Why India is called a sub-continent?

Answer 1

because it has such a massive population, various cultures and religions, and a variety of languages it could be a continent on its own

Answer 2

This question was asked a couple of days ago, and I'll post here the answer I wrote there.

Good question, and a tough one to answer. I did browse much of the Wikipedia entry, and I also have a globe here to look at.

To rephrase this question, I guess we could say, (1) why is India not a continent, and (2) why is it a subcontinent?

Traditionally, there are six or seven continents -- North & South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. Sometimes Europe & Asia are combined into Eurasia, and some people like to combine the Americas.

Size and geographic separation seem to be important ... the Central America connection is pretty narrow, as is the Suez connection. On the other hand, the Ural mountains separating Europe from Asia is an ancient plate boundary (similar to the Appalachians, and much older than the Himalayas), and the Ural boundary certainly is not "narrow." In that case, however, there are huge historical cultural differences between, for example, western Europe and East Asia.

In terms of size, Australia is the smallest continent, and Greenland is the largest island. India is much closer in size to Greenland than to Australia. (Also compare Madagascar, a large island drifting away from Africa. The tectonic activity there is similar to India.)

So on the question of "why isn't it a continent," I'd say size matters a lot -- India isn't big enough -- and I'd say the closest boundary comparison is between the Himalaya barrier and the Urals. West of the Urals is much, much larger than south of the Himalayas.

Cultural comparisons matter too, and by this measure, India could be considered a continent in its own right. The Indian population is significantly different than the neighboring Oriental and Caucasian peoples.

When you balance all this stuff, I guess you say Europe is its own continent -- it's big and culturally differentiable; but India is not a continent because it's not big enough.

The other part of the question is, why is it a subcontinent? There, the Himalayas and, to a lesser extent, the Indian Plate, make a big difference. Because of the mountains, India is geograpically separated from the rest of Asia.

It's also a large peninsula. In this regard, we must compare with the Arabian Peninsula (which sits on the Arabian Plate), and maybe with Asia Minor, the boundary of which (by looking at a globe) may be said to extend from the Persion Gulf to the eastern end of the Black Sea, thus comprising a large area encompassing Turkey, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The other obvious large peninsula is Western Europe itself, bounded on the east by a line extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

But neither of those peninsulas have the Himalaya Mountain barrier.

So putting that altogether, I guess that's why India is a subcontinent and not a continent. And since it seems to be the only generally recognized subcontinent in the world, that makes it pretty unique.

Answer 3

India is Vast land with varied cultures, languages. Imagine in india there are around 400 languages and 18 government recognized language. A single country which constitute like a continent so we are calling sub-continent

Answer 4

Wow, this is a good question.

IAccording to Wikipedia:
The Indian subcontinent is a peninsular landmass of the Asian continent occupying the Indian Plate and extending into the Indian Ocean, bordered on the north by the Eurasian Plate. The region is known as a subcontinent because its geography and geology are distinct from the rest of the continent.

Think of your elementary school lessons on Pangea and how the continents are now sitting where they are. India was once a landmass that was hanging out next to Africa and it moved North and essentially crashed into southern Asia. The impact of the Indian subcontinent crashing into Asia formed the Himalayan Mountain range.

Answer 5

Due to the vast diversity that can be seen across the length and breadth of india, it is referred to as sub-continent. What is interesting to note here is that size only plays the role of not giving it a continent status, but size does not alone qualify larger countries like brazil, russia, china as sub-continents, but it is is the rich diversity in terms of cultures, languages and lifestyles depicted in india that it is referred to as the sub-continent.

Answer 6

India is called as sub continent because it is very large and extends as a continent or like.............
Whole each continent has its own style or some kind of thing. But in India being a country, has its own styles. (may be i am not clear)

Answer 7

A subcontinent is a large part of a continent. There is no agreement on what constitutes a subcontinent. Generally, however, a subcontinent is split from the rest of a continent by something like a mountain range or by tectonic plates. In the case of india that is Himalaya. Hope this would make a sense...

Answer 8

The following web site deals with the variousreasons India is considered a sub continent. Very short, precise info.

Answer 9

Most likely because it was originally not a part of the Asian continent but "crashed" into Asia millions of years ago due to tectonic plate movements.

This "crash" resulted in the Himalayas - when 2 plates collide, one plate would usually be pushed under while the other would be pushed up.

Answer 10

a continent has varied physical features,diversities etc.
all these distinctive features are found in india,so it is called a sub continent.

Answer 11

India is a subcontinet because it is a Peninsular area of the Southern Land in Asia