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South Asia and East Asia 1: Physical and Human Geography
Please bring textbooks if you have them!
Physical Geography
A. Himalayas – plate tectonics
B. rivers
1. Indus
2. Ganga/Ganges
3. Brahmaputra
4. population clusters
C. climate: the monsoon
1. mechanism
a. land v. water: heat/cool different rates
b. cool winter months: dry monsoon
c. hot summer months: wet monsoon
2. location
a. Arabian Sea: western India coastal strip
b. Bay of Bengal
1) Ganges-Brahmaputra delta
2) world’s record rainfall
a) Mawsynram, India: 464.6”/year
b) Kauai, Hawaii: annual average = 460”/year
c) Cherrapunji, India
(1) 12 months: 1,042” (Aug 1860-61)
(2) 1 month: 366” (Jul 1861)
Human Geography - religions of the region
A. Hinduism
1. Ganga: Hinduism’s holy river
2. caste system - social stratification
a. 4 main castes
1) Brahmins: priests
2) Kshatriyas: warriors
3) Vaishyas: merchants
4) Sudras: laborers, artisans
b. “untouchables” - Harijan/Dalits
3. efforts to change system
a. Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
b. constitutional protection, affirmative action, and ongoing challenges
B. Islam
1. relocation diffusion
2. Muslim minority in India = 125 million
C. Sikh - “disciples”
1. attempt to bridge Hindu/Islam
2. desire independent Sikh state - Khalistan (Punjab)
D. Buddhism - born in India
South Asia and East Asia 1: Physical and Human Geography - p. 1 of 3
III.
IV.
1. Prince Siddhartha - Buddha
2. reverence for all forms of life
3. Buddhism distribution today
Conflicts
A. Pakistan and Afghanistan
1. Pashtun
2. national borders
B. Pakistan v. India in Kashmir
1. creation of Pakistan/Bangladesh
2. Islamic Republic of Pakistan - sharia
3. Kashmir – ongoing conflict
4. nuclear threat
5. kite wars
Issues
A. population
1. stats
a. India: 1.31 billion people
b. Pakistan: population 199 million; fertility rate = 3.8
c. Bangladesh: population 160 million; density = 2,917 people/mi2
2. future prospects
B. globalization and economic growth
1. outsourcing
a. English
b. “linguistic apartheid”
2. 2nd wave
C. Bhutan - changing cultures
1. Gross National Happiness
2. constitution: happiness v. economic benefits
3. Aug 1999 - first TV broadcast
D. celebrating cultural differences: spices of life
East Asia 1: China and Japan
I. China’s rivers
A. Huang He (Yellow) - Loess Plateau
B. Chang Jiang (Yangtze) - Sichuan Basin, large population clusters
II. changing borders -- devolution
A. Tibet/Xizang
B. Xinjiang
III. current issues
A. transition to market economy
1. economic v. political
2. “gilded age of inequality"
3. “capitalist decadence”
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B. population: 1.35 billion
C. population, development and the environment
1. current energy needs
2. coal and air pollution
3. hydroelectric and the Three Gorges Dam
4. promising developments
IV. celebrating cultural differences: Year of the Dragon and the Diaper Pail
V. China’s/region’s future: a global superpower?
A. China’s strengths
1. natural resources
2. enormous human resources
3. relative location
B. trade – shifting geographies
C. mass markets
D. island claims
VI. Japan
A. Japanese paradox: highly developed, industrialized, and urbanized yet many
characteristics of underdevelopment
B. physical geography - 3 defining characteristics
1. archipelago
2. Pacific Ring of Fire -- 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami
3. limited resources  dependent on external trading
C. major issue: low population growth
1. RNI = - 0.2%; fertility rate = 1.4
2. “A Nation in Retirement”
3. “Parasite Singles”
4. Japan’s “toilet wars”
D. celebrating cultural differences:
1. Japanese hiding place
2. “Haenyeo” – Korean “sea woman”
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