Introduction

South Asia is home to nearly one fifth of the population of the world. With its incredible variety of ethnic races,
cultures, languages, political, agro and ecosystems, this region can be mind-boggling to the new arrival.
One great advantage of this bewildering array of things, people and places, of course, is that it offers
something for everyone. For students, the problem is that there are so many things to see, so many areas to
study, that one or two semesters may seem woefully inadequate.

Most of the countries in this region, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, share a common history of
colonization by the British. Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives make up the other countries of South Asia.

Politically, all are now independent, but neo-colonization is rampant with big multinationals ruling over the
economy of these countries with growing globalization.