of his sponsors in the USSR . His successor, Ali Nasir Muhammad , took a less interventionist stance toward both North Yemen and neighbouring Oman . On 13 January 1986, a violent struggle began in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and supporters of the returned Ismail, who wanted power back. This conflict, known as the South Yemen Civil War , lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties, Ali Nasir's ouster , and Ismail's disappearance and presumed death. Some 60,000 people, including
10611-537: The continent of Asia". Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass— Afro-Eurasia —and share a common continental shelf . Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate , adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with
10742-491: The country included courts of appeal and the provincial courts, and the courts of first instance were known as the district courts or magistrate courts. The only political party was the Yemen Socialist Party. The only avowedly Marxist–Leninist nation in the Middle East, South Yemen received significant foreign aid and other assistance from the USSR and East Germany , which stationed several hundred officers of
10873-492: The country until the mid-1980s, when significant petroleum reserves in the central regions near Shibam and Mukalla were discovered. Foreign aid was minimal, as the British government did not fulfill promises of aid and the Soviet Union offered only US$ 152 million from 1969 to 1980. The main sources of income were agriculture, mostly fruit, cereal crops , cattle and sheep, and fishing. The government guaranteed full employment in agriculture for rural citizens, and established
11004-542: The country's unification in 1990. However, the YSP government did not benefit from oil exports to fund its development initiatives. Over time, economic policies in the PDRY underwent a transformation, shifting from an initial focus on developing the state sector to promoting cooperative and joint private-public enterprises. By the late 1980s, there was a notable presence of industries in Aden and around Al Mukalla in Hadramawt, producing
11135-443: The cultural borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus, a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe , the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of
11266-600: The deposed Ali Nasir, fled to the YAR. Ali Salim al-Beidh , an ally of Ismail who had succeeded in escaping the attack on pro-Ismail members of the Politburo , then became General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party . Against the background of the perestroika in the USSR , the main backer of the PDRY, political reforms were started in the late 1980s. Political prisoners were released, political parties were formed, and
11397-590: The dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies. The British Empire first became dominant in South Asia, with most of the region being conquered by British traders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before falling under direct British rule after a failed 1857 revolt ; the 1869 completion of the Suez Canal , which increased British access to India, went on to further European influence over Africa and Asia. Around this time, Western powers started to dominate China in what later became known as
11528-657: The easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Chersky Range ) on the North American Plate . The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa ( Hittite : 𒀸𒋗𒉿 , romanized: aš-šu-wa ) which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia . The term appears in Hittite records recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including Troy unsuccessfully rebelled against
11659-485: The end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $ 100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people. With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for
11790-414: The first time a city of a country from Asia ( Bangkok ) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors. East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in
11921-576: The harsh desert environment and political instability, had left South Yemen heavily reliant on foreign aid, primarily from the Soviet Union, and remittances from its citizens working abroad, estimated to be around half of government revenue by the mid-1980s. The discovery, made by the Soviet oil company Technoexport, emerged amidst the Cold War, with the Soviet Union playing a crucial role in the exploration and discovery process. In 1980s, Technoexport contracted with
12052-547: The highest GDP per capita in Asia. Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum , forests , fish , water , rice , copper and silver . Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan , South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in
12183-527: The island of Socotra . It was bordered by North Yemen to the north-west, Saudi Arabia to the north, and Oman to the east. South Yemen's origins can be traced to 1874 with the creation of the British Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate , which consisted of two-thirds of present-day Yemen. Prior to 1937, what was to become the Colony of Aden had been governed as a part of British India, originally as
12314-671: The late 19th century), New Guinea and the Pacific islands ; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the Meiji era of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia. One significant influence on Japan had been the United States, which had begun projecting influence across the Pacific after its early-to-mid-19th century westward expansion . The breakup of
12445-517: The lives of South Yemen's roughly 2.4 million citizens. However, the joy of discovery was accompanied by a multitude of challenges. Asia Asia ( / ˈ eɪ ʒ ə / AY -zhə , UK also / ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / AY -shə ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth 's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to
