Should Asia be divided into three continents namely West Asia (Arabia and Persia), Central Asia (India and Pakistan), and East Asia (China and Japan)?

是不是该把亚洲分为西亚（阿拉伯和波斯）、中亚（印度和巴基斯坦）和东亚（中国和日本）三个大洲呢？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Hippo Reddy

Yeah there is clear boundary between East Asia, South Asia and South East Asia .

That being said instead of creating more continents we should combine Europe and Asia into one.

没错，东亚、南亚和东南亚之间有清晰的界限。

但我们不该人为地分裂更多的大陆，相反，我们应该把欧洲和亚洲合并成一整个大陆。

Xuanzi

Wow, just Screw North Asia and actual Central Asia.

You do realise you left out at least half of Asia here right?

As I suppose the OP missed out on intro to geography, this is Asia:

哇，那北亚和中亚呢。

你应该知道你漏掉了至少半个亚洲吧？

我猜题主的地理课学得很不咋样，这是亚洲地图：

And Mongolia is better listed with North Asia, or even Central. SE Asia doesn't continue into the Australian continent (New Guinea) as depicted.

Secondly, Asia is a continent, a landmass. How do you propose to break it up? Dro nukes until you have a chasm through the earth? From the radiation alone we'll all be dead.
 

蒙古列入北亚，甚至是中亚会更好。东南亚也并没有延伸到澳大利亚大陆（新几内亚）。

其次，亚洲就是一个大陆，一整块大陆块。你打算怎么拆分呢？丢几颗核弹，把地板炸裂吗？单单核辐射就能把我们都消灭了。

Haïti and the Dominican Republic, they're both on Dominica.

Should they now be “on different islands" because they speak different languages? Because one is terribly poor? Because there's a national border?

海地和多米尼加共和国，它们都位于多米尼加岛。

难道因为他们使用不同的语言，所以必须把他们分置“在不同的岛上”吗？因为其中一个国家穷得叮当响？因为两个国家之间存在边境线？

Obviously that would be stupid.

But it's the same idiocy being suggested in the question. Continents are just landmasses. Stop ascribing to them any other “meaning".

这种想法显然非常愚蠢。

但这个问题其实也是这样的愚蠢。大陆就是一整个大陆地块。不要再给它们强加任何其他“意义”了。

Rudra

1.West Asia

West Asia is located in the area between Central Asia and Africa, south of Eastern Europe. The majority of the region is often referred to as the Middle East, although it geographically excludes the mainland of Egypt (which is culturally considered a Middle Eastern country). West Asia is politically divided into 18 states: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. It also includes the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The region covers a total area of around 2.415 million square miles and has a population size of 313.428 million.

1.西亚

西亚位于中亚和非洲之间、东欧以南。该地区的大部分地区通常被称为中东，尽管在地理上不包括埃及大陆(虽然在文化上被划入中东范围)。西亚在政治上分为18个国家：格鲁吉亚、亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆、土耳其、塞浦路斯、叙利亚、黎巴嫩、以色列、巴勒斯坦、约旦、伊拉克、科威特、巴林、卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯、阿拉伯联合酋长国、阿曼和也门。它还包括埃及的西奈半岛。该地区总面积约241.5万平方英里，人口规模为31342.8万人。

2.Central Asia

Central Asia is west of China, south of Russia, and north of Afghanistan. The western border of this region runs along the Caspian Sea. Central Asia is politically divided into five countries: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Given that the name of each of these countries ends in "-stan," Central Asia is sometimes informally referred to as "The Stans." The region covers a total area of 1,545,741 square miles and has a population size of just over 69.78 million individuals. Central Asia played an important role in the transportation of goods between China and Europe during the Silk Road trading era.

2.中亚

中亚位于中国的西面，俄罗斯的南面，阿富汗的北面，西临里海。中亚在政治上分为五个国家：塔吉克斯坦、乌兹别克斯坦、哈萨克斯坦、土库曼斯坦和吉尔吉斯斯坦。由于这些国家的名字都以“斯坦”结尾，所以中亚有时被统称为“斯坦国”。该地区总面积为1,545,741平方英里，人口规模超过6978万人。在丝绸之路贸易时代，中亚在中国和欧洲之间的货物运输中发挥了重要作用。

3.East Asia

East Asia, one of the five regions of Asia, is located east of Central Asia, with its eastern border running along the East China Sea. East Asia is politically divided into eight countries and regions: China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. This region covers a total area of 4,571,092 square miles and has a population size of more than 1.641 billion, which represents 22% of the global population and 38% of Asia's total population. Many residents of East Asia are concentrated in major metropolitan areas such as Beiing and Tokyo.

3.东亚

东亚是亚洲五大地区之一，位于中亚东部，东临东海。东亚在政治上分为八个国家和地区：中国大陆、蒙古、朝鲜、韩国、日本、中国香港、中国台湾和中国澳门。该地区总面积为4,571,092平方英里，人口规模超过16.41亿，占全球人口的22%，占亚洲总人口的38%。许多东亚居民集中在北京和东京等大城市。

Umair Usman

Continents don't have national boundaries so not sure what benefit that will bring or what that even means.

