SOUTH ASIA

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SOUTH ASIA

• Geography 200
• Dr. Stavros Constantinou

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INDIA

• The name India comes from the Sanskrit word
  sindhu which was used to identify the ancient
  civilization in the Indus Valley.
• This word became sinthos in Greek descriptions
  of the area and then sindus in Latin.
• Corrupted to indus (means river), it was
  applied to what constitutes today's Pakistan.
• Subsequently it was again modified to India to
  refer generally to the land of river basins and
  clusters of peoples from the Indus River in the
  west to the Brahmaputra River in the east.

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INDIA LOCATION AND SIZE

• India is located between 8 N and 37 N. The
  Tropic of Cancer passes through northern India.
• Such cities as Ahmadabad, Kolkata (Calcutta),
  Karachi, Bhopal and Dhaka are located close to
  the tropic.
• India, the world's seventh largest country, has
  an area of 3,286,170 sq km (1,269,340 sq mi)
  which represents 2.2 percent of the total land
  area of the planet (57,900,000 sq mi).

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INDIA LANDFORMS

• There are three main landform regions in South
  Asia Alpine chains, sedimentary covers, and
  Gondwana Shield.
• Alpine system The Himalayas form a major
  barrier to the movements of air masses north and
  south and exceed 6,096 m (20,000 ft) in several
  locations.
• Mount Everest (Nepal Sagarmatha Tibetan
  Chomolungma) is the worlds highest mountain at
  8,848 m (29,035 ft).
• The climate ranges from tropical lowlands to
  Arctic conditions in the high altitudes of Mount
  Everest and other peaks.
• The Karakoram Pass provides access from
  north-central India through the Himalayan and
  Hindu Kush mountains.
• The Khyber Pass in the west was used by invading
  groups.
• Population in the Himalayas is limited except in
  the Vale of Kashmir and in Nepal (25,200,000
  people).
• Bhutan has 900,000 and Sikkim less than one
  million. Sikkim has been incorporated into India
  and is one of its provinces.
• Rice and wheat are the dominant grain crops.

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INDIA LANDFORMS

• Sedimentary covers The riverine plains of the
  Indus, the Ganges (known as Ganga to Indians),
  and the Brahmaputra and the coastal plains of the
  Indian Peninsula form this region.
• The North Indian Plain forms a belt of alluvial
  lowlands stretching from Pakistans Indus River
  on the west to the Brahmaputra on the east.
• The Ganges River with its various tributaries is
  the major river of northern India.
• This region of plains is from 320 to 500 km (200
  to 300 mi) wide and it extends through Pakistan,
  India, and Bangladesh.
• The climate varies from arid in Punjab to
  tropical around the Bay of Bengal.
• Soils (inceptisols) are derived from alluvium and
  they are relatively fertile and generally level.
  In the arid areas, irrigation has created
  environmental problems through accumulation of
  salts (salinization).

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INDIA LANDFORMS

• Gondwana Shield This landform region extends
  southward from the southern borders of the Ganges
  drainage area and includes the lava covered
  Deccan Plateau.
• This plateau is framed on the north by the
  Vindhyas and the Tapti and Godavari Rivers on
  the west, the Western Ghats (Hills) lining the
  Malabar Coast on the east, the Eastern Ghats
  paralleling the Coromandel Coast at the southern
  margin are the Blue Mountains which exceed 2,600
  m (8,800 ft).
• The central portion of the Deccan Plateau has
  fertile soils (vertisols), derived from volcanic
  materials, primarily cultivated with cotton.
• Elevations of the Deccan Plateau are
  approximately 305 to 450 m (1,000 to 1,500 ft).
• The coastal areas have a humid tropical climate
  with abundant rain from the orographic effect of
  the Ghats.

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INDIA CLIMATE

• The monsoon (the seasonal reversal of wind
  systems) is the dominant climate force.
• With few exceptions the climate of Monsoon Asia
  is tropical or sub-tropical.
• Air flows from land to sea with dry conditions in
  winter and a sea-to-land movement in summer with
  humid conditions.
• The causes of the monsoon are the shifting of the
  jet stream north and south of the Himalayas and
  the differential heating between land and water.
  
• During the summer the jet stream moves north of
  the Himalayas allowing moist air to penetrate the
  continent from the oceans.
• In winter, the jet stream is divided with one
  part south of the Himalayas.
• The air movement effectively prevents moisture
  from the oceans from moving into the core area of
  India along the Ganges and dry conditions
  predominate.
• Land heats quickly and loses the heat quickly
  while bodies of water heat up slowly and lose
  heat slowly.

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INDIA CLIMATIC REGIONS

• Tropical rainforest (Am) Coromandel and
  Malabar coastal regions. Controls-latitude and
  orographic effect.
• Humid subtropical (Cwa) Ganges Valley.
• Tropical savanna (Aw) Western reaches of
  Vindhya Ranges to Ganges Delta.
• Subtropical steppe (BSh) Deccan Plateau.
  Inadequate summer moisture. Rainshadow effect
  of Western Ghats.
• Subtropical desert (BWh) Indus Valley and the
  Thar (Great Indian) Desert.

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INDIA VEGETATION

• The main vegetation regions of India are the
  following
• Broadleaf deciduous Extensive area in
  northwestern India and Pakistan. Shrubs can grow
  to a maximum of one meter (three feet) singly or
  in groups.
• Broadleaf deciduous Same as above except trees
  grow to a minimum of one meter singly or in
  groups. It surrounds the area above.
• Broadleaf deciduous ( terai) An extensive area
  from the Gangetic Plains to southern India. Terai
  Lowlands in Nepal.
• Broadleaf evergreen Malabar Coast, Coromandel
  Coast and Sri Lanka.
• Semi-deciduous broadleaf evergreen and
  broadleaf deciduous They are found in an area
  inward from the Malabar Coast and the lower
  valley of the Ganges.
• Broadleaf deciduous trees. Bihar and Orissa.
  Broadleaf evergreen, shrub form, minimum height
  one meter (3 feet).

