Transcript South Asia Power point on Geography

Unit 8
 Pakistan
 India
 Nepal
 Bhutan
 Sri
Lanka
 Bangladesh
 Maldives
 People
in this area believe that Mt. Meru,
was the center of the physical and
spiritual world.
 They described it “rivers of sweet water”
flowing down the sides of the Mts.
 Mt. Meru, only exists in myth, Mt. Everest
at 29,035 feet above sea level.
 Plus other towering peaks of the
Himalalya Mts.
 Himalayas are part of South Asia.
 South Asia is sometime called a
subcontinent; a large landmass that is
smaller than a continent. Indian
subcontinent because India dominates the
region.
 Even though is about half the size of the U.S.,
it has one billion inhabitants—one-fifth of
the world population.
 The South Asian peninsula is border by the
Himalayas, Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea &
Bay of Bengal.
The Himalayas has two dozens peaks raising to
24,000 feet and stretch for 1,500 miles; form a giant
barrier between the Indian Subcontinent and China.
 1. Collision of large tectonic plates created the
Himalayas, which form the border between India and
China and contain the landlocked kingdoms of Nepal
and Bhutan. Also created the Hindu Kush, at the
western end of the chain, and the Karakoram Mts. In
the north-central portion of the chain.
 The Hindu Kush are mts. that lie at the west end of the
Himalayas; between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Bloody battles have been fought here for control of
major land routes through these mts.
 The mighty Karakoram Mts. raise in the northeastern
portion; home of the world’s second highest peak K2.
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 Several
smaller mts. ranges in central India;
including the Vindhya Range.
 2. the Deccan Plateau covers much of
southern India. Also the Ganges Plain, the
Chota Nagpur Plateau, the Karnataka
Plateau cover the region.
 Two mountains ranges, the Western Ghats
and the Eastern Ghats, flank the plateau,
separating it from the coast. They block
moist winds and keep rain from reaching
the interior.
 As a result, the Deccan is an arid region.
The first great
civilization of South
Asia developed along
the banks of the Indus
River more than 4,000
years ago.
 What might have been
some reasons for a
civilization developing
at the location?
 What two countries
does it affect?
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 The
three great rivers systems: the Indus, the
Ganges, & the Brahmaputra.
 3. The Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra
originate in the Himalayas. The Indus flows to
the Arabian Sea; the Ganges and Brahmaputra
to the Bay of Bengal.
 They bring rich alluvial soil to the delta, a
region covering 65,000 square miles.
 Melting snow in the summer and the monsoon
force the rivers to burst their banks. So much
water comes that Bangladesh is turn into an
inland sea before it dries up.
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These rivers play a key role in supporting life in South
Asia; crucial for irrigation for agricultural. They also
carry rich soil called alluvial soil from the mountains.
When banks overflow, they carry it to the rich farm
land.
4. Indo-Gangetic Plain, an alluvial plain, is one of the
most fertile farming regions in the world.
Heavy populated area of South Asia. 3/5th of India’s
population.
Cities: New Delhi and Kolkata in India & Dakha in
Bangladesh.
To the west it becomes drier and requires more
irrigation; the Thar or Great Indian Desert.
 It
is a lush tropical land of great natural
beauty.
 Many small rivers cascade from these
mts.
 5. Large, teardrop shaped island country
off India’s southeastern tip. Center of
island has tall, rugged mountains (8,000
feet): northern side has low hills and
rolling farmland. Perimeter is a coastal
plain with beaches.
 2004 Tusnami
 6. An
archipelago, or island group, of
more than 1,200 small islands, stretching
for almost 500 miles toward the equator;
these islands are atolls, low-lying tops of
submerged volcanoes.
 Only about 200 of the island are
inhabited.
 The
beauty of the southern island is just
one of many physical assets of South
Asia.
 The subcontinent boasts of a wide variety
of natural resources that support human
life, but its rapidly growing population
puts great pressure on its land and
resources.
