CH 6 South Asia

• Alluvium


  Deposits of rivers in their flood plains, often composed of mud, silt, sand, or gravel
• Alluvial Fans


  A fan - or cone-shaped river deposit, often formed where a stream issues from a mountain gorge into an open plain
• Badlands topography


  Closely spaced networks of deep gullies often carved by occasional streams in soft sediments unprotected by vegetation cover
• Thar Desert

  Arid region extending from Afghanistan through Pakistan into westernmost India
• Hinduism


  A religion of South Asia, observed mainly in India, that includes the worship of many gods.
• Sikhism

  A Hindu-related religion with a strict code of conduct, its temple kitchens provide food for all
• Jainism


  A religion mainly in India, that involves a nonviolent code and has laws against harming animals (thus forbidding farming)
• Buddhism


  A religion that began in South Asia but became the major religion of East Asia. Followers of Buddhism have a greater social openness than do followers of Hinduism and accommodate other philosophies and religions such as Confucianism and Shinto
• Caste


  The basis of social class divisions in South Asia
• Caste Order

  A social class system associated with Hinduism that is based on the supremacy of Aryan peoples. The Aryan castes include priests (Brahmans), warriors, and other Aryan people
• Mughal (Mogul) Dynasty


  Turkish invaders of India from Persia in the AD 1500s who conquered most of the region and left a heritage of magnificent buildings such as the Taj Mahl
• (British) East India Company

  A British company that traded with and conquered much of the Indian subcontinent
• British Indian Empire


  Est after 1857 on the Indian subcontinent, including Ceylon and later extended to Burma
• Shatter Belt


  A zone between distinctive cultures and political groups that experiences conflict and a slowing of development
• Hindu burial rites mandate that bodies be cremated on funeral pyres, preferably on the Ganges River in Varanasi. This further exacerbates the already critical problem of


  deforestation
• Two phenomena at opposite ends of Mumbai's cultural landscape

  Bollywood and Dharavi
• The rates of HIV/AIDS infection are highest

  in the southern states
• The largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka is the

  Sinhalese
• Which country is described in these terms: about 421 million people in poverty, 42% of children undernourished, 31% urban, women socially disadvantaged?

  India
• What do Sri Lanka and Bhutan have in common?

  Both are predominantly Buddhist countries
• Europeans, especially the British were able to dominate South Asia from the 17th century primarily because they were able to exploit


  the conflicts between many small, fragmented and competing kingdoms
• The major factor influencing whether India will produce an Agricultural surplus, or suffer a shortage


  timing and duration of the monsoon cycle
• Maoist rebels disrupted the political stability of _ for several decades, until a ceasefire agreement was concluded in 2006.


  Nepal
• The Chota Nagpur Plateau south of India's Ganges Plain is the country's center for

  Iron and Steel Production