# Countries with a big north-south divide **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153 "2017-11-09T22:29:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/41 "2017-11-11T09:27:59Z")
_applause for Johanna’s post_ ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/42 "2017-11-11T10:16:49Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > I couldn’t tell from the confusing color scheme, but are there any areas of South Africa where Asians/Indians are a plurality? There are some areas in and around the city of Durban on the east coast, but they are too small to be really visible on the map. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/43 "2017-11-11T15:45:48Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > India has huge inter-regional variations in social and economic development. The best performing state (Kerala) has a HDI similar to Russia, the worst performing have a HDI similar to Burundi or Sierra Leone. > > There are big inter-region differences in Brazil, Mexico and other countries as well, but I think India is the most extreme. In India, the north-south divide is huge, starting with the fact that the two regions speak languages from completely different families. The northern languages (including Hindustani/Hindi-Urdu, Bengali, Panjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, etc.) are Indo-European languages, related to most of the languages of Europe, including English. The southern languages (including Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, and Malayalam) are from an entirely unrelated family—Dravidian—which, except for a few pockets in the northern part of the Subcontinent (like Brahui), comprise a language family of their own. Northerners and southerners are nominally Hindu, but that’s because Hinduism has absorbed all the local religions of the region. The particular forms of Hinduism, and the gods they consider important tend to be split on a north-south basis. The north also is much more influenced by the presence of Islamic culture and language than the south. The south has a larger percentage of (pre-colonial) Christians. Cuisine is also split on a north-south basis. This north-south split is much bigger and deeper and more substantial than that in the United States or in England. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/44 "2017-11-11T15:50:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In India, the north-south divide is huge, starting with the fact that the two regions speak languages from completely different families. > > The northern languages (including Hindustani/Hindi-Urdu, Bengali, Panjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, etc.) are Indo-European languages, related to most of the languages of Europe, including English. > > The southern languages (including Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, and Malayalam) are from an entirely unrelated family—Dravidian—which, except for a few pockets in the northern part of the Subcontinent (like Brahui), comprise a language family of their own. > > Northerners and southerners are nominally Hindu, but that’s because Hinduism has absorbed all the local religions of the region. The particular forms of Hinduism, and the gods they consider important tend to be split on a north-south basis. > > The north also is much more influenced by the presence of Islamic culture and language than the south. The south has a larger percentage of (pre-colonial) Christians. > > Cuisine is also split on a north-south basis. > > This north-south split is much bigger and deeper and more substantial than that in the United States or in England. Minor addition to this excellent summary: parts of the south are strongly Muslim influenced too. Kerala as a whole is about 25-30% Muslim and 20-25% Christian (lots of people know about the Christian presence, less so about the Muslim) but the northern regions are around 70% Muslim. Kerala Muslim follow the Shafi jurisprudential school, unlike most Muslims in South Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/45 "2017-11-11T17:37:48Z")
Of course there are big cultural differences within Northern Indian states too. Bengal and UP both speak Indo-European languages, are fairly poor, have a similar history of heavy industry and rice/wheat cultivation, and have a long history of interaction with Islamic culture (half of Bengal before partition, and a few cities in UP, were majority Muslim). In spite of that there are big cultural differences which you can tell by looking at things like total fertility rate, or at the partisan politics of the states. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/46 "2017-11-11T17:40:07Z")
In some countries (Peru, Bolivia, Madagascar, maybe Ethiopia though I don’t know too much about that country) the big divide is mountain vs. lowland. In Peru and Bolivia the mountains are poorer, more ethnically indigenous and more left leaning; the lowlands are more European, richer and more conservative. In Madagascar the highlands are somewhat richer, cooler, have more of a human-modified landscape, are more ethnically Austronesian, and are politically dominant; the coastal regions are poorer, more ‘tropical’, more ethnically East African and have more remnants of the pre-human landscape. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/47 "2017-11-11T20:56:18Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > I couldn’t tell from the confusing color scheme, but are there any areas of South Africa where Asians/Indians are a plurality? Nothing larger than the level of individual suburbs, no. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/48 "2017-11-13T03:33:05Z")
Japan has several regions with their own cultural and linguistic distinctions, but the big one is the east-west division between Kanto (Tokyo / Yokohama / Chiba and the surrounding areas) and Kansai (Osaka / Kobe / Kyoto and their surroundings). Not so much of a liberal/conservative divide, but the foods, attitudes, and even languages are significantly different. Plenty of TV variety shows fill time with “people in Kanto do X, people in Kansai do Y” and sending a junior staffer on the train to investigate station-by-station until they find the changeover point. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/49 "2017-11-13T15:57:32Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > There’s nothing like this in South Africa - the richest places are widely scattered, as are the poorest places. There is one clear E-W divide, though - [see if you can spot it on this map](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_Africa_2011_dominant_population_group_map.svg). Oh, look, [there it is again](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_South_Africa#/media/File:South_Africa_2011_West_Germanic_speakers_proportion_map.svg). What does “Colored” mean in a South African context? I always assumed it was a synonym for black African. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/50 "2017-11-13T16:01:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What does “Colored” mean in a South African context? I always assumed it was a synonym for black African. [It’s a specific term in South Africa meaning mixed-race](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloureds) (mostly European/African; sometimes also Asian). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153/51 "2017-11-13T16:06:23Z")
Ah, thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-with-a-big-north-south-divide/801153.md?page=2)