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Region Explorer

Run the Region Explorer MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

The Region Explorer is a schematic tile map of South Asia. Each of the eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) is a colored tile placed roughly where it sits in the region. The map also shows the Hindu Kush, the Himalaya, the Western and Eastern Ghats, the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, the Thar Desert, the Deccan Plateau, and the three big bodies of water around the region: the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

Click or tap a tile (or pick a country from the menu) to see its capital, its population in 2025 (World Bank) and its main languages. Press Start monsoon to watch the southwest monsoon spread over the region on its normal schedule, from the sea near Sri Lanka and Kerala in late May, to all of India by about 8 July. The dates follow the India Meteorological Department's normal onset dates, but the shape of the spreading rain is simplified.

The map is schematic, not to scale, and does not draw any national borders.

How to Use

  1. Look at the map before touching anything. Find the eight country tiles and the two big mountain chains across the north.
  2. Click or tap any country tile. Read its capital, 2025 population and main languages in the panel.
  3. Use the menu under the map to jump to a country you can't find.
  4. Press Start monsoon and watch the shaded rain zone grow from the southwest sea. Use Pause to stop at any date.
  5. Notice which places the monsoon reaches first, which it reaches last, and which it barely reaches at all.
  6. Press Reset to start the monsoon again. Untick the checkbox to hide the mountain, river and sea labels and test yourself.

Learning Objective

Students will be able to locate the eight countries of South Asia on a schematic map and explain how the region's mountains and the southwest monsoon shape where water arrives and where people live.

Bloom level: Understand (locate, explain).

Iframe Embed Code

<iframe src="https://aaryavvatts-lab.github.io/south-asian-culture-textbook/sims/ch01-region-explorer/main.html" height="702px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Grade level: 9-12 (world geography, world history, ethnic studies, or a South Asian student club meeting)

Duration: 15 to 20 minutes

Activity:

  1. (3 min) Students open the sim and, without clicking, write down the names of any countries they already know. Most will list India and maybe Pakistan.
  2. (5 min) Students click all eight tiles and fill in a quick table: country, capital, population (2025), one main language.
  3. (5 min) Students run the monsoon and pause it three times: once when it reaches Kerala, once when it reaches Bangladesh, and once at the end. At each pause they write which countries are getting rain.
  4. (5 min) Pairs discuss: Why does Afghanistan stay mostly dry? Why are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta so crowded with people?

Assessment questions:

  1. Name the eight countries of South Asia. Which two are island countries?
  2. Which mountain range runs across the north of Nepal and Bhutan? Which one crosses Afghanistan?
  3. Where does the southwest monsoon arrive first in India, and about when?
  4. Which South Asian country does the summer monsoon barely reach, and why might that matter for farming there?
  5. Using the map, explain why so many people live along the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.

Chapter 1: What Is South Asia?