South Asia 3
Review of South Asia 2
• Questions
• South Asia
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Population Geography
Cities & Green Revolution
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
• East Asia
THE REALM
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Five Regions
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Mountainous
North
Southern Islands
See p.
410(11)/417(10)
National Emergency 1975
• India enjoys decisive victory over Pakistan in 3rd
war over Kashmir…at a cost
• Economic crisis: deficit to finance war, rising
energy prices, falling domestic output, strikes and
mass civil disobedience
• National Emergency of 1975, suspending civil
rights – “Reign of Terror”
• Forced sterilization of the poor as a means of birth
control
• Advocacy of two-child families
'Simple answer for a healthy family:
The second child should come after three
years'
During the National Emergency
(1975-77), family planning
posters encouraged no more than
two child families.
Unpalatable for the masses.
This poster seems a lot more
democratic in conveying the
underlying message.
Green Revolution
• Development of higher yield, fast-growing
varieties of rice and other cereals in developing
countries
– International research of 1960s
– Focused on the food crises
– Increased production per unit area via:
• Cultivars of rice and wheat: ‘miracle crops’
• New irrigation systems
• Commercial fertilizer and mechanization
India’s Mega Cities
• 28% urban, village economy
• Mumbai (Bombay)- 18.3 million
– Closest port to Europe - situation (Suez canal)
• Kolkata (Calcutta)- 14.3 million
– 500,000 homeless
– Former British colonial capital- 1772
– Adversely affected by partition
• Delhi (New and Old)- 15.3 million
– British and Indian seat of government
• Chennai (Madras) – 6.4 million (Tamil)
DELHI
MUMBAI
Hindutva & Indian
toponymy
KOLKATA
No place like home…Mumbai
BANGLADESH
Deltaic
Low-lying
Prone to flooding
Sundarbans
littoral forest
mangrove
Bengal tiger
Bangladesh
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East Pakistan, independent since 1971
Linguistic divide and genocide
85% Muslim, 12% Hindu
140 million
Physiologic density = 3,800/sq mi
Natural hazards
– Cyclones, flooding
Development Issues
• Among world’s poorest and least developed
states – 23% urban
• Subsistence agriculture: rice
• Arsenic in drinking water
– Shallow wells
• Oxidizing pyrite
• Decomposing peat
THE MOUNTAINOUS NORTH
Sri Lanka
• Independent since 1948
• 19.7 million people (70% Buddhists)
• Plantation agriculture:
– Tea, rubber, coconuts
• Colombo Plan
• South (majority of population)
• Aryan, Buddhist, Speak Sinhala (I-E)
• From North-west 500 BC
• North (~10% of the population)
• Dravidian (Tamil language) - Hindu
• British tea plantation migrant workers of C19
Sri Lanka
• SINHALESE vs TAMILS
• Tamils demanded equal rights:
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Education
Employment
Land Ownership
Language And Politics
• Insurgent State
• LTTE – Liberation Tigers Of
Tamil Eelam
Worst Human Disaster in Sri Lanka’s History
• Most powerful earthquake in 40 years
• Epicentre near Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
• Causing giant tsunamis to crash ashore killing tens of
thousands.
• Sri Lanka’s coast was devastated
• 40,000 dead and 2.5 million people displaced
• 1,600km from the epicentre, waves swept inland as far as
5 kilometers.
• Waves as high as six meters had crashed into coastal
villages, sweeping away people, cars and even a train
with 1700 passengers. It was the worst human disaster in
Sri Lanka history.
Tamil Coast was more Exposed to
Tsunami
Kalutara Beach, Sri Lanka