How did ancient civilization and various beliefs/philosophies shape Asian culture/ identity?
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Answer:
Historians divide history into large and small units in order to make characteristics and changes clear to themselves and to students. It’s important to remember that any historical period is a construction and a simplification. In Asia, because of its huge land mass and multiple diverse cultures, there are several overlapping timelines. Also, for the same reason, different regions have different histories, but they all intersect — in myriad ways — at different points in history. Below are some important basics to get you started.
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Explanation:
Here are the major subdivisions currently used in textbooks or in curatorial departments in art museums. Keep in mind that these categories are complicated by previous divisions, some of which reflect a violent history, such as campaigns of colonization by Western or Asian countries.
Central and North Asia, comprising territories bordered by the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, and Afghanistan in the south (which is at times considered part of the Central Asian region).
Unfamiliar with the term “North Asia”? There is a historical explanation. North Asia is better known as Eurasia, coinciding largely with Siberia, which became a part of Russia in the 17th century. “North Asia” is still an under-explored area within studies of Asia because historically it has been integral to studies of Russia, a transcontinental country whose leaders nevertheless endeavored to shape it as a European power.
West Asia, comprising Iraq (in ancient times, Mesopotamia), Iran (whose territory previously encompassed Persia), Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean (today’s Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Gaza Strip, and West Bank), the Arabian Peninsula (comprising Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates), and Anatolia and the Caucasus (today’s Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia).
East Asia, spanning Mongolia, mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and North and South Korea.
Central and West Asia are better known as the “Near East” and the “Middle East”. By the same logic, East Asia has been referred to as the “Far East.” All these terms are Western-centric, reflecting European geopolitics. They are problematic terms because they isolate and lionize one vantage point. For the peoples of the “Far East,” for example, their territories and cultures are not “Eastern” nor “far.” Quite to the contrary, they represent the “home base” from which world geography is envisioned differently, complete with its own cultural and sociopolitical biases.
South and Southeast Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically north of Australia, south of China and Japan, and west of Papua New Guinea. These countries are Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, East Timor, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Burma, and Thailand. South Asia, also known as the Indian subcontinent, comprises the sub-Himalayan countries of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Bhutan, and the Maldives.
South Asia was often conflated with the vague and politically motivated category of “India,” from the perspective of Western powers (Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British) who dominated and colonized parts of the region at different points in time, as outlined later in this essay.
Click here for a political map of Asia.
Cultural divisions
A radically different way of looking at Asia’s cultural histories is to trace major transcultural phenomena — from religious to commercial — that spanned multiple periods and geographical regions. Such phenomena include:
Buddhism, which developed in India in reaction to the established religion, Hinduism, and subsequently spread to other countries in South, Southeast, and East Asia. From the 6th century B.C.E. to the present day, Buddhism shaped various aspects central to these Asian cultures, from principles of government to visual and material culture. See the Smarthistory resource on Hinduism + Buddhism.
Islam, founded by Muhammad in the early 7th century C.E. at Mecca (in modern-day Saudi Arabia), spread over the centuries in Central and Western Asia all the way to the Pacific nation of Indonesia, and reached non-Asian territories in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. One can trace the history of the Islamic world and its deep imprint on many Asian cultures and on pan-regional cultural phenomena within Asia and beyond. See the Smarthistory resource, Introduction to Islam.
The Silk Road, named as such only in the 19th century, is a network of trade routes harkening back to the 2nd century B.C.E., which connected, over the centuries, territories from Eastern China to Southern Europe and North Africa. Although occasioned by trade, especially in silk, these pan-Asian routes had a significant influence on local cultures and enabled cross-cultural encounters.