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INDIA SOILS

• The main soil regions of India are the following
• Aridisols Northwestern India and Pakistan.
  Salts may accumulate on or near the surface of
  these soils which are poor in organic matter.
• Alfisols Northern sections of the Gangetic
  plain and extending to Kathiawar Peninsula. They
  are also found in area south of 20 degrees N
  latitude and along the Coromandel Coast.
• Inceptisols They are found in the Gangetic
  plains and the Malabar Coast. They are immature
  and weakly developed soils.
• Vertisols An extensive area from north of
  Mumbai (Bombay) to the Ganges River. These soils
  are rich in clays and crack deeply during dry
  periods.
• Ultisols They are found in northeastern India
  (Bihar and Orissa).

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INDIA RESOURCES

• India has a rather poor resource base. The
  country does not lead the world in any of the
  important minerals or other sources of energy
  useful for industrialization and development.
• India is the second largest producer of grains.
  The possibility for expanding production of
  grains remains very low, despite gains. Low
  productivity per person in the agricultural
  sector accentuate the problems of population,
  making it difficult to increase production.
• India has the largest deposit of high-grade iron
  ore in the world. In Bihar state alone, a single
  range is estimated to hold nearly three billion
  tons of iron ore. Iron ore deposits are also
  important in the state of Karnataka. India
  produces 5.6 percent of the world's iron ore and
  has 6.6 percent of the world's reserves in iron
  ore.

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INDIA RESOURCES

• India produces 3.8 percent of the world's coal.
  Coal and steel are produced in the Damodar Valley
  fields of northeastern India which account for
  more than 50 percent of coal production. Limited
  coking-coal deposits are found in Chota Nagpur.
• India has discovered oil deposits in the Bay of
  Bengal which hold promise for further expansion.
• India has a great hydroelectric potential,
  provided dams are constructed to exploit the
  rivers of the country.
• India has important deposits of uranium
  phosphates in the Thar Desert, and manganese (5.2
  percent) in the central Deccan plateau and
  eastern Coromandel Coast.
• India produces 2.5 percent of the world's
  bauxite, and it produces 5.2 percent of the
  world's chromite.

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INDIA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• India had 1,068,600,000 people in 2003 (17 of
  the world total), the world's second largest
  country in population after China.
• India has a rate of natural increase of 1.7
  (compared to a 1.3 world rate) and a projected
  population of 1,363,000,000 by 2025.
• At this rate, it is only a matter of time before
  India becomes the world's most populous country.
  
• The largest clusters of the Indian population are
  found in the Gangetic plains in the north and the
  coastal areas of the country. These are the most
  fertile parts of India.

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INDIA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• There was an increase of 19,100,000 people from
  2002 to 2003.
• From 2001 to 2002, the absolute population
  increase of 16,500,000.
• In 2000, India had 1,002,100,000 people, while in
  1920 the population of the country was
  250,000,000.
• The population of the country quadrupled in 80
  years.
• The Ganges-Brahmaputra and Indus River systems
  are crucial lifelines for hundreds of millions of
  people.

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INDIA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• In India, population arithmetic density (in
  2003) was 325 persons per sq km (842 persons per
  sq mi) physiological density (in 2000) was at
  557 persons per square kilometer (1442 persons
  per square mile).
• In neighboring Bangladesh the arithmetic density
  is approximately 2.5 times as high, 1,040 persons
  per sq km (2,639 persons per sq mi).

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INDIA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• In 1952, the Indian government adopted family
  planning as a national policy.
• By 1961, there were 4,165 family planning
  clinics.
• As a part of the government campaign to limit the
  number of children, the government has put up
  billboards with the following slogan "four is a
  family, five is a crowd."
• In 1976, a national population policy was adopted
  including
• the increase of the age of marriage for females
  to 18 years and for males to 21,
• tying financial grants from the federal
  government to the state governments to their
  performance in limiting births,
• provision of sex education in schools,
• expansion of compensation for voluntary
  sterilization,
• and use of incentives by governments to encourage
  people to limit their family size.
• In 1977, this policy was made voluntary following
  the collapse of the Indira Gandhi government.
  Only 8 of federal assistance was tied to
  performance on birth control by states.

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INDIA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• In 2003, India was one of the least urbanized of
  the large in population countries of the world,
  given that only 28 percent of the country's
  population resided in urban areas.
• Although the proportion classified as urban is
  small, in absolute numbers India had 299,208,000
  people residing in urban centers.
• Mumbai (formerly Bombay), with 11,914,398 people,
  is the largest city of India in terms of
  population. Delhi ranks second with 9,817,439
  followed by Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) with
  4,580,544.
• 11 Indian cities have populations in excess of
  one million inhabitants.
• The largest metropolitan area populations of
  India are
• Mumbai 16,368,084
• Kolkata 13,216,546
• Delhi 12,791,458

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INDIA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• Indian urbanization is accelerating, and urban
  India is today growing more than twice as rapidly
  as the country's overall population.
• Attendant problems include poor sanitation,
  street dwellers, and riots.
• In 1984, riots between Hindu and Moslems in
  Mumbai left hundreds dead.
• Reasons for migration to cities (internal
  migration)
• Loosening of ties between poor peasants and their
  villages.
• Widespread establishment of village men or "caste
  brothers" who encourage friends and relatives to
  move to the cities.

