South Asia is a region in Asia that covers 4,480,000 km², which is 10 percent of Asia’s area. Parts of Afghanistan are sometimes included. The area is also called the Indian Subcontinent because it is located on its own continental plate separate from the rest of Asia.
According to Countryaah.com, the region of South Asia includes the following nations:
- INDIA
- PAKISTAN
- BANGLADESH
- SRI LANKA
- BHUTAN
- MALDIVES
Republic of India
The Republic of India is located in southern Asia and makes up the bulk of the Indian subcontinent. The border countries are Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The country has sea borders with the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. India also has a controversial border with Afghanistan.
The country has the second highest population in the world and is the largest democracy with more than 1 billion people and more than 100 different languages. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power.
TIMELINE:
400 AD – The Indian doctor Susruta describes techniques for plastic surgery, to repair damaged body parts with, such as ears, noses and fingers.
499 – The mathematician Aryabhata writes a book that tells what he knows about mathematics and astronomy. Among other things, he will in that it is the Earth that rotates, and not the starry sky.
2007 – January 10. India launches its first reusable space capsule. It orbits the Earth for 12 days before falling into the Bay of Bengal on January 22.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (official name: People’s Republic of Bangladesh ) is a country in South Asia. Before 1971 it was called East Pakistan. The border countries are India to the west, north and east and Myanmar to the east. To the south lies the Indian Ocean.
Kingdom of Bhutan
The Kingdom of Bhutan is a Himalayan country enclosed between India and China. The country is to some extent economically and politically dependent on India. Until 1961, the country was closed to travelers, and thus tourism is controlled. The country is the only one where Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion and the authorities place great emphasis on stimulating traditions such as the use of national costumes.
Republic of Maldives
The Republic of Maldives is a country in the Indian Ocean southwest of India. It consists of a group of atolls.
TIMELINE:
2007 – The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that a rise in water levels in the world’s oceans of between 18 and 59 cm by 2100 will be enough to make the Indian Ocean archipelago uninhabitable. The Maldives has the very serious problem that the country will have disappeared by the year 2100 if the world’s oceans rise at the rate that scientists predict. To save the population, the government in 2008 took the completely unusual step of “saving together for” a bite of the island of Sri Lanka. One simply imagines buying a piece of land of present-day Sri Lanka that can house the entire small 0.4 million Maldivian population.
2009 – The poor nation had to cancel the climate summit in Copenhagen because they simply could not afford to participate. The Danish state paid for the nation’s participation in the summit. Denmark had set aside DKK 18.6 million for poor states and island states to participate with 3 delegates each.
Underwater meeting To draw attention to the prospect of possibly ending up below sea level, the Maldives government held a meeting in 2009 in the sea. ” Dressed in black diving suits and masks, President Mohamed Nasheed , 11 ministers, the vice president and the secretary of state dived 3.8 meters underwater, where they held the meeting at tables in the crystal clear water.”
Kingdom of Nepal
Nepal, was officially called the Kingdom of Nepal until 15 January 2008 and was a monarchy in the Himalayas. The country lies between India in the east, west and south and China ( Tibet ) to the north. From 15 January, King Gyanendra was stripped of most of his powers and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was appointed official head of state. A newly elected parliament abolished the monarchy on May 28 and declared Nepal a republic.
The world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, locally known as Sagarmatha, lies on the border between Nepal and China.
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. The border countries are Iran, Afghanistan, China and India. The south coast is made up of the Arabian Sea.
Pakistan was formed in 1947 when it, along with the area that is now Bangladesh, was separated from British India. The rest of British India became independent India. The name Pakistan means “the pure land”, and it was meant to be a pure Muslim state. The division into India and Pakistan led to millions of people having to cross borders to be in the country to which their religion belonged. Yet many Muslims remained in India and many Hindus remained in Pakistan.
East Pakistan seceded in 1971 and, after a bloody civil war, the Bangladesh War, formed the independent state of Bangladesh.
