South Asia

South Asia

Countries	7 to 10 (see page)
Territories	1 or 2 (see page)
GDP
GDP per capita
Languages	Assamese/Asomiya, Bengali, Bodo, Burmese, Dari[1], 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) to UTC +3:30 (Iran)
Largest Cities	Colombo, Dhaka, Diego Garcia, Kabul, Karachi, Kathmandu, Lhasa, Malé, Mumbai, Tehran, Thimpu, and Yangon

Various definitions of South Asia.

UN Subregion of Southern Asia.

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:

•  Bangladesh
•  British Indian Ocean Territory
•  Bhutan^[2][3][4]
•  India
•  Maldives
•  Nepal
•  Pakistan
•  Sri Lanka

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.

Some academic and/or cultural institutions from the United States and the United Kingdom also classify the following countries and territories as South Asian:

•  Afghanistan ^{[1][5][6][7][3][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}(Otherwise considered Central Asian or Middle-Eastern^[17]) (Now a member of SAARC)
•  Myanmar,^[18] (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^{[5][6][11][12][13][14][15][16][19]} (Otherwise considered Central Asian^[20] or East Asian^[21][22]) (PRC is an observer member of SAARC)

The United Nations also includes Iran, but not Tibet or Burma, as part of Southern Asia:^[23]

•  Iran (Iran is an observer nation in SAARC) (Otherwise considered Southwest Asia)

Differences in definitions

South Asia is defined in various different ways in literature. 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 George W. Bush administration'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".^[24]

Geography

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 is not 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, geo-politically, 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.

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Boundaries

The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how South Asia is defined. South Asia's north, east, and west boundaries vary based on definitions used. South Asia's southern border is the Indian Ocean. The UN subregion of Southern Asia's northern boundary would be the Himalayas, its western boundary would be made up of the Iraq-Iran border, Turkey-Iran border, Georgia-Iran border, and the Azerbaijan-Iran border. Its eastern boundary would be the India-Myanmar border and the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

Climate

The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area and is influenced by not only the altitude, but also by factors such as proximity to the sea coast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons. Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon period(s). The northern belt of Indo-Gangetic plains also is hot in summer, but cooler in winter. The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalyan ranges. As the Himalayas block the north-Asian bitter cold winds, the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below.

Environment

Economy

Certain countries in south Asia India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and petroleum rich Iran are emerging economies; Nepal and Myanmar are currently marked by high inflation. India has the largest economy in the region and its GDP in PPP terms is fourth largest in the world.

Further information: Economy of India

Media

The media plays an important role in every country in the region. All countries in SAARC have television, radio and the print media. Sri Lanka created broadcasting history by being the first country in South Asia to inaugurate broadcasting services in 1925, just three years after the launching of broadcasting in Europe. Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in South Asia. The station ruled the airwaves in the 1950s and 1960s and had a listener base running into millions.^[25]

History

Further information: History of South Asia

Map of Indian subcontinent illustrating stability and historical permanency of the regional cultural frontiers and areas.

The remote pre-history of South Asia culminates in the Indus Valley Civilization, which is followed by the legends of ancient Vedic period and the sketchy references to the rise and fall of Mahajanapadas - the precursors of regional kingdoms and later ancient empires - ending in the historical accounts of medieval empires and the arrival of European traders who later became the rulers.

Almost all South Asian countries were under direct or indirect European Colonial subjugation at some point. Much of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar were gradually occupied by Great Britain - starting from 1757, reaching their zenith in 1857 and ruling till 1947. Nepal and Bhutan were to some extent a protectorate of Great Britain until after World War II. The network of means of transportation and communication as well as banking and training of requisite workforce, and also the existing rail, post, telegraph, 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. Tibet at times has governed itself as an independent state and at other times has had various levels of association with China^[26][27], it became under Chinese control in the 18th century^{[28][29][30][27]} in spite of British efforts to seize possession of this Chinese protectorate at the beginning of the 20th century. ^[31] Tibetan and Chinese views on the Sino-Tibetan relation vary significantly. The Tibetans saw the Dalai Lama's relation with the Manchu emperor in more of a religious light than what would be considered political.^[29]

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

Main article: Ethnic groups of South Asia

Map of South Asia in native 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, e.g. Sakas, Kushans, Huns etc. influenced pre-existing south Asian cultures. The last of these new arrivals were the Turks and Pathans, who brought in much cultural influence and the Abrahamic religion of Islam to the western and northern parts of South Asia - the Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun, Baloch and Kashmiri people in areas principally located in the northern highlands and the Balochistan plateau in Pakistan and the Indo-Gangetic plains in Pakistan and India - and contributed to the birth of Urdu, a syncretic language of combined Indic-Persian-Turkic-Arabic heritage, which is widely spoken today.

