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SOUTH ASIA I
  • (CHAPTER 8:  372-387)
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MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES OF SOUTH ASIA
  • Well defined physiographically
  • The world’s second largest population cluster
  • Significant demographic problems
  • Low income economies
  • Population concentrated in villages - subsistence agriculture
  • Strong cultural regionalism
  • Boundary problems
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MONSOONS
  • “To know India and her people, one has to know the monsoon.”
  • To the people of India the monsoons are a source of life.
  • Seasonal reversal of winds
  • General onshore movement in summer
  • General offshore flow in winter
  • Very distinctive seasonal precipitation regime
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Monsoons
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POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF MONSOONS
  • (RESULTS OF CATASTROPHIC RAINFALL)
  • Widespread flooding
  • Property damage
  • Destruction to agricultural lands
  • Damage to transportation infrastructure
  • Homelessness
  • Disease
  • Malnutrition
  • Serious injury
  • Death
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CULTURE
  • A culturally fragmented realm
  • Religious and linguistic diversity
  • Religious Patterns
    • Islam is predominant in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
    • Hinduism is predominant in India.
    • Sikhism thrives in northern India.
    • Buddhism is predominant in Sri Lanka.
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CULTURE HEARTH
The Indus River
  • Where an early culture emerged and developed
    • Arts and trade routes emerged from isolated tribes and villages to towns and beyond.
    • Hinduism emerged from the beliefs and practices brought to India by the Indo-Europeans (Aryans). (6th century BC)
    • Buddhism born of discontent; made the state religion of India in 3rd century BC
    • Islam sweeps through central India from the 8th -10th centuries AD
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"The world’s oldest religion"
  • The world’s oldest religion
  • Culture hearth of the Indus River
  • Diffused south and east down the Ganges
  • Absorbed and eventually supplanted earlier native religions and customs
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HINDUISM
  • Not just a religion
  • An intricate web of religious, philosophical, social, economic, and artistic elements
  • No common creed
  • No single doctrine
  • No direct divine revelation
  • No rigid narrow moral code
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MAJOR TENETS OF HINDUISM
  • Three main ideas are important in understanding the Hindu religion and the caste system
    • Reincarnation
    • Karma
    • Dharma
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REINCARNATION
  • Every living thing has a soul.
  • When a living thing dies, its soul moves into another living creature.
  • Souls are reborn in a newly created life.
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KARMA
  • Every action brings about certain results.
  • There is no escaping the consequences of one’s actions.
  • Good behavior is rewarded when the soul is reborn into a higher ranking living creature.
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DHARMA
  • A set of rules that must be followed by all living things if they wish to work their way up the ladder of reincarnation.
  • Each person’s dharma is different.
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"Puja or worship"
  • Puja or worship
  • Cremation of the dead
  • Regulations of the caste system
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ORIGINS AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
  • Siddhartha Gautama (563 - 483 B.C.)
  • Emperor Asoka (3rd Century B.C.)
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BUDDHISM
  • Adherents objected to harsher features of Hinduism
  • Focuses on knowledge, especially self-knowledge
  • Elimination of worldly desires, determination not to hurt or kill people or animals
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FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
  • Sorrow and suffering are part of all life.
  • People suffer because they desire things they cannot have.
  • The way to escape suffering is to end desire, to stop wanting, and to reach a stage of not wanting.
  • To end desire, follow the “middle path,” i.e., the path that avoids the extremes of too much pleasure and desire.
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EIGHTFOLD PATH TO
THE MIDDLE WAY
  • Right understanding
  • Right purpose
  • Right speech
  • Right conduct
  • Right means of earning a living
  • Right effort
  • Right awareness
  • Right meditation
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FALL OF BUDDHISM 
ON THE SUBCONTINENT
  • Hinduism  -  broad and tolerant, accepting many of the teachings of Buddha
  • Buddhists in India - willing to compromise with the beliefs and customs of Hinduism
  • Final blow - 8th century - arrival of Islam
  • --  Destroyed the great Buddhist monasteries
  • --  Burned libraries
  •   --  Killed monks
  • Today - only 1 million Buddhists in India
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RELIGIOUS CONTRASTS
  • ISLAM
    • Monotheistic
    • No idols
    • One sacred book
    • Uniform dogma - 5 pillars
    • Intolerant (of other religions)
    • Eat beef/Sacrifice cows
    • Bury Dead
    • Social Equality (in theory)
    • Theocratic society
  • HINDUISM
    • Polytheistic
    • Many idols
    • Various sacred writings
    • Varying beliefs
    • Absorbed other religions
    • Venerate cows
    • Burn dead (& alive)
    • Caste separation
    • “State” of secondary importance
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POPULATION GEOGRAPHY
  • THE SPATIAL VIEW OF DEMOGRAPHY
    • STUDY OF POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, COMPOSITION, RATES OF GROWTH, AND PATTERNS OF FLOW
  • POPULATION DENSITY
    • ARITHMETIC
    • PHYSIOLOGIC
  • KEY MEASURES
    • RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE
    • DOUBLING TIME
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DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL
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SOUTH ASIA I
  • (CHAPTER 8:  372-387)