How to Draw the Map of Asia

Learn geography by drawing the continents using simple shapes that anyone can draw and easy-to-remember directions. Other “how-to-draw” videos are far more accurate, but less achievable by those of us who are not artistically talented. The goal is not perfection, but to use visual, audible, and tactile methods to learn the location of major locations such as mountains, bodies of water, islands, and major cities. As a teacher, I have found it an effective way for my students to internalize geographic knowledge and be able to use and understand maps in other contexts.

For these introductory maps, I have deliberately avoided nations, countries, and empires because they change throughout world history, whereas the location of cities, islands, rivers, and mountains remain the same. For instance, the empires of Srivajaya, Majapahit, Portugal, Britain, Holland, and Japan have all come and gone, but the island of Java remains the same.

The places I have chosen are relevant to the world history course that I teach. When you draw your own map, once you master the basic shapes, feel free to add the locations that are important to you. Good luck and happy drawing!