South Asia

Group portrait of three Chinese children, each holding an American flag and a Chinese flag, in a room in Chicago, 1929

Illinois Becomes First State to Mandate Teaching Asian American History

The move arrives amid a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes across the country

Separate Working Things I, vegetable color, dry pigment, watercolor and tea on walk paper, 1993-1995. The painting borrows archetypal images of romantic love.

The Reinvention of the Art of the Miniature

Putting a new spin on traditional themes, an artist revitalizes a once-popular form of painting

Smithsonian ecologist Andy Boyce reported the rediscovery and photographed the elusive Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops owl, Otus brookii brookii, in the mountainous forests of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

Rare Owl With Bright Orange Eyes Seen for the First Time in More Than 125 Years

The elusive Bornean Rajah scops owl is inspiring scientists and researchers after its brief rediscovery

At its height in the 13th century, Angkor boasted a population of around 700,000 to 900,000.

Thirteenth-Century Angkor Was Home to More People Than Modern Boston

New research tracks the famed southeast Asian city's growth over hundreds of years

The yazh's design is based on detailed descriptions of the ancient instrument.

Listen to the First Song Ever Recorded on This Ancient, Harp-Like Instrument

Tharun Sekar, a luthier based in southern India, has painstakingly recreated the long-lost yazh

A 300-thread count sari woven out of a hybrid Dhaka muslin thread

How Modern Researchers Are Trying to Recreate a Long-Lost Fabric

Dhaka muslin was immensely popular for millennia, but the secrets of its creation faded from memory by the early 20th century

During World War II, the United States government incarcerated some 120,000 Japanese Americans, including the Uno family spotlighted in the documentary series.

Watch 150 Years of Asian American History Unfold in This Documentary

The five-part PBS series chronicles the community's story through archival footage, interviews

These Cambodian cultural heritage artifacts, once held in the collection of controversial collector Douglas Latchford, will soon be returned to their home country. From left to right: Ardhanarishvara, a half-male, half-female deity from the Angkor period, 10th century; a bronze boat prow from the late 12th century; and a bronze male deity from the 11th-century Angkor period

Collection of Antiquities Dealer Accused of Looting Will Return to Cambodia

The $50 million trove represents one of the most significant repositories of Cambodian cultural heritage outside of the country

New analysis of the fossilized tooth plaque of 16 ancient Mediterraneans reveals that they consumed foods imported from Asia—like turmeric and banana, pictured—a thousand years earlier than researchers previously thought.

Ancient Mediterranean People Ate Bananas and Turmeric From Asia 3,700 Years Ago

Fossilized tooth plaque reveals a diverse and exotic palette reflected in the region's modern cuisine

Litter, much of it plastic, dots a beach in Santa Monica, CA, the morning after a beach cleanup.

The U.S. Is the World's Number One Source of Plastic Waste

In 2016, the average American produced 286 pounds of plastic waste, the highest rate per capita of any country on Earth

This diagram shows the different kinds of animal bones used to make the 48,000-year-old tools.

Evidence of Early Bow-and-Arrow Hunting Discovered in Sri Lanka

If confirmed, the 48,000-year-old find will be the oldest known instance of bowhunting outside of Africa

Ecologist and Smithsonian associate Aung Myo Chit soothes an elephant in Myanmar after it was fitted with a collar.

Researchers Are Learning How Asian Elephants Think—in Order to Save Them

As the pachyderms increasingly clash with farmers and villagers over disappearing land, scientists study the way the animals' minds work

This concretion, recovered from the Hoi An shipwreck, alludes to the fate of artifacts left underwater.

Who Owns the Art Recovered From Shipwrecks?

A thought-provoking exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco draws on artifacts from two centuries-old shipwrecks

Tiny Stone Tools Show Humans Hunted in the Rainforest 45,000 Years Ago

A 'toolkit' found in Sri Lanka adds to growing evidence that early humans inhabited many ecosystems, not just open grasslands

The 8.5-millimeter millipede had five-unit compound eyes and an unusually hairless rear end

This Petite, 99-Million-Year-Old Millipede Was Entrapped in Amber

The diminutive arthropod represents not only a previously unknown species, but an entirely separate Callipodida suborder

St. Anthony's Shrine photographed the day after multiple deadly explosions targeted churches and hotels across Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Government Pledges to Rebuild 175-Year-Old Church Damaged in Deadly Easter Bombings

St. Anthony’s Shrine has long served as a symbol of unity and religious tolerance

This Is the World's Tallest Tropical Tree

The yellow meranti in Malaysia's Sabah state is 330 feet tall and weighs more than a jetliner

This is why we can't have nice things.

Indonesia Considers Closing Komodo Island Because Poachers Keep Stealing the Dragons

Komodo National Park may put the island off limits to restore degraded habitat and help its iconic giant lizards and their prey recover

Turtles, bound in duct-tape, that were discovered in luggage at Manila's Ninoy Aquino international airport.

1,500 Turtles and Tortoises Found Stuffed Into Luggage at Manila Airport

It is believed that the animals, some of which are considered vulnerable, were being trafficked as part of a multi-million dollar wildlife trade

As glaciers melt, the Himalayan region will face extreme weather ranging from floods to drought and unpredictable monsoon rains

The Himalayas Could Lose Two-Thirds of Its Glaciers by 2100

Even if the most ambitious global climate targets are met, the Asian mountain range is poised to lose at least one-third of its glaciers

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