CSA.1


==On a map of the world, locate Central and South Asia. On a map of Central and South Asia, locate the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges River, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Northern Mountains, the Deccan Plateau, the Himalayan Mountains, and the Steppes.==







Click here for a short clip and lesson plan on the Ganges River and its importance from the BBC Learning Zone

What is a **steppe**? According to the free online dictionary, a steppe is "A vast semiarid grass-covered plain, as found in southeast Europe, Siberia, and central North America"



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**Use this interactive [|map] to learn the geographic locations of Asian countries and their capitals.**=====

**Central Asian nations containing or bordering the…**

 * Indian Ocean:** (border) India and Sri Lanka; the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are the inland edges of the Indian Ocean.


 * Arabian Sea:** (border) Pakistan and India; as well as Yemen, Oman, and Iran


 * Bay of Bengal:** (border) the bay fed by the Indian Ocean that connects Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, and Burma


 * Ganges** **River:** (contained by) Bangladesh and India

and look at http://www.indianetzone.com/11/indo_gangetic_plain.htm
 * Indo-Gangetic Plain:** (contained by) a crescent of fertile land running from Pakistan, across the north of India, into Bangladesh, spanning the region between the Ganges River and the Himalayan Mountains. Read an in-depth description at http://www.indianchild.com/indo_gangetic_plain.htm


 * Northern Areas:** a mountainous region now under Pakistani control, this part of the region remains contested; includes the region of Kashmir. Read more at http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4748; see pictures at http://www.mango.itgo.com/northernareas.htm


 * Deccan Plateau:** (contained by) makes up the southern two-thirds of India

This picture of the Himalayan mountain range gives an idea of just how tall the mountains really are. The photographer offers the following explanation. "This stunning aerial view shows the rugged snow covered peaks of a Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The seventh-highest peak on the planet, Dhaulagiri, is the high point on the horizon at the left while in the foreground lies the southern Tibetan Plateau of China. But, contrary to appearances, this picture wasn't taken from an airliner cruising at 30,000 feet. Instead it was taken with a 35mm camera and telephoto lens by the Expedition 1 crew aboard the International Space Station -- orbiting 200 nautical miles above the Earth. The Himalayan mountains were created by crustal plate tectonics on planet Earth some 70 million years ago, as the Indian plate began a collision with the Eurasian plate. Himalayan uplift still continues today at a rate of a few millimeters per year. "
 * Himalayan** **Mountains:** run along the border between China and central Asian nations of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Himalayas are the world's tallest mountain chain and one of its youngest. They contain the world's tallest mountain, Mt. Everest, on the Nepal-Tibet border.


 * Steppes:** high-elevation grasslands that stretch from Hungary across central Asia all the way to Mongolia. Countries containing this swath of grassland include: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Mongolia, and China. A look at grasslands around the world http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/grassland-profile.html

Sources Book: //The Oxford Atlas of the World//, 2005, Oxford University Press

Maps: U TX libraries http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html

CIA country profiles https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/