Be aware that your Final Exam will be available from Dec. 6 at noon until December 10 at midnight.

Overview:  

Unity and Diversity in South Asia is an appropriate title for this week's reading and study. South Asia is comprised of varied landscapes and climates ranging from dry to very wet and from cold to very hot. The triangular shape of the Indian subcontinent broke away from Africa  millions of years ago and slammed into the Asian landmass, thus beginning the landforms we witness today with the most familiar one recognized as the Himalaya mountain range. The mountains give way southward to the Ganges plains which cradle the sacred Ganges river. Farther southward the land rises and forms the Deccan plateau which is higher on the west and tilts toward the east and the Bay of Bengal.  From the mountains in the north to the plateau in the south; from the dry deserts in the west to the rainy forests in the east, South Asia is physically diverse.

The human landscapes of South Asia are equally diverse. Two major religions, Hinduism and Islam prescribe certain habits for their adherents and the cultural veneer on the landscape reflects these habits. Hindu temples and Islamic mosques are dominant architectural structures in India and Pakistan respectively.  The landscapes also reveal that the predominant economic activity is agriculture and that most people spend their lives in small villages. Some writers note that India alone has more than half a million villages in a country of more than 1 billion people. India is also diverse due to the fact that people speak many languages and, in fact, each state has its own mother tongue.  

Your text does a fine job in painting a portrait of unity, diversity, history, and contemporary problems. 

Assignments:

• Complete the reading assignment paying careful attention to the ideas and terms. 
• Contemplate the questions and then email your answers to me.  (LKM:  add questions here)
• The contents of this chapter will be on the final exam.

Concepts: (Ideas and Terms)

Population geography, population distribution, population density, physiologic density, doubling time, wet monsoon, social stratification, caste system, demographic transition, countries of South Asia, physiographic regions of South Asia,  Indus Valley Civilization, Dravidian, Asoka, Islam, Europeans in India, partition, Kashmir problem, centrifugal and centripetal forces in India, New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Regions of the realm: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

Resources: