• the extinct marine reptile Kaganaias is the only ancient aquatic scaled reptile to be found in Asia?
• the naval victory of Travancore State over Dutch East India Company in the Battle of Colachel in 1741 is considered the first example of an Asian power defeating a European navy?
• the dum dum bullet invented by Neville Bertie-Clay was used by the British Army against African and Asian opponents but was considered "too cruel" for use against Europeans?
• some liverwort species in the class Haplomitriopsida rafted from Gondwana to Asia via the Indian subcontinent?
• noted Bengali writer Rajnarayan Basu was a tutor of Asia's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore?
• the Bare-faced Bulbul, the only songbird in Asia to lack feathers on the face, is the first Asian bulbul to be described in over 100 years?
• the Church of the East, originally the Christian church of Sassanid Persia, eventually established churches throughout Asia, including in Mesopotamia, India, Central Asia, and China?
• the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Zigong, Sichuan Province, China, established in 1987, was the first specialized dinosaur museum to open to the public in Asia?
• the plant genus Tricarpelema contains seven Asian species from moist tropical forests and one African species found on dry inselbergs?
• the 1994 Nepalese legislative election saw the first democratically elected communist government in Asia come to power?
• the Malayan Tapir is the only species of tapir native to Asia?
• the Core Pacific City mall in Taipei, Taiwan, is the largest mall in Asia at 204,190 square meters of total floor space?
• it has often been claimed that the 1948 Southeast Asian Youth Conference, held in Calcutta, marked the starting point for various armed communist insurgencies in different Asian countries?
• almost the entirety of the Australian stout whiting catch is exported to various Asian countries?
• France–Asia relations span more than two millennia, and have involved numerous alliances between France and Asian countries?
• Lion Beer was Asia's first brand of beer?
• San Sebastian Church, the only all-steel church in Asia, is threatened by rust caused by the salty sea breeze from nearby Manila Bay?
• Russian painter Alexandre Jacovleff (pictured) participated in trans-Saharan and trans-Asian (from Syria to China) expeditions organized by the French car manufacturer Citroën?
• Pushkar Fair—the largest camel fair in Asia—commenced on Kartik Ekadashi (29 Oct) and will end today on Kartik Poornima?
• bats on Madagascar colonized the island from Asia at least three times?
• Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is the oldest permanent wax museum in Asia?
• Hortus Malabaricus, the earliest printed treatise on the flora in Asia, contains the first instances of Malayalam types being used for printing?
• Zentatsu Richard Baker was an influential American Zen priest who played a leading role in founding Tassajara, the first Buddhist training monastery outside of Asia?
• Rev. Thomas Dyche is credited with writing the first book in English published in Asia?
• Queen Anula of Sri Lanka is believed to have been the first female monarch in Asia?
• BoA's Best of Soul made her the first non-Japanese Asian singer to have two million-selling albums in Japan?

Facts on topics related to Asia

Europe

• "Pink Fairhead" is a common name for Calocybe carnea, a small pink mushroom of grassy areas in Europe and North America?
• "experienced Euro watcher" Tony Connelly wrote Don't Mention the Wars: A Journey Through European Stereotypes, examining the stereotypical views of Europeans?
• blues singer Jesse Fortune, better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man," passed on performing in Europe because he did not want to disappoint customers at his Chicago barbershop?
• Brazil has recently opened a commercial fishery targeting the Colares stingray, for export to Europe?
• Canadian-born Jim Koleff spent three decades in Europe as an ice hockey player, coach and manager after telling coach Dave Chambers that he would play in Italy for one year?
• Dorothea Mackellar wrote her patriotic Australian poem "My Country", which contains the line I love a sunburnt country, while she was homesick when travelling in Europe?
• Europe's most powerful supercomputer, MareNostrum, will be used in human genome research, protein research, weather forecasting and the design of new drugs?
• French geography professor Henri Enjalbert theorized that Albania, the Ionian islands and southern Dalmatia were the only European regions with grapevines following the last Ice Age?
• French Army soldiers killed between 15,000 and 45,000 Algerian civilians in the Setif massacre of May 8, 1945, the same day as V-E day in Europe?
• Germany is the European leader in Christmas tree production?

