The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent and other terms, is a region of the Asian Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled (and, in turn, the Eurasian Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface (36.2% of the land area). Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia (with Eurasia being a portmanteau of the two), concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are) continent A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents – they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia on the Indian tectonic plate The India or Indian Plate is a tectonic plate that was originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland from which it split off, eventually becoming a major plate. About 50 to 55 million years ago, it fused with the adjacent Australian Plate. It is today part of the major Indo-Australian Plate, and includes the subcontinent of India and south of the Himalayas The Himalaya Range (Sanskrit: literally, "abode of snow", Hindi/Sanskrit: हिमालय, IPA: /hɪˈmɑːləj/), or the Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of a massive mountain system that includes the Karakoram, the Hindu, forming a land mass which extends southward into the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian subcontinent; on the west by East Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean . It is the only ocean to be named.

Definition

The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as the Indian subcontinent south of the" are used interchangeably.^[1][2][3][4] Due to political sensitivities, some prefer to use the terms "South Asian Subcontinent",^[5][6][7] the "Indo-Pak Subcontinent",^[8] "the Subcontinent", or simply "South Asia"^[9] over the term "Indian subcontinent". According to historians A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time. If the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Indian Subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."^[9] Indologist Indology is the academic study of the languages and literature, history and cultures of the Indian subcontinent , and as such a subset of Asian studies Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term "South Asia" is getting more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about 12,000,000 km2 (4,600,000 sq mi), or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe;^[10] Some academics hold that the term "South Asia" is in more common use in Europe and North America, rather than the terms "Subcontinent" or the "Indian Subcontinent".^[11][12]

Scope

The definition of the geographical extent of Indian subcontinent varies. It generally comprises the countries of India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the, Pakistan Pakistan (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪsˈtaːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکِستان), is a country in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, and India in the, and Bangladesh Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ, pronounced /bæŋgləˈdɛʃ/; Bangladesh), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Banglādeśh) is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma;^[13] it often also includes Nepal Nepal (pronounced /nəˈpal/ nə-PAHL, /-pal/ -PAWL; Nepali: नेपाल [neˈpal] ), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a himalayan country in South Asia and, as of 2010, the world's most recent nation to become a republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by, Bhutan Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is, and offshore Sri Lanka Sri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known as Ceylon (/sɪˈlɒn/) before 1972, is an island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India^[14] and may include the Maldives The Maldives ( /ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ Dhivehi Raa'je) or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching in a north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos.^[1][15] Historically forming the whole of greater India The term Greater India refers to the historical spread of the Culture of India beyond the Indian subcontinent proper. This concerns the spread of Hinduism in Southeast Asia in particular, introduced by the Indianized kingdoms of the 5th to 15th centuries, but may also extend to the earlier spread of Buddhism from India to Central Asia and China by or the territories of the British Raj The British Raj is the name given to the period of British colonial rule in South Asia between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the dominion itself, and even the region under the rule. The region, commonly called India in contemporary usage, included areas directly administered by Britain, as well as the princely states ruled by individual, the region now comprises the countries of India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the, Pakistan Pakistan (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪsˈtaːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکِستان), is a country in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, and India in the, and Bangladesh Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ, pronounced /bæŋgləˈdɛʃ/; Bangladesh), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Banglādeśh) is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma;^[16][13] it often also includes Nepal Nepal (pronounced /nəˈpal/ nə-PAHL, /-pal/ -PAWL; Nepali: नेपाल [neˈpal] ), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a himalayan country in South Asia and, as of 2010, the world's most recent nation to become a republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by, Bhutan Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is, and offshore Sri Lanka Sri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known as Ceylon (/sɪˈlɒn/) before 1972, is an island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India.^[17] It may also include the island country of Maldives The Maldives ( /ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ Dhivehi Raa'je) or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching in a north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos^[18]. The region may also include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin Aksai Chin, also Aksayqin, Akesaiqin or Akesai Qin , is a disputed region located in the northwestern region of the Tibetan Plateau north of the western Kunlun Mountains. It is entirely administered by the People's Republic of China as a part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is, however, claimed by India as, which was part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir and Jammu was, from 1846 until 1947, a princely state in the British Empire in India, and was ruled by a Maharaja. The state was created in 1846 when, after its victory in the First Anglo-Sikh War, the East India Company annexed the Kashmir valley and immediately sold it to the Dogra ruler of Jammu under the Treaty of Amritsar. According, but is now administered as a part of the Chinese b. ^ Simple characterizations of the political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible autonomous region of Xinjiang Xinjiang is an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2. Xinjiang borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil.^[19] A booklet published by the United States Department of State The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries. The Department was created in 1789 and was the first executive department established in 1959 includes Afghanistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, Nepal, and Pakistan as part of the "Subcontinent of South Asia".^[20] When the term Indian Subcontinent is used to mean South Asia, the islands countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives are sometimes not included,^[1] while Tibet and Nepal are included^[21] and excluded^[22] intermittently, depending on the context.

