{{Short description|Physiographical region in South Asia}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Hatnote group| {{About|the physiographical region of Asia|the geographical subregion of Asia|South Asia}} {{Redirect|The subcontinent|general usage of the term|Continent#Subcontinents}} }} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox continent |title = Indian subcontinent |photo = 250px |photo_caption = Geopolitical coverage of the subcontinent |image = {{Annotated image | float=none | caption=Topographic map of the subcontinent and surrounding regions (in {{color|Blue|Black}})| image=South Asia non political, with rivers.jpg | width=300 | height=300| image-top=0 | annotations = {{Annotation|40|40|{{colored link|Black|Hindu Kush}}|font-size=7}} {{Annotation|2|70|{{colored link|Black|Iranian Plateau|Iranian<br />Plateau}}}} {{Annotation|15|108|{{colored link|Black|Makran}}|font-size=8}} {{Annotation|60|95|Indus|font-size=8}} {{Annotation|85|100|Thar Desert|font-size=7}} {{Annotation|20|190|{{colored link|Black|Arabian Sea}}}} {{Annotation|90|20|{{colored link|Black|Karakoram}}|font-size=9}} {{Annotation|170|45|{{colored link|Black|Tibetan Plateau}}}} {{Annotation|160|80|{{colored link|Black|Himalayas}}|font-size=9}} {{Annotation|130|160|Deccan<br />Plateau|font-size=8}} {{Annotation|235|102|Brahmaputra|font-size=8}} {{Annotation|160|98|Ganges|font-size=8}} {{Annotation|240|115|{{colored link|Black|Indo-Burman Ranges|Indo-Burma<br /> Range}}|font-size=9}} {{Annotation|180|190|{{colored link|Black|Bay of Bengal}}}} }} |image_size = 250px |image_caption = |countries = {{collapsible list | title = {{nobold|7}} <!-- Please do not add Afghanistan. While it is interchangeably classified as either Central Asian or South Asian, it is not a part of the Indian subcontinent. --> | Bangladesh | Bhutan | India{{refn|group=note|Excluding: * Andaman and Nicobar Islands, close to the Malay Archipelago. * Ladakh, Spiti, and other areas which lie to the north of the Greater Himalayan Mountain Range. * Significant portions of northeast India which lie on the Indo-Burman Ranges (spanning Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram) as well as the Tibetan Plateau (northern Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim) |name="India"}} | Maldives{{refn|group=note|As island countries, Maldives and Sri Lanka are sometimes not considered parts of the subcontinent, as they lack geographic contiguity with the mainland. They are considered parts of the region in cultural geography or geology instead.|name="Island country"}} | Nepal{{refn|group=note|Excluding Upper Mustang and other areas which lie to the north of the Greater Himalayan Mountain Range.|name="Nepal"}} | Pakistan{{refn|group=note|Excluding: * Significant landmasses from East Balochistan and western-most parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (like the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas) which are situated on the Iranian Plateau. * Parts of Northern Areas (like Baltistan) which lie to the north of the Greater Himalayan Mountain Range (completely crammed towards the Pamir and minuscule fragments of the Hindu Kush northwards from the extreme border end near the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan). |name="Pakistan"}} | Sri Lanka{{refn|group=note|name="Island country"}} }} |list_countries = |dependencies = {{Collapsible list | titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal; | title = External (1) | British Indian Ocean Territory{{refn|group=note|Administered by the United Kingdom, claimed by Mauritius as the Chagos Archipelago.|name="BIOT"}} (United Kingdom) }} {{Collapsible list | titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal; | title = Disputed (1) | Kashmir{{refn|group=note|{{Kashmir-note}}|name="Kashmir"}} }} |unrecognized = |area = {{convert|4,440,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} |languages = {{collapsible list | title = {{nobold|Official:}} | Bengali | Dzongkha | English | Hindi | Dhivehi | Nepali | Sinhala | Tamil | Urdu }} |cities = {{collapsible list | title = {{nobold|10 largest cities}} | framestyle = border:1px #aaa; background:#f5f5f5; | Delhi | Mumbai | Dhaka | Karachi | Kolkata | Chennai | Lahore | Bangalore | Hyderabad | Ahmedabad }} |population = {{circa|1.9 billion}} |time = {{collapsible list | title = {{nobold|''List:''}} | Bangladesh Standard Time (BST) | Bhutan Time (BTT) | Indian Standard Time (IST) | Maldives Time (MVT) | Nepal Standard Time (NPT) | Pakistan Standard Time (PST) | Sri Lanka Standard Time (SLST) }} }}
