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Asia, largest of the earth's seven continents. With outlying islands, it covers an estimated 44,936,000 sq km (17,350,000 sq mi), or about one-third of the world's total land area. Asia has more than 3.2 billion inhabitants. Its peoples account for three-fifths of ....

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.... Natural Environment Asia's interior consists of mountains, plateaus, and intervening structural basins. The continent's physiographic system focuses on the Pamirs, a towering plateau region located where the borders of India, China, and Afghanistan converge. It is known as the Roof of the World. Mountain ranges spiral out from the Pamirs to the west (Hindu Kush), and southeast (Great Himalayas). These ranges form an imposing eastern-western arc, about 2500 km (about 1550 mi) in length, that contains numerous peaks of heights well more than 6100 m (20,000 ft), including the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. Other ranges extend east and n ....