- 1. Which city held the number one spot for international visitors in 2013 according to MasterCard?
A) Hong Kong
B) Tokyo
C) Bangkok
D) Singapore
- 2. Which region had the strongest overall Human Development Index improvement over the past 40 years?
A) East Asia
B) South Asia
C) Southeast Asia
D) West Asia
- 3. What is the primary reason for China's high HDI improvement ranking?
A) School enrollment
B) Income
C) Health
D) Education
- 4. What factor primarily contributed to Nepal's rapid HDI improvement?
A) Health and education
B) Industrialization
C) Income growth
D) Urbanization
- 5. Which Asian country had the lowest HDI ranking among those assessed in the report?
A) Nepal
B) Afghanistan
C) Pakistan
D) India
- 6. Approximately how many languages are spoken in Indonesia according to Ethnologue?
A) More than 100
B) More than 700
C) Less than 50
D) More than 400
- 7. Where was the Great Flood story earliest found in mythology?
A) Hindu mythology
B) Chinese mythology
C) Mesopotamian mythology
D) Hebrew Bible
- 8. Which religion is considered the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths?
A) Christianity
B) Islam
C) Baháʼí Faith
D) Judaism
- 9. What is the predominant ethnic group in Israel?
A) Persians
B) Arabs
C) Jews
D) Turks
- 10. Which country has the largest Muslim population in the world?
A) Pakistan
B) India
C) Iran
D) Indonesia
- 11. Which country is identified as the largest Shia country?
A) Iraq
B) Iran
C) Turkey
D) Pakistan
- 12. Where is the Lotus Temple located?
A) Turkey
B) Iran
C) India
D) Israel
- 13. What religion was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards?
A) Catholicism
B) Islam
C) Eastern Orthodoxy
D) Protestantism
- 14. Which ancient civilization's mythology mentions an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish?
A) Hindu
B) Hebrew
C) Mesopotamian
D) Chinese
- 15. What percentage of the total Asian population do Christians constitute?
A) Around 5%
B) Around 23.8%
C) Around 12.6%
D) Around 0.4%
- 16. What is the status of Palestine within the United Nations?
A) Full member state
B) Permanent member of the Security Council
C) Observer state status
D) Non-recognized entity
- 17. As of 2026, which country is the largest economy on the Asian continent?
A) Japan
B) China
C) South Korea
D) India
- 18. In what year did China overtake Japan to become the world's second largest economy?
A) 2025
B) 2005
C) 2010
D) 1990
- 19. Why have call centers and BPOs become major employers in India and the Philippines?
A) Proximity to European markets
B) Advanced manufacturing infrastructure
C) Extensive government subsidies
D) Availability of highly skilled, English-speaking workers
- 20. What development is paving the way for new shipping routes from Northeast Asia to Europe?
A) The expansion of the Suez Canal
B) The construction of a transcontinental railway
C) The melting of the Arctic
D) New trade agreements with Mediterranean nations
- 21. In what year did Asia top Europe in the total number of millionaires?
A) 2011
B) 2010
C) 2012
D) 2005
- 22. What defined a millionaire in the 2010 statistics?
A) Annual income over US$1 million
B) Total assets over US$5 million including homes
C) Net worth over US$1 million excluding their homes
D) Net worth over US$500,000 including real estate
- 23. Since which century has the threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe been in use?
A) 19th century
B) 6th century BCE
C) 5th century BCE
D) 18th century
- 24. Which Greek geographer helped establish the early division of the Old World?
A) Peter the Great
B) Vasily Tatishchev
C) Anaximander
D) Philip Johan von Strahlenberg
- 25. According to Anaximander, what river served as the boundary between Asia and Europe?
A) Phasis River
B) Ural River
C) Emba River
D) Don River
- 26. Which modern river is the ancient Phasis River?
A) Ural
B) Don
C) Rioni
D) Kura
- 27. In which country is the modern Rioni river located?
