H2O.ai CEO/Founder: Sri Ambati Keynote at Wells Fargo Day
Geography of South Asia
1. South Asia Map Activity
• Political Map - Outline and label countries
– Jammu and Kashmir
• Label cities
– Name Changes: Mumbai = Bombay, Chennai
= Madras
• Complete physical map
10. India’s geography…
– Using a map of India examine its various geographic
features.
– Select 2 features that you predict have had/will have
the greatest impact on India.
– Explain how you think those features have affected
India.
11. South Asia
• 1/5 of world’s population
• India – over 1 billion people
12. Basic Info.
• Over 700 languages are spoken in India! (30%
Hindi)
• Dialect: Regional version of a language
• Currency: Rupee
• Religion: 82% Hindu, 12% Muslim
13.
14. Why Should We
Care??
• When I was growing up, my Dad would
say, “Finish your dinner, people in India
and China are starving.”
• My advice to you is, “Finish your
homework – people in China and India are
starving for your jobs”
Shift Happens …
15. A Separate Land
• Subcontinent -
Large, distinct
landmass
connected to a
continent
• Natural barriers
• 1/2 the size of the
United States
16. Himalayas
• Resulted from collision w/ Eurasian plate
• 1500 miles
• Separate India from China
• barrier to the cold winds from central Asia; keeps most of the Indian
subcontinent warmer than most locations in similar latitudes.
20. Khyber Pass (Hindu Kush)
• Allow difficult
mountains to be
crossed
• Used by traders
and invaders
21. Eastern/Western Ghats
• High, rocky
hills in
southern
India
• Natural
barrier from
Europeans
22. Population Density
• Which parts of India
are most densely
populated? (name of
the geographic
features)
• The Indo-Gangetic
Plain
• Bramaputra delta
23. Indo-Gangetic (Northern)
Plain
• Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh.
• Holds 1/10th of human
population
• Fertile; World’s largest
alluvial plain
• Watered by Ganges,
Indus and Brahmaputra
• Indus Valley – world’s
oldest civilization
24. Ganges River
• Summer monsoons
cause massive
flooding
• Hindus consider its
waters sacred – water
purifies pilgrims
• Most densely
populated plain
Videos: “The Ganges at Varanasi”
“Worms and Rabies”
26. Brahamaputra River
• Meets the Ganges in
Bangladesh
• Creates fertile delta –
dense population
• Hydroelectricity -
50% of Bangladesh’s
power
27. Deccan Plateau
• Sanskrit word
dakshina, which
means "the south".
• High, flat land, semi-
arid
• Ghats block rain from
reaching it
28. Climate
• Tropical – South
• Temperate – North
• Polar - Himalayas
• Monsoons
– seasonal winds that bring
tremendous rainfall and
flooding
– also allowed for trade
between India, E. Africa
and the middle East
29. Let’s revisit our questions…
• How do you think India’s geography
shaped it development?
• Identify two geographic features that you
think in some way impacted India’s
development (either positively or
negatively). Explain the impact that you
think each has had.
30. Use your homework to
complete the following:
• Who were the Aryans?
• How may the Aryans have
influenced Indian culture? THINK
ABOUT: religion, social
organization.
31. Aryans
• Warriors that
conquered
Indus Valley
• Hindu Kush
passes
• Iron weapons
• Chariots
32. Aryan Religion
• Vedas: Oral prayers
• Sanskrit: Written language
• Polytheistic
• Indra: Warrior
• Varuna: Punisher
33. Villages: Ruled by RAJAHS
(chief)
Varna/Caste: Rigid Social Classes
Brahmans Priests
Kshatriyas Warriors
Vaisyas Merchants
Sudras Servants
34. Thar Desert
• attracts the moisture
laden monsoon winds
that provide most of
India's rainfall.
Notes de l'éditeur
India sits on a single plate - Fasted moving plate
A monsoon is not just any heavy rain that lasts for a long time. Rather, a monsoon is like a giant sea-breeze. A normal sea breeze changes daily, with the day-to-night change of land temperature as the sun rises and sets; monsoons change seasonally. Figure A compares seasonal shifts in the monsoon circulation. Most of the time during the summer, the land is warmer than the ocean. This causes air to rise over the land and air to blow in from the ocean to fill the void left by the air that rose. As you know, rising air leads to cloud formation and precipitation. These monsoon clouds that form are full of moisture from the ocean, so they can produce heavy rainfall for long periods of time. Because the land stays warmer than the ocean for most of the summer and the ocean is a constant source of moisture, these heavy rains last for months at a time. A monsoon climate is marked by dry winters and wet summers. About a quarter of the globe experiences a monsoon climate. Cherrapunji, India, affected by the Indian summer monsoon, is one of the rainiest places on earth with an annual rainfall average of 34 feet. Back in 1861, Cherrapunji got over 87 feet of rainfall during the year with 30 feet of it falling in July alone. The southeast United States is not affected by monsoon rainfall, and only averages about 4 feet of rain per year, distributed fairly evenly across all seasons.