Singapore

• "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" became a famous description for Singapore (pictured) following the 1993 publication of William Gibson's article of the same name?
• "ultra" was a phrase frequently used in 1960s Malaysia and Singapore to describe racial chauvinists?
• "Majulah Singapura", the national anthem of Singapore, was originally a theme song for events held by Singapore's City Council during colonial times?
• masters of Singapore-registered ships are subject to a fine of S$1,000 if they do not hoist the Red Ensign (pictured) before entering or leaving port?
• Lord Canning wanted to build a port at Canning, now in West Bengal, that could rival Singapore but gave up when the Matla River surged its fury on the new port town in 1867?
• computer simulation techniques were used to review the design of One Marina Boulevard in Singapore?
• golf was introduced to Singapore by Sir John Tankerville Goldney in 1891 while he was Chief Justice for the Straits Settlements?
• New Zealand currently has free trade agreements with Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Chile and China?
• Singapore's 5.4-ton Pegasus is the first helicopter-portable 155mm howitzer with a self-propelled capability?
• Singapore's Burmese Buddhist Temple has the largest white marble statue of the Buddha (pictured) outside of Myanmar?

Continent

• Polar dinosaurs could have walked to Australia, because during the early Cretaceous the continent of Australia was still linked to Antarctica?
• four different continents host red fox populations?
• the Coast Range Arc is the largest continental volcanic arc fossil in the world and the largest granite projection in North America?
• the design of Notre-Dame-des-Missions-du-cygne d'Enghien in Épinay-sur-Seine, France was inspired by the architectural styles of five continents?
• there are only a handful of true freshwater lakes in Australia because of that continent's minimal amount of glacial and tectonic activity?

Middle East

• Mayo hurler Adrian Freeman played in England, Scotland, North America and the Middle East before his recent death in an Australia car crash?
• cross stitches are part of the embroidery traditions of the Balkans, Middle East, Afghanistan, Colonial America and Victorian England?
• Munir Bashir, known for his mastery of the maqam scale system, was a famous musician in the Middle East during the 20th century?
• turkey bacon is used as a substitute for pork bacon at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe locations in the Middle East?
• chal is a traditional Turkic drink made from fermented camel's milk, which is popular in Central Asia, as well as in the Near East?
• English diplomat John Barker introduced vaccination to the Middle East?
• after serving in U.S. embassies in Egypt and Lebanon, Edward Sheehan wrote his debut novel Kingdom of Illusion about the playboy king of a fictional Middle Eastern country?
• as son of a Lebanese Arab father who was raised by Jewish stepfathers after his father's death, Bradley M. Campbell quipped that his "aspiration is to become ambassador-at-large in the Middle East"?
• during the early 20th century, the depopulated Palestinian village Sarafand al-Amar was the site of the largest British Army base in the Middle East?
• the Bahá'í population in the United Arab Emirates is estimated to be the second-largest in the Middle East?

Africa

• "Bitaqat Khub" is the first and only Eurovision Song Contest to have been performed in Arabic, and also the first and only entry to have represented an African country?
• 800 metres runner Andrew Hart was the fastest non-African in his event at the 1998 Commonwealth Games?
• advertisements featuring the character Michael Power doubled Guinness sales in Africa between 1999 and 2003?
• German philosopher Leo Frobenius thought that all non-European culture in Africa had to be the result of a white civilization which he called the African Atlantis?
• Safi Faye's 1975 film Kaddu Beykat was the first commercially distributed feature film made by a Sub-Saharan African woman?
• Anne-Marie Javouhey, the founder and abbess of a new religious order, was one of the first women to establish missions in Africa?
• Dowlish Wake was the home of John Hanning Speke who explored Africa in the mid–19th century in search of the source of the Nile?
• freak waves are common near Cape Algulhas off the southern tip of Africa?
  
