PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF SOUTH ASIA

 South Asia is an area of vast diversity, from mountains to deserts, plains to plateaus rainforest
lands and tropical lands.
 The region occupies 1.73 million sq. m. of the asian continent.

INDIA

 The mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas.

 The Great Indo-Gangetic plains.
 The Indus, Ganges , and Brahmaputra.
 Fertile plain is a farming region thet makes it the Heartland of India
 Southward of the subcontinent is the Indian peninsula with Deccan plateau.
 Rivers water the eastern and southern plains through the Bay of Bengal.
 A valuable scouce of teak and sandalwood.
 India’s mammals have grown scarcer.
 Supply of iron, coal, and hydroelectric power.

PAKISTAN

 Southwestern Baluchistan plateau.

 Townlands of India
 River and its tributaries.
 Support the farmlands.
 Bangladesh’s
 “Golden Fibre”
 Second most important fibre
 Jute
 Lifeline of Bangladesh
 Tropical climate
 Mangrove forest, Village groves
 Mango, bananas, coconut, and jackfruit, oil, peat, natural gas, coal, and limestone
 Mineral resources
NEPAL

 Himalayan mountain
 World’s highest peak – Mt. Everest
 Swampy places
 Deciduous forests

SRI LANKA

 Largely flat and rolling

 100 rivers
 Rice and tea
 Fruits, vegetables, cocoa, cinnamon, Citronella spices, and nuts, timber and fuel
 40% of the country’s land area.

MALDIVES

 1,190 coral islands

 Southwestern
 Indian Ocean
 Rich water resources and remarkable beauty.
 Fishing and tourism industries.

BHUTAN

 Small kingdom in the eastern Himalayas.

 Agriculture
 Small villages tending their crops
 Mountain slopes on south plains known as daurs.
 Abundant natural resources.
 Spieces of mammals, birds, and medicinal plants.

AFGHANISTAN

 Landlocked country of nomadic herdsmen and farmers.

 Natural resources
 Gold, iron, copper, cobalt, and lithium
 Important component of laptops, stapples, and other modern equipment.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL
RESOURCES OF SOUTH ASIA TO:
 ECONOMY
 Hydroelectric power- 27.6 % of the GDP
 Forest & pasturelands
Pasturelands – feeding regions
Forest – income for marginalized groups
Exports- wood, tiles, marble, cotton, textiles, leather goods, electrical
appliances, surgical instruments, carpet, food processing
 Predominantly agricultural
 20% - service sector
 Jute- important product
 Farming, livestock & handicraft
 Industries rubber
 Leading natural rubber producing in the world
 Tires, gloves & sandals
 Fishing- traditional life
 GDP- fishing resources
 Food & textile- imported- insufficient supply
 CULTURE & SHELTER
 Similar geographic features
 Highest concentration of population
 Indian – improved farm life
 Adobe construction- brick plastered shelter
 Men works in field
 Women transplant the seedlings & household chores
 Plains
 Thar desert- sparsely populated
 Rural country- 75% live by farming
 Same productions & similar shelter
 Similar topography climate
 Houses- stone, mud bricks, bamboos & nuts
 Dairy food- cows & yaks
 Rice, wheat & corn