A) Russia
B) Georgia
C) Greece
D) Sweden
- 28. Which river was considered the boundary between Europe and Asia during the Hellenistic period?
A) Phasis River
B) Ural River
C) Kura River
D) Tanais (Don River)
- 29. Which Roman era author used the Tanais as the boundary between Europe and Asia?
A) Hecataeus
B) Philip Johan von Strahlenberg
C) Ptolemy
D) Anaximander
- 30. Who published a new atlas in 1730 proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia?
A) Strabo
B) Philip Johan von Strahlenberg
C) Peter the Great
D) Vasily Tatishchev
- 31. Who claimed to have proposed the idea of the Ural Mountains as the border to von Strahlenberg?
A) Anaximander
B) Posidonius
C) Ptolemy
D) Vasily Tatishchev
- 32. What river did von Strahlenberg suggest as the southern part of the boundary?
A) Phasis River
B) Don River
C) Kura River
D) Emba River
- 33. Which river prevailed as the boundary by the mid-19th century?
A) Phasis River
B) Don River
C) Ural River
D) Kuma River
- 34. Where is the border between Asia and Europe often placed between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea?
A) Don River
B) Ural Mountains
C) Caucasus Mountains
D) Surami Pass
- 35. Besides the Caucasus Mountains, where else is the border sometimes placed between the Black Sea and the Caspian?
A) Surami Pass
B) Ural River
C) Kuma–Manych Depression
D) Phasis River
- 36. How long after the death of Peter the Great was the atlas proposing the Ural Mountains border published?
A) 5 years
B) 50 years
C) 1 century
D) 10 years
- 37. The term 'Asia' is believed to originate from which Bronze Age toponym?
A) Asyag
B) Asios
C) Assuwa
D) Asies
- 38. Which civilization's records recount a confederation of states rebelling against King Tudhaliya I?
A) Hittite
B) Lydian
C) Mycenaean
D) Roman
- 39. Which ancient language contains the term 'aswia' in reference to captives?
A) Middle Persian
B) Hittite
C) Latin
D) Mycenaean Greek
- 40. In the Iliad, what does the term 'Asios' literally mean?
A) Grain grinder
B) Asian
C) Pole
D) Captive
- 41. Who was one of the first writers to use 'Asia' as a name for the entire continent?
A) Pliny
B) Homer
C) Naser Khusraw
D) Herodotus
- 42. What is the meaning of 'Asia' in the Etymological Dictionary of the Persian Language regarding grain?
A) A device that grinds grains
B) A celestial pole
C) A royal tribe
D) A marshy lowland
- 43. What is the Middle Persian term for 'Asia' meaning stone?
A) Asiah
B) aswia
C) asyāg
D) asūa
- 44. In the Rūd al-Janān text, what is described as being on the shoulders of an angel?
A) A tribe
B) A millstone
C) A pole
D) A city
- 45. The term 'Assuwa' originally referred to a portion of which region?
A) Central Egypt
B) Western Greece
C) Northern Persia
D) Northwestern Anatolia
- 46. According to the provided text, which ancient work mentions a marsh in Lydia called 'asios'?
A) The Iliad
B) The Etymological Dictionary of the Persian Language
C) Hittite records
D) The Shahnameh
- 47. Approximately what percentage of Earth's total land area does Asia cover?
A) 30%
B) 44%
C) 60%
D) 8%
- 48. Roughly what percentage of the world's population lives in Asia?
A) 8%
B) 44%
C) 60%
D) 30%
- 49. Which ocean bounds Asia on the south?
A) Atlantic Ocean
B) Indian Ocean
C) Pacific Ocean
D) Arctic Ocean
- 50. What separates Asia from Africa according to the commonly accepted division?
A) Turkish straits
B) Suez Canal
C) Caucasus Mountains
D) Ural Mountains
- 51. What was the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands?