I mean where is Myanmar, Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia and so on?

What about Syria and Turkey?

What about all of Russia?

大陆上并没有划定国界，所以把亚洲分划开来能带来什么好处呢，或者说这么做意味着什么呢。

我的意思是，缅甸、不丹、老挝、柬埔寨这些国家该置于何地呢？

至于叙利亚和土耳其呢？

还有俄罗斯帝国呢？

Desmond Ng

Related

Why does it make sense to put East Asia and West Asia all in Asia together, considering that their cultures are so drastically different?

东亚和西亚的文化差异如此巨大，为什么还要它们都归于亚洲地区呢？

Because whether something is a continent has absolutely nothing to do with cultures. A continent is defined as a main continuous expanse of land not separated by any major bodies of water, normally seas or oceans. Although the definition varies from place to place, it generally accepted that Asia is a gigantic unbroken piece of land, and so is one continent. (heck Europe would actually be considered part of Asia if not for the fact that the Ancient Greeks wanted to make Europe seperate from Asia)

因为无论一块陆地算不算大陆，都跟文化完全没有关系。大陆的定义是未被大型水域 (通常是海洋)隔开的连续的大陆块。尽管不同国家对亚洲的定义有所不同，但人们普遍认为亚洲是一块巨大而完整的土地，因此也是一块大陆 (如果不是古希腊人坚持要把欧洲从亚洲分离出来，实际上欧洲也算是亚洲的一部分) 。

So no, we shouldn’t make two Asias because doing so would either mean completely ignoring the definition of a continent, or having to dig a 6000 km long sea to separate the two parts. And if we do, then the entire system of continents fall apart. Europe is just as varied, should we smash it apart into smaller continents as well? What about Africa?

所以，我们不应该把亚洲一分为二，这么做要么意味着我们完全罔顾大陆的定义，要么需要挖掘一条6000公里长的海洋来分割这块大陆。

如果我们这样做，那么整个大陆体系就会分崩离析。欧洲也一样非常多元，我们是不是也该把欧洲也进一步分割成更小的大陆呢？还有非洲呢？

Terry C Bramblett

Related

If you will be given a chance to divide Asia into regions, how many regions will you create? Why? What will be your basis for creating such regions?

如果你可以把亚洲划分成几个区域，你会划几个呢？为什么？你的依据是什么？

Any division is arbitrary, but one good division is into:

Middle East (Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia)

Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)

Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia)

South Asia, (Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh)

Southeast Asia/Indochina (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam)

East Asia (China, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Japan)

East Indies (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, East Timor)

不管怎么分，都是没有章法的瞎搞，但我觉得有一种分法还不错：

中东地区(土耳其、叙利亚、约旦、黎巴嫩、以色列、伊拉克、伊朗、科威特、卡塔尔、巴林、阿联酋、阿曼、也门、沙特阿拉伯)

高加索地区(格鲁吉亚、亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆)

中亚(哈萨克斯坦、吉尔吉斯斯坦、乌兹别克斯坦、塔吉克斯坦、土库曼斯坦、阿富汗、蒙古)

南亚(巴基斯坦、印度、马尔代夫、斯里兰卡、尼泊尔、不丹、孟加拉国)

东南亚/印度(缅甸、老挝、泰国、新加坡、柬埔寨、越南)

东亚(中国大陆、中国台湾、朝鲜、韩国、日本)

东印度群岛(印度尼西亚、马来西亚、菲律宾、文莱、东帝汶)

There are obvious areas where one region blurs into another. Also, there is Russia, which confounds the category, and Papua New Guinea, which lies on the same land as Indonesia but is usually considered part of Oceania.

有一些地区界限分明，有的地区和其他地区界限模糊。俄罗斯就不好归类，还有巴布亚新几内亚，虽然跟印度尼西亚位于同一片土地上，但通常被划入大洋洲。

John McEnany

Related

How diverse is Asia?

Asia is a man-made geographic area with no particular commonality in race, culture or language. If we divide Asia into East, South, Central, West Asia and South East Asia, things get better in terms of commonality.

This is especially true in East Asia in countries like China, Japan and Korea which share the similar DNA, linguistics and fundamental culture.

亚洲究竟有多么多元呢？

亚洲是一个人为划定的地理区域，各国在种族、文化或语言上没有共同之处。如果我们把亚洲划分为东亚、南亚、中亚、西亚和东南亚，在共性上会好一些。

在东亚地区的中国、日本和韩国等国家尤其如此，这些国家有着相似的基因、语言和文化基础。

Central Asia are Turkic-based peoples in the North that extends from Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea. But continues in the Anatolian Peninsula (present day Turkey). It also includes Siberia all the way to European Russia.

