36 countries
Map of Asia in 1914
Asia on the eve of the First World War
Asia in the summer of 1914: the British Empire ruled India, Burma and Ceylon; Russia reached the Pacific, and Japan, an empire by now, had annexed Korea. Imperial China had fallen two years before.
- The Ottoman Empire still ruled Syria, Palestine, Iraq and the Hejaz, with Mecca and Medina; there was no Saudi Arabia, and Ibn Saud was only Emir of Nejd and Hasa.
- British India took in today's Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar; its capital had just moved from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).
- The Republic of China (1912) did not control Outer Mongolia or Tibet, independent in all but name.
- Japan ruled Korea, Taiwan and southern Sakhalin (Karafuto); France, Indochina; the Netherlands, today's Indonesia; and the United States, the Philippines.
- Persia had been split into Russian and British spheres of influence since 1907, and Siam stayed independent between British India and French Indochina. The population figures on this map are estimates of the time: the quiz only uses them to compare.
How it is made: the coasts are today's, and the borders follow today's divisions where they match those of the time and, where they do not, lines drawn by hand, good to about 10 km. Shapes: Natural Earth (public domain). Compare with today's Asia →
Facts: the map of Asia in 1914
- On the map
- 36 countries · 5 are so small they show as a dot (complete level)
- Largest country
- Russian Empire (≈ 22,800,000 km²)
- Smallest country
- Portuguese Macau (≈ 12 km²)
- Most populous country
- Republic of China (≈ 430,000,000 people)
- Least populous country
- Brunei (British protectorate) (≈ 30,000 people)
- Northernmost capital
- Saint Petersburg (Russian Empire)
- Southernmost capital
- Dili (Portuguese Timor)
- Most neighbours
- British India: 11
- No land border with another country on the map
- American Philippines, Bahrain (British protectorate), British Cyprus, Ceylon, and Maldives (British protectorate)
Fun facts: Map of Asia in 1914
- By 1914 China was no longer an empire: it had been a republic since 1912.
- Puyi, China's last emperor, had abdicated in 1912 aged just six.
- Korea had been part of the Japanese Empire since 1910.
- You could already travel by train from Moscow to Vladivostok, on the Pacific.
- British India included today's Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
- Japan joined the war on the Allied side and seized Germany's possessions in China and the Pacific.
- Mecca was still under the Ottoman Empire; it broke away in 1916.
- India's Rabindranath Tagore won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Asian to do so.
Test yourself
Which was the largest country of Asia in 1914?
Russian Empire.
Which was the most populous country of Asia in 1914?
Republic of China.
Which was the smallest country of Asia in 1914?
Portuguese Macau.
Which was the least populous country of Asia in 1914?
Qatar.
More maps
The countries on the map of Asia in 1914, and what they are today
Today's countries that cover a good part of its land, largest share first.
Show the map with the names (to revise)
Show the table (36)
| Country | Capital | Today part of |
|---|---|---|
| Aden Protectorate | Aden | Yemen |
| Afghanistan | Kabul | Afghanistan |
| American Philippines | Manila | Philippines |
| Bahrain (British protectorate) | Manama | Bahrain |
| Bhutan | Punakha | Bhutan |
| British Cyprus | Nicosia | Cyprus |
| British Hong Kong | Victoria | China |
| British India | Delhi | India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh |
| British Malaya | Singapore | Malaysia |
| British North Borneo | Sandakan | Malaysia |
| Brunei (British protectorate) | Brunei Town (Bandar Seri Begawan) | Brunei |
| Ceylon | Colombo | Sri Lanka |
| Dutch East Indies | Batavia (Jakarta) | Indonesia |
| Emirate of Asir | Sabya | Saudi Arabia |
| Emirate of Jabal Shammar | Ha'il | Saudi Arabia |
| Emirate of Nejd and Hasa | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia |
| Empire of Japan | Tokyo | Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan |
| French India | Pondicherry | India |
| French Indochina | Hanoi | Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia |
| Kuwait (British protectorate) | Kuwait City | Kuwait |
| Maldives (British protectorate) | Malé | Maldives |
| Muscat and Oman | Muscat | Oman |
| Nepal | Kathmandu | Nepal |
| Ottoman Empire | Constantinople | Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine |
| Outer Mongolia | Urga (Ulaanbaatar) | Mongolia |
| Persia | Tehran | Iran |
| Portuguese India | Nova Goa (Panaji) | India |
| Portuguese Macau | Macau | China |
| Portuguese Timor | Dili | Timor-Leste |
| Qatar | Doha | Qatar |
| Republic of China | Beijing (Peking) | China |
| Russian Empire | Saint Petersburg | Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Turkey |
| Sarawak | Kuching | Malaysia |
| Siam | Bangkok | Thailand |
| Tibet | Lhasa | China |
| Trucial States | Sharjah | United Arab Emirates |