There is no one "Asian" country. Forty-six countries make up Asia. These nations are placed together as a cultural entity because of historical contact and shared cultural traits. From earliest times to the present, large-scale processes of cross-cultural interaction have linked the various sub-regions of Asia and also connected Asia as a whole to the larger world. Through sea and land migrations, these large, influential civilizations have had a profound effect on the politics, religion, and arts of neighboring regions and, in turn, have been influenced by them. Each country featured in the Hall of Asian Peoples represents a unique culture composed of layers of contact between cultures.

Asia, the largest landmass in the world covering some 30 percent of the earth, is home to more than 59 percent of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people. Asia boasts not just the highest peak on earth, but the ten highest, all in the Himalayas. On Asia's Arabian Peninsula, in the southwest, lies the lowest place on the earth's surface — the Dead Sea, too salty to support life. The world's largest expanse of tundra stretches across northern Asia. In eastern Asia, rainwater and snowmelt have created one of the largest rivers in the world — the Yangtze.

Two of the most populous countries of the world — China and India — are in Asia. Because so much of Asia is uninhabitable — too high, too dry, or too cold-a majority of the population lives in densely settled coastal areas and river valleys. Although most Asians make their living by farming or fishing, a growing number are finding work in factories and service industries.

Biggest, highest, most populous — Asia also has the oldest state civilizations. The first city-based civilizations probably arose in the fertile plains between great rivers. Here, people learned how to control water for irrigation and to plant grain. Cities grew up. Over the centuries, across Asia other civilizations arose in other river valleys in China and India. These ancient cultures gave us writing, the wheel, and astronomy, as well as some of the world's major religions. Today, people in the rural areas still live in traditional ways, as farmers and craft workers. In the cities, though, the lifestyle of people is that of a crowded, fast-paced, urban, industrialized society much like our own, but still distinctly Asian.