ABSTRACT
South Asia has a long and closely interwoven history portraying certain cross-border similarities in traditions, languages and customs based on culture, ethnicity and religion. These linkages among people across national borders would qualify the South Asians as being closer to each other than to the peoples in other regions. Paradoxically, the peoples of South Asia “do not have the feeling of belonging to one region” or “one civilization,” nor do they have a “common bond of belonging to one particular country.” The blame for this predicament lies on the ill-conceived and ill-drawn boundaries among the nation-states hastily constructed by the colonial administration with scant regard to the basic tenets of history and geography. The common land borders among the countries of peninsular South Asia have become of no significance for the development of physical and soft connectivity for promoting intra-regional trade in South Asia, let alone cordial relations. Even as the geopolitical nuances are entwined with South Asia’s geography and history, what matters most are the relative efforts at regional cooperation rather than the concrete steps contemplated for regional integration. This chapter analyzes the geographical causation of the history of South Asia to help in understanding the problems impeding regional harmony.