A) Straits of Malacca
B) Silk Road
C) Suez Canal
D) Ural River
- 52. Asia is the birthplace of which religion?
A) Shintoism
B) Buddhism
C) Protestantism
D) Mormonism
- 53. The concept of Asia derives from a term reflecting which perspective?
A) Asian
B) American
C) African
D) European
- 54. How did the population growth in Asia change after the 20th century?
A) It has fallen
B) It became nonexistent
C) It increased rapidly
D) It stayed the same
- 55. Which peninsula of Egypt is located in Asia?
A) Anatolian Peninsula
B) Malayan Peninsula
C) Arabian Peninsula
D) Sinai Peninsula
- 56. What separates the Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms?
A) Weber's Line
B) Wallace Line
C) Equator
D) Lydekker's Line
- 57. Which line splits the region based on the balance of Asian or Australo-Papuan fauna?
A) Lydekker's Line
B) Prime Meridian
C) Wallace Line
D) Weber's Line
- 58. What represents the eastern boundary of Wallacea with Sahul?
A) Bering Strait
B) Weber's Line
C) Wallace Line
D) Lydekker's Line
- 59. Which islands are considered part of Oceania because they lie on the Australian continental plate?
A) Maluku Islands
B) Aleutian Islands
C) Diomede Islands
D) Aru Islands
- 60. Which island in the Bering Strait belongs to Russia?
A) Little Diomede
B) Rat Island
C) St. Lawrence Island
D) Big Diomede
- 61. Which specific group of the Aleutian Islands sits on Asia's continental shelf?
A) Diomede Islands
B) Komandorski Islands
C) Rat Islands
D) Near Islands
- 62. What is the minimum distance between Alaska and Russia?
A) 20 kilometres
B) 10 kilometres
C) 2 kilometres
D) 4 kilometres
- 63. Who is credited with originating the European conception of the world that led to the definition of Asia?
A) The Romans
B) The Phoenicians
C) The Ancient Greeks
D) The Byzantines
- 64. Which historian is mentioned as rejecting the three-continent system?
A) Herodotus
B) Strabo
C) Ptolemy
D) Sir Barry Cunliffe
- 65. What reason do some geographers give for rejecting the three-continent system?
A) There is no substantial physical separation
B) The continents are too culturally similar
C) The climate is identical across regions
D) The borders are legally undefined
- 66. What does the text describe as a 'northwestern peninsula' of the Eurasian landmass?
A) The Indian subcontinent
B) Siberia
C) Europe
D) The Arabian Peninsula
- 67. What single continuous landmass is formed by Asia, Europe, and Africa?
A) Pangea
B) Gondwana
C) Afro-Eurasia
D) The Eurasian Plate
- 68. What geological feature is shared by Asia, Europe, and Africa?
A) The same tectonic plate
B) A common continental shelf
C) A consistent mountain range
D) A single oceanic basin
- 69. Most of Asia and Europe sit atop which tectonic plate?
A) The Arabian Plate
B) The Indian Plate
C) The Eurasian Plate
D) The North American Plate
- 70. Where is the easternmost part of Siberia located?
A) On the Arabian Plate
B) On the North American Plate
C) On the Eurasian Plate
D) On the Indian Plate
- 71. What physical landmark marks the divide for the easternmost part of Siberia?
A) The Chersky Range
B) The Ural Mountains
C) The Himalayas
D) The Caucasus Mountains
- 72. In Southeast Asia, modern humans interbred with which archaic human species?
A) Homo floresiensis
B) Homo erectus
C) Ancient North Eurasians
D) Denisovans
- 73. Which archaic human species occupied Flores before the arrival of modern humans?
A) Ancient West Eurasians
B) Homo floresiensis
C) Homo erectus
D) Denisovans
- 74. Where was the hub from which ancestors of East Eurasians migrated?
A) Siberia
B) Indus Valley
C) Yellow River
D) Iranian Plateau
- 75. Which innovation seems to have been developed individually in each early civilisation?