Geography

Geographically, the Indian subcontinent is a peninsular A peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. In many Germanic languages, peninsulas are called "half-islands". A peninsula can also be a headland (head), cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit.. Note that a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting region in south-central Asia South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as the Indian subcontinent south of the, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is a 500-mile mountain range stretching between north-western Pakistan and eastern and central Afghanistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan in the west, and the Arakanese in the east,^[23] and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, and Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) in India to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh (land of Bengal, where the name of the Bay originates from) and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north India and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma ( to the southeast.^[1][13] With all seven countries included, the area covers about 4.4 million km² (1.7 million mi²), which is 10% of the Asian continent or 2.4% of the world's land surface area.^[24][25][26] Overall, it accounts for about 34% of Asia's population (or over 16.5% of the world's population) and is home to a vast array of peoples.^[24][25][26]

Geology

Most of this region rests on a distinct tectonic plate Plate tectonics is a scientific theory which describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. It is vital for the existence of life on earth because of the role that it plays in the global cycle that maintains the balance of carbon between the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.[citation needed] The theory, the Indian Plate The India or Indian Plate is a tectonic plate that was originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland from which it split off, eventually becoming a major plate. About 50 to 55 million years ago, it fused with the adjacent Australian Plate. It is today part of the major Indo-Australian Plate, and includes the subcontinent of India and (the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters. Recent studies suggest that the Indo-Australian Plate may be in the process of breaking up into two separate plates due primarily to stresses induced by), and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.^[27][28] It was once a small continent A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents – they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia before colliding with the Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia. It also includes oceanic crust extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and northward to the Gakkel Ridge about 50-55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Chinese: 青藏高原; Pinyin: Qingzang Gaoyuan) is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in China and Ladakh in India-controlled Kashmir. It occupies an area of around 1,000 by 2,500 kilometers, and has an average. In addition, it is also home to a variety of geographical features, such as glaciers A glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years. The word glacier comes from French via the Vulgar Latin glacia, and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice. The corresponding area of study is called glaciology, rainforests Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests, valleys In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge, deserts, and grasslands.

