GEOG103 Chapter 9 Lecture

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 9 Lecture

World Regional Geography

A Developmental Approach

11th Edition

South Asia


Chapter Learning Outcomes

• Describe the climate characteristics that explain the influence of wet and dry monsoons.

• Identify the region’s primary environmental and energy challenges.• Explain how historical movements of peoples and cultures resulted in

South Asia’s current cultural conflicts.• Link British colonial rule to the current economic contours of South Asia.• Identify social and economic forces that reinforce gender inequality

in India.• Describe how the process of globalization affects the lives of India’s

poor rural population.• Compare India’s urban-industrial regions and link their development to

globalization and the government’s economic policies since 1990.• Contrast the political and economic constraints to greater levels

of economic development in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.


Map


South Asia’s Physical & Human Contexts

• Monsoon climate• Flat topography with elevated features on its edge• Hinduism• Islam introduced through invasions• Transformation through British imperialism• Post-World War II independence• Annual precipitation levels increase west to east• Much of Indus plain is arid.• Humid Bangladesh characterized by semideciduous and tropical

rainforest vegetation• Water supply is seasonal.• Summer or west monsoon provides 85 percent of annual rainfall

totals.


Population Distribution of South Asia


Summer Rainfall Amounts


Winter Rainfall Amounts


South Asia Religions


Mountains and Monsoons

• Monsoon climate• Different climate in each of the three

subregions of Asia• Mountain-induced orographic precipitation• Late southwestern monsoon season

sometimes includes cyclones.• Landforms

– Indo-Gangetic Plain– Deccan Plateau (Southern India)


Environmental Challenges

• Air pollution is the most serious atmospheric environmental problem, particularly across the northern part of the region.

• Sustainable water is the most serious challenge to economic and social development.

• India’s thirst for power generation has initiated plans for a number of upstream dam projects to generate hydroelectric power.


The Indo-Gangetic Plain

• Annual precipitation levels increase west to east.

• Much of Indus plain is arid.• Humid Bangladesh characterized by

semideciduous and tropical rainforest vegetation

• Water supply is seasonal.• Summer or west monsoon provides 85%

of annual rainfall totals.


The Precolonial Heritage

• Greater cultural diversity than China• Subjected to numerous external influences

from the west• Early civilizations in Indus River region• 2000 BC—Aryans invasion produced a

mixed Indo-Aryan civilization.• Indo-Aryans introduced Hinduism and the

caste system.


The Spread of Islam

• Most powerful of all Islamic empires was Mughal Empire—sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

• Lahore became one of the most celebrated Islamic cities of the world.

• Islam especially attractive to untouchables and Hindus of lower caste

• Rejection of caste system produced the blended Hindu and Islamic religion of Sikhism.

• Islam was highly doctrinaire and closely associated with a nomadic conquering culture.


The Colonial Transformation

• Early British influence– British East India Company– Indirectly came to control up to two-thirds of

country– Replaced native administration– Took actions to decimate textile industry in

nineteenth century• By 1900s, South Asia was a total colonial

possession.– Economic contours totally altered– Industrial development slow-paced


The British Empire in India


South Asia Languages


India Population

• More than one billion people• Second most populous country in the world• Population growth rate double that of China• Quadrupled in past 85 years• Three-fourths live in rural villages• Changing age structure• Growth rates vary between ethnic, religious, and caste

groups.• In general, Hindus have fewer children than Muslims.• Unequal gender relationships• Heading toward stage three of demographic

transformation model


Population Growth of India


Political Units of India


India Diversity

• Created as a secular state• Religion has become a predominant

political issue relating to castes.• Rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

– Conservative– Hindu-based

• Federalism as a political structure• Hindi—Official language and most

widely spoken


Casteism

• The caste system has been questioned for centuries, although seriously contesting the unfair nature of casteism first began under British rule by both Christian missionaries and concerned upper-caste Indians.

• Despite laws against discrimination by caste, the institution remains pervasive, particularly in rural areas where scheduled castes experience residential and educational segregation, lack access to public water wells, and are barred from entering certain Hindu temples.


Agricultural Regions of India


Agricultural Development in India

• 62 percent of population engaged in some form of agricultural pursuits.

• 65 percent in rural villages and small towns• Spatial distribution determined by availability of

water.• Heavy reliance on livestock• Various dairy products• Cattle are primary source of power for plowing and

short-distance transport.