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INDIA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• The location of India's modern urban centers is a
  reflection of colonialism.
• The British founded and developed Kolkata
  (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), and Chennai (Madras)
  as regional trading centers and as coastal focal
  points for their colony's export and import
  traffic.
• In Chennai (Madras), they built a fort in 1640.
• In Mumbai (Bombay) in 1644, they fostered the
  growth of a port-city that was closest to Britain
  and Europe. Mumbai is located on the west coast
  of India
• Kolkata (Calcutta) lies 130 kilometers (80 miles)
  from the east on the Hooghly River, and a myriad
  of Ganges River delta channels connect it to its
  hinterland.
• Kolkata (Calcutta) lost a large part of its
  hinterland to Pakistan at the time of the
  partitioning of British India. This area is now a
  part of Bangladesh.
• An 1812 rebellion forced the British to move the
  colonial capital from Kolkata (Calcutta) to the
  safer interior city of New Delhi, built
  adjacently to the old Mogul headquarters of Delhi.

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INDIA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• Population densities in urban centers are very
  high.
• Kolkata (Calcutta) averages 13,900 persons per sq
  km (36,000 persons per sq mi) for its entire area
  of 1036 sq km (400 sq mi).
• By comparison, New York City averages 1544
  persons per sq km (4,000 persons per sq mi).
• In Kolkata (Calcutta), an estimated 200,000
  residents are known as street people and sleep
  under bridges, railway overpasses, in doorways or
  wherever they can find a spot.
• Slightly better off are the residents of the
  bustees, hovels made of cardboard, burlap, or
  other scrap material.
• An estimated 2,000,000 people live in bustees.

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INDIA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• Indian urbanization reveals several regional
  patterns
• The northern heartland, the west (wheat growing
  area) is more urbanized than the east (where rice
  forms the main staple crop).
• In the west urbanization may be as much as 40
  in the east only about 10 of the population
  resides in urban centers.
• India's larger cities (more than 100,000) are
  concentrated in three regions
• (1) the northern plains from Punjab to the Ganges
  Delta
• (2) the Bombay-Ahmadabad area
• (3) the southern end of the peninsula, which
  includes Madras and Bangalore
• Large cities(more than one million) outside these
  regions include centrally positioned Nagpur and
  Hyderabad (capital of Andhra Pradesh).

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• India is indeed a Babel of languages. In 1947,
  the Indian subcontinent had 550 princely states,
  900 separate dialects and 15 major languages.
• The two major linguistic families are the
  Indo-European and the Dravidian.
• Languages that are members of the Indo-European
  family are spoken in the central and northern
  parts of the country, and languages that belong
  to the Dravidian family are spoken in southern
  India.
• Dravidian languages are spoken by about 25
  percent of the Indian population. They include
  Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam.
• Today India has fourteen official languages
  including Hindi and English (associate official).
  Hindi is the official and predominant language
  of India.
• Hindi was one of the 14 languages given national
  status by the Indian constitution, 10 in the
  north and 4 in the Dravidian south.
• Before World War II, the British recognized 179
  official languages and 544 dialects (total723).
  
• English would remain a lingua franca when Hindi
  could not serve as a medium of communication at
  government and administrative levels.

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Southern Asia Is marked by strong cultural
  regionalism.
• Division is largely based on religious
  differences between Moslem dominated and Hindu
  dominated regions.
• The Ganges River is the most important river of
  South Asia. It is the most sacred of all rivers
  to the Hindus, and provides water to a major
  urban area along its course, including Kolkata
  (Calcutta) in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh.
• The Hindustan holy city of Varanasi is located on
  the Ganges.

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Religions
• Hinduism 81.3
• Muslim 12.0
• Sunni 9.0
• Shiite 3.0
• Christian 2.3
• Protestant 1.1
• Roman Catholic 1.0

• Sikh 1.9
• Buddhist 0.8
• Jain 0.4
• Zoroastrian 0.01
• Other 1.3

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Hinduism
• This system of beliefs forms the cultural basis
  of the Indian society, which is highly
  stratified.
• The caste system is an integral part of
  Hinduism.
• A caste is a hereditary social group limited to
  persons of the same rank, occupation, etc., and
  having distinctive mores.
• Dharma in Hinduism is the individual duty of each
  person. Dharma is related to the rigid social
  order of India (caste system), since the caste to
  which one is born in determines the duty that
  must be followed.

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Hinduism
• Four broad castes exist in Hindu Society
• Brahmans are the teachers, religious leaders,
  and scholars.
• Kshatriya political leaders and warriors.
• Vaisya are engaged in trades or farming.
• Sudra are the lowest class and provide services
  to support the society.

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Hinduism
• Each of these four broad groups is broken down
  into subgroups whose relative status is dependent
  upon their extent of ritual purity (avoidance of
  contact with unclean objects).
• Those dealing with death or decaying materials
  were in the lowest classes of the sudra.
• At the very bottom of the order are the
  untouchables (harijans), so called, because in
  the past (and among many Indians today) it is
  believed that they would contaminate others
  ritual purity if there was any personal contact
  between them.
• Untouchables lived in separate communities, had
  separate wells for water, and in the 19th
  century, were prohibited from using roads used by
  other castes

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Hinduism
• Aspect of life related to the cycle of life,
  death, and rebirth, or reincarnation.
• For the Hindu, life is not simply a progression
  from birth until death, but a progression in a
  circular fashion until freedom is obtained from
  the cycle.
• Freedom from continued reincarnation can be
  obtained through nirvana, which consists of
  obtaining spiritual unification with the cosmic
  forces, and being liberated from the human
  processes of death and birth.