See also

• SAARC

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} John McLeod, The history of India, pages 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN 0313314594
2. ^ Milton Walter Meyer, South Asia: A Short History of the Subcontinent, pages 1, Adams Littlefield, 1976, ISBN 082260034X
3. ^ Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, The Third World: states of mind and being,‎ pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, ISBN 0049101218
4. ^ Boniface, Brian G.; Christopher P. Cooper (2005). Worldwide destinations - By Brian G. Boniface, Christopher P. Cooper Worldwide destinations: the geography of travel and tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 9780750659970. http://books.google.com/books?id=c46i9jr9mhgC&pg=PA344&dq=indian+subcontinent+asia+continent&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a Worldwide destinations - By Brian G. Boniface, Christopher P. Cooper.
5. ^ Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, Asian Power and Politics, pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, ISBN 0674049799
6. ^ http://www.iata.org/ps/intelligence_statistics/cargois/south_asian.htm South Asian Subcontinent.
7. ^ Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, Asian Power and Politics, pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, ISBN 0674049799
8. ^ Mark Juergensmeyer, The Oxford handbook of global religions, pages 465, Oxford University Press US, 2006, ISBN 0195137981
9. ^ ^{a b} Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia, pages 3, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415307872
10. ^ Imagining India - By Ronald B. Inden
11. ^ Judith Schott & Alix Henley, Culture, Religion, and Childbearing in a Multiracial Society, pages 274, Elsevier Health Sciences, 1996, ISBN 0750620501
12. ^ Raj S. Bhopal, Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies, pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0198568177
13. ^ ^{a b c} "Indian subcontinent". New Oxford Dictionary of English (ISBN 0-19-860441-6) New York: Oxford University Press, 2001; p. 929: "the part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Historically forming the whole territory of greater India, the region is now divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh."
14. ^ "Indian subcontinent" > Geology and Geography. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "region, S central Asia, comprising the countries of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and the Himalayan states of Nepal, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka, an island off the southeastern tip of the Indian peninsula, is often considered a part of the subcontinent."
15. ^ Stephen Adolphe Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler & Darrell T. Tryon, Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, pages 787, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, Published by Walter de Gruyter, 1996, ISBN 3110134179
16. ^ After partition: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, BBC, 2007-08-08
17. ^ "Indian subcontinent": Geology and Geography. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "region, S central Asia, comprising the countries of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and the Himalayan states of Nepal, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka, an island off the southeastern tip of the Indian peninsula, is often considered a part of the subcontinent."
18. ^ Haggett, Peter (2001). Encyclopedia of World Geography (Vol. 1). Marshall Cavendish. pp. 2710. ISBN 0761472894.
19. ^ Dale Hoiberg and Indu Ramchandani, Students' Britannica India (vol. 1‎), page 45, Popular Prakashan, 2000, ISBN 9780852297605
20. ^ Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, The Subcontinent of South Asia: Afghanistan, Ceylon, India, Nepal and Pakistan, United States Department of State, Public Services Division, 1959
21. ^ James C. Harle, The art and architecture of the Indian subcontinent, pages 214, Yale University Press, 1994, ISBN 0300062176
22. ^ Joseph Hackin & Paul Louis Couchoud, The Mythologies of the East: Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Nepal and Tibet, Indo-China and Java, pages 1, Aryan Books International, 1996, ISBN 817305018X
23. ^ Chapman, Graham P. & Baker, Kathleen M., eds. The changing geography of Asia. (ISBN 0-203-03862-2) New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002; p. 10: "This greater India is well defined in terms of topography; it is the Indian sub-continent, hemmed in by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Khush in the west and the Arakanese in the east."
24. ^ ^{a b} Desai, Praful B. 2002. Cancer control efforts in the Indian subcontinent. Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology. 32 (Supplement 1): S13-S16. "The Indian subcontinent in South Asia occupies 2.4% of the world land mass and is home to 16.5% of the world population...."
25. ^ ^{a b} "Asia" > Overview. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2009: "The Indian subcontinent is home to a vast diversity of peoples, most of whom speak languages from the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European family."
26. ^ ^{a b} "Indian Subcontinent". Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Macmillan Reference USA (Gale Group), 2006: "The area is divided between five major nation-states, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and includes as well the two small nations of Bhutan and the Maldives Republic... The total area can be estimated at 4.4 million square kilometers, or exactly 10 percent of the land surface of Asia.... In 2000, the total population was about 22 percent of the world's population and 34 percent of the population of Asia."
27. ^ "Asia" > Geology and Geography. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "Asia can be divided into six regions, each possessing distinctive physical, cultural, economic, and political characteristics.... South Asia (Afghanistan and the nations of the Indian subcontinent) is isolated from the rest of Asia by great mountain barriers."
28. ^ "Asia" > Geologic history - Tectonic framework. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2009: "The paleotectonic evolution of Asia terminated some 50 million years ago as a result of the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia. Asia’s subsequent neotectonic development has largely disrupted the continent’s preexisting fabric. The first-order neotectonic units of Asia are Stable Asia, the Arabian and Indian cratons, the Alpide plate boundary zone (along which the Arabian and Indian platforms have collided with the Eurasian continental plate), and the island arcs and marginal basins."

Categories: Geography | Geology | Peninsulas | Continents | Regions of Asia | South Asia

See Also:

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Home
• Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Blogs
• Computers
• Words: Encyclopedia
• StarDict: Encyclopedia
• Headword: Encyclopedia
• New Oxford American Dictionary: Encyclopedia
• Fictionary: Dictionary
• Lemma (Linguistics): Encyclopedia
• Computing: Dictionary

Most Popular Pages:

• Akkadian Language: Blogs
• Amharic
• Macintosh Sherlock Modules: Blogs
• Root (Linguistics): Blogs
• Indian Subcontinent: Web Search
• Oceanography: Blogs
• Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Blogs
• Big Secrets: Blogs
• Dictionary
• W

Related 'Indian Subcontinent' Searches: