Sub-Saharan Africa Unit Review

• Physical Geography
o tropical rain forest & desert scrub ecosystems: locations
 India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
 India, Pakistan, Afghanistan
o winter v. summer monsoons; impact of Western Ghats on monsoons
 winter = dry, summer = wet
 W.ern Ghats prevent the moist summer monsoons from reaching the interior of the subcontinent,
especially the Deccan Plateau
o Nepal & Bhutan: link of physical landscape

o Bangladesh: physical landscape

o HEI: Sri Lanka
 Economic dev. + pop. growth incr. deforestation rates
 Clearing of rain forests impacts climate
• Weather patterns change due to new ecosystem
• Causes droughts
o Indus River

• Social
o urbanization: push/pull factors; location of most of population
 Push/pull factorsbetter jobs + education
 Mumbai, Kolkata, + Chennai
o areas of highest population density (location, causes, effects, Mumbai)
 Indo-Gangetic Plain
• Highest density levels
• Causes: fertile, arable land + water
• Effects: overcrowding, high levels of water pollution, industrial waste
 Mumbai
• Over 100k per sq. mile; most densely pop. city in world
o impact of large populations & challenges they present

o India’s caste system
 Has been in existence for many centuries
 String hierarchical system in which people are divided into social classes that affect all aspects of
life
 Modern times: against Indian law
• Still commonly applied in social relationships
• Not as commonly applied in professional relationships
 Brahmins = priestly
 Kshatriyas = warrior/ruling class
 Vaishyas = merchants/traders
 Shudras = laborers
 Untouchables/Dalit = dealing with death, human waste, too impure to be in caste
o Bangladesh: social challenges

o migration: impact of independence on subcontinent
 portioning based on religion led to one of largest migrations in history
 Hindus = India; Muslims = Pakistan (+ what later became Bangladesh)
 Led to great conflict as pop.s moved between countries
o commonalities between Mumbai, Calcutta, & Chennai
 Mumbai: financial center + busiest port
 Kolkata + Chennai : Centers of trade + shipping
• Political
o Indian independence; challenges of the world’s largest democracy
  Self-gov. began w/Indian national Congress
 Movements fighting colonial rule began in mid-to late 1800s
 Continues to face challenges brought by ethnic unrest
o East Pakistan (Bangladesh) v. West Pakistan
 One country after partitioning even though separated by such great distance
 East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971:
• Ethnic differences
• Economic power in west
• Political power in west
o Mohandas Gandhi
 Educated in England as an attorney
 Used nonviolence resistance
 Spun own cloth to boycott the British cloth
 Stopped wearing western clothing + made own clothing
o Afghanistan: in 1980s & 1990s; as a buffer state
 Seen as buffer state during Cold War
 1980s: Soviet’s arrival
• Went to help contain a revolt
• Led to a decade of war, unrest, + trouble
• Pulled out in 1989
 1990s-Present: the Taliban
 Came to power in the 1990s
 Taken out of power after 9/11
 Still causing problems
o nuclear proliferation
 Pakistan + India are nuclear powers now, which have caused worldwide tensions on occasion
• Economic
o South Asia: most common economic activity
 Most earn a living through subsistence farming… more cottage than commercial industries
o economic activities: Bangladesh v. Pakistan
 Bangladesh = subsistence + commercial farming
 Pakistan = nomadic herding/livestock raising + subsistence farming
o commercial fishing: location
 in warmer waters on the coast
 Sri Lanka, s.e.ern India, + s.ern Bangladesh
o India: industry development & its impact
 Used computer industry to provide dev. + more eco. opportunities, as well as raise the standard
of livinghave had success, but much work still needs to be done
 2 largest challenges in S. Asia: illiteracy + large, growing pop.
o Gross National Products of South Asia

o Green Revolution
 Advances in agri. saved India as well as other S. Asian countries by allowing the country to be
self-sufficient in food production
• Began in 1960s
• Use of new varieties of seeds (genetically modified)
• Involved incr. use of pesticides + fertilizers
• Production of grains + rice incr. dramatically
• Cultural
o dominant religions: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh
 India + Nepal = Hinduism
 Bhutan = Buddhism
 Afghanistan, Pakistan, + Bangladesh = Islam
o Hinduism
 Vedas
 Ganges River is holy
  Reincarnation: souls pass through multiple deaths and rebirths before being released form the
cycle
 Karma
 Caste system
 Both animals + humans have soul Cows are sacred
o Buddhism
 Founder: Siddhartha Gautama… the Buddha
 Goal is to attain enlightenment
 Rejection o caste system
 The Eightfold Path
o ethnic conflict
 Jammu + Kashmir
 West v. East Pakistan were made up of diff. ethnicities
 India suffers from periodic ethnic unrest
 Sri Lanka: the north v. the south