Map of South Asia

Author: Compiled by the Press
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-02
Features: South Asia is one of the four cradles of the world's great civilizations. As early as 5,000 years ago, prosperous cities appeared along the Ganges and Indus River valleys. After the 3rd century BC, four unified empires that encompassed most of the region emerged, namely the Maurya Empire, the Gupta Empire, the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire. Throughout this process, South Asia remained one of the most fertile regions in the world, with agriculture, handicrafts, transportation, and various forms of cultural arts reaching a high level of development. In 1498, after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's first voyage to India, Western colonial powers successively invaded the region. By 1757, except for the "Himalayan Kingdom" of Nepal, which maintained a certain degree of independence, the rest of South Asia became a British colony. Among them, the present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar were collectively known as British India. During the centuries-long colonial rule, the long history of South Asia's ancient civilization was interrupted, and economic development stagnated relatively, making South Asia one of the poorest and most backward regions in the world. After World War II, with the rise of the South Asian independence movement, the long-standing colonial rule system collapsed. To maintain British colonial rule in South Asia, the British colonial authorities adopted the policy of "divide and rule" and proposed the "Montgomery Plan" in June 1947.