The '''Indian subcontinent''' is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.<ref name=oed-indian-subcontinent1>{{citation|title=Oxford English Dictionary|chapter=Indian subcontinent (noun)|publisher = Oxford University Press|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1205710598|date=March 2025|doi=10.1093/OED/1205710598 |access-date=31 March 2025|quote=The part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, now divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.}} (subscription required)</ref> Although the terms ''Indian subcontinent'' and ''South Asia'' are often also used interchangeably to denote a wider region which includes, in addition, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the ''Indian subcontinent'' term is more geophysical, whereas ''South Asia'' is more geopolitical.<ref name=oed-indian-subcontinent2>{{citation|title=Oxford English Dictionary|chapter=Indian subcontinent (noun)|publisher = Oxford University Press|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1205710598|date=March 2025|doi=10.1093/OED/1205710598 |access-date=31 March 2025|quote=(subsidiary remark) Also used with wider application to include Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The term is roughly equivalent to South Asia, esp. in the wider use, although Indian subcontinent is sometimes considered to be more of a geophysical description, and South Asia more geopolitical.}}</ref> South Asia is also frequently defined to include Afghanistan, which is not considered part of the subcontinent even in extended usage.<ref name=norwineplus>Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, ''The Third World: states of mind and being'', pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, {{ISBN|0-04-910121-8}} Quote: ""The term "South Asia" also signifies the Indian Subcontinent""<br />Raj S. Bhopal, ''Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies'', pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-19-856817-7}}; Quote: "The term South Asian refers to populations originating from the Indian subcontinent, effectively India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka;<br />Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, ''Asian Power and Politics'', pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-674-04979-9}} Quote: "The complex culture of the Indian subcontinent, or South Asia, presents a tradition comparable to Confucianism."<br />Mark Juergensmeyer, ''The Oxford handbook of global religions'', pages 465, Oxford University Press US, 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-513798-1}}<br />Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal, ''Modern South Asia'', page 3, Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-30787-2}}</ref>
==Name== The region surrounding and southeast of the Indus River was often simply referred to as ''India'' in many historical sources. Even today, historians use ''India'' to denote the entire Indian subcontinent when discussing history up until the era of the British Raj. Over time, however, the term ''India'' evolved to refer to a distinct political entity that eventually became a nation-state.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica 2022 t419">{{cite web |date=20 September 2022 |title=Indian subcontinent Map, Countries, Population, & History |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Indian-subcontinent |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>
According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the term ''subcontinent'' signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and also a "large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent".<ref>''[http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged]'', Merriam-Webster, 2002. Retrieved 6 December 2016; Quote: "a large landmass smaller than a continent; especially: a major subdivision of a continent ! e Indian subcontinent | "</ref><ref name="OED">{{Cite web |date=20 December 2016 |title=subcontinent - definition of subcontinent in English {{!}} Oxford Dictionaries |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/subcontinent |access-date=26 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220102611/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/subcontinent |archive-date=20 December 2016 |quote=A large distinguishable part of a continent}}</ref> Its use to signify the Indian subcontinent is evidenced from the early twentieth century when most of the territory was either part of the British Empire or allied with them.<ref>Milton Walter Meyer, ''South Asia: A Short History of the Subcontinent'', pages 1, Adams Littlefield, 1976, {{ISBN|0-8226-0034-X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker Henry D. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.236168/2015.236168.British-India?view=theater |title=British India With Notes On Ceylon Afghanistan And Tibet (1915) |date=1915 |pages=401}}</ref> It was a convenient term to refer to the region comprising both British India and the princely states.<ref>{{Cite OED |term=subcontinent |id=192528}}</ref><ref>{{Cite OED |term=Indian subcontinent |id=94389}}</ref>
The term has been particularly common in the British Empire and its successors,<ref>Milton Walter Meyer, ''South Asia: A Short History of the Subcontinent'', pages 1, Adams Littlefield, 1976, {{ISBN|0-8226-0034-X}}<br />Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, ''The Third World: states of mind and being'', pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, {{ISBN|0-04-910121-8}}<br />{{Cite book |last=Boniface |first=Brian G. |author2=Christopher P. Cooper |title=Worldwide destinations: the geography of travel and tourism |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c46i9jr9mhgC&pg=PA344 |isbn=978-0-7506-5997-0}}<br />Judith Schott & Alix Henley, ''Culture, Religion, and Childbearing in a Multiracial Society'', pages 274, Elsevier Health Sciences, 1996, {{ISBN|0-7506-2050-1}}<br />Raj S. Bhopal, ''Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies'', pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-19-856817-7}}<br />Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, ''Asian Power and Politics'', pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-674-04979-9}}<br />Mark Juergensmeyer, ''The Oxford handbook of global religions'', pages 465, Oxford University Press US, 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-513798-1}}</ref> while the term South Asia is the more common usage in Europe and North America as well as in most countries in South Asia itself sometimes.<ref>Judith Schott & Alix Henley, ''Culture, Religion, and Childbearing in a Multiracial Society'', pages 274, Elsevier Health Sciences, 1996, {{ISBN|0750620501}}</ref><ref>Raj S. Bhopal, ''Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies'', pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0198568177}}</ref> According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance".<ref name=sugata>{{cite book |last1=Bose |first1=Sugata |author1-link=Sugata Bose |last2=Jalal |first2=Ayeha |author2-link=Ayesha Jalal |year=2004 |orig-year=First published 1998 |title=Modern South Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/modernsouthasiah00bose/page/3/mode/1up |publisher=Routledge |page=3 |isbn=0415307872}}</ref> Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term ''South Asia'' is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia.<ref name=inden>Ronald B. Inden, ''Imagining India'', page 51, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, {{ISBN|1850655200}}</ref>
Since the Partition of India, citizens of Pakistan (which became independent of British India in 1947) and Bangladesh (which became independent of Pakistan in 1971) often perceive the use of ''Indian subcontinent'' as offensive and suspicious because of the dominant placement of India in the term.<ref name="farmerplus" /> As such it is being increasingly less used in those countries.{{refn|group=note|For example, a history book intended for Pakistani B.A. students by K. Ali uses the term "Indo-Pakistan" instead.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ali |first=K. |title=A New History of Indo-Pakistan up to 1526 |publisher=Aziz Publishers |year=1980 |edition=4th |location=Lahore}}</ref>|name="Indo-Pakistan"}} Meanwhile, many Indian analysts prefer to use the term because of the socio-cultural commonalities of the region.<ref name=farmerplus>B.H. Farmer, ''An Introduction to South Asia'', page 1, Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1983, {{ISBN|9780416726008}}, "The 'Indian sub continent' is a term that certainly recognises the dominant position of India in both area and population. Since the partition of Indian Empire, use of this term becomes offensive to the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis."<br />Jona Razzaque, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7E7al37aYBEC&pg=PA3 Public Interest Environmental Litigation in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh]'', page 3, Kluwer Law International, 2004, {{ISBN|9789041122148}} "Yet, because citizens of Pakistan (which was carved out of India in 1947 and has had recurring conflicts with India since then) and of Bangladesh (which became separated from Pakistan by civil war in 1971) might find offensive the dominant placement of India in the term "Indian subcontinent", many scholars today prefer the more recently adopted designation 'South Asia.{{'"}}<br />Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=n7KCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 Religions of South Asia: An Introduction]'', page 3, Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|9781134593224}}<br />S K Shah, ''India and Its Neighbours: Renewed Threats and New Directions'', page 26, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2017, {{ISBN|9789386367501}} "Indian analysts, who talk of the Indian sub-continent, wish to keep in mind, in their analyses, the common historical, political, religious and cultural heritage of these three countries. The term sub-continent is used less and less in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The political leadership and the policy-makers in these two countries do not wish to be reminded of this common heritage. Any highlighting of this common heritage by Indian analysts is viewed by them with suspicion—— as indicating a hidden desire to reverse history and undo the 1947 partition."</ref> The region has also been called the "Asian subcontinent",<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 March 2014 |title=Humanity's global battle with mosquitoes |url=http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26724645 |first1=Lizzie |last1=Crouch |first2=Paula |last2=McGrath |work=BBC News |language=en-GB |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120003457/https://www.bbc.com/news/health-26724645 |archive-date=20 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kronstadt |first=K. Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ETcz_5SzoMkC&pg=PT9 |title=Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India, and Implications for U. S. Interests |date=2011 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-1-4379-2953-9 |pages=7 |language=en}}</ref> the "South Asian subcontinent",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmad |first=Aijazuddin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2QmPHeIowoC |title=Geography of the South Asian Subcontinent: A Critical Approach |date=2009 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-8069-568-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ayesha Jalal |author-link=Ayesha Jalal |title=Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/partisansofallah00ayes |url-access=registration |year=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=xiii |isbn=9780674028012}}</ref><ref>K. D. Kapur, ''Nuclear Non-proliferation Diplomacy: Nuclear Power Programmes in the Third World'', page 365, Lancers Books, 1993, {{ISBN|9788170950363}}|Daya Nath Tripathi (ed), ''Discourse on Indo European Languages and Culture'', page 193, Indian Council of Historical Research, 2005, {{ISBN|9788178271200}}<br /></ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Muhammad Akram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fr36Gd1X_rcC&pg=PA183 |title=What Is Wrong with Islamic Economics?: Analysing the Present State and Future Agenda |date=1 January 2013 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78254-415-9 |language=en}}</ref> as well as "India" or "Greater India" in the classical and pre-modern sense.<ref name="McLeod p1">{{cite book |author=John McLeod |title=The history of India |year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-31459-4 |page=1}} Note: McLeod does not include Afghanistan in the Indian subcontinent or South Asia.</ref><ref name="norwineplus"/><ref name="mittal">{{Cite book |last1=Mittal |first1=Sushil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7KCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Religions of South Asia: An Introduction |last2=Thursby |first2=Gene |date=18 April 2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-59322-4 |pages=3 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Kathleen M page 10">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Kathleen M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-KIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |title=The Changing Geography of Asia |last2=Chapman |first2=Graham P. |date=11 March 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-93384-6 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref>
The sport of cricket, introduced to the region by the British, is notably popular in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Within a cricket context, these countries are sometimes referred to simply as ''the subcontinent'' e.g. "Australia's tour of the subcontinent".<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 March 2023 |title=Khawaja in the subcontinent - unselectable to indispensable |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/usman-khawaja-in-the-subcontinent-unselectable-to-indispensable-border-gavaskar-trophy-1362704 |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}</ref> The term is also sometimes used adjectivally in cricket e.g. "subcontinental conditions".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Subcontinent lessons for Australia's youngsters |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/subcontinent-lessons-for-australia-s-youngsters-770361 |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A distinctly sub-continental wicket |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-distinctly-sub-continental-wicket-232597 |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}</ref>
==Geology == {{See also|Indian plate|Himalayas#Geology}} [[File:230 Ma plate tectonic reconstruction.png|thumb|right|Cimmeria, having rifted from Gondwana shown drifting towards Eurasia, closing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean above, opening the Neo-Tethys Ocean below, and carrying parts of what is today the Tibetan Plateau]] [[File:Karakoram Kohistan Ladakh Gangdese Belt.jpg|thumb|right|The accretions of the Karakoram, the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc, and the Gangdese belt to Eurasia preceded the final India-Eurasia collision. The stars mark the syntaxis-causing obtrustions.]]