12576-420: The local sheikhdoms and emirates of the Federation of South Arabia; however, these parties were excluded from the talks, and thus the agreement stated [...the handover of the territory of South Arabia to the (Yemeni) NLF...]. Southern Yemen became independent as the People's Republic of Southern Yemen on 30 November 1967, and the National Liberation Front consolidated its control in the country. On 14 December 1967,
12707-511: The lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large equestrian force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies. The Islamic Caliphate 's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its conquests of
12838-551: The majority of South Asian Muslims , which in 1971 further split into the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh ; Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally. The end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union by 1991 saw the independence of the five modern Central Asian countries. Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential, though stability in
12969-456: The majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population. Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe , and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa . In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean , and on the north by
13100-508: The most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road . European involvement in Asia became more significant from the Age of Discovery onward, with Iberian-sponsored sailors such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama paving the way for new routes from Atlantic Europe to Pacific Asia and
13231-605: The name of the state to The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in line with the Marxist-Leninist approach they followed. A centrally planned economy was established. The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen established close ties with the Soviet Union , the German Democratic Republic , Cuba , and the Palestinian Liberation Organization . East Germany 's constitution of 1968 even served as
13362-698: The northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks , being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to
13493-402: The northern regions of Yemen. Their population in 1967 did not exceed two million people, while northern Yemen exceeded six million. Most of the population of the south was concentrated in the western regions of Lahj and its environs, and these alone constituted more than 60% of the population, 10% were nomads. Qahtan al-Shaabi assumed the presidency of a state that had never existed before, with
13624-465: The peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However,
13755-642: The prevailing social and economic structure and took a conservative stance toward "liberating all Arab lands from colonialism, supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people, and supporting socialist regimes around the world to resist imperialism and colonial forces in the Third World." The leftist section of the Liberation Front was also promoting and opposed the establishment of popular forces and proposals to nationalize lands, and they were not preoccupied with
13886-682: The regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories. Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from Arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It
14017-406: The role of religion in everyday life. It has replaced sharia with secular law in many areas, such as personal status, and has entrusted the interpretation of these laws to secular officials or state-empowered sheikhs . The state also controls religious trusts and channels funds for mosques through a government ministry, which has contributed to the sheikhs' dependence on the state. Additionally,
14148-412: The sheikhdoms. On the other hand, the leaders of the sheikhdoms feared that they would be overthrown later or that their influence would remain limited due to the dominance of the educated Aden elite, which was made up of a large number of non-Arabs and non-Muslims. In addition to all that was the sheikhdoms' differences over the who should be the president of the federation. Following the establishment of
14279-692: The short-lived conflict was resolved with negotiations, where it was declared unification would eventually occur. However, these plans were put on hold in 1979, as the PDRY funded Red rebels in the YAR , and the war was only prevented by an Arab League intervention. The goal of unity was reaffirmed by the northern and southern heads of state during a summit meeting in Kuwait in March 1979. In 1980, PDRY president Abdul Fattah Ismail resigned and went into exile in Moscow, having lost
14410-490: The single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the 21st century, while India is the third-largest. As a whole, Asia currently accounts for 36% of world's primary energy consumption, which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. By 2040, it is also expected to account for 80% of the world's coal and 26% of the world's natural gas consumption. While the United States remains the world's largest oil consumer, by 2050 it
14541-602: The state General Union of Yemeni Women . The Republic also secularised education and sharia law was replaced by a state legal code . Slavery in Yemen , which had been abolished in North Yemen by the 1962 revolution , was now abolished also in South Yemen. The major communist powers assisted in the building of the PDRY's armed forces. Strong support from Moscow resulted in Soviet naval forces gaining access to naval facilities in South Yemen. The most significant among them,
14672-445: The state and ignore the tribal borders between the defunct sheikhdoms. On 16 June 1969, Qahtan fired Interior Minister Muhammad Ali Haitham , but the latter withdrew his ties to With the tribes and the army, he was able to ally himself with Muhammad Saleh Al-Awlaki, and they reassembled the leftist forces that had been dispersed by President Qahtan Al-Shaabi. They were able to arrest him and place him under house arrest. On 22 June 1969,
14803-419: The state has adopted a dual approach to religion, promoting a form of 'official' Islam while suppressing 'popular' Islam. This has included public displays of religious observance by government leaders to deflect accusations of being anti-Islamic, despite the state's ongoing efforts to undermine the influence of Islam in society. South Yemen developed as a Marxist–Leninist , mostly secular society ruled first by
