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South 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:

CIA - The World FactbookSouth Asia: Data, Projects, and Research

MAPS SHOWING GEOLOGY, OIL AND GAS FIELDS AND GEOLOGICAL PROVINCES OF SOUTH ASIA

Includes Afghanistan and Bhutan

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:

CIA world factbook, Afghanistan - Geography (Location: Southern Asia)Center for South Asia Studies: University of California, Berkeley

Center for South Asia Outreach UW-Madison

Department of South Asia Studies: University of Pennsylvania

Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge Links Central, South Asia

Refers to Afghanistan as South Asian and Tajikistan as Central AsianUniversity of Washington Jackson School of International Studies: The South Asia Center http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/soasia-b.htmlSyracruse University: The South Asia Center http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/Center for South Asian Studieshttp://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/catalog/one-subject.php?subject_id=6550 this sources admits in certain contexts that Tibet and Afghanistan are South Asianhttp://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/SSAS/about.htm Tibetan and Afghan flag shownOrganization - Center for South Asian Studies - OscarUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa | South Asia CollectionRutgers, SAS South Asian Studies: - Home(Otherwise considered Central Asian or Middle-EasternThe 2007 Middle East & Central Asia Politics, Economics,and Society Conference University of Utah "Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East & Central Asia" May 2006, International Monetary Fund Middle East Network Information Center (MENIC), University of Texas at Austin Afghanistan Profile, National Geographic (accessed 20 January 2006) Afghanistan, Middle East Institute (accessed 20 January 2006)) (Now a member of SAARC)

,http://www.international.ucla.edu/idps/southasia/ UCLA South Asian Studies (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, PRCSouth Asian Studies at Emory (Otherwise considered Central AsianTibet - Britannica Online Encyclopedia) (PRC is an observer member of SAARC)

The United Nations also includes Iran, but not Tibet or Burma, as part of Southern Asia: Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings, United Nations website

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

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".Race Differences in Intelligence by Richard Lynn pg 79, 2006

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, 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.

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

Mostly hot summers and rain, some parts are snowy and cold.

Economy

The South Asian economy is characterised by chronic poverty, and inequality of wealth. While some elites in South Asia are incredibly rich and wealthy, more than 40 percent of their populations live below the Poverty Line, that is, just managing to survive, without the basic amenities of life. Corruption at all levels is highest among South Asian countries. While India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are emerging economies, Nepal, Myanmar and Iran are stagnating economies, marked by high inflation as a result of international isolation.

Major Economic and Financial Centres

History

The peoples of the region possess several distinguishing features that set them apart 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.

Almost all South Asian countries were under direct or indirect Colonial subjugation at some point. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar were colonies of Great Britain from 1757 to 1947, almost 200 years. Iran was under direct American control from 1945 to 1979, and Nepal was a protectorate and sub-colony of Great Britain from 1840 to 1950. Tibet at times has governed itself as an independent state and at other times has had various levels of association with ChinaMSN Encarta - TibetEncyclopedia Britannica - "China, Asia", 1911, read in part: "CHINA, a country of eastern Asia, the principal division of the Chinese empire. In addition to China proper the Chinese Empire includes Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and Sin-kiang (East Turkestan, Kulja, Dzungaria, &c., i.e. all the Chinese dependencies lying between. Mongolia on the north and Tibet on the south).", it became under Chinese control in the 18th centuryIn the Heart of Tibet, New York Times, 1903Goldstein, M.C., A History of Modern Tibet: The Demise of the Lamaist State, University of California Press, 1989, p44: "While the ancient relationships between Tibet and China are complex and beyond the scope of this study, there can be no question regarding the subordination of Tibet to Manchu-ruled China following the chaotic era of the 6th and 7th Dalai Lamas in the first decades of the eighteenth century....Sino-Tibetan relations are further complicated by Tibetan political theory, which conceived of the linkage with China as chöyön, a term that refers to the symbiotic relationship between a religious figure and a lay patron....Thus for the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama and the Manchu emperor stood respectively as spiritual teacher and a lay patron rather than subject and lord"Petech L.,China and Tibet in the Early XVIIIth Century: History of the Establishment of Chinese Protectorate in Tibet, 1972, p260: "In 1751 the organization of the protectorate took its final shape, which it maintained, except for some modifications in 1792, till its end in 1912. The ambans were given rights of control and supervision and since 1792 also a direct participation in the Tibetan government." in spite of British efforts to seize possession of this Chinese protectorate at the beginning of the 20th century. Gernet, J., Foster, J.R. & Hartman C., A History of Chinese Civilization, Cambridge University Press, 1982, p481, reads in part: "From 1751 onwards Chinese control over Tibet became permanent and remained so more or less ever after, in spite of British efforts to seize possession of this Chinese protectorate at the beginning of the twentieth century." 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.

Ethnic groups

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 - 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.

Languages

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. 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 Brahmic 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 Gurmukhi. Dhivehi is written in a script called Tana that shows characteristics of both the Arabic alphabet and of an abugida.

Other subregions in Asia

West Asia

External links

World Bank, South Asia Region

BBC News South Asia

Himal Southasian magazine

South Asian Note

Birding in South Asia

South Asian Awareness Network Conference Website

Global Media Publications Website

Digital South Asia Library

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