A) Mathematics
B) Horse-riding
C) Writing
D) The wheel
- 76. What group of people long inhabited the central steppe region?
A) Horse-mounted nomads
B) Paleosiberian hunter-gatherers
C) Urban city dwellers
D) Neolithic farmers
- 77. Which group is credited with the earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe?
A) Denisovans
B) Indo-Europeans
C) Ancient North Eurasians
D) Tocharians
- 78. Which sailor paved the way for a route to the Indian Ocean in the late 15th century?
A) Vasco da Gama
B) Ferdinand Magellan
C) Marco Polo
D) Christopher Columbus
- 79. Which empire took control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century?
A) Russian Empire
B) British Empire
C) Mongol Empire
D) Ottoman Empire
- 80. Which dynasty was established in China by the Manchu in the 17th century?
A) Song dynasty
B) Qing dynasty
C) Tang dynasty
D) Ming dynasty
- 81. Which empire controlled most of India during the 16th century?
A) Delhi Sultanate
B) Maratha Empire
C) British Empire
D) Mughal Empire
- 82. What event led to India falling under direct British rule?
A) The completion of the Suez Canal
B) A failed 1857 revolt
C) The Meiji restoration
D) The Opium Wars
- 83. During which era did Japan rapidly rise and apply industrial knowledge learned from the West?
A) Mughal era
B) Qing era
C) Song era
D) Meiji era
- 84. Which foreign power helped enable Japan's rise by projecting influence across the Pacific?
A) United Kingdom
B) United States
C) Russia
D) France
- 85. What percentage of Earth's total surface area does Asia cover?
A) 30%
B) 5%
C) 9%
D) 15%
- 86. Which river is the longest in the continent of Asia?
A) Indus
B) Ganges
C) Yangtze
D) Mekong
- 87. How many countries are currently considered to be part of Asia?
A) 49
B) 45
C) 52
D) 55
- 88. Which of these is a transcontinental country lying partly in Europe?
A) China
B) Japan
C) Turkey
D) Thailand
- 89. What is the longest mountain range in the world located between Nepal and China?
A) Hindu Kush
B) Caucasus Mountains
C) Ural Mountains
D) Himalayas
- 90. In what year did the Soviet Union end, leading to the independence of five Central Asian countries?
A) 1989
B) 1991
C) 1945
D) 1995
- 91. What causes the monsoon circulation in southern and eastern Asia?
A) The Arctic air masses
B) Tropical rainforests
C) The Pacific Ocean
D) The Himalayas
- 92. Which country split into Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1971?
A) India
B) Afghanistan
C) Pakistan
D) Myanmar
- 93. What is the status of poverty in India following economic liberalisation that started in the 1990s?
A) Below 20%
B) Below 5%
C) Below 10%
D) Above 30%
- 94. What percentage of global primary energy consumption does Asia currently account for?
A) About 36%.
B) About 83%.
C) About 50%.
D) About 10%.
- 95. What share of global primary energy consumption is Asia projected to reach by 2050?
A) Approach 50%.
B) Approach 75%.
C) Approach 40%.
D) Approach 30%.
- 96. What percentage of energy in Asia is generated from fossil fuels?
A) 36%.
B) 83%.
C) 66%.
D) 50%.
- 97. Asia makes up what percentage of the world's coal generation?
A) 40%.
B) 66%.
C) 36%.
D) 83%.
- 98. What fuel is displacing oil and oil products in various Asian sectors?
A) Nuclear power.
B) Hydrogen.
C) Coal.
D) Natural gas.
- 99. By what year is Asia on track to meet the goal of tripling renewable capacity?
A) 2040.
B) 2025.
C) 2030.
D) 2050.
- 100. What fraction of the world's new renewable energy capacity is built in Asia?
A) Nearly one quarter.
B) Nearly 10%.
C) Nearly all.
D) Nearly half.
|