 The
great rivers provide a mean for
survival; fishing, farming & hydroelectric.
 Small and large scale irrigation projects.
 Mackerel, sardines, carp and catfish.
 Government is working to hardness
water for electric power.
 1. Region relies heavily on water and soil
resources for farming and fishing. Water
also provides transportation and power;
water is used for hydroelectric energy.
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Ranks fourth in the world in coal production and has
enough petroleum to supply about half its oil needs.
India, Pakistan & Bangladesh have natural gas.
Uranium is found in India for nuclear energy; iron ore
deposit in India’s Deccan Plateau.
Manganese, gypsum, chromium, bauxite, copper & mica
(key component in electrical equipment)
2. Most energy in South Asia is generated from mineral
resources. Energy resources include coal, petroleum, and
natural gas, as well as uranium. Region has large iron-ore
deposits, and India supplies most of the world’s mica. India
and Sri Lanka also have substantial gemstone deposits.
India is know for its diamonds; Sri Lanka for its sapphires
and rubies.
 3. Timber
and other forest products
important; rain forests in India produce
hardwoods like sal and teak, along with
bamboo and sandalwood. Highland forest in
Bhutan and Nepal have pine, fir, and other
softwoods.
 Deforestation is a severe problem; it causes
soil erosion, flooding, landslides and loss of
wildlife habitats.
 It has devastated formerly dense forest in
India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.
Half of the climate zones can be
found in South Asia
 There
is tropical wet; tropical wet & dry in
the southern part of India.
 Desert & semiarid in the western end of
the Plain and in between the coastal
areas.
 Northern India, Nepal & Bangladesh have
humid subtropical
 Highland can be found in the Himalayas
and northern mts.
 1. Highland-coldest
climate, high Himalayas
and other mts.
 2. Humid subtropical zone-includes IndoGangetic plain
 3. Semiarid zone-high temperatures, light
rainfall in parts of the Deccan Plateau and at
western end of Indo-Gangetic Plain
 4. desert zon-includes Thar Desert
 5. tropical wet zone-along eastern and western
coasts of India and in Bangladesh
 6. tropical wet and dry-lots of rain; northern
part of the subregion
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South Asia is greatly affected by monsoons or seasonal winds.
October through February, dry wind blow across South Asia
from the northeast. Winter monsoon
June through September, the winds blow in from the
Southwest, bringing moist ocean air. Heavy rains fall,
especially in southwestern and Ganges Delta. Summer
monsoon
7. seasonal winds that greatly affect the climate of the region,
bringing heavy but unpredictable rain. Winter monsoon &
Summer monsoon
Beneficial: crucial to life on the subcontinent,
Hardship: people living in the lowland of India & Bangladesh,
unpredictable, too much rain in some area & little rain in
others.
 Violent
tropical storms are called
cyclones in the Indian Ocean, typhoons
in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and
hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.
 8. violent storms with fierce winds and
heavy rains that can cause widespread
damage and death
 Most destructive in Bangladesh, a lowlying coastal region where high waves
can swamp large parts of the country.
 1. tropical
wet zone, highland zone in the
north, and the river valleys and foothills
of the humid subtropical zone
 2. has caused soil erosion, flooding,
climate changes, and loss of habitat for
wildlife; less than one-fifth of India’s
original forests remain
 3. desert shrub, a mixture of low trees and
grasses
 4. little plant life, as in Thar Desert
 1. Known
as Mother Ganges; water
believed to be spiritually healing; People
enter the waters to bathe, to drink, and to
scatter ashes of the dead.
 2. Source of drinking water, yet people
can get diseases from drinking or even
bathing in it.
 One of the most polluted rivers in the
world; receives sewage and industrial
waste as well as corpses. Cleanup has
been slow.
 1. monsoon
rains swell the rivers;
cyclones
 2. tremendous hardship caused by storm
surges, which flood fields
 3. cost of building a dam too high for a
country with limited financial and
technological resources.
 4. completion of the dam that closed the
Feni River