Compare the situation of Belgium and Sri Lanka considering their location, size and cultural aspects.
Answer:
Points to Remember
- Location- Belgium is located in Europe , whereas Sri Lanka is located in South Asia .
- Size- Belgium has a population of little over one crore, whereas Sri Lanka has a population of almost 2 crores.
- Cultural aspects-
- Language-
In Belgium,
59 percent
of people living in the
Flemish region
speak the
Dutch
language,
40 percent
of people living in the
Wallonia region
speak
French
, and the
remaining 1 percent
of Belgian people speak
German.
Whereas
In Sri Lanka
,
74 percent
population is
Sinhalese
speakers and
18 percent
are
Tamil
speakers.
b. Ethnic Communities-
In Belgium, the French-speaking community is relatively rich and powerful . In Belgium, Dutch-speaking people are in the minority .
Whereas
In Sri Lanka, Sinhalese-speaking people are Buddhist and powerful and the Tamils remain in minority.
Answer to be written in the exam
A. BELGIUM-
- Location- Belgium is a small country in Europe. It shares borders with France , the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg .
- Size- It has a population of a little over one crore .
- Ethnic composition- The ethnic composition of this small country is very complex.
-
- Of the country’s total population, 59 percent live in the Flemish region and speak the Dutch language.
- Another 40 percent of people live in the Wallonia region and speak French . The remaining 1 percent of the Belgians speak German .
- In the capital city Brussels , 80 percent of people speak French while 20 percent are Dutch-speaking.
- The minority French-speaking community was relatively rich and powerful.
- Brussels presented a unique problem : the Dutch-speaking people constituted a majority in the country, but a minority in the capital .
B. SRI LANKA-
- Location- Sri Lanka is an island nation, just a few kilometers off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu.
- Size- It has about 2 crore people.
- Ethnic Composition-
-
- The major social groups are the Sinhala speakers (74 percent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 per cent) .
- Among Tamils there are two subgroups . Tamil natives of the country are called ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ (13 per cent) .
- The rest, whose forefathers came from India as plantation workers during the colonial period, are called ‘Indian Tamils’
- Sri Lankan Tamils are concentrated in the north and east of the country. Most of the Sinhala-speaking people are Buddhist , while most of the Tamils are Hindus or Muslims.
- There are about 7 percent of Christians , who are both Tamil and Sinhala.