Languages

The largest spoken language in this region is now Hindi, its speakers numbering almost 422 million^[32]; the second largest spoken language is Bengali, with 240 million speakers. Urdu is also a major language spoken in the subcontinent, especially in Pakistan and India, and is similar linguistically to Hindi. 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 have left an imprint of western culture in the elite society.

Most of South Asia writes using various abugidas of Brāhmī origin while 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

Further information: Religion in India

Afghanistan[1]	Sunni Muslim (80%), Shi'a Muslim (19%), other (1%)
Bangladesh[33]	Muslim (89.8%), Hindu (9.2%), Buddhist (1.6%), Christian (1.3%),Believers in tribal faiths (0.1%)
British Indian Ocean Territory[34]	Christian (45.55%), Hindu (38.55%), Muslim (9.25%), Non-Religious (6.50%), Atheist (0.10%), Other (0.05%)
Bhutan[2]	Buddhist (75%), Hindu (25%)
India[35][36]	Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%), Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%), Others (0.6%)
Iran[37]	Shi'a Muslim (89%), Sunni Muslim (9%), Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i (2%)
Maldives[38]	Sunni Muslim (100%) (One must be a Sunni Muslim to be a citizen on the Maldives[39][40])
Myanmar[41]	Theravada Buddhism (89%), Muslim (4%), Christian (4%) (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Animist (1%), others (including Hinduism) (2%)
Nepal[42]	Hindu (80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim (4.2%), Kirat (3.6%)
Pakistan[43]	Muslim (96.28%), Hindu (1.85%), Christian (1.59%), Ahmadi (0.22%)
Sri Lanka[44]	Theravada Buddhist (70.42%), Hindu (10.89%), Muslim (8.78%), Catholic (7.77%), Other Christian (1.96%), Other (0.13%)
Tibet	Tibetan Buddhism, Bön, Others

Territory and region data

Name of country/region, with flag	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	Currency	Government	Official languages	Coat of Arms
Afghanistan (see above)	647,500	31,889,923	46	Kabul	Afghan afghani	Islamic republic	Dari (Persian), Pashto [1]
Bangladesh	144,000	150,448,340	1045	Dhaka	Taka	Parliamentary republic	Bengali
Bhutan	47,000	672,425	45	Thimphu	Ngultrum, Indian rupee	Constitutional monarchy	Dzongkha
British Indian Ocean Territory	60	3,500	58.3	Diego Garcia	Pound sterling	British Overseas Territory	English
India	3,287,590	1,128,808,000	329	New Delhi	Indian rupee	Federal republic, Parliamentary democracy	Hindi, English and 20 other official languages
Iran (see above)	1,648,195	71,208,000	42	Tehran	Iranian rial	Islamic republic	Persian, Constitutional status for regional languages [45]
Maldives	298	298,842	1,105	Malé	Rufiyaa	Republic	Dhivehi
Myanmar (see above)	676,578	55,400,000	75	Yangon	Myanmar kyat	Military Junta	Burmese; Jingpho, Shan, Karen, Mon, (Spoken in Myanmar's Autonomous States.)
Nepal	147,181	28,901,790	184	Kathmandu	Nepalese rupee	Interim government	Nepali
Pakistan	880,940	162,423,000	206	Islamabad	Pakistani rupee	Islamic Republic	Urdu, English, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi, Siraiki, Sindhi[46]
Sri Lanka	65,610	19,668,000	310	Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte	Sri Lankan rupee	Democratic Socialist Republic	Sinhala, Tamil
Tibet Autonomous Region, PRC (see above)	1,228,400	2,740,000	2.2	Lhasa	Chinese yuan	Autonomous region of China	Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese

Major Economic and Financial Centres

See also

• History of South Asia
• South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
• South Asian Economic Union
• Greater India
• Indology
• India (disambiguation)
• Islamic conquest of South Asia
• List of South Asian stock exchanges
• South Asian cuisine

Other subregions in Asia

• East Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Central Asia
• North Asia
• West Asia

Notes and References

External links

• World Bank, South Asia Region
• BBC News South Asia
• Birding in South Asia
• South Asian Awareness Network Conference Website
• Global Media Publications Website
• Digital South Asia Library

Countries of South Asia Bangladesh · Bhutan · India · Maldives · Nepal · Pakistan · Sri Lanka Sometimes included:  Afghanistan • Iran • Myanmar • British Indian Ocean Territory • Tibet

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