South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. It is generally understood to be compromised of the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and The Maldives. It houses around one-fourth of world’s population and is rich in the diversity of languages, religions, cultures and identities. For example South Asia accounts for 98.47% of Hindus, 90.5% of Sikhs, and 31% of Muslims worldwide and houses the world’s largest populations of Sikhs, Jains, and Zoroastrians. There are numerous languages in South Asia and the spoken languages of the region are largely based on geography and shared across religious boundaries.

India has been the dominant geopolitical power in the region and alone accounts for most part of the landmass, population, economy, and military expenditure in the region. It is also a major economy and exerts strong cultural and political influence over the region. Each country however has a unique history, culture, and socio-political identity which also includes several tribes of indigenous people and some of the oldest recorded cultures in the world.

South Asia in its modern history has seen a great deal of colonial rule – primarily from the Dutch, Portuguese, French and British. In 1947 the partition of British India divided the region into two independent States, India and Pakistan and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War created the state of Bangladesh. Through all this the region has struggled with many armed conflicts and internal civil wars (such as in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan) which have resulted in large portions of the population being refugees and IDP’s. Parts of South Asia have also faced the impact of conflicts in other parts of Asia as well – for example the largest refugee camp in the world – Cox’s Bazar – is found in Bangladesh housing thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution from Myanmar.