Asian History and Geography Lecture Notes

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the geographical features, social structures, regional classifications, and significant historical events of Asia, with a focus on the impact of capitalism and the detailed timeline of World War II in both European and Asian theaters.

Global land surface proportion

Asia contains $\frac{1}{3}$ of the earth’s land surface.

Asian Rice Production Area

The region from Bangladesh up to and including Japan which produces nine-tenths of the world’s rice and has an annual rainfall of $50\,cm$.

Emergence Rivers

The valleys of the Tigris, Euphrates, Indus, Ganges, Hoang-ho, and Yang-tse where Asian peoples are speculated to have emerged.

Warriors and priests

A new caste that emerged from the process of conquest, which lived off farmers and devoted itself to defense and culture.

Romein (1962: 23) Analogy

A scholarly comparison stating that Asia is like the sea, where turmoil only affects the surface (top echelon) while the lower depths (peasants) remain unaffected.

Oriental Splendour

A term describing the unlimited plundering of the peasant hood by the upper classes, resulting in suffocating opulence like the Taj-Mahal.

Opium War

A conflict with China that, along with the opening of the Suez Canal, allowed the West to make landfall in Asia in record time during the climax of capitalism.

Eurasia

The classification used for certain parts of the frontier between Asia and Europe to circumvent classification confusion.

North Asia

The sub-region consisting of the Asian part of the Russian Federation, specifically Siberia.

Maritime Southeast Asia

A sub-region including Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste.

Luftwaffe

The German air force that suffered Germany's first military failure during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Stalingrad and Kursk

The two 1943 battles after which Germany was forced into a full-scale retreat from Soviet territory.

Marco Polo Bridge

The location at Peking where the new world war in East Asia began on July 7, 1937, signaling the Japanese offensive against China.

Japanese-Russo treaty of Neutrality

A treaty signed on April 13, 1941, intended to protect Japan's rear as they struck southwards.

Hideki Tojo

The Japanese premier who declared an end to British and American influence in East Asia and was later hanged as a war criminal in 1948.

Pearl Harbor

The U.S. Navy base in Hawaii that was hit by a surprise Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, initiating the war in the Pacific.

Battle of Midway

A naval battle occurring June 3–6, 1942, where Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat against the United States.

Guadalcanal

An island where Allied forces carried out an invasion between August 1942 and February 1943, beginning the offensive to force Japan out of the Solomons.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The two Japanese cities upon which the United States dropped atomic bombs in early August 1945, leading to Japan's surrender.