Notes
Physical geography and climate
- Southwest Asia: Arabian Peninsula, Anatolian and Iranian plateaus, Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia). South Asia: Himalayas, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Deccan Plateau. Central Asia: steppe, desert, Tian Shan, shrinking Aral Sea.
- South Asia's monsoon brings summer rain. The Arabian Peninsula is desert.
Countries and culture
- Southwest Asia: Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), Iran (Tehran), Iraq (Baghdad), Turkey (Ankara). Judaism, Christianity and Islam began in the region. Not all people are Arab: Iranians speak Persian, Turks speak Turkish.
- South Asia: India (New Delhi), Pakistan (Islamabad), Bangladesh (Dhaka), Nepal (Kathmandu). Partition in 1947; Kashmir is disputed.
- Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan; ex-Soviet states, independent in 1991, landlocked.
Economy
- Oil and gas drive Southwest Asia (OPEC members). South Asia is agricultural with growing services; the Green Revolution raised yields.
- Water scarcity is a major issue; desalination is common in the Gulf.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Ankara is Turkey's capital; Iranians speak Persian, Pakistan's capital is Islamabad and Iraq's is Baghdad.
Southwest winds bring moisture inland.
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world.
It lies between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Gulf holds a very large share of the world's oil reserves.
Mountains influence both temperature and rainfall.
Free response
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Free-response question
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh share the Indian subcontinent, a monsoon climate and large rivers, but they have different histories.
(a) Explain how the monsoon affects farming in South Asia.
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Summer monsoon rain supplies the water for crops such as rice. If it arrives late or fails, harvests suffer; heavy rain can also cause floods.
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(b) Describe how the 1947 Partition changed the region.
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British India was divided into India and Pakistan. Bangladesh later became independent from Pakistan in 1971.
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(c) Name one river system that supports agriculture and explain why.
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The Indus or the Ganges. Their fertile floodplains and water allow irrigation and dense populations.
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