OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
Periphery with Deferred
Promise
Diverse Cultures
Precolonial Cultures
Buddhism and Hinduism
Colonial Impacts
British Indian Empire
Paths
to Independence
Natural Environment
Monsoon Climates
World's Highest Mountains
Peninsular Hills and Plateaus
Major River Basins
Forests and Soils
Natural
Resources
Environmental Problems
Kashmir
PERIPHERY WITH DEFERRED PROMISE
Political
map of Southern Asia
Indian
Subcontinent
World's
2nd poorest region
High population
density
Extremes
and near crises: wealth, education, technology, instability
22% world
population on 4.3% world land = 1% GDP
Post-colonial
isolation
DIVERSE CULTURES
Precolonial Cultures
Temple doors
(c. 1600 B.C.)
a world cultural hearth
for more than 4000 years
cycles: isolation,
invasion, assimilation (what effect would the Himalayas have?)
Invasions:
- Dravidians,
Aryan, Greeks, Gupta, Huns, Turks
- Muslims:
Mongols, Mughals
many languages and
religions
Dravidians 3000 B.C.
Around
the Indus River in 90 slides
Mohenjo
Daro settlement founded in 3000 B.C. on banks
of Indus River Mohenjo
Daro slide show
Hinduism
1200 B.C.
caste system
Buddhism
Buddhist
beliefs
Four
Noble Truths
Geography
of Religion Basics
500 B.C.
rejected caste system
British Colonial Impacts in Southern Asia
Breakdown of
Mughal Dynasty
Trading expansion
New route to
India
British East
India Company
British Indian Empire
Established 1857
new port cities
strong core-periphery
relationship
cottage industries
infrastructure
development
long term impacts:
resources, land control, development, trade
Paths to Independence
Indian National
Congress (1885)
Muslim League
(1906)
1920s: Gandhi
and independence
1940s: Muslims
demand separate state
1947 Independence:
India, West and East Pakistan
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Physical Geography Map of South Asia
Contrasts
- high mountains / plains & plateaus
- hot & dry / hot & wet
- desert / fertile river valleys
Monsoon
summer - low pressure
winter - high pressure
Dynamics of Sea
Breezes
dominance of warm
climates and monsoonal precipitation
wide range of temperature
and precipitation (10-400")
Why is there a warm
instead of cold winter?
Thar Desert
World’s Highest Mountains
By what type tectonic activity did they form?
Himalayas
Himalayas,
Sanskrit for "The Abode of Snow"
The Hindu Kush mountain system extends for 500 miles
in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reaching its highest
point in Pakistan's highlands.
What impact do the mountain chains have on climate? Migration? Culture?
Peninsular Hills and Plateaus
Ghats - hills on west
and east coasts
Deccan Plateau - lava
base
Why do the rivers on the peninsula flow east?
Major River Basins
Irrigation
Fertile lands
Why are river valleys very often fertile?
Indus
Ganges
- sacred to Hindus
Brahmaputra
Forests
Dense tropical forests cover the seaward slopes of the Western Ghats
Mountains in southern India. The forests thrive in the heavy rains that
the summer monsoon season brings to the Western Ghats.
Forested
India
Natural Resources and Economics
What is the main natural resource, the one most valued and needed?
mineral wealth
energy shortage
How can this be?
infrastructure
bottlenecks India
energy map
agriculture -
India can feed itself (why is this important?)
manufacturing
- cottage industries, heavy industry (e.g., chemicals), computers
Environmental Problems
Dynamic natural environment:
earthquakes
monsoons
rapid modification
Anthropogenic:
forest destruction,
poor cultivation --> soil erosion
industry, urbanization,
dams --> water, air pollution
Economic Growth and Environmental Problems
How does economic growth affect the natural environment of Southern
Asia?
How does population increase affect it?
Issues:
Population pressures
Green
Revolution
Irrigation
Dams
Rapid economic growth
Ganges River
Ganga
Action Plan
Border Dispute
Over Kashmir: Pakistan, India, and China
Images of
Kashmir
Map
of Pakistan
Jammu Kashmir
Liberation Front
India and claims
Kashmir
Majority in
Kashmir are Muslims
On what basis
does Pakistan justify its claim to Jammu &Kashmir?
Pakistan's forward
capital of Islamabad
India and Pakistan
-- nuclear weapons tests
What impact does the possession of nuclear capability by India and
Pakistan have on the nature of the dispute?
Jama Masjid mosque