South Asia Totally Explained

Everything about South Asia totally explained

South Asia

Countries	7 to 10 (see page)
Territories	1 or 2 (see page)
GDP
GDP per capita
Languages	Assamese/Asomiya, Bengali, Bodo, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, Dhivehi, Dogri, Dzongkha, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Sinhala, Siraiki, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, and others
Time Zones	UTC +8:00 (Tibet, PRC) to UTC +3:30 (Iran)
Largest Cities	Colombo, Dhaka, Diego Garcia, Kabul, Karachi, Kathmandu, Lhasa, Malé, Mumbai, Tehran, Thimpu, and Yangon

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is a southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities (see below), also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east. It is surrounded (clockwise, from west to east) by Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, and Southeastern Asia.

Definitions and usage

South Asia consists of the following countries and territories:

These countries, except the British Indian Ocean Territory, are also currently members of a regional co-operation group, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was jointly formed by them. For assumed geographic, cultural, and/or historical reasons, the following countries and territories are often included in South Asia:

(Otherwise considered Central Asian or Middle-Eastern) (Now a member of SAARC)

, (Prior to August 1947, for nearly a century, it was part of the British Raj region of South Asia proper.) (Otherwise considered Southeast Asian)

Tibet, PRC (Otherwise considered Central Asian) (The People's Republic of China, which governs Tibet, is an observer member of SAARC) The United Nations also includes Iran, but not Tibet or Burma, as part of Southern Asia:

(Iran is an observer nation in SAARC) (Otherwise considered Southwest Asia) Geophysically, the term Indian subcontinent is used to describe those regions which lie on the Indian Plate, bordered on the north by the Eurasian Plate. However, a good proportion of the Pakistani land mass isn't on the Indian plate, but on the fringes of the Iranian plateau. As in the case of the Hindukush mountains, everything to the south-east of the Iranian Plateau is considered South Asia. But, geopolitically, Southern Asia subsumes the Indian subcontinent and includes both, the territories found internal to the Indian Plate and those in proximity to it. Afghanistan, for instance, is sometimes grouped in this region due to socio-political, historical, and ethnic (Pashtun) ties to neighbouring Pakistan.

Differences in definitions

The definition of South Asia can vary greatly from person to person. Most sources accept Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Chagos Islands, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as South Asian. Most of the controversy originates over Afghanistan, Iran, and Tibet. Afghanistan and Tibet are often considered South Asian by the Departments of South Asian Studies of several universities, especially those referred to above; but this definition is by no means universal. Another controversy grows over Iran, for Iran is considered South Asian by the UN on the one hand, but none of those departments above on the other. The G8's definition of the Greater Middle East further obfuscates matters by including both Pakistan and Afghanistan. See: Middle East and Greater Middle East. Controversial race researcher Richard Lynn has defined Southern Asia as "from Bangladesh in the east through India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, the Gulf states, the near East, and Turkey".

Geography

Boundaries

Climate

varied

Environment

Economy

Demography and history

History

The peoples of the region possess several distinguishing features that set them apart anthropologically from the rest of Asia; the dominant peoples and cultures are Indo-Aryan and Dravidian, (though the Mongoloid populations in north-east India, Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet are not to be ignored), and have a great affinity with the peoples of Iranian Plateau and the Caucasus particularly in the north west region of South Asia encompassing the modern states of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Persian, Arab and Turkish cultural traditions from the west also form an integral part of Islamic South Asian culture, but have been adapted to form a Muslim culture distinct from what is found in the Middle East for example pilgrimage to dargahs is common among many South Asian Muslims.
   South Asia ranks among the world's most densely-populated regions. About 1.6 billion people live here—about one-fourth of all the people in the world. The region's population density of 305 persons per square kilometre is more than seven times the world average.
   The region has a long history. Ancient civilizations developed in the Indus River Valley and the Dwaraka region. The region was far more prosperous before the 18th century, when the Mughal Empire held sway in the north and the Maratha Empire held sway in the south and central regions of the Indian peninsula. Subsequently, European encroachments, initially by Portugal and the Netherlands,and later by France and British colonialism, led to political destabilisation of the region, leading finally to almost complete occupation and rule by the British. Christianity, western culture, modern health care and liberal education got a favourable climate to prosper in their times. The region became a rich source of revenues and raw materials for Britain and a vast captive market for the products of western industrial revolution, adversely affecting centuries old local industries and craftsmen. On the plus side, British economic needs and military considerations led to development of an efficient network of means of transportation and communication as well as banking and training of requisite workforce; the existing rail, post, telegraph, bank and education facilities have evolved out of the base established in the colonial era, often called the British Raj. Most of the region gained independence from Europe by the late 1940s.
   Since 1947, most South Asian countries have achieved tremendous progress in all spheres. Most notable achievements are in the fields of education; industry; health care; information technology and services based on its applications; research in the fields of cutting edge sciences and technologies; defence related self-reliance projects; international/global trade and business enterprises and outsourcing of human resources. Areas of difficulty remain, however, including religious extremism, high levels of corruption, disagreements on political boundaries, and inequitable distribution of wealth.