West Asia (including Middle East) is predominantly Persians (Aryans) and Semitic peoples. Different DNA profile and language but bounded mostly by Islam.

South Asia is present-day India, though there are distinctions between Dravidians in the south and Aryans in the north.

South East Asia, especially in the Malay Archipelago share the same DNA, linguistics and root culture. They are similar to Polynesian group of peoples in the Pacific islands. The mainland Southeast Asians (Vietnam, Northern Thailand etc) are rooted in Chinese lineage, rather than Polynesian lineage.

中亚是北方突厥语系民族，从哈萨克斯坦延伸到里海，以及安纳托利亚半岛(今土耳其)。它还包括从西伯利亚到俄罗斯的欧洲地区。

西亚，包括中东，主要是波斯人(雅利安人)和闪米特人。这些民族拥有不同的DNA特征和语言，但大多信奉伊 斯兰教。

南亚包含今天的印度，不过印度南部的德拉威人和北部的雅利安人也有明显区别。

东南亚各国，尤其是马来群岛，有着相同的基因、语言和文化。他们跟太平洋岛屿上的波利尼西亚人很像。东南亚民族（越南，泰国北部等）拥有中国血统，而非波利尼西亚血统。

Zane Liu

Related

How is Asia divided into regions or subregions?

Generally it is divided into 5 regions:

Middle East

South Asia (Indian subcontinent, make sure you include Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives)

Central Asia (these are all the “stans” that were part of the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia is usually included here too)

East Asia (China, Japan, and N/S Korea)

Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Philippines, and Indonesia form the borders. Timor Leste is not part of SEA)

亚洲该如何划分成不同地区或亚地区？

一般可分为5个地区：

中东

南亚(印度次大陆，别忘了把尼泊尔、不丹和马尔代夫算进来)

中亚(这几个“斯坦国”都曾属于前苏联，通常也把蒙古包括在内)

东亚(中国、日本和朝鲜)

东南亚(缅甸、菲律宾和印度尼西亚三国鼎立。东帝汶不属于东南亚)

Note: Siberia would technically be “North Asia”, but since it is part of Russia and practically nobody lives there, nobody makes it a separate region.

注意：严格说西伯利亚也应属于“北亚”，但由于它是俄罗斯的领土，罕有人迹，所以人们从未把它视为一个独立地区。

Conrad Strife

Related

Is Southeast Asia part of East Asia?

Basically, you can divide the whole Asia by either three or five regions geographically.

Three Regions (This is only geographical without any regional associations involved):

Near East: Includes some arab countries and other asian countries which are beside Europe and Africa.

Middle East: Includes the rest of the arab and gulf countries, South Asia, and the rest of central asian countries.

Far East: South East Asia and East Asia

You are familiar with the term “Far East Asia” yeah? Then it includes both South East Asia and East Asia.

东南亚属于东亚吗？

基本上从地理学意义上看，你可以把整个亚洲分为三个或五个地区。

按三个地区算(仅从地理学上分析，不考虑任何地域集团)：

近东：包括一些阿拉伯国家和除欧洲和非洲以外的其他亚洲国家。

中东：包括其他阿拉伯和海湾国家、南亚和中亚国家。

远东：东南亚和东亚

你是不是对“远东”这个词很熟悉？它就包括了东南亚和东亚。

Five Regions (Some have their own regional association, such as ASEAN):

Western Asia: mostly the arabic countries, Persia, Mesopotamia, countries beside Europe such as Jordan, Georgia, Syria, and the other gulf countries.

Central Asia: Mostly those countries with “-stan” up to Mongolia.

South Asia: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh to name a few.

East Asia: The most stereotyped and only known definition of Asia by most westerners which are China, Japan, and the two Korean countries.

South East Asia: It consists of 10 or 11 countries (if you include East Timor). This is one of the most active associations (more like EU/Eurozone) in Asian continent which is called the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand (these five countries are the founder of this association). Also included are Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the country who joined recently, Timor Leste (East Timor).

按五个地区算(有些地区有自己的地区集团，如东盟)：

西亚：主要是阿拉伯国家，波斯，美索不达米亚，欧洲周边国家，如约旦，格鲁吉亚，叙利亚和其他海湾国家。

中亚：主要是从那几个“斯坦”国到蒙古的区域。

南亚：印度、斯里兰卡、巴基斯坦、孟加拉国等。

东亚：大多数西方人对亚洲最根深蒂固也是唯一的认知就是中国、日本和两个朝鲜国家。

东南亚：由10或11个国家组成(如果把东帝汶也算进来的话)。这是亚洲大陆最活跃的地区集团之一(好比欧盟/欧元区)，被称为东盟(东南亚国家联盟)，由印度尼西亚，马来西亚，新加坡，菲律宾，泰国(这五个国家是东盟的创始国)组成。另外还有越南、文莱、柬埔寨、缅甸、老挝和最近加入的东帝汶