Southern SecretsBy: Francis Lee, Matthew Hahn, Matthew Ash,

William Richter

Geography South Asia’s Eastern side is mainly comprised of two main regional climate:

Tropical Wet and Tropical Wet and Dry. Towards the Western region of Southern Asia, the climate varies from Arid to Semi Arid. The Northern borders are mostly made of highland climates.

Some Geographical Features to know: Ganges and the Indus River, the Himalayas, Western and Eastern Ghats, and the Karakoram Range (K2).

History Ancient History of South Asia: Ancient village of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan

was settled in about 7000 B.C, this made it one of the oldest permanent settlement in the world. Pottery was introduced in 5500 B.C, making it more advanced than other cultures at the time. Ruins found in the Indus River shows the expansion of the Mehrgarh culture. At its peak, it would have had a population of 5 million people. Cities had been laid out in a geometric pattern with roads all the same size. The civilization began to decline during the 19th and 17th centuries B.C. (direct from Matthew Ash’s texts)

History (continued) The next civilization were the Aryans. Between 1550 and 800 B.C, the

civilization had slowly been reaching eastwards. In 600 B.C, there had been sixteen territorial powers, such as the Magadha, Kosala, Kuru, and Gandhara. By 500 B.C, most of Northern India had been put under civilization. First contact with the Islam was in the year 711. Three centuries later, the Turks, Persians, and Afghans invaded India. There were 5 dynasties, Slave (1206-90), Khilji dynasty (1290-1320), Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and Lodi dynasty (1451-1526). (direct from Matthew Ash’s texts)

History (continued) India in the 16th century presented a fragmented picture of rulers, both

Muslim and Hindu, who lacked concern for their subjects and who failed to create a common body of laws or institutions. Outside developments also played a role in shaping events. The circumnavigation of Africa by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 allowed Europeans to challenge Arab control of the trading routes between Europe and Asia. In Central Asia and Afghanistan, shifts in power pushed Babur of Ferghana (in present-day Uzbekistan) southward, first to Kabul and then to India. The dynasty he founded endured for more than three centuries. Thus, the Mughal Empire was started.After the Mughal Empire was the beginning of British rule in South Asia. (direct from Matthew Ash’s texts)

The Deccan Plateau The Deccan Plateau is near the southern tip of India and borders Andgra

Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Eastern and Western Ghat mountain ranges. Most of the region’s lands are fertile and fit for growing rice and crops. The word, “Deccan” comes from the Sanskrit word dakshina, which means the “south.”

The average height of the Deccan Plateau is around 2,000ft (roughly 600m). The three principal rivers are the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Cauvery river. Having being a part of the ancient former continent of Gondwanaland, it is known as one of the oldest and most stable area in India. (Paraphrased from Matthew Ash’s texts)

The Karakoram Range The Karakoram Range is a long stretch of high-altitude mountains located in

Pakistan. The range is made up of five major peaks which includes the world's second tallest mountain in the world, K2 which levels off at 8611m (28, 251ft).

Some scientists hypothesized that the formation of the Karakoram range resulted a major climate change that made the glaciers shift roughly about 40 million years ago. The exposure of large amounts of plain rock (the earlier version of the Karakoram Range) caused the weathering of the rocks, resulting in the removal of greenhouse gas, causing the cooling of the atmospheric temperature, resulting the continuing periods of ice ages. (Direct from Francis Lee’s texts)

The Himalayas The Himalayan Mountains lie in between India and China, making up the

northeastern border of the two nations. The Himalayas cover a wide range of 6,120,212 km. Because Nepal and Bhutan is located in the Himalayan mountains, it is known as a niche. (paraphrased excerpt from Matthew Hahn’s texts)

The scientists are predicting that the “continental drift theory” is right, which means that there is a possibility that the two plates hit each other and made a big mountain. India was actually a separate plate, which collided with Eurasian plate.Himalayas have some interesting facts! The word Himalaya means “Abode the snow!” , you might get the idea why. (direct from Matthew Hahn’s texts)

Indus River The Indus river is one of the world’s longest rivers, measuring up to 1,800

miles. The annual average flow of the river is 272 billion cubic yards (207 billion cubic meters). It starts at the south of Pakistan from the Arabic Sea, then cuts through Pakistan heading up north and east to the Indian and Tibet borders.

The farmers of the Indus river valley grow wheat, barley, beans, sesame, rice, bananas, black pepper, mustard, and cotton crops. They had to be careful due to the floods of the Indus River, because it could destroy all their crops and destroy fertile soil. They built dirt walls and canals to deflect the water from destroying their fields. (direct from William Richter’s texts)

Homework