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South Asia. Basics South Asia is also known as the Indian subcontinent (large land mass smaller than a continent) It’s a large triangular peninsula that juts southward from the continent of Asia and is surrounded by three bodies of water Arabian Sea to the west Indian Ocean to the South
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Basics • South Asia is also known as the Indian subcontinent (large land mass smaller than a continent) • It’s a large triangular peninsula that juts southward from the continent of Asia and is surrounded by three bodies of water • Arabian Sea to the west • Indian Ocean to the South • Bay of Bengal to the East
Mountain Ranges • Himalayas • Separate South Asia from the rest of the continent • Stretch 1,500 miles from east to west • 50 mountains are over 5 miles tall • Mount Everest (tallest point in the world) is part of the Himalayas • Hindu Kush • Smaller in area but nearly as high as the Himalayas • Kush means death, showing how tough these are to travel through • Vindhya Mountains • A rugged range, much lower than others in South Asia • The Ghats • Border Deccan Plateau on east and west, named for the many “ghats” or passes
Mountain Passes/Valleys: Although the mountains form a barrier, they can be crossed through passes • Khyber Pass- allows travel through the Hindu Kush mountains • Kashmir Valley is where farmers grow many crops, goats produce a fine wool called cashmere
Rivers • Indus River • Empties into the Arabian Sea • Major river in Pakistan • Ganges River • Begins in Himalayas, joins the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal • Most holy river in South Asia
Other Landforms • Indo-Gangetic Plain is south of • Thar Desert covers about 100,000 square miles in India and Pakistan, consists of sand dunes and very little rain, but a little grass grows in some places • Deccan Plateau- (high, flat land) occupies nearly half of South Asia and has many rivers cross through it
South Asia: Physical Map Use this map to help you label each of the geographic features listed in your notes.