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INDIA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Associated with nirvana and reincarnation is the
  concept of karma, or law of the deed.
• Karma specifies that for each good act there will
  be a reward and for each evil act there will be a
  punishment.
• An individual's status in the caste system
  reflects actions in the previous incarnations.
• It is impossible to move upward in the caste
  system through education or acquisition of wealth
  or social change, since a specific caste is a
  result of previous actions.
• Suttee is a Hindu practice whereby a widow
  immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her
  husband.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Aryan invaders from Western Asia conquered the
  early Indus Valley civilization around 3500 BC.
• They pushed settlement frontiers east into the
  Gangetic Plain and south into the center of the
  peninsula.
• Indias culture developed from this beginning,
  including the Hindu religion and the caste system
  rigid social stratification.
• Buddhism was dominant during the Mauryan Empire
  (3rd century BC to 2nd century AD).
• Buddhism soon declined in South Asia, remaining
  strong only in Sri Lanka, where it still
  prevails.
• Buddhism today is centered mainly in East and
  Southeast Asia.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Arabs invaded northwestern India shortly after
  700 AD, bringing with them Islam.
• After the 10th century, Islam was a strong
  influence in India, driving out Buddhism, but not
  Hinduism, which remained dominant in Indias
  Ganges core area and southern India.
• Muslims remain a sizeable minority (slightly less
  than 15) in India, and form overwhelming
  majorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• The Mogul dynasty was founded in 1526.
• Taxation of land was based on granting rights to
  tax to a local authority.
• Under the Mogul system the individual peasant
  retained ownership of the land.
• The Mogul dynasty collapsed in 1707, leaving a
  kingdom without a ruler and presenting the
  opportunity for European domination.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• European contacts in south Asia were made by the
  Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British.
• All European colonial powers established trading
  posts for spices and fabrics, but eventually
  Britain emerged as the dominant colonial power in
  South Asia.
• The period of British colonial dominance in
  India can be divided into two parts
• Period I (1757-1857). Domination of India by the
  British East India Company.
• Period II (1858-1947). India as a British Crown
  Colony.
• In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted exclusive
  rights to the spice trade of Asia to the British
  East India Company, under which India began to
  come under British control.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• By 1858, nearly 2/3 of the subcontinent was ruled
  directly by the company the remaining
  inaccessible areas were controlled by more than
  500 princely states.
• Rebellion of Indian troops against the British in
  1857 culminated in a decision to strip the
  British East India Company of its monopoly and
  proclaim the subcontinent a crown colony (1858).
• Britain exercised outright political control over
  India from 1857 to 1947.
• The British introduced many innovations to India,
  but forced the colonial economy of India to
  become a raw material producer subservient to the
  English master.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• The impact of colonialism on India can be
  summarized as follows
• Pros
• Creation of a civil service patterned after the
  British model which became part of the new
  independent governments that were set up upon the
  departure of the British.
• Development of an extensive railroad and road
  transportation system. Although the development
  of this system had as its objective the movement
  of troops to troubled spots, India inherited a
  well planned and developed system.
• Improvements in sanitation and simple hygienic
  practices that led to the beginnings of rapid
  population increases.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Cons
• The British East India Company granted the
  village representatives deeds to the lands from
  which they had collected taxes under the Moguls.
  Thus, the village representatives became
  landlords charging cash rent. Property
  ultimately ended in the hands of urban
  moneylenders as peasants borrowed at exorbitant
  interest rates to pay taxes, and a large rural
  landless class emerged.
• Peasants produced crops demanded by the British
  East India Company including coffee, tea, sugar,
  spices, cotton, indigo, and jute. As British
  influence in Asia spread to China, opium also
  became an important crop, as it could be resold
  or traded in China for additional high-value
  spices. Because crops encouraged by the British
  East India Company were for export, an
  asymmetrical relationship developed in trade
  between the Indian subcontinent and the British
  East India Company.
• Destruction of a large Indian textile handicraft
  industry, because of the production of a surplus
  of textile goods by the mechanized British
  factories.
• Maintenance of the cultural fragmentation of the
  subcontinent through the application of indirect
  rule.

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INDIA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Indians began calling for independence from
  Britain in the 1930s and 1940s.
• At the same time, Muslims Indians were demanding
  a separate state from Hindu India.
• The British left India in 1947.
• Before withdrawing they separated their former
  territory into Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan
  West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan
  (now Bangladesh, and independent from Pakistan).
• This partitioning involved mass migrations of
  approximately 15,000,000 people.
• It also caused conflict and social stresses that
  persist to the present day.

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INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Primary Sector
• Indian agriculture is inefficient and labor
  intensive.
• Animals are frequently used for power.
• The village is the focus of life for 74 percent
  of the Indian population with an estimated
  580,000 villages.
• Approximately 2/3 of India's huge working
  population (63 percent) depends directly on the
  land for its livelihood.
• Substantial progress toward modernization has
  been made in the Punjab's wheat zone.
• In the early 1980s more than 1/4 of India's
  cultivated area was still owned by only 4 percent
  of the country's farming families.
• Half of all rural families either owned as little
  as a half hectare (1.25 acres) or less, or no
  land at all.
• Land consolidation efforts have had only limited
  success, except in the states of Punjab, Haryana,
  and Uttar Pradesh.

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INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Major crop zones
• Wheat. Dry northwest notably in the Punjab and
  neighboring areas of the Upper Ganges. Many
  gains from the Green Revolution through the
  introduction of high-yielding varieties developed
  in Mexico.
• Rice. Moist east and a summer monsoon drenched
  south. More than 1/4 of all of India's farmland
  lies under rice cultivation, most of it in the
  states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and
  eastern Uttar Pradesh. This area has more than
  100 cm (40 inches) of rainfall. India has the
  largest acreage of rice among the world's
  countries. Yields per hectare are still low at
  below 1,000 kg (900 lbs./acre), however.
• Coconut. Malabar Coast. (Kerala)
• Millet. Southwestern India. A cereal grass,
  Setaria italica, extensively cultivated in the
  East and in southern Europe for its small seed or
  grain, used as food for man and fowls, but in the
  U.S. grown chiefly for fodder.
• Groundnut. Kathiawar Peninsula.
• Cotton. West-Central India (Deccan Plateau).
• Chick Peas. Northwest.
• Plantation. Northeast.

