Northern South Asia#History
{{Short description|The northern region of South Asia}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2023}}
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{{Infobox
| image =
| bodyclass = geography
| above = Northern South Asia
| captionstyle = text-align:left
| caption1 =
| label1 = Area
| data1 =
| label2 = Population
| data2 = ~500,000,000 (2022)
| label3 = Population density
| data3 =
| label4 = GDP (PPP)
| data4 =
| label5 = GDP (nominal)
| data5 =
| label6 = GDP per capita
| data6 =
| label7 = HDI
| data7 =
| label8 = religions
| data8 =
| religions_year = 2011
| religions_ref =
| label9 = Demonym
| data9 = Northern South Asian
| label10 = Countries
| data10 =
{{flag|Afghanistan}}
{{flag|Bangladesh}}
{{flag|Bhutan}}
{{flag|India}} (North India and Northeast India)
{{flag|Nepal}}
{{flag|Pakistan}}
| label15 = Largest city
| data15 =
| label11 = Languages
| data11 = Most common first languages: {{hlist
}}
| label12 = Time zones
| data12 = UTC+5:30; UTC+5:45; UTC+06:00
| label13 = Internet TLD
| label14 = Calling code
| data14 = Zone 8 & 9
| label16 = Religions
| data16 = Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Irreligion, Tribal, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism Zoroastrianism
| label17 = Ethnic groups
| data17 = Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Munda, Khasi
| data18 = Hindustan, Aryavarta
| label18 = Historical names
}}
Northern South Asia is a geographical area in South Asia, and includes the country of Afghanistan, the Himalayas, parts of the Tibetan plateau and the northern region of the Indian subcontinent. The Indo-Gangetic Plain forms the dominant feature. Depending on definition, it covers some or all of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India (specifically North India and Northeast India), and Pakistan. Ethnolinguistically, northern South Asia is predominantly Indo-Aryan,{{Cite journal |last1=Ivani |first1=Jessica K. |last2=Paudyal |first2=Netra |last3=Peterson |first3=John |date=30 August 2021 |title=Indo-Aryan – a house divided? Evidence for the east–west Indo-Aryan divide and its significance for the study of northern South Asia |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/216529/ |journal=Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=287–326 |doi=10.1515/jsall-2021-2029 |s2cid=237343508 |issn=2196-078X|doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |last1=Ishii |first1=Hiroshi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmVKvwEACAAJ |title=Social Dynamics in Northern South Asia |last2=Gellner |first2=David N. |last3=Nawa |first3=Katsuo |date=2007 |publisher=Manohar |language=en}} along with Iranic populations in Afghanistan and Balochistan, and diverse linguistic communities near the Himalayas.{{Cite journal |last1=Daurio |first1=Maya |last2=Turin |first2=Mark |date=2020 |title="Langscapes" and language borders: Linguistic boundary-making in northern South Asia |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03083475 |journal=Eurasia Border Review |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=21 |doi=10.14943/ebr.10.1.21}}{{Citation |last=Mohanty |first=David Bradley, Panchanan |title=Sociolinguistics of South Asia: Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic and other languages |date=2023 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003198345-17/sociolinguistics-south-asia-david-bradley-panchanan-mohanty |work=The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World |pages=184–196 |access-date=4 October 2023 |edition=2 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003198345-17 |isbn=978-1-003-19834-5}} Until the Partition of India in 1947, northern South Asia had a significant degree of cultural and political unity;{{Cite web |last=Pillalamarri |first=Akhilesh |title=The Geopolitics of South Asian Political Stability |url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-geopolitics-of-south-asian-political-stability/ |access-date=4 October 2023 |website=thediplomat.com |language=en-US}} the 1947 partition, along with the 1971 secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan, resulted in significant inter-migration in the region.{{Cite web |title=CFP: ECSAS panel, "Imagining the city: Literary and religious practices of urbanity in early modern and modern South Asia," proposals due Jan 22 {{!}} H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/discussions/12190438/cfp-ecsas-panel-imagining-city-literary-and-religious-practices |access-date=4 October 2023 |website=networks.h-net.org}} Since the end of colonial rule in the region, some of its borders have been heavily contested (primarily between India and its neighbours Pakistan and China, as well as separatist movements in Northeast India), resulting in a significant military presence in the region and negative consequences for local peoples.{{Cite book |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31797 |title=Borderland Lives in Northern South Asia |date=3 March 2014 |publisher=Duke University Press |doi=10.26530/oapen_625238 |isbn=9780822355427 |editor-last=Gellner |editor-first=David |language=English}}{{Cite web |date=25 October 2022 |title=In the North of South Asia, an arc of peace |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/in-the-north-of-south-asia-an-arc-of-peace-101666705026927.html |access-date=4 October 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Chowdhory |first1=Nasreen |last2=Mohanty |first2=Biswajit |date=4 July 2023 |title=Dispossession, Border and Exception in South Asia: An Introduction |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08865655.2023.2226404 |journal=Journal of Borderlands Studies |language=en |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=537–547 |doi=10.1080/08865655.2023.2226404 |s2cid=259697352 |issn=0886-5655|doi-access=free }} This tension in the region has also contributed to difficulties in sharing river waters among Northern South Asian countries;{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Doug |title=Alternative Institutional Arrangements: Managing Transboundary Water Resources in South Asia |url=https://www.academia.edu/3096107 |journal=Academia}} climate change is projected to contribute significantly to this and other problems.{{Cite journal |last1=Crow |first1=B. |last2=Singh |first2=Nirvikar |date=2008 |title=The management of inter-state rivers as demands grow and supplies tighten: India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh |s2cid=129209899 }}{{Cite web |date=26 March 2019 |title=Putting policy into practice to clean up South Asia's dirty air (commentary) |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/putting-policy-into-practice-to-clean-up-south-asias-dirty-air-commentary/ |access-date=4 October 2023 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}}
Dominated by the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the region is home to about half a billion people and is the poorest region of the subcontinent.
