Countries of Southwest and South Asia
Asia is the largest continent, with an area of about 44 million km², and its population is nearly 60% of the world; it has around 48 states. It is divided into five subregions: Southwest, South, East, Southeast and Central Asia. Southwest Asia includes Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Caucasus states and others. This subregion is one of the world's most important oil and gas areas (the Persian Gulf) and a crossroads of major transport routes; irrigated farming, olives, dates, cotton, camel herding and karakul sheep are common. South Asia includes the Hindustan Peninsula, the Indo-Gangetic Plain and islands such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives; the Himalayas and Karakoram enclose it to the north. The climate is monsoon: a wet summer and a dry winter. The population is very dense and growing fast, urbanisation is relatively low, and false urbanisation is seen in many places. Rice, tea, jute, spices and cotton are important in farming; India stands out for its industry, information technology and services. The religious makeup is varied: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism.
“Subregion markers”: each group finds the 5 Asian subregions on a map and adds one state and one typical feature (resource, climate, religion) to each.