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INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Livestock
• India has more livestock than any other country
  in the world.
• Cows - 200,000,000
• water buffalo - 60,000,000
• Goats and sheep - 60,000,000
• Horses, donkeys, and elephants - 5,000,000
• Sheep are of major importance in the drier west
  where the Islamic population is clustered.
• Water buffalo is dominant in the Ganges Delta and
  coastal regions.
• Cattle (particularly the Brahman or Zebu breeds)
  are found throughout India.

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INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Cattle are an integral element of the Indian
  agricultural economy.
• They are the primary source of draft power
  (plowing, pulling carts, grinding grain, and a
  host of other tasks).
• Cattle graze on forage which would otherwise be
  wasted during a dry season.
• Cattle consume secondary agriculture byproducts
  (straw, rice husks, and corn stalks).
• Cattle produce an estimated 771,000,000 metric
  tons (850,000,000 tons) of cow dung, the
  principle source of domestic fuel a year.
• Dung is also mixed with mud and used for plaster
  also a major source of fertilizer.
• Cattle also produce most of India's milk (the
  bulk of which comes from the water buffalo).
• When a cow dies, it is consumed by the
  untouchables (who have no prohibitions about
  consuming beef when it is available) of the large
  Hindu population.
• Cow hides are a major source of leather.
• The maintenance of the large numbers of cows and
  buffalo is a completely rational activity in the
  Indian agricultural economy.

42
INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Green Revolution describes the development of
  extremely high-yielding grain crops that allow
  major increases in food production, particularly
  in subtropical areas.
• In 1953, scientists developed rust-resistant
  dwarf wheats which doubled Mexico's per acre
  production in the next decade.
• After a major drought in India in 1965, Mexican
  dwarf wheat was widely planted in the Punjab
  region, producing dramatic increases in wheat
  yields.
• The improved rice (IR)- IR-8 was spotted in 1965
  at the Los BaZos research institute in the
  Philippines, which was set up using aid from the
  Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.
• Its first harvest, from 60 trial tons of seeds,
  produced a six-fold increase of rice under field
  conditions.
• About 10 of India's paddy land is now planted
  with IR-8 varieties.

43
INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Green Revolution benefits
• Two to four times the yield of indigenous grains.
• A shortened growing season allows two crops per
  year.
• Miracle grains" have a wider tolerance for
  climatic variations.
• Green Revolution problems
• Need for high application of fertilizer and
  insecticide, and in the case of rice, there is a
  need for copious irrigation.
• "Miracle grains" have been adopted in the most
  prosperous areas and among the most prosperous
  farmers. As a result, interregional and social
  gaps have widened.
• Traditional marketing patterns have been upset.
  Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) have found their
  traditional markets disappearing, and Japan now
  looks for exports.

44
INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Secondary sector
• At the time of independence (1947), Indian
  industries emphasized textiles and food
  processing.
• Gandhi championed development of the cottage
  industries that existed prior to the intervention
  of Britain.
• A cottage industry involves small scale
  production using high labor inputs.
• Cottage industries are very important because
  they are labor intensive.
• They employ 40 individuals for every one employed
  in a large automated factory producing the same
  products.
• A total of 750 products is produced by small
  industries which use lt100,000 in capital.
  (Receivers, tools, plumbing fittings, etc.).
• Manufacturing employs only 13 of the labor
  force.

45
INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Manufacturing Regions
• Kolkata (Calcutta) and Jamshedpur form an
  emerging industrial region in northeastern India.
  
• Calcutta forms the center of the Bihar-Bengal
  area where jute manufacturing dominates, but
  engineering, chemical and cotton industries also
  exist. Jute a strong, coarse fiber used for
  making burlap, gunny, and cordage it is obtained
  from two East Indian plants-Corchorus capsularis
  and Corchorus olitorius of the linden family.
• The Jamshedpur region 240 km (150 mi) west of
  Calcutta has the Tata Steel Works, Indias single
  largest steel making complex (Indian Ruhr).
• In the nearby Chota-Nagpur district, coal mining
  and iron and steel manufactures have developed,
  and Bhilai is a growing nucleus of heavy industry.

46
INDIA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Manufacturing Regions
• 2. Western Zone-Mumbai (Bombay)-Ahmadabad
  This Maharashtra, Gujarat area specializes in
  cotton and chemicals with some engineering and
  food processing, automobiles, and petrochemicals.
• 3. Southeastern Zone- Chennai (Madras)
  specializing in textiles.
• 4. Bangalore supports diversified electrical
  manufacturing, machine tools, the construction
  industry, and food processing.

47
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• It is remarkable that India has been able to
  survive such centrifugal forces (divisive).
• Forces that tend to bind a political system
  together are call centripetal forces. Among the
  most important centripetal forces of India are
• The cultural and religious strength of Hinduism
• Strong, charismatic leaders (Gandhi, Nehru,
  Gandhi).
• The flexibility on the language issue that was
  demonstrated by the federal government, an
  ability to tolerate individuality in its states,
  and its capacity to modify and re-modify the
  federal map.

48
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• India is the world's largest and most complex
  federal democracy, and it forms a federation of
  28 states and 6 union territories (UTs) and 1
  National Capital Territory (NCT).
• The UTs are small in area and population and they
  come under direct federal control.
• The capital of modern India is New Delhi, located
  in the NCT, along with Delhi. This area has more
  than 13,000,000 people.
• India became independent on August 15, 1947,
  following partition of British India (West and
  East Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka).
• As many as 15 million people crossed the
  superimposed boundary which was determined on the
  criterion that all contiguous civil divisions and
  territories with Moslem majorities had to be
  incorporated in the Muslim state (Pakistan).
• The Taj Mahal is a remnant of the Muslim presence
  in India.
• As early as 1953, the federal government yielded
  to demands for the creation of a Telugu speaking
  state from Tamil dominated Madras thus, the
  state of Andhra Pradesh was formed.

49
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• In 1960, the state of Bombay was fragmented into
  two linguistic states, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• Naga peoples (less than half million) in the east
  put up a struggle against federal authority and
  local Assamese administration and Nagaland was
  established as a state in 1961.
• The religion Sikhism developed and is still based
  in the Punjab region of India. The Sikh religious
  capital is Amritsar.
• In the northwest, the Sikhs demanded the breakup
  of the original state of Punjab into a Sikh
  dominated west (now Punjab) and a Hindu east (now
  Haryana).
• Pressure for greater regional autonomy continues
  in several other parts of India especially Assam
  and Tamil Nadu.

50
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Three new states were created in November 2000.
  Those were the following Chhattisgarh (11/1/00),
  Uttaranchal (11/8/00), and Jharkhand (11/15/00).
  
• Chhattisgarh was carved out of the eastern
  districts of the state of Madhya Pradesh in order
  to accommodate the demands of the local people
  who felt exploited and without a voice in state
  government.
• Uttaranchal covers the northern hilly sections of
  the state of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in
  population (160,000,000). It was granted
  statehood because the environment and the ways of
  life are very different from those prevalent in
  the Ganges Valley.

51
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Kashmir
• The state of Jammu and Kashmir is located
  adjacent to India, Pakistan, China, and
  Afghanistan.
• The control of Jammu and Kashmir is still under
  dispute by India and Pakistan.
• At the time of independence (1947) this state was
  one of the 562 princely states in India.
• The population was 4,750,000, about half of them
  lived in the Vale of Kashmir where the capital of
  Srinagar is also located.
• About 45 of the population lived in Jammu with
  the remainder scattered in the high mountains

52
INDIA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Kashmir
• The main conflict between India and Pakistan
  arose over the sovereignty of the state of
  Kashmir, because the ruler was Hindu and about
  75 of the population was Muslim.
• While at the time of independence the maharajah
  chose autonomy over union with either India or
  Pakistan, soon he was faced with a Muslim
  rebellion against Hindu rule.
• The maharajah invited the assistance of India and
  Pakistani troops came the help of the Muslims.
• The war between India and Pakistan lasted for
  more than one year and the negotiation of the
  cease fire line left about 80 of the states
  population under the control of India.
• Pakistan is worried that India, by controlling
  the Kashmir, controls the vital water resources
  of the Indus River, which also flows through
  Kashmir.
• Moreover, Kashmir presents the same situation
  that existed at the time of independence with the
  separation of Muslims and Hindus into Pakistan
  and India.
• The recent nuclear tests of both countries do not
  bode well for accommodation any time soon.

53
PAKISTAN

• Pakistan is the second largest country in
  southern Asia, after India, both in area and
  population.
• With 149,100,000 people in 2003, Pakistan is one
  of the world's ten largest countries in
  population.
• As a dry-world country, Pakistan owes much of its
  existence to the waters of the exotic Indus River
  that originates in the northern reaches of the
  country to flow through the middle of the country
  and empty in the Arabian Sea.
• For the most part, Pakistanis live around this
  river like the Egyptians cluster around the Nile.
• Pakistan is an Islamic Republic.
• Pakistan is bordered by Iran, Afghanistan,
  Tajikistan, China and India.

54
PAKISTAN

• Pakistan lacks any major resources with the
  exception of some natural gas and chromite in
  Baluchistan and minor iron deposits which are
  used in a small plant at Multan.
• Pakistan is a highly rural society with only 34
  percent of the population classified as urban
  (world average is 47 percent).
• The region called the Punjab was partitioned in
  1947. Consequently, both India and Pakistan have
  areas called the Punjab. In Pakistan, the Punjab
  is the core area of the country.
• The major urban centers of the country are
  Karachi and Lahore. Both are located within the
  Punjab.
• Karachi with 4,901,627 (5,300,000) inhabitants
  was Pakistan's first capital city and major
  seaport.

55
PAKISTAN

• Lahore with 2,707,215 (3,025,000) residents is
  located very close to the sensitive boundary with
  India.
• Founded in the first or second century A.D.,
  Lahore became established as a great Moslem
  center during the Mogul period.
• In 1959, after just over a decade as the federal
  capital of Pakistan, Rawalpindi became the new
  capital, until Islamabad was completed near the
  boundary of Kashmir.
• Islamabad is a forward capital, a manifestation
  of Pakistan's determination to emphasize its
  presence in the contested north.
• Agriculture is labor intensive and the output is
  low.
• In Sind where large estates exist, yields are
  low because of outdated irrigation systems and
  the paucity of incentives for landless peasants.
  
• The most significant industry of Pakistan is
  textiles that use the country's substantial
  cotton production.