14934-583: The stronger the Austronesian influences, and the further east and inland a region is, the stronger the Melanesian influences. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of
15065-403: The struggle of social classes. Qahtan wanted the continuation of existing institutions and their development. The leftist section "wanted a social and economic transformation that would serve the broad segment of the working people instead of the wealthy minority," as they put it. on 20 March 1968, Qahtan dismissed all leftist leaders from the government and party membership and was able to put down
15196-414: The system of justice was reckoned to be more equitable than in the North. In May 1988, the YAR and PDRY governments came to an understanding that considerably reduced tensions, including agreement to renew discussions concerning unification, to establish a joint oil exploration area along their undefined border, to demilitarise the border, and to allow Yemenis unrestricted border passage on the basis of only
15327-603: The threat of heatwaves across the entire continent. Heatwaves lead to increased mortality, and the demand for air conditioning is rapidly accelerating as the result. By 2080, around 1 billion people in the cities of South and Southeast Asia are expected to experience around a month of extreme heat every year. The impacts on water cycle are more complicated: already arid regions, primarily located in West Asia and Central Asia , will see more droughts , while areas of East , Southeast and South Asia which are already wet due to
15458-529: The top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul . Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. According to economic historian Angus Maddison , India had the world's largest economy during 1000 BCE and 1 CE. India was the largest economy in the world for most of
15589-533: The two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output. China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India. For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as
15720-469: The various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process." The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America , as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This national and continental boundary separates the Diomede Islands in
15851-494: The wave of Arab nationalism that had swept the region and preserve for them influence and the ability to manage Aden from London, so they established the Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia in 1959. The federation did not succeed for several reasons, the first of which was the British insistence that Aden would be part of the entity, which was rejected by the commercial elite of Aden, most of whom were Indians , Persians , and Jews , because they feared for their future from
15982-408: The world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy. Nepal ,
16113-634: The world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed. Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates . Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue , more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in
16244-497: Was an agricultural engineer in his city of Lahij. When the British tried to negotiate with the National Liberation Front, Qahtan demanded immediate withdrawal and recognition of the legitimacy of his government, and that the British government provide aid double what it proposed to the union, and that all the islands associated with the Aden Protectorate be part of the new state. While the British demands were an orderly handover to
16375-619: Was considered the best in the Arabian Peninsula and that the illiteracy rate was 2% of the population. In 1976, the South Yemen national football team participated in the AFC Asian Cup , where the team lost to Iraq 1–0 and to Iran 8–0. They entered their only World Cup qualification campaign in 1986 and were knocked out in the first round by Bahrain . On 2 September 1965, South Yemen played their first international match against
16506-509: Was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until
16637-748: Was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel . Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from
16768-507: Was known as the Council of Ministers, and was formed by the Supreme People's Council. Local representative bodies were the people's councils, and their decisions were taken into account when the members of the Supreme People's Council were governing. Local executive bodies were the executive bureaus of the people's councils. The highest court was the Supreme Court of South Yemen, other courts in
16899-416: Was more numerous than the supporters of the popular Qahtan, and they wanted a regime that would lead the masses and face the great challenges facing the new state, the most important of which was the bankruptcy of the treasury. On 11 December 1967, the lands of "feudal symbols and British agents" were confiscated, and the state was divided into six governorates. The aim of the move was to end tribal aspects in
17030-471: Was named after the wife of Prometheus , but that Lydians say it was named after Asies , son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis . In Greek mythology , "Asia" ( Ἀσία or Ἀσίη ) was the name of a " Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia". The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer ) mentions two Phrygians in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also
17161-571: Was the only time the country went to the Olympics until unification in 1990. Women's rights under the socialist government were considered the best in the region. Women became legally equal to men and were encouraged to work in public; polygamy, child marriage, and arranged marriage were all banned; and equal rights in divorce received legal sanction. Following independence, South Yemen was divided into six governorates (Arabic: muhafazat ), with roughly natural boundaries . From 1967 to 1978, each given
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