History
= Ancient era =
The sixteen "mahajanapada" dynasties flourished in Northern South Asia starting in the sixth century BC, and the region was known as Aryavarta. They were conquered by the Maurya Empire starting in the late fourth century BC. This was then replaced by a number of competing polities that fought over territory until the development of robust states starting in the fourth century AD. Throughout the first millennium AD, regional political dynasties emerged that formed alliances and controlled vast swathes of the region.{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Monica L. |title=Caste as a Cooperative Economic Entitlement Strategy in Complex Societies of the Indian Subcontinent and Sub-Saharan Africa |url=https://www.academia.edu/11060780 |journal=Academia}}
From the tenth century CE until about the eighteenth, it was invaded and ruled by Muslims from Afghanistan, Persia and Central Asia. Persian became the language of the courts, and influenced vernacular languages; this is when Hindi and Urdu, two prominent modern-day standards in South Asia, first started to emerge from the Hindustani language.{{Cite web |title="Hit It With a Stick and It Won't Die": Urdu Language, Muslim Identity and Poetry in Varanasi, India |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VX0OAKoAAAAJ&citation_for_view=VX0OAKoAAAAJ:2osOgNQ5qMEC |access-date=4 October 2023 |website=scholar.google.com}}{{Cite book |last=Farooqui |first=Salma Ahmed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC |title=A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-eighteenth Century |date=2011 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-3202-1 |language=en}}
= Modern era =
After the 1947 partition, religious nationalism led to a starker divide between Hindi and Urdu, which were respectively modified to have a greater share of their vocabularies come from Sanskrit and Perso-Arabic sources.{{Cite journal |last=Arac |first=Jonathan |date= October 2010|title=From north Indian vernaculars to a new world philology Introduction: From north Indian vernaculars to a new world philology |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8705.2010.01957.x |journal=Critical Quarterly |language=en |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=60–62 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8705.2010.01957.x}}
Social issues
It has more gender inequality and constrictions on women's rights than other parts of South Asia.{{Cite journal |last1=Sheikh |first1=Saba M. |last2=Loney |first2=Tom |date=13 July 2018 |title=Is Educating Girls the Best Investment for South Asia? Association Between Female Education and Fertility Choices in South Asia: A Systematic Review of the Literature |journal=Frontiers in Public Health |volume=6 |page=172 |doi=10.3389/fpubh.2018.00172 |issn=2296-2565 |pmc=6054002 |pmid=30057895 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite web |date=12 July 2017 |title=Women's Seclusion and Men's Honor |url=https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/womens-seclusion-and-mens-honor |access-date=5 October 2023 |website=UAPress |language=en-US}}[https://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2011/wp107_2011.pdf Food Crises and Gender Inequality] https://www.un.org/ Bina Agarwal{{Cite journal |last1=Jejeebhoy |first1=Shireen J. |last2=Sathar |first2=Zeba A. |date=2001 |title=Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan: The Influence of Religion and Region |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2695183 |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=687–712 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2001.00687.x |issn=0098-7921 |jstor=2695183}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}{{Geographic location|Centre=Northern South Asia|North=China (specifically Tibet)|Northeast=China (specifically Tibet)|East=Southeast Asia|Southeast=Southeast Asia|South=Central South Asia|Southwest=Arabian Sea|West=West Asia|Northwest=Central Asia}}{{South Asian topics}}