© T. M. Whitmore

Last Time

•Green revolution & its impacts (continued)

•Cattle

•Natural Resources & Industry

•Development

•Cultural Complexity

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Today

•South AsiaCultural Complexity continuedPopulation issues

•Southeast Asia Landforms & climate

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Hindu

•Emerged in India about 3,000 years ago

•No single text, but hundreds of scriptures called Vedas

•Complex & diverse beliefs with multiple gods in lots of local guises (Brahma the creator; Vishnu the preserver; and Shiva the destroyer)

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Hindu II

•Connected with a society of multiple (hierarchal) social roles each with multiple levels or castes (Braman priests; warrior; merchant; laborers; etc.)

•Dominant over most of India and Nepal as well

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Religion traditions: Buddhist

•Prince Siddhartha’s (the Buddha, c 500 BCE) search for enlightenment thru meditation & rejection of earthly desires

•Indian in origin but more important outside India all over SE Asia (but dominant in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and border lands with Tibet)

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Religion traditions: Islam

•Arrives in S Asia in the 700s

•Spatial expansion to cover all Pakistan, Bangladesh, and most of N. India (except south) by 1700 stopped by Hindu resistance just as

Brits establish colonial presence

•Muslim PopulationsPakistan (> 95%) => > 150 m

MuslimsBangladesh (~ 85%) => 125 m

MuslimsIndia (~13%) => 130 m Muslims

1700

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Cultural complexity I

1. Muslim Pakistan and nearby Hindu India —common Punjabi language

2. Mostly Hindu Jammu in Pakistan and Mostly Muslim Kashmir in India

3.Muslim Bangladesh and nearby Hindu India — common Bengali language

1

3

2

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Cultural complexity II1. Muslim Pakistan and Bangladesh

separated in space by India (and in language)

2. Mostly Hindu India religion binds — very many languages separate

3. Muslim Pakistan religion binds — very many languages separate

4. Muslim Bangladesh both religion and language tie

5. Sri Lanka: Tamil Hindus & Singhalese Buddhists

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Population Issues•Size:

India + Pakistan + Bangladesh = 1.4b Or 1/5 of humanity

•Growth — 1.3%/yr in Sri Lanka 1.7%/yr in India2.4%/yr in Pakistan 1.9% in Bangladesh

•All very youthful (35-40% < age 15)

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Population Issues II•Fertility (TFR) (3.1 = 3rd world ave)

India ~ 3.0Pakistan ~ 4.8Bangladesh ~ 3.0 Sri Lanka ~ 2.0

•Mortality (Eo) (global LDC ave ~ 63)India ~62Pakistan ~62Bangladesh ~61Sri Lanka ~73

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Spatial Distribution of Population

•Most in coastal and river valley areas (Ganges ;Brahmaputra; & Indus)

•Little urbanized < 30% urban overallbut Calcutta & Mumbai [> 10-15

m]Future growth

•Urban problems: crowding, substandard housing, lack of jobs etc. (e.g., over 500,000 homeless and living on the street in Calcutta)

•Emigration to UK and elsewhere

© National Geographic Society

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© T. M. Whitmore

Southeast Asia

•Plate tectonics in SE Asia•Earthquakes & and Tsunamis•Volcanoes

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Tambora

Banda Aceh Shore (Before Tsunami)Imagery collected June 23, 2004 © DigitalGlobe Inc. 2006

Banda Aceh Northern ShoreImagery collected December 28, 2004

© DigitalGlobe Inc. 2006

© T. M. Whitmore

Southeast Asian physical environments II•Other land forms

Indochinese (mainland) mountains

Highlands of Borneo and New Guinea

Coastal mangrove swamps of E Sumatra and parts of N Guinea and Borneo

Major rivers of Indochina

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Red R.

Mekong R.

Cho Phraya

Irrawaddy

Salween

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Southeast Asian Climates

•Climate regimes Tropical wet/dry and equatorial climates (Af, Aw, Am) — warm year around in all places (except very highlands)

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Vegetation and soils

•Inland in Indochina

•Lowland equatorial rainforest

•Soils — high temperatures and rainfall => poor many placesAlluvial and volcanics exceptions

Focus for settlement

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Puzzle of tropical/equatorial rainforests

•Much of the most moist area under “classical” tropical rainforest

•Huge trees; much biodiversity; high biomass/area

•Yet — all this on poor soils mostly — how?

•Commercial threats to tropical rainforests increasing