Ethnic groups, cultures and languages

South Asia, which consists of the nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, is ethnically diverse, with more than 2,000 ethnic entities with populations ranging from hundreds of millions to small tribal groups. South Asia has been invaded and settled by many ethnic groups over the centuries including various Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups. The amalgamation of Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and local tribal cultures over the centuries created common culture, traditions and beliefs. The Vedic Sanskrit language and Vedic religion combined Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and local tribal beliefs to give rise to the ancient South Asian religions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and also Sikhism, even though Sufi tradition of Islam had also significantly influenced nascent Sikhism and its holiest scripture. As a consequence, they share many similar cultural practices, festivals, and traditions. Throughout time, the traditions of different ethnic groups in South Asia have diverged, sometimes giving rise to strong local traditions, such as South Indian culture in earlier times. Other ethnic groups, successively streaming in later mainly from Central Asia and Iran, for example Sakas, Kushans, Huns etc. influenced pre-existing south Asian cultures; the last of these new arrivals - the Turks and Pathans - brought in much cultural influence and the Abrahamic religion of Islam to the Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun, Baloch and Kashmiri people in the northwestern parts of South Asia, to North India and to Bangladesh. However, their Turkish/Persian languages have ceased to be prominent; replaced now by Urdu, a syncretic language of combined Hindi-Persian-Turkic-Arabic heritage. The largest spoken language in this region is now Hindi, its speakers numbering almost 300 million; the second largest spoken language is Bengali, with 240 million speakers. Other languages of this region fall into a few major linguistic groups: the Dravidian languages and the Indo-Aryan languages, a sub-branch of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. Many Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups, who are speakers of their language-group, are found in northeast India, Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. Other small groups, speaking Austro-Asiatic languages, are also present in South Asia. English is another language which dominates South Asia, especially as a medium of advanced education and government administration; ethnic Englishmen and other Britons are now practically absent after their two centuries long colonial presence, although they've left an imprint of western culture in the elite society.

Writing

Much of South Asia writes using various abugidas of Brahmic origin. South Asian languages such as Urdu, Pashto, and Sindhi use derivatives of the Perso-Arabic script. Not all languages in South Asia follow this strict dichotomy though. For example, Kashmiri is written in both the Perso-Arabic script and in the Devanagari script. The same can be said for Punjabi, which is written in both Shahmukhi and Gurmukhī. Dhivehi is written in a script called Tāna that shows characteristics of both the Arabic alphabet and of an abugida.

Religions

	Sunni Muslim (80%), Shi'a Muslim (19%), other (1%)
	Muslim (89.8%), Hindu (9.2%), Buddhist (1.6%), Christian (1.3%),Believers in tribal faiths (0.1%)
	Christian (45.55%), Hindu (38.55%), Muslim (9.25%), Non-Religious (6.50%), Atheist (0.10%), Other (0.05%)
	Buddhist (75%), Hindu (25%)
	Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%), Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%), Others (0.6%)
	Shi'a Muslim (89%), Sunni Muslim (9%), Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i (2%)
	Sunni Muslim (100%) (One must be a Sunni Muslim to be a citizen on the Maldives)
	Theravada Buddhism (89%), Muslim (4%), Christian (4%) (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Animist (1%), others (including Hinduism) (2%)
	Hindu (80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim (4.2%), Kirat (3.6%)
	Muslim (96.28%), Hindu (1.85%), Christian (1.59%), Ahmadi (0.22%)
	Theravada Buddhist (70.42%), Hindu (10.89%), Muslim (8.78%), Catholic (7.77%), Other Christian (1.96%), Other (0.13%)
Tibet, PRC	Buddhist, Bön, Hindu, Muslim, and others

Territory and region data

Name of country/region, with flag	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	GDP (Total)	GDP (Per capita)	Currency	Government	Official languages
(see above)	647,500	31,889,923	46	Kabul	$32.4 billion	$1,490	Afghan afghani	Islamic republic	Dari (Persian), Pashto
	144,000	150,448,340	1045	Dhaka	$331.9 billion	$2,245	Taka	Parliamentary republic	Bengali
	47,000	672,425	45	Thimphu	$4.39 billion	$5,477	Ngultrum, Indian rupee	Constitutional monarchy	Dzongkha
	60	3,500	58.3	Diego Garcia			Pound sterling	British Overseas Territory	English
	3,287,590	1,128,808,000	329	New Delhi	$4042.268 billion	$3690	Indian rupee	Federal republic, Parliamentary democracy	Hindi, English and 20 other official languages
(see above)	1,648,195	71,208,000	42	Tehran	$610 billion	$8,887	Iranian rial	Islamic republic	Persian, Constitutional status for regional languages
	298	298,842	1,105	Malé	$2.569 billion	$7,675	Rufiyaa	Republic	Dhivehi
(see above)	676,578	55,400,000	75	Yangon	$93.77 billion	$1,691	Myanmar kyat	Military Junta	Burmese; Jingpho, Shan, Karen, Mon, (Spoken in Myanmar's Autonomous States.)
	147,181	28,901,790	184	Kathmandu	$41.18 billion	$1,500	Nepalese rupee	Interim government	Nepali
	880,940	162,423,000	206	Islamabad	$427.3 billion	$2577.12	Pakistani rupee	Islamic Republic	Urdu, English, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi, Siraiki, Sindhi
	65,610	19,668,000	310	Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte	$86.72 billion	$4,600	Sri Lankan rupee	Democratic Socialist Republic	Sinhala, Tamil
Tibet Autonomous Region, PRC (see above)	1,228,400	2,740,000	2.2	Lhasa	CNY 29.01 billion	CNY 10,322	Chinese yuan	Autonomous region of China	Tibetan, Chinese

Further Information

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