Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent
Area 4.4 million km2 (1.7 million mi²)
Population ~1.6 billion
Demonym Subcontinental

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian (and, in turn, the Eurasian) continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends southward into the Indian Ocean. It is sometimes synonymous with South Asia,[1] and various other terms used for the region.

Contents

Definition

Main article: South Asia

The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably.[1][2][3][4] Due to political sensitivities, some prefer to use the terms "South Asian Subcontinent",[5][5][6] the "Indo-Pak Subcontinent",[7] "the Subcontinent", or simply "South Asia"[8] over the term "Indian subcontinent". According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Indian Subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."[8] Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term "South Asia" is getting more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia;[9] some academics hold that the term "South Asia" is in more common use in Europe and North America, rather than the terms "Subcontinent" or the "Indian Subcontinent".[10][11]

Scope

The definition of the geographical extent of Indian subcontinent varies. Historically forming the whole territory of Greater India, now it generally comprises the countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh;[12] prior to 1947, the three nations were historically combined and constituted British India. It almost always also includes Nepal, Bhutan, and the island country of Sri Lanka[13] and may also include Afghanistan and the island country of Maldives.[1][14][15] The region may also include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which was part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but is now administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang.[16] A booklet published by the United States Department of State in 1959 includes Afghanistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, Nepal, and Pakistan (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) as part of the "Subcontinent of South Asia".[17] When the term Indian subcontinent is used to mean South Asia, the islands countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives may sometimes not be included,[1] while Tibet and Nepal may be included[18] or excluded[19] intermittently, depending on the context.

Further information: Greater India, Partition of India, and Classical India

Geography

See also: Geography of India, Geography of Pakistan, Geography of Bangladesh, Geography of Sri Lanka, and Geography of Nepal

Geographically, the Indian subcontinent is a peninsular region in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east,[20] and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast.[1][12] With all seven countries included, the area covers about 4.4 million km² (1.7 million mi²), which is 10% of the Asian continent or 2.4% of the world's land surface area.[21][22][23] Overall, it accounts for about 34% of Asia's population (or over 16.5% of the world's population) and is home to a vast array of peoples.[21][22][23]

Geology

Most of this region rests on a distinct tectonic plate, the Indian Plate (the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate), and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.[24][25] A component of Pangaea some 250 million years ago, the subcontinent split from Gondwana during the Cretaceous period some 90 million years ago, and then drifted north before colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50-55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau. The subcontinent continues to move northeastward some 5 cm annually, pushing the Himalayas up higher.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e John McLeod, The history of India, pages 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN 0313314594
  2. ^ Milton Walter Meyer, South Asia: A Short History of the Subcontinent, pages 1, Adams Littlefield, 1976, ISBN 082260034X
  3. ^ Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, The Third World: states of mind and being,‎ pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, ISBN 0049101218
  4. ^ Boniface, Brian G.; Christopher P. Cooper (2005). Worldwide destinations - By Brian G. Boniface, Christopher P. Cooper Worldwide destinations: the geography of travel and tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 9780750659970. http://books.google.com/books?id=c46i9jr9mhgC&pg=PA344&dq=indian+subcontinent+asia+continent&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a Worldwide destinations - By Brian G. Boniface, Christopher P. Cooper. 
  5. ^ a b Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, Asian Power and Politics, pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, ISBN 0674049799
  6. ^ http://www.iata.org/ps/intelligence_statistics/cargois/south_asian.htm South Asian Subcontinent.
  7. ^ Mark Juergensmeyer, The Oxford handbook of global religions, pages 465, Oxford University Press US, 2006, ISBN 0195137981
  8. ^ a b Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia, pages 3, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415307872
  9. ^ Imagining India - By Ronald B. Inden
  10. ^ Judith Schott & Alix Henley, Culture, Religion, and Childbearing in a Multiracial Society, pages 274, Elsevier Health Sciences, 1996, ISBN 0750620501
  11. ^ Raj S. Bhopal, Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies, pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0198568177
  12. ^ a b "Indian subcontinent". New Oxford Dictionary of English (ISBN 0-19-860441-6) New York: Oxford University Press, 2001; p. 929: "the part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Historically forming the whole territory of Greater India, the region is now divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh."
  13. ^ "Indian subcontinent" > Geology and Geography. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "region, S central Asia, comprising the countries of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and the Himalayan states of Nepal, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka, an island off the southeastern tip of the Indian peninsula, is often considered a part of the subcontinent."
  14. ^ Stephen Adolphe Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler & Darrell T. Tryon, Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, pages 787, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, Published by Walter de Gruyter, 1996, ISBN 3110134179
  15. ^ Haggett, Peter (2001). Encyclopedia of World Geography (Vol. 1). Marshall Cavendish. pp. 2710. ISBN 0761472894. 
  16. ^ Dale Hoiberg and Indu Ramchandani, Students' Britannica India (vol. 1‎), page 45, Popular Prakashan, 2000, ISBN 9780852297605
  17. ^ Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, The Subcontinent of South Asia: Afghanistan, Ceylon, India, Nepal and Pakistan, United States Department of State, Public Services Division, 1959
  18. ^ Harle, James C. (1994). The art and architecture of the Indian subcontinent. Yale University Press. pp. 214. ISBN 0300062176. 
  19. ^ Hackin, Joseph; Couchoud, Paul Louis (1996). The Mythologies of the East: Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Nepal and Tibet, Indo-China and Java. Aryan Books International. p. 1. ISBN 817305018X. 
  20. ^ Chapman, Graham P. & Baker, Kathleen M., eds. The changing geography of Asia. (ISBN 0-203-03862-2) New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002; p. 10: "This greater India is well defined in terms of topography; it is the Indian sub-continent, hemmed in by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Khush in the west and the Arakanese in the east."
  21. ^ a b Desai, Praful B. 2002. Cancer control efforts in the Indian subcontinent. Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology. 32 (Supplement 1): S13-S16. "The Indian subcontinent in South Asia occupies 2.4% of the world land mass and is home to 16.5% of the world population...."
  22. ^ a b "Asia" > Overview. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2009: "The Indian subcontinent is home to a vast diversity of peoples, most of whom speak languages from the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European family."
  23. ^ a b "Indian Subcontinent". Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Macmillan Reference USA (Gale Group), 2006: "The area is divided between five major nation-states, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and includes as well the two small nations of Bhutan and the Maldives Republic... The total area can be estimated at 4.4 million square kilometers, or exactly 10 percent of the land surface of Asia... In 2000, the total population was about 22 percent of the world's population and 34 percent of the population of Asia."
  24. ^ "Asia" > Geology and Geography. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "Asia can be divided into six regions, each possessing distinctive physical, cultural, economic, and political characteristics... South Asia (Afghanistan and the nations of the Indian subcontinent) is isolated from the rest of Asia by great mountain barriers."
  25. ^ "Asia" > Geologic history - Tectonic framework. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2009: "The paleotectonic evolution of Asia terminated some 50 million years ago as a result of the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia. Asia’s subsequent neotectonic development has largely disrupted the continent’s preexisting fabric. The first-order neotectonic units of Asia are Stable Asia, the Arabian and Indian cratons, the Alpide plate boundary zone (along which the Arabian and Indian platforms have collided with the Eurasian continental plate), and the island arcs and marginal basins."
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