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South Asia. EU and Morocco Review of North Africa & SW Asia Questions South Asia Scope and Features Major Qualities. THE REALM. Five Regions India Pakistan Bangladesh Mountainous North Southern Islands. Major Geographic Qualities of South Asia. Well defined physiographically
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South Asia • EU and Morocco • Review of North Africa & SW Asia • Questions • South Asia • Scope and Features • Major Qualities
THE REALM Five Regions • India • Pakistan • Bangladesh • Mountainous North • Southern Islands
Major Geographic Qualities of South Asia • Well defined physiographically • Monsoon climate • The world’s second largest population cluster • 1.4 billion • Grinding poverty • 22% of world’s population, 3% of land area • Population concentrated in villages • North Indian Plain – Uttar Pradesh • British colonial legacy, India, a federal state • Religion and nationalism • Boundary issues • Kashmir
WHAT CLIMATE VARIABLES HELP TO EXPLAIN THIS DISTRIBUTION?
MONSOONS • Monsoon • India is the ‘textbook example’ • 50% of arable land irrigated by monsoon • Over half world’s population is in monsoonal regions • It is a wind, not the rain • Seasonal reversal of winds • General onshore movement in summer • General offshore flow in winter
Impact of the Monsoon • Regional variation • Vital to rice production in India • But: • Widespread flooding and property damage • Transportation • Housing • Erosion and destruction of agricultural land • Disease • Malnutrition • Death • Impact exacerbated by deforestation
Culture • Religion • Islam is dominant in Pakistan and Bangladesh. • But 150 million Muslims in India • Hinduism is dominant in India. • Sikhism in northern India, Punjab • Buddhism is dominant in Sri Lanka.
Culture Hearth: The Indus River • Early agriculture & hydraulic civilizations • Arts and trade routes emerged from isolated tribes and villages to towns and beyond. • Hinduism emerged from the beliefs and practices brought to India by the Indo-Europeans c. 600 BC • Buddhism – Prince Siddhartha 300 BC • Diffusion of Islam 700-1600 CE
The world’s oldest religion Culture hearth of the Indus River Valley Diffused south and east down the Ganges HINDUISM
HINDUISM • Intricate web of religious, philosophical, social, economic, and artistic elements • No common creed • No single doctrine • No direct divine revelation • No rigid narrow moral code • Caste system: rigid social stratification
Colonial Transformation 1 • East India Company – 1599 • Benefits from factionalization • Warring principalities • Islam-Hinduism-Buddhism • Drives out French, Dutch and Spanish rivals • Indian Mutiny (Sepoy Rebellion) of 1856 • British Viceroy assumes control 1857-1947
Colonial Transformation 2 • Benefits of Colonial Era • British civil service and public administration • Centralization of political control of rival states • Railway network • Irrigation canal network • Discouraged suttee, infanticide, child marriage • Costs of colonial era • Dependency and indignity • Resources extracted for Britain’s benefit • Independence and partition, 1947
PARTITION AND ISLAM Independence and Partition 15 million refugees