South and East Asia
How can East Asia witness the rise of the world's next superpower?
If China's economic and military strength and influence grow and if China avoids the devolutionary forces that fractured the Soviet Union
What country constitutes the world's largest democratic federal state?
India
Which country lies at the heart of the second largest population clusters that will be first by 2025?
India
What is the world's largest democracy?
India; Independence in 1947 and adopted a federal system of government
Which country is Pakistan involved in ongoing political competition with?
India; Pakistan possesses atomic weapons
What country is the world's second most populous? In 1999, its population exceeded how many?
India; one billion; Bangladesh and Pakistan are fairly populous too and Sri Lanka and Bhutan are less so
What is China's physical setting like?
Interior mountains, major rivers ( Huang He and the Chang) flow across wide fertile plains in the middle of the country
What is the capital of Pakistan?
Islamabad
What country became an industrial giant, a technological pacesetter, a fully urbanized society, a political power, and an affluent nation?
Japan
What country has the second largest national economy in the world?
Japan
Where in East Asia is there potential instability and change?
Japan's Kurile Islands, divided Korea, secessionist Taiwan, reabsorbed Hong Kong, and colonial Tibet
What countries lie at the forefront of the Western Pacific Rim?
Japan, Korea, and Taiwan
What is the capital of Nepal?
Kathmandu
What are the four main Japanese islands?
Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu (largest and most populous), Hokkaido
Where in China is rice grown?
Lower Chang Basin (Shanghai) most populous city
How many people can the food produced by the basins of the great rivers in East Asia sustain?
More than a billion
What percentage of India's people live in poverty?
Nearly 50%
How much of the great land triangle of South Asia is occupied by India?
Nearly 75%
What is the capital of India?
New Delhi
Which part of the world faces demographic problems with dimensions and urgency comparable to those of South Asia?
No part of the world
Where in China is wheat produced?
North China Plain (Beijing)
How is South Asia organized in terms of mountains, forests, and coastlines?
North, East, and South
How does South Asia's physiographic realm rank in the world?
One of the best
What six political entities make up South Asia?
Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
What is the extent of the Southern Plateaus of South Asia?
Peninsular India is dominated by the massive Deccan Plateau (a tableland built of basalt that poured out when India separated from Africa during breakup of Gondwana). Deccan tilted to east so major rivers flow to Bay of Bengal
What is the capital of communist dictatorship North Korea?
Pyongyang
What is the capital of democratic South Korea?
Seoul
What are the northern and southern limits of South Asia?
Southern slopes of the Himalayas to off-shore Sri Lanka and the Maldives Islands
What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte
What is the capital of Taiwan?
Taipei
What is the capital of Bhutan?
Thimphu
What is the capital of Japan?
Tokyo
What is the capital of Mongolia?
Ulaanbaatar
In what do the great majority of South Asia's peoples live in? What do they maintain themselves directly on?
Villages and the land
A critical environmental element of South Asia is its annual...
Wet monsoons
How big is China in area?
about the size of the U.S. (actually slightly larger); extends much further north to south
In the last how many years has parts of India seen rapid growth due to high-tech industries, international call centers, and office parks with modern facilities?
10
When did Pakistan become independent?
1947
How many villages in India?
600,000
What percentage of the workforce of India is in agriculture?
66.66%; its agriculture is least efficient in all of Asia
How many of the states of South Asia have low-income economies?
All of them; Food shortages occur and nutrition imbalance prevails
What is the capital of China?
Beijing
What are some great cities in India?
Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta
What is the world's most populous nation?
China (The People's Republic of China)
What six political entities make up East Asia?
China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
What country is the last of the twentieth centuries great empires?
China; land without democracy; in control of colonies (like Tibet); land of numerous disadvantaged minorities; Communist Party strong as ever; contains 20% of all humankind
What is the world's oldest civilization?
Chinese; 4000 yrs old
What is India's second leading export by value?
Clothing
How does South Asia's agriculture compare to that of other parts of Asia?
Comparatively inefficient and less productive
What are some chief agricultural exports of India by value?
Cotton, textiles, tea, fruits, and vegetables
Where did valley civilization begin in South Asia?
Development of river lowlands in Indus River Valley; Ideas and innovations diffused from there eastward and southward; Cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro flourished
What is the capital of Bangladesh?
Dhaka
What is the world's most populous geographic realm?
East Asia
Where is Pakistan located?
East of Iran and Afghanistan and West of India
Where is the population in the East Asian geographical realm concentrated?
Eastern regions because of great rivers
What is the extent of the River Lowlands of South Asia?
Eastward from Pakistan's lower Indus Valley through wide plain of Ganges Valley of India to the great double delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra in Bangladesh
How far does the Western Pacific RIm extend?
From eastern Australia to Japan
What is the extent of the Northern Mountains of South Asia?
From the Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges in northwest through the Himalayas in the north (Mt. Everest Nepal) to the ranges of Bhutan in the northeast
What two river systems form crucial lifelines for hundreds of millions of people in South Asia?
Ganges-Brahmaputra and the Indus
What is India's first leading export by value?
Gems and jewelry
What mountain range separates South Asia from the rest of the continent?
Himalayas
What religion dominates life in India? Pakistan? Sri Lanka?
Hindu; Islam; and Buddhism
What beliefs and practices did the Indo-Europeans bring to South Asia?
Hinduism, Social Stratification, and Caste system