Before the Indian plate rifted from Gondwana and drifted northward toward Eurasia, two other landmasses, the Qiangtang terrane and Lhasa terrane,{{refn|group=note|Terrane: "A far traveled crustal block accreted to a continent. Due to its remote origin, the terrane shows a different geological evolution compared to adjacent parts of the continent."{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=197}}}} had accreted to Eurasia.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=174}} The Qiantang and Lhasa terranes were part of the string of microcontinents Cimmeria, today constituting parts of Turkey, Iran, Pakistan (including the Karakoram<ref name=karakoram-cimmerian>{{cite journal|first1=Andrea |last1=Zanchi|first2=Maurizio|last2=Gaetani|title=The geology of the Karakoram range, Pakistan: the new 1:100,000 geological map of Central-Western Karakoram|journal=Italian Journal of Geosciences|year=2011|volume=130|issue=2|pages= 161–262|doi=10.3301/IJG.2011.09|quote= The Tirich Boundary Zone is a complex assemblage of high grade metabasites and gneiss with small remnants of sub-continental peridotites, which separate East Hindu Kush from the Karakoram. Its emplacement has been related to the possible opening of a basin between the two blocks at the end of the Paleozoic, followed by its deformation during the collision of Karakoram with East Hindu Kush, dating to the end of Triassic or beginning of the Jurassic.}}</ref>), China, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia, which closed the Paleo-Tethys Ocean above them and opening the Neo-Tethys Ocean between them and Gondwana, eventually colliding with Eurasia, and creating the Cimmerian Orogeny.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=172}}
After the Lhasa terrane had adjoined Eurasia, an active continental margin opened along its southern flank, below which the Neo-Tethys oceanic plate had begun to subduct. Magmatic activity along this flank produced the Gangdese batholith in what is today the Tibetan trans-Himalaya. Another subduction zone opened to the west, in the ocean basin above the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc. This island arc—formed by one oceanic plate subducting beneath another, its magma rising and creating continental crust—drifted north, closed its ocean basin and collided with Eurasia.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=173}} Ladakh is today in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir and Kohistan in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, both on the Indian subcontinent.
The collision of India with Eurasia closed the Neo-Tethys Ocean.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=172}} The suture zone (in this instance, the remnants of the Neo-Tethys subduction zone pinched between the two continental crusts), which marks India's welding to Eurasia, is called the Indus-Yarlung suture zone.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=172}} It lies north of the Himalayas. The headwaters of the Indus River and the Yarlung Tsangpo (later in its course, the Brahmaputra) flow along this suture zone.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=172}} These two Eurasian rivers, whose courses were continually diverted by the rising Himalayas, define the western and eastern limits, respectively, of the Himalayan mountain range.{{sfn|Frisch|Meschede|Blakey|2011|p=172}}
== See also == * Arabian Peninsula * India (Herodotus) * Iranian Plateau * South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last1=Frisch|first1=Wolfgang|last2=Meschede|first2=Martin|last3=Blakey|first3=Ronald|title=Plate Tectonics: Continental Drift and Mountain Building|location=Heidelberg|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-540-76503-5|doi= 10.1007/978-3-540-76504-2|year=2011}}
== External links == {{sister project links}} {{South Asian topics}} {{Continents of Earth}} {{Regions of the world}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indian subcontinent}} * Category:Toponyms for India Category:South Asia Category:Geology of Asia Category:Peninsulas of Asia Category:Regions of Asia Category:Continents