The world was divided into three parts. From the south towards the west up to the Mediterranean Sea is the part called Africa. Its southern region is hot and scorched by the sun. The second part begins in the west and continues northward towards the sea; it is called Europe or Enea. Its northern regions are so cold that no grass grows and no one can subsist there. Starting in the north and continuing across the eastern continent all the way to the south is the region called Asia.1 Everything in that part of the world is beautiful and stately, and the earth produces gold and gemstones. The middle of the world is also there. Just as the earth in that region is more beautiful and better in all ways than other places, so too the people there are most endowed with all blessings: wisdom and strength, beauty, and every kind of skill.
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the region called Asia : The concept of Asia included the Middle East as well as the Far East. ↩