Agricultural Development in India

• Sources of rural poverty are many.– Lack of health access and other social services– Lack of meaningful land reform– Average size of household plot is 6.5 acres.– Negative impact of Green Revolution– Negative impact of government economic policies– Technology impact– Hasn’t solved problems– Has exacerbated economic inequalities


Primary Mineral and Industrial Regions of South Asia


India’s Industrial Economy

• Strong railroad system• Strong industrial resource base• Fossil fuels can adequately power the industrial

base.• Iron ore counts for 6 percent of world production

and 5 percent of world reserves.• Government has constructed hydroelectric

facilities to make up for shortages in commercial energy.

• Carefully planned economy by government


India’s Industrial Regions

• Diversified industrial sector is emerging—Damodar Valley• Mumbai is the second most important industrial region.

– Cotton textile manufacturing– Automobile production– Aircraft– Pharmaceuticals– Plastics– Chemicals

• Bangalore—“Silicon Valley of India”– Texas Instruments– IBM– Compaq– Other computer software firms


Urban India, 1901–2011


Urban India

• Stark contrasts between urban and rural world• Prosperity gap has widened in the postindustrial economy.• Greater levels of rural-to-urban migration• Stream of urban migrants has exceeded urban employment opportunities.• Urbanization levels low into the mid-twentieth century• Growth indicators

– Rural-to-urban migration– Natural increase of urban population

• Most population growth in large cities• Thirty-five cities with more than 1 million population• Some are megacities, but not “world cities”

– Delhi—17.3 million– Mumbai—17.3 million– Kolkata—14.3 million– Insufficient finance, transport, and telecommunications


India’s Urban Poor

• First- and second-generation rural-to-urban migrants see the city as a place for greater economic opportunity.

• Lack of adequate income to secure durable housing

• Some in substandard housing• Bustec— “Village in a city”

– Squatter dwellings– Dirt floors– Electricity, sewage, and water rare


Pakistan

• Created in 1947• 96 percent Islamic• A west and east formed

– West—Closer to the West– East—Closer to southeast Asia– Tenuous from the beginning– East gained independence in 1971 (renamed Bangladesh).

• Tensions with India– Jammu and Kashmir– Joint nuclear ambitions

• Post-9/11/2001 relationship with United States in al Qaeda fight• Continues to rank as one of the world’s poorest countries• One of the larger debtor nations• Agriculture based on wheat, rice, leather products, and carpets• Located in transitional location between Islamic Middle East and Hindu India• “Dysfunctional country with little evidence of a civil society”


Nepal

• Landlocked country• Physical and cultural transition between Tibet in north and

India to south• Most populated part is central foothills—Kathmandu Valley• Worldwide success in marketing its natural and cultural

heritage– Adventure tourism– Tourism industry creates substantial domestic employment

opportunities.• 90 percent involved in subsistence agriculture• Exacerbated demands on women in economy


Bangladesh

• Formerly East Pakistan after 1971 civil war• Great cyclone in 1971 resulted in a sharply

reduced agriculture economy.• Economy rests almost completely on

agriculture.• Poorly developed industrial economy• Relatively stable government• Child labor is widespread.• Half the rural population is landless.• High illiteracy


Land Utilization in Bangladesh


Sri Lanka


Sri Lanka

• 20 million population– 74 percent Singhalese– Tamil-speaking Hindus for the rest– Cultural conflict

• Gained independence from British in 1948• Changed name from Ceylon in 1972• Government programs have significantly improved

life.• Some social indicators on par with developed

countries• Exports count for about one-third of the economy.


Summary of Chapter

• South Asia is one of the most culturally diverse in terms of religion, ethnicity, and language, all of which are a byproduct of centuries of migration into the region.

• Relatively high population growth rates hamper economic and social development, but are not the cause of poverty.

• The absence of economic opportunities in agriculture has led to substantial rural-to-urban migration and this movement in part explains the growth of some of the largest urban regions in the world.

• In India, the unequal spread of the benefits of globalization only exacerbates these income inequalities as capital-intensive information industries rather than more traditional and labor-intensive, export-based consumer product industries have captured the overwhelming attention of state and national governments.

• Equally critical to development growth is the future state of South Asia’s environment. In part explained by the rapid growth of population, South Asia’s dwindling water resources pose serious problems to agricultural and industrial development.

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GEOG103 Chapter 9 Lecture