Subcontinent

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This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. For geopolitical treatments, see South Asia.

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. The phrase the Subcontinent, used on its own in English, commonly means the Indian subcontinent i.e. South Asia.

[edit] Cultural subcontinents

The term the Indian subcontinent is used also culturally and politically. It includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, and usually other South Asian countries too. The region has wide geographical variations like desert, plateau, rainforest, mountains and a myriad of languages, races and religions.

Sometimes subregions of continents are dubbed subcontinents because their culture is so different from the rest of the continent, such as Central America and the Middle East.ca:Subcontinent de:Subkontinent et:Subkontinent es:Subcontinente fr:Sous-continent it:Subcontinente lv:Subkontinents mr:उपखंड nl:Subcontinent ja:亜大陸 no:Subkontinent pt:Subcontinente ru:Субконтинент sv:Subkontinent