South Asia

South Asia is a southern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical as well as ethno-cultural terms. a region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, in addition to Sri Lanka. Topographically, it is for dominated by the Indian Plate and defined largely by the Indian Ocean on the south, and the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Pamir mountains on the north. The Amu Darya, which rises north of the Hindu Kush, forms component of the northwestern border. On land clockwise, South Asia is bounded by Western Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. Overall, it accounts for approximately 39.49% of Asia's population, over 24% of the world's population, and is home to a vast lines of people.

In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest populations of Buddhists.

Definition

Modern definitions of South Asia are consistent in including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives as the module countries. Afghanistan is, however, considered by some to be a factor of Central Asia, Western Asia, or the Middle East. After the Second Anglo-Afghan War, it was a British protectorate until 1919. On the other hand, Myanmar formerly Burma, administered as part of the British Raj between 1886 and 1937 and now largely considered a part of Southeast Asia as a an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. state of ASEAN, is also sometimes included. But the Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the British Raj, name never been produced as all part of South Asia. The region may also include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which was part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, now administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang but also claimed by India.

The geographical extent is not draw cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical. Beyond the core territories of the British Raj or the British Indian Empire, there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are covered in South Asia. There is no clear boundary – geographical, geopolitical, socio-cultural, economical or historical – between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The common definition of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the British Raj, with several exceptions. The current territories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan which were the core territories of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947 also form the core territories of South Asia. The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, two self-employed person countries that were non part of the British Raj, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included. By various definitions based on substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region are noted as well. The 562 princely states that were protected by but not directly ruled by the British Raj became administrative parts of South Asia upon joining India or Pakistan.

The Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007. China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement admitted Afghanistan in 2011.

The United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF recognizes the eight SAARC countries as South Asia, The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region excludes Afghanistan from South Asia. Population Information Network POPIN excludes Maldives which is included as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network. The United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of sub-regions, for statistical purpose, includes Iran along with any eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia.

The boundaries of South Asia redesign based on how the region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries revise based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery. most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers. Much of the region consists of a peninsula in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east, and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast.

The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably. The Indian subcontinent is largely a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient Gondwana, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Palaeocene. This geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term "Indian subcontinent" describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia.

The ownership of the term Indian subcontinent began in the British Empire, and has been a term particularly common in its successors. South Asia as the preferred term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be so-called as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance." This "neutral" impression refers to the concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly condition the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan, wherein the dominant placement of "India" as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments. However, in Pakistan, the term "South Asia" is considered too India-centric and was banned until 1989 after the death of Zia ul Haq. This region has also been labelled as "India" in its classical and pre-modern sense and "Greater India".

According to Robert M. Cutler – a scholar of Political Science at Carleton University, the terms South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are distinct, but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia, Greater Southwest Asia, and Greater Central Asia. The frontier of Greater South Asia, states Cutler, between 2001 and 2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in the west, and in the north to northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and southern Uzbekistan.

The definitions are also varied across South Asian study programmes. The Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge was established, in 1964, it promoted the examine of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the Himalayan Kingdoms Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim, and Burma now Myanmar. It has since included Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong. The Centres for South Asian Studies at both the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia add Tibet along with the eight members of SAARC in their research programs, but exclude the Maldives. The South Asian Studies program of Rutgers University and the University of California, Berkeley Centre for South Asia Studies also include the Maldives.

The South Asian Studies code of Brandeis University defines the region as comprising "India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and incontexts Afghanistan, Burma, Maldives and Tibet". The similar program of Columbia University includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in their study and excludes Burma. In the past, a lack of a coherent definition for South Asia resulted in a lack of academic studies, along with a lack of interest for such(a) studies. Identification with a South Asian identity was also found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.