56
PAKISTAN

• The political geography of Pakistan has been a
  turbulent one since the inception of the country
  in 1947.
• At first it was the conflict with India later
  the secession of East Pakistan and the formation
  of Bangladesh (1971) then the Soviet invasion of
  Afghanistan and the 3,000,000 of refugees that
  fled into Pakistan.
• An additional problem is the manifestation of
  irredentism in Baluchistan along the border with
  Iran and Pathanistan which is along the border
  with Afghanistan.
• Pakhtuns (also called Pashtuns, Pathans, or
  Pushtuns) constitute about 50 of the population
  of Afghanistan (28,700,000) and have encouraged
  those living in the northwestern region of
  Pakistan to demand their own state of
  Pakhtunistan (Pathanistan).
• Pakistan's response to this problem was to hasten
  integration through education, improved
  communications, and other facilities, but Afghan
  irredentism continues.

57
BANGLADESH

• Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in
  1971.
• Until then, Bangladesh was called East Pakistan
  and formed a part of Pakistan, since the
  partition of the British India (1947).
• East Pakistan provided most of Pakistans
  foreign exchange, mostly from jute.
• Bangladesh is a comparatively small country in
  area, 130,173 sq km (50,260 sq mi) with
  146,700,000 people (Ohio's area is 40,953 sq mi).

58
BANGLADESH

• Territorially, Bangladesh is surrounded by India
  on all sides, with the exception of a short
  stretch of boundary that adjoins Myanmar (Burma)
  on the southeast and the southern coastal area.
• Bangladesh occupies the deltaic plains of the
  Ganges-Brahmaputra river system which empties
  into the Bay of Bengal through numerous
  distributaries.
• In the hinterland of Chittagong, the flat terrain
  of the floodplains rises into hills and
  mountains.
• Bangladesh has a very high proportion of its land
  that is agriculturally useful.
• The land is fertile, with rice, jute, and tea
  being the major crops.
• In most places three harvests of rice per year
  are possible however, harvests are not big
  enough to support the huge population, especially
  following the war of secession.

59
BANGLADESH

• Cyclones (as hurricane or typhoon type storms
  are called there) constitute a major natural
  hazard because much of southern Bangladesh lies
  less than four m (13 feet) above sea level.
• In early 1971, a devastating tropical cyclone
  exacted 600,000 lives.
• It was the second greatest natural disaster of
  the 20th century after the 1976 earthquake that
  killed upwards of 700,000 in Tangshan, China.
• Resources of natural gas, coal, timber, and
  several minerals remain unexploited because of
  the focus on the fighting of malnutrition.

60
BANGLADESH

• In 2003 the population of Bangladesh was
  146,700,000 -- as compared to 128,100,000 in
  2000.
• The country has an average annual growth of 2.2
  percent and a density of 1,019 persons per sq. km
  (2,639 persons per sq. mi).
• For comparison purposes, the world density is 47
  persons per sq. km (122 persons per sq. mi.)and
  the U.S. density is 30 persons per sq. km (78
  persons/sq.. mi).
• The population of Bangladesh is 87 percent
  Islamic and 11 percent Hindu.

61
BANGLADESH

• Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest
  countries with a per capita income in 2000 of
  only 350.
• It lacks any major urban centers with the
  exception of Dhaka, the centrally positioned
  capital, which has 3,637,892 people (6,537,308 in
  the metropolitan area) and the port of
  Chittagong with 1,566,070 residents (2,342,662 in
  the metropolitan area).
• Only 23 percent of the people live in towns and
  cities.

62
SOUTH ASIA THE MOUNATAINOUS NORTH

• A tier of landlocked countries occupy the
  mountainous zone between India and China.
• The independent kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan are
  in the east of this frontier.
• Sikkim, which was wedged between Nepal and
  Bhutan, was taken over by India in 1975 and made
  into a state.
• This development underscores the vulnerability of
  these kingdoms.

63
NEPAL

• The country of Nepal has three distinct zones
• The Terai, a southern, subtropical, and fertile
  lowland.
• A central zone which comprises the Himalayan
  foothills and is dominated by swift flowing
  streams and deep valleys.
• A northern zone which includes the lofty peaks of
  the Himalayas including Mount Everest (29,035
  ft).

64
NEPAL

• The core of the country is in the Valley of
  Kathmandu, where the capital of the country is
  located.
• Hinduism is the official religion, a blend of
  Hindu and Buddhist elements.
• Although a dozen languages are spoken, about 90
  of the people speak Nepali, a language related to
  Hindi.
• The total population of the country is 25,200,000
  in 2003.

65
NEPAL

• Nepal faces serious economic problems that stem
  from environmental degradation.
• Deforestation is particularly severe in the
  alpine woodlands regions of the country.
• A growing population exacerbated these problems.
  
• About 95 of the population is engaged in
  subsistence farming (rice, wheat, millet, and
  corn).
• Nepal has substantial tourist industry because of
  the Himalayas.

66
NEPAL

• Following tensions in the 1980s, the country
  became a constitutional monarchy.
• But as the bloody royal killings have
  demonstrated, the country is far from a tranquil
  place.
• The southern Terai zone is much more similar to
  neighboring India than the core of the country.
• The Nepalese are fearful of Indian domination.
• Nepal has problematic relations with Bhutan over
  the treatment of the Nepalese minority in the
  country.

67
BHUTAN

• In Bhutan, the king rules with absolute power,
  although officially the country is a
  constitutional monarchy.
• Bhutan has considerable mineral resources, and
  forestry, hydroelectricity, and tourism have a
  great potential.
• Isolation and distance from world markets have
  prevented economic development in this landlocked
  buffer state that is sandwiched between India and
  China.
• The dominant religion is Buddhism.
• Ethnic tensions between the declining Nepalese
  minority and the Bhutia have resulted in the
  exodus of Nepalese refugees from Bhutan in the
  1990s.
• The capital of the kingdom of Bhutan is Thimphu
  with about 50,000 people in the northwestern part
  of the country.
• The total population is 900,000 in 2003.

