South Asia Decolonized: Native Place Names, No Borders

South Asia Without Borders, by Jordan Engel

South Asia is home to about a quarter of the world’s population and more than 2,000 ethnic groups. The subcontinent is, perhaps more than any other region, is a land beset by territorial disputes and border conflicts – from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. In this map, we’ve erased the borders which divide people (Indian Punjabis from Pakistani Punjabis, Pashtuns on either side of the Durand Line, Bangladeshi Bengalis from Indian Bengalis), and labelled major places in their native languages.

Agra, India – आगरा (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Ahmedabad, India – અમદાવાદ (ગુજરાતી [Gujarati])

Allahabad, India – इलाहाबाद (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Amritsar, India – ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ [Punjabi])

Anamudi (India) – ആനമുടി (മലയാളം [Malayalam])

Asansol, India – আসানসোল (বাংলা [Bengali])

Bengaluru, India – ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (ಕನ್ನಡ [Kannada])

Bhopal, India – भोपाल (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Bhubaneswar, India – ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର (ଓଡ଼ିଆ [Oriya])

Chennai, India – சென்னை (தமிழ் [Tamil])

Chittagong, Bangladesh – চট্টগ্রাম (বাংলা [Bengali])

Coimbatore, India –  கோயம்புத்தூர் (தமிழ் [Tamil])

Colombo, Sri Lanka – කොළඹ (සිංහල [Sinhala])

Dehradun, India – देहरादून (गढ़वळि [Garhwali])

Delhi, India – दिल्ली (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Dhaka, Bangladesh – ঢাকা (বাংলা [Bengali])

Faisalabad, Pakistan – فیصل آباد ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Gujranwala, Pakistan – گجرانوالہ ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Guwahati, India – গুৱাহাটী (অসমীয়া [Assamese])

Hyderabad, India – హైదరాబాదు (తెలుగు [Telugu])

Hyderabad, Pakistan – حيدرآباد ([Sindhi] سنڌي)

Indore, India – इंदौर (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Islamabad, Pakistan – اسلام آباد ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Jabalpur, India – जबलपुर (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Jaipur, India – जयपुर (राजस्थानी [Rajasthani])

Jodhpur, India – जौधपुर (राजस्थानी [Rajasthani])

K2 (Pakistan/China) – کے ٹو‎ ([Balti] بلتی‎)

Kabul, Afghanistan – کابل ([Pashto] پښتو)

Kandahar, Afghanistan – کندهار‎ ([Pashto] پښتو)

Kanpur, India – कानपुर (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Karachi, Pakistan – ڪراچي ([Sindhi] سنڌي)

Kathmandu, Nepal – येँ देय्‌ (नेपाल भाषा [Newari])

Khulna, Bangladesh – খুলনা (বাংলা [Bengali])

Kochi, India – കൊച്ചി (മലയാളം [Malayalam])

Kolkata, India – কলকাতা (বাংলা [Bengali])

Kozhikode, India – കോഴിക്കോട് (മലയാളം [Malayalam])

Lahore, Pakistan – لہور ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Lhasa, Tibet – ལྷ་ས། (བོད་ཀྱི་སྐད་ཡིག། [Tibetan])

Lucknow, India – लखनऊ (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Ludhiana, India – ਲੁਧਿਆਣਾ (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ [Punjabi])

Madurai, India – மதுரை (தமிழ் [Tamil])

Mandalay, Burma – မန္တလေးမြို့ (မြန်မာဘာသာ [Burmese])

Mangalore, India – ಕುಡ್ಲ (ತುಳು [Tulu])

Mount Everest (Nepal/Tibet) – ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ (བོད་ཀྱི་སྐད་ཡིག། [Tibetan])

Multan, Pakistan – ملتان ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Mumbai, India – मुंबई (मराठी [Marathi])

Mysore, India – ಮೈಸೂರು (ಕನ್ನಡ [Kannada])

Nagpur, India – नागपूर (मराठी [Marathi])

Nashik, India – नाशिक (मराठी [Marathi])

Panaji, India – पणजी (कोंकणी [Konkani])

Patna, India – पटना (भोजपुरी [Bihari])

Peshawar, Pakistan – پېښور‎ ([Pashto] پښتو)

Pokhara, Nepal – पोखरा (नेपाली [Nepali])

Pondicherry, Indiia – பாண்டிச்சேரி (தமிழ் [Tamil])

Pune, India – पुणे (मराठी [Marathi])

Quetta, Pakistan – کوټه‎ ([Pashto] پښتو)

Rajkot, India – રાજકોટ (ગુજરાતી [Gujarati])

Rawalpindi, Pakistan – راولپنڈى‎ ([Punjabi] پنجابی )

Srinagar, India/Pakistan – سِری نَگَر (Kashmiri)

Sukkur, Pakistan – سکر ([Sindhi] سنڌي)

Surat, India – સુરત (ગુજરાતી [Gujarati])

Thimphu, Bhutan – ཐིམ་ཕུ་ (རྫོང་ཁ་ [Dzongkha])

Thiruvananthapuram, India – തിരുവനന്തപുരം (മലയാളം [Malayalam])

Vadodara, India – વડોદરા (ગુજરાતી [Gujarati])

Varanasi, India – वाराणसी (हिन्दी [Hindi])

Vijayawada, India – విజయవాడ (తెలుగు [Telugu])

Visakhapatnam, India – విశాఖపట్నం (తెలుగు [Telugu])

Xigazê, Tibet – གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་གྲོང (བོད་ཀྱི་སྐད་ཡིག། [Tibetan])

Yangon, Burma – ရန်ကုန် (မြန်မာဘာသာ [Burmese])

Map: Jordan Engel. As always, the Decolonial Atlas’ original media can be reused under the Decolonial Media License 0.1.

Advertisement