South Asia: The Land

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South Asia The Land

• Ch. 23 Sec. 1

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Separate Land

• Mountains form a border from the rest of Asia
• ?Making a subcontinent
• Large, distinct landmass thats joined to a
  continent
• Half the size of continental U.S.

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Separate Land

• 3 bodies of water border the subcontinent
• Arabian Sea? West
• Bay of Bengal? East
• Indian Ocean? South

INDIAN OCEAN
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Land of Variety

• Young, high mountains (in N) old, eroded
  mountains (in S)
• High deserts rich, lush valleys (N)
• Flat plateaus terraced foothills (S)

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The Himalaya

• Formed when the Indian subcontinent collided with
  Eurasian plate
• Indian subcontinent used to be connected to
  Africa, then broke away
• Mt. Everest (highest point on Earth) 29,035 ft.
• Still growing! (0.5 cm per yr)

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Pangaea 300 million years ago
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Continental Convergence
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Mount Everest
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Other Northern Mts.

• Karakoram Mts. (most N)
• -K2
• Hindu Kush (NW)
• Complete the wall of mts. b/w S. Asia the rest
  of Asia
• Narrow passes allowed few invaders in (Khyber
  Pass- b/w Pakistan Afghanistan)
• Protected region from outside influence

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KARAKORAM MTS.

• Highest
• Concentration
• of peaks over
• five miles in
• height to be
• found
• anywhere on
• Earth!

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Khyber Pass

• Recorded use as far back as Alexander the Great!
• Many Afghan wars fought here
• Used by NATO forces now, Taliban attempts to blow
  up passes/bridges

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Vindhya Range

• Caused by previous convergence of plates? not as
  tall as Himalaya
• Divides India into N S regions (in Central
  India)
• 2 distinct cultures
• Arid to NW
• Fertile to NE

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Pangaea 300 million years ago
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Southern Highlands

• Eastern and Western Ghats
• Eroded mts. (why?)
• Triangle of rugged hills
• E.G. older than W.G. (formed w/ diff. super
  continents)
• W.G. formed as Deccan Plateau faulted from super
  continent (150 mil. yrs ago)
• W.G. are a biodiversity hotspot!

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In WG about 6,000 plant species and 1,250 animal
species?47 endemic!
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Southern Highlands

• Deccan Plateau
• Once covered in lava (eruptions occurred millions
  of yrs ago)? now has rich black soil, BUT
• W.G. prevent rain from reaching D.P. ? very arid

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Deccan Plateau
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Southern Highlands

• Karnataka Plateau
• S. of Deccan
• Receives rain instead ? lush and green
• Lots of spices, plantations, rain forests

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Islands

• Sri Lanka broke away from the Indian mass
• Maldives are small coral atolls (22-26)
• Create over 1,000 islets (250 inhabited)
• Smallest in Asia
• 350,000 ppl live here

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Islet
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Water Systems

• Rivers are the most impt. to life
• All start in the Himalaya
• 3 main rivers
• Indus
• Brahmaputra
• Ganges

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Indus River

• Mainly thru Pakistan, empties into Arabian Sea
• Waters orchards, transportation route
• One of earliest
• civilization sites

Indus Valley Civilization
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Brahmaputra River

• Winds thru Himalaya, India, Bangladesh
• Meets w/ Ganges R. to form a delta at Bay of
  Bengal
• Major inland waterway, travel from bay 800 miles
• Provides 50 of hydroelectricity to Bangladesh

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Ganges River

• Most important by far
• Begins in ice cave in Him.,
• About 1,560 miles long
• Basin about 400,000 sq. miles
• Keeps size during dry season, but floods during
  summer monsoons
• Revered as sacred by Hindus

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Delta of Ganges Brahmaputra
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Indo-Gangetic Plain

• AKA- North Indian River plain
• River creates worlds longest fertile, alluvial
  plain
• Over 1/7 of world population lives here
• Grasslands/forest cleared for crops (rice,
  sesame, sugarcane, jute)

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Natural Resources

• Water
• Fertile soil, drinking H20, transportation,
  hydroelectricity, fish
• Countries work together to harness power (India
  Bhutan)
• Build dams for power open up new farmland?
  consistent irrigation

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Natural Resources

• Water contd
• Challenges
• Dams threaten to flood settlements? resistance
• The Tarbela Dam (Pakistan) will be unusable soon
  from built up silt

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Actually began with treaty b/w India and
Pakistan--- Pakistan gets stored water,
independent of Indias control over upper river
(1960)
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Natural Resources

• There are oil reserves, but still depend on
  imported oil
• Theres natural gas uranium, too
• Most still depend on hydroelectricity, fuel wood,
  coal

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Natural Resources

• India exports 90 of worlds mica (makes
  electrical equip.)
• India- leading exporter of iron ore
• Sri Lanka- a top exporter of graphite (lead)
• Also a variety of precious stones

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Natural Resources

• Timber
• Nepal Bhutan are covered with conifers
  (valuable hardwoods)
• Overcutting is major prob.
• ? soil erosion
• India has prized sandalwood
• Sri Lanka banned timber exports in 1977 to
  protect environment