68
SIKKIM

• Until 1975, Nepals eastern neighbor, Sikkim, was
  an independent country.
• That year, the overwhelming majority of the
  people voted to join India.

69
SRI LANKA

• Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is a compact,
  pear-shaped island located off the southern tip
  of India.
• It has been sovereign since 1948.
• Population was 18,900,000 people in 2003.
• This is neither a Hindu nor a Moslem country the
  majority -- some 75 of its population -- is
  Buddhist.
• Unlike India or Pakistan, Sri Lanka is a
  plantation country (a legacy of European
  colonialism).
• The majority of Sri Lanka's people are not
  Dravidian, but are of Aryan origin with a
  historical link to ancient northern India.
• Emigrants from India brought to Ceylon the
  Buddhist religion and irrigation techniques.
• Today their descendants, the Sinhalese, speak a
  language belonging to the Indo-Aryan language
  family of northern India.

70
SRI LANKA

• The Dravidian from southern India introduced the
  Hindu way of life, brought the Tamil languages to
  Sri Lanka and today constitute 12 of the total
  population.
• Their numerical strength increased in the second
  half of the 19th century, when the British
  brought thousands of Tamils from the mainland to
  work on the plantations.
• The Tamils practice the Hindu religion.
• Sri Lanka sought the repatriation of these people
  in an agreement with India.
• In 1978, Tamil was granted the status of a
  national language in Sri Lanka.

71
SRI LANKA

• Sri Lanka is not a large island -- 64,621 sq. km
  (24, 950 sq. mi) but it has considerable
  topographic diversity.
• The upland core lies in the south where
  elevations reach 2,500 m (8,000 feet).
• This upland is surrounded by a lowland, most of
  which lies below 300 m (1000 feet).
• Northern Sri Lanka is entirely low-lying.
• Rivers flow radially from the interior highland
  across this lowland rim.
• The focus of Sinhalese Empire was Anuradhapura.
• The present focus is the moist upland southwest.

72
SRI LANKA

• Plantation economy is the dominant feature of Sri
  Lankas economic geography.
• Three important plantation crops
• 1. Coconuts in the hot lowlands
• 2. Rubber up to about 600 m (2,000 feet) and
• 3. Tea in the highlands above. Tea constitutes
  2/3 of Sri Lanka's annual exports by value.
• Rice production is not as efficient as plantation
  agriculture.

73
SRI LANKA

• Graphite is the most valuable mineral export.
• Sri Lanka's limited industry is located in
  Colombo (population 740,000), the country's
  capital, largest city, and leading port.
• In 1983, extremist Tamils rioted to demand the
  creation of a separate homeland in the island's
  northern lowland this triggered a violent
  response by Sinhalese bands.
• Religions Buddhist-69 Hindu-15 Islam-8
  Christian 8.

74
THE MALDIVES

• The Maldives are an insular country with more
  than 1,000 islands and an area of 300 sq. km (115
  sq. mi).
• Their highest point barely exceeds two m (6 ft)
  above sea level.
• The population is 300,000, about a fourth of
  which resides in the capital Maale.
• The country is a popular European tourist
  destination.
• There is a danger of submergence even with a
  minor rise in the level of the ocean.
• The population adheres to Islam

75
SOUTH ASIA LIST OF TERMS

• Punjab A northwestern province of India.
• Tributary A smaller stream that flows into a
  bigger one.
• Exotic (allogenic) A stream that originates in a
  humid environment and flows through a dry
  area.
• Salinization The process by which salts
  accumulate on the surface in dry environments.
• Orographic Mountain induced precipitation.
• Monsoon The reversal of the wind systems in
  southern Asia.
• Jet stream A band of fast-moving air usually
  found in middle latitudes in the upper
  troposphere.
• Terai A type of vegetation found in northern
  India.
• Green Revolution A western technology package
  that is used to increase agricultural
  production in developing countries.

76
SOUTH ASIA LIST OF TERMS

• Cottage industries Small scale industries in
  India.
• Hinduism The predominant religion of India.
• Caste system The hierarchical, hereditary social
  organization of India.
• Brahmans The upper caste in India comprising
  the scholars and teachers.
• Kshatriya In the caste system of India, the
  political leaders and warriors.
• Vaisyas The people engaged in trades and
  farming in the caste system of India.
• Sudra The lowest caste that provides
  services and support to the rest of the
  society.
• Harijans The lowest caste in India because it
  is believed that they would contaminate
  one's ritual purity, if there was any
  personal contact with them.

77
SOUTH ASIA LIST OF TERMS

• Nirvana In Hinduism, the spiritual unification
  with cosmic forces.
• Karma In Hinduism, the law of the deed.
• Suttee A Hindu practice whereby a widow
  immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her
  husband.
• Dravidian The languages spoken in southern
  India.
• Lingua franca The language of common use in areas
  where more than one language is in use.
• Centripetal forces A set of forces that tends to
  unite a certain population.
• Centrifugal forces A set of forces that tends to
  disunite a certain population.
• Bustee A shanty town in south Asia

78
SOUTH ASIA LIST OF TERMS

• Typhoon A name used to describe a hurricane type
  storm in Asia.
• Distributary One of the smaller channels into
  which a river channel divides before it
  empties into the sea.
• Sind A region in southern Pakistan.
• Forward capital A capital city that is relocated
  into a new area where a certain country wants
  to make a statement of interest about that
  part of the country, i.e. Islamabad in
  Pakistan.
• Sinhalese The majority group in Sri Lanka. The
  Sinhalese are descendants of people who
  emigrated from northern India.
• Tamils The minority people in Sri Lanka. They
  are descendants of people that emigrated from
  southern India and laborers that were
  introduced by the British to work in the
  plantations of the area.