Download East Asia

East Asia
Asia and the Pacific
Land and Water
• Landforms
– China is the world’s third-largest country in land after Russia and
Canada.
• Mountains
• Highlands
• Plateaus
• Other areas are mountainous like China, but they lack its
wide plains and plateaus
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Mongolia
North Korea
South Korea
Taiwan
Japan
Land and Water
• Japan and the Koreas
– Narrow plains are found mainly along coasts
and rivers
• About 50 million years ago a huge piece of
a continent collided with Asia.
– Now called India, located SW of China
– Collision caused the Earth’s surface to fold
and buckle, forming the Himalaya Mountains
and other mountain ranges in China as well
as the plateau of Tibet
Land and Water
• Natural forces also shaped the land in
Japan
– Earthquakes forced some parts of the country
to rise and others to sink
– Erupting volcanoes piled up masses of lava
and ash, forming new mountains.
– In many parts of E. Asia earthquakes and
volcanoes are still changing the landscape.
Land and Water
• China is a land of extremes
– Home to the oldest civilization on Earth
– One billion people—most people of any nation
in the world
– Mountains and deserts take up over 2/3 of
China
– Desert is a dry region of extreme
temperatures and little vegetation.
Land and Water
• The Himalaya Mountains contain Mount
Everest and other mountains nearly as tall
• Part of the Himalayan range is located in
the area of China called Tibet.
• A high plateau surrounded by mountains
covers much of Tibet
• China’s most important rivers, the Yangzi
and the Huang begin in this region
Land and Water
• The Yangzi flows 3,915 miles to the East
China Sea.
– is the only river in E. Asia that is deep
enough for cargo ships to sail on.
– 400 million people live along the banks of the
Huang He.
• It runs through one of the most fertile regions of
China
• The N. China Plain is covered with deposits of
loess (a brownish yellow fertile soil.
Land and Water
• Japan
– Is an archipelago—a group of islands in the
western Pacific Ocean.
– Four major islands
– Over 3,000 smaller ones.
– Every major Japanese city is located on the
coast
– Nearly 80% of the country is mountainous
Land and Water
• The Koreas: “Land of Golden Embroidery”
– Rocky peaks, narrow canyons, and rushing
stream make Korea a land of great beauty.
– A peninsula—a piece of land nearly
surrounded by water.
– Stretches out into the Yellow Sea and the Sea
of Japan
– World’s most mountainous regions.
– 70% of the land consists of steep and rocky
slopes
Land and Water
– Compared with the mountains of China and
Japan, these ranges are not very high
– Since 1945 (the end of WWII) Korea has been
divided into two separate countries
• North Korea
• South Korea
Geography and Population
• The population of E. Asia is not spread
evenly across the land.
– Few people live in the deserts, highlands, and
mountains
– 1.5 billion people make their homes in this
region
– People crowd into the lowland and coastal
areas, where it is easier to live and grow food
Geography and Population
• These parts of E. Asia have a very high
population density, or average number of
people living in a square mile.
– E. Asia, level ground must be shared by cities,
farms and industries.
• ½ the population of Japan is crowded on less than
3% of the country’s total land
• Most of the population of China is located in the
East.
Geography and Population
• E. Asia is largely rural
• 70% of china’s people live in rural areas.
• E. Asia also has some of the largest cities
in the world.
• Japan—nearly 80% of the people live in
cities.
– Seoul, South Korea, has a population of about
10 million