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MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES SOUTH ASIA India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan 1. Well-defined physiographically, extending from the southern slopes of the Himalayas to large islands like Sri Lanka and small island groups like the Maldives and Laccadives in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. 2. The two major river systems, the Ganges-Brahmaputra in India and Bangladesh and the Indus in Pakistan form crucial life lines for 100s of millions of people. The annual wet summer monsoon is also critical to them. The monsoon supports agriculture in most of the area and often causes flooding, especially in Bangladesh. 3. India is at the center of the world's second largest population cluster, with a billion people in 2000 (the U.S. has 305 million in 3 times the land area in 2007). India will exceed China's population by 2025 if growth is not slowed. 4. Some of the world's worst demographic problems: urban and rural crowding, food, water, health care, pollution, etc. 5. All are low-income economies. Malnutrition, poor health prevail for millions. 6. Agriculture is less efficient and productive than in other parts of Asia. 7. Although there are some very large cities, most people of the realm live in rural villages and practice subsistence level agriculture and cottage industries. 8. Strong cultural regionalism. Hinduism dominates India, especially since 1947 at partition. The Pakistanis are Muslims, as are the Bengalis of Bangladesh. The Sri Lankans are mainly Buddhists in the South, although there is considerable strife there between them and Hindu Tamils who migrated there from India as agricultural laborers. The Nepalese are Hindus, the Bhutanese are Buddhists. 9. The modern political and geographical frame work is a result of European colonialism, with modifications since the European withdrawal at mid-20th century. 10. India is the world's largest and most complex democratic federal state. It is also an ancient culture and the “most foreign of all countries.” 11. India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. SOUTH ASIA: INDIA, PAKISTAN, BANGLADESH, AFGHANISTAN 3 Physiographic Regions 1. The northern mountains, the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan) in the northeast, the Karakoram (China) in the northwest and the Himalayas (Place of the Gods) (China, Nepal, and Bhutan), to the north 2. The southern peninsular plateau, Deccan Plateau, with the western Ghats, higher, where the monsoons occur, and the eastern Ghats, lower, drainage is to the east 3. Belt of River Lowlands: North Indian Plain Ganges, wet climate (Hindustan), to Brahmaputra, the core of India; and Punjab Indus, land of 5 rivers, arid Pakistan, India and Bangladesh all part of British India until 1947, when India and Pakistan (east and west) became independent. In 1971, Bangladesh formed and there were 3 countries. India is Hindu, Pakistan and Bangladesh are Muslim. PAKISTAN Punjab: five rivers; Pushtuns Afghanistan, many Afghanis live in Pakistan Kashmir, Muslim province of India under dispute stan, an area to the west, “the land of ____” AFGHANISTAN - Buffer zone crated by British and Czarist Russia, 20 languages, 7 major ethnic groups. Home of the indigenous Taliban, who fight in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, and the foreign-born Al Qaeda, who use the country as a base and refuge and commit terrorist acts around the world. Osama Bin Laden has been hiding there for over a decade. The US has tens of thousands of troops and support staff there. Small numbers of coalition forces also fight there. Most Afghans are Sunni Muslims. SRI LANKA formerly Ceylon. Long civil war with minority Hindu Tamils, who migrated under the British Raj, and majority Sinhalese Buddhists. BANGLADESH Muslims, desperately overcrowded, 120 million in the space of Iowa, cognate with Bengal, speak Bengali, floods all the time. Dhaka (Dacca) is capital. Thousands of Bengalis are migrant workers in other countries. This winter, thousands of Bengali oil workers have been fleeing the violence in Libya. REGIONS OF INDIA States are based on linguistic adherence at Partition. Indo-European Languages in North Dravidian languages in the South Hindi is the Lingua Franca, but the money has 10 languages, many urban dwellers speak English. HISTORY 2000 to 1500 BC invaders from Asia pushed Dravidians to the South 1500 BC the Aryans move into India in the Northwest (Swastika) Harrapa becomes the first major city, followed by Mahenjo Daro and others Vedas written, long epic poems from a highly literate ancient society 300 BC, the ruler Ashoka embraced Buddhism, a liberal and humane ruler, who believed in the rights of the individual and India was Buddhist for a few centuries 100s of Buddhist monasteries built. Buddhism later replaced by resurfacing Hinduism, which is typified by many gods, belief in reincarnation, release from worldly concerns, caste system. 150 to 200 AD, Kushana Kingdom, came from the northwest across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Roman Trading Ports established 5th and 6th centuries AD, Gupta Period. India as we know it today, Hindu. Core in the Middle Ganges 12th century AD, Muslim invasions, economic incentives, India seen as a garden. Many low castes converted to Islam. 16th century European invasion Portuguese trading port on the southwest coast, Dutch, Brits and French in the northeast, Mogul Muslims in the north, moving down from the northwest, great patrons of the arts, took elements of Hindi art; the Taj Mahal is one result. Related to the Khans, Genghis and Kublai, Tammerling. Dutch in Ceylon 4 main cores when Europeans arrived Delhi, Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chenai), Calcutta (Kolkotta). British built the Grand Trunk Road from the Khyber Pass to Calcutta and lined it with trees. Many independent states when the British came, all abolished at independence and reformed by linguistic criteria. RELIGION Hindus Hinduism exists all the time, caste system, social hierarchy of purity and pollution. Highest = Brahmins Kshaytriyas -- warriors, suttee (wife burns with dead husband) Vaishyas -- peasants Sudras --artisans Pariahs -- untouchables And many, many more… Buddhists not too many any more in India, more in China and Southeast Asia, Japan, although Buddha was born in India on the North Indian Plain. Christians in the south and extreme northeast, were Animists, but were converted by Christian missionaries. 4 kinds: Syrian (Antioch) Christians Church of Rome Eastern Orthodox Coptic Christians Sikhs web page 1500s synthesis of Islam and Hindi, no castes, egalitarian, Punjab at Amritsar. Every Sikh's last name is Singh 15th century Guru Nanak. Sikhs assassinated Indira Gandhi. Speak Punjabi, never cut their hair or beard, must carry a dagger. They're great farmers and own a lot of land in the Sacramento Valley and other agricultural areas. During floods in the 1980s and 90s, flood warnings in the Valley were broadcast in English, Spanish, and Punjabi. Jains web page Off shoot of Hindi. wealthiest people. Vegetarians, non-violent to the extreme. Islam 10 % of Indians, majority in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.