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Indian subcontinent
Physiographical region in South Asia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Indian subcontinent[note 7] is a physiographical region in Southern Asia, mostly situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it spans major landmasses from the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,[note 1] the Maldives,[note 2] Nepal,[note 3] Pakistan,[note 4] and Sri Lanka, and the British Indian Ocean Territory.[note 2][1][2][3][4] Although the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used interchangeably to denote the region,[5] the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan, which is not considered part of the subcontinent, while excluding the British Indian Ocean Territory which is geologically part of the subcontinent.[6]Apart from Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent is the only subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere. The British Indian Ocean Territory and two out of 26 atolls of the Maldives in the subcontinent lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere.
Indo-Burma
Range Topographic map of the subcontinent and surrounding regions (in red)
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![]() Geopolitical coverage of the subcontinent | |
Area | 4,440,000 km2 (1,710,000 sq mi) |
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Population | c. 1.9 billion |
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Dependencies | |
Languages | |
Time zones | List:
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Largest cities |
Geologically, the subcontinent originates from Insular India, an isolated landmass that rifted from the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous and merged with the landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, forming the Himalayas.[7] It is one of the most populated regions in the world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global population. Geographically, the peninsular region in Southern Asia is located below the Third Pole, delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Indo-Burman Ranges in the east.[8] The neighboring geographical regions around the subcontinent include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to the east, the Iranian Plateau to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south.