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Curated category

Countries in Asia

  • JapanThe name Japan appears in English for the first time in a book published in 1577, where it was spelled Giapan. This spelling came from a translation of a…
  • Saudi ArabiaHuman habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago. A 2011 study found that the first modern humans to spread east across Asia…
  • KuwaitThe Mesolithic era, around 8000 BC, left the first human traces in what is now Kuwait. Archaeologists found evidence of early habitation at site H3 and Bahra…
  • UzbekistanThe 8th century BC saw Eastern Iranian nomads known as Scythians establish kingdoms across the region now called Uzbekistan.
  • ÍndiaModern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent no later than 55,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest places outside Africa where Homo sapiens…
  • CambodiaIn 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king and united the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. This declaration marked the beginning…
  • TajikistanThe territory now known as Tajikistan has been home to cultures dating back to the fourth millennium BC. Archaeologists have identified the Bronze Age…
  • TurkmenistanTurkmenistan occupies a landlocked position in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the north. Afghanistan lies to the southeast while Iran…
  • JordanThe oldest known evidence of hominid habitation in Jordan dates back at least 200,000 years. Scientists have found the world's oldest known evidence of…
  • KazakhstanThe Botai culture thrived between 3700 and 3100 BC in the region now known as Kazakhstan. Archaeologists credit this group with the first domestication of…
  • LaosIn 2009, archaeologists recovered an anatomically modern human skull from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite Mountains of northern Laos.
  • Georgia (country)The oldest traces of archaic humans in what is now Georgia date from approximately 1.8 million years ago. These remains belong to the Dmanisi hominins, a…
  • PakistanIn the Soan Valley of northern Pakistan, stone tools dating to approximately 2 million years ago mark some of the earliest human activity in South Asia.
  • MalaysiaThe name Malaysia emerged from a combination of the word Malays and the Latin-Greek suffix -ia, translating to 'land of the Malays'.
  • AfghanistanHuman habitation in what is now Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era, with archaeological evidence suggesting people lived there at least 50,000…
  • SyriaThe Natufian culture became the first to settle permanently around the 11th millennium BC. This shift marked the beginning of agriculture and cattle breeding…
  • QatarThe Qatari peninsula juts into the Persian Gulf, a flat, low-lying plain of sand that stretches between latitudes 24 and 27 degrees north.
  • AzerbaijanThe name Azerbaijan traces back to Atropates, a Persian satrap under the Achaemenid Empire who was reinstated as the satrap of Media under Alexander the…
  • IndonesiaThe name Indonesia derives from the Greek words indos and nesos, meaning Indian islands. This term dates back to 1850 when English ethnologist George Windsor…
  • SingaporeIn 1365, the Javanese eulogy Nagarakretagama recorded a place called Temasek, meaning Sea Town, as a trading port under the influence of the Majapahit Empire.
  • United Arab EmiratesThe United Arab Emirates stretches across 83,600 square kilometers of the Arabian Peninsula. Its landscape shifts from salt pans along the Persian Gulf to…
  • IraqThe fertile plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers fostered the rise of early cities, civilisations, and empires including Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia…
  • BhutanThe highest unclimbed mountain in the world rises from the northern slopes of Bhutan. Gangkhar Puensum stands at 7,570 meters above sea level within the…
  • MongoliaIn 209 BC, Modu Shanyu united the Xiongnu tribes to form a confederation that would challenge the Qin dynasty. This empire stretched across the steppes and…
  • NepalThe Indian plate began drifting northeastward 75 million years ago, colliding with the Eurasian Plate to create the Himalayas.
  • ChinaIn 221 BCE, King Zheng of Qin conquered six rival states to unify China under the first emperor. This ruler enacted legalist reforms that standardized…
  • ThailandArchaeological evidence indicates that humans have inhabited the area of present-day Thailand for at least 40,000 years.
  • IsraelThe Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian monument dated to the late 13th century BCE, bears the earliest known archaeological reference to Israel as a…
  • PhilippinesThe first human bones found in the Philippines date back 709,000 years to a site now known as Callao Cave. These remains suggest an unknown species of early…
  • IranThe earliest known presence of hominins in Iran dates to around 800,000 BP. Middle Paleolithic sites have been discovered mainly in the Zagros Mountains.
  • BangladeshThe word Bangladesh first appeared in a political song by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905. Kazi Nazrul Islam used the term again in his own patriotic composition…
  • EgyptThe Nile River flows through a landscape that has supported human life for over ten thousand years. Evidence of rock carvings along the banks and in…
  • MyanmarArchaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago. The first evidence of Homo sapiens is…
  • RussiaAbout 2 million years ago, representatives of Homo erectus migrated to the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia. Flint tools discovered in the North Caucasus…
  • TurkeyGöbekli Tepe stands as a stone monument older than Stonehenge, with some henges erected around 9600 BC. This site in southeastern Turkey predates the…
  • VietnamStone artefacts excavated in Gia Lai province have been claimed to date to 780,000 years ago. This claim remains challenged because tektites are often found…
  • IndiaModern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, predominantly in isolation as…
  • Sri LankaIn 380 BCE, Pandukabhaya established the Anuradhapura kingdom, marking the beginning of a capital that would endure for nearly 1,400 years.
  • MaldivesThe Maldives stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south. This chain of 26 atolls covers roughly 90,000…