• Gershom Sizomu of Uganda is the first native-born black rabbi in Africa?
• Halle Jørn Hanssen was Norway's first television correspondent stationed in an African country?

Ankara

• it was recently discovered that about 10,000 Muslim graves in Cebeci Asri Cemetery, Ankara, Turkey were not oriented in the direction required by Islam?

Jerusalem

• Jerusalem's Kanfei Nesharim Street is long and wide and straight like a runway, because it was originally built as one?
• Jerusalem's Street of the Prophets was originally called "Street of the Hospitals" and "Street of the Consuls"?
• millwrights from Canterbury, Kent, built Moses Montefiore Windmill (pictured) in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1857?
• Birket Israel, once the largest reservoir in Jerusalem, is now a parking lot?
• Holy Land USA (pictured), a Connecticut theme park intended to replicate Bethlehem and Jerusalem of the biblical era, once attracted more than 40,000 visitors annually?
• Motza (pictured), founded in 1859, was the first modern village established near Jerusalem?
• Sabil Abu Nabbut (pictured) was a public fountain built by Ottoman governor Muhammad Abu Nabbut in 1812 to facilitate the journey between Jaffa and Jerusalem?
• Sami Hadawi, author of works on the land rights of Palestinian refugees, was exiled by Israel in 1948 and denied permission to have his remains returned to his native Jerusalem for burial in 2004?
• a seam (pictured) along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount may be a clue to the location of the Acra, a Seleucid citadel in ancient Jerusalem?
• during the Roman Empire in Palestine, the road that connected Lydda to Jerusalem passed through Barfiliya?

Baku

• Martyrs' Lane in Baku, Azerbaijan, is dedicated to those killed by the Red Army during Black January and later to those killed in Nagorno-Karabakh War?
• the Saviour's Lutheran Church in Baku, Azerbaijan (pictured) survived Joseph Stalin's rule by promising to pray for him?
• the historical Bibi-Heybat Mosque near Baku, Azerbaijan, (pictured), destroyed in 1934 as a result of the Soviet anti-religious campaign, was reopened in 1997 at the same location after the country gained independence?

East Asia

• Luan Jujie is the only East Asian person to have won an Olympic gold medal in the sport of fencing?
• Spiraea japonica, an invasive plant native to East Asia, was introduced in the United States as an ornamental plant?
• the idiopathic inflammatory lung disease diffuse panbronchiolitis has the highest incidence among Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai cases, indicating a genetic predisposition among East Asians?
• the Minatogawa Man is among the oldest complete skeletons of modern humans recovered in East Asia?
• the vast Mongol Empire that once stretched from East Asia to Romania was brought down by the Red Turban Rebellion?

Central Asia

• Kazakhstan and Turkey have sought to promote closer bilateral relations and foster close ties between Turkic nations of Central Asia?
• Alliance for Open Society International, operator of drug rehabilitation programs for heroin addicts in Central Asia, sued the U.S. Government over the anti-prostitution pledge?
• Alpamysh, an ancient Turkic epic or dastan, is one of the foremost examples of the Turkic oral literature of Central Asia?
• Central Asia plus Japan is an ongoing dialogue between Japan and the Central Asian republics to promote regional cooperation?
• couching embroidery technique, in which yarn laid on top of fabric is held in place with small stitches, featured in the creation of the Bayeux tapestry (pictured) and Central Asian suzani rugs?
• Dzhigit is a reference to a skillful and brave equestrian in the Caucasus, and the derived term "Dzhigitovka" means the special style of trick riding, which originated in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and is also popular with Russian Cossacks?
• shartegosuchid crocodyliforms made up an endemic Central Asian Mesozoic fauna that existed after the breakup of Pangaea?
• chal is a traditional Turkic drink made from fermented camel's milk, which is popular in Central Asia, as well as in the Near East?
• Uzbekistani artist Nikolai Shin spent more than two decades working on his 44-metre-long painting Requiem, which depicts the 1937 deportation of the Koryo-saram to Central Asia?
• many villages in Tajikistan received only one to two hours of electricity per day during an on-going energy crisis in Central Asia?