A giant and a cradle
Asia saw constituting the first urban civilizations (appearance of the city being related to the existence of hierarchical companies, able to organize exchanges in a diversified economy) having developed written forms. They developed in Mésopotamie (towards 3500 av. J. - C.), in the low valley of Indus (towards 2500 av. J. - C.) and in China of North (towards 1800 av. J. - C.).
The Occidental Asia is the cradle of the three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Eastern Asia that of Buddhism and the Hinduism.
The from an economic standpoint, there is no either unit of the continent. The zones of great prosperity, dynamic countries of Eastern Asia or slightly populated oil States Arabic peninsula, contrast with a vast whole of States whose income per capita is very weak and who must face a fast population growth.