Why did so many world religions start in South Asia?

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Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism all originated in South Asia... How odd. Was there something in the Brahmaputra?

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam did not originate in South Asia--they originated in West Asia.

What are you talking about?

South Asia is the same place as the Indian Subcontinent.

Only three of those religions are of Indian origin:Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Sihkism is essentially a hybrid of Hinduism and Islam. And Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, all came from South WEST Asia (as Krafty pointed out), and not from South Asia.

And the Indian Subcontinent itself is a large region in itself anyway (big as all of Europe west of Russia).

Also Confucianism counts as a world religion, and its origin was in China (east Asia).

Yeah, I meant South Asia approximately. As in, not East Asia, south of Europe. Maybe that was too Western-centered. In any case, notice how I didn't mention Confucianism. I said, "so many world religions", not "all world religions".

I figured it may have just been the large size of those areas, yes, but other continents had religions, (various Pagan, earth-based, and Animist beliefs), that didn't survive with the same distinction as these religions. It's easier to find people who know about Sikhism and Judaism, comprising last I checked just .4% and .2% of the population respectively, than any distinct Pagan or Animist religion; they may know of Paganism and Animism, however, they don't know of distinct belief sets.

My experience has been that the religions that developed in South and West Asia have more publicity distinctively than religions developed on any other continent. Indeed, Europe's religious history after the decline of Paganism was struggles between Islam and Christianity, and the prevalence of Judaism, rather than the rise of any new religion, (while Sikhism developed in the 1400s, claiming itself as a distinct religion.) Granted, there have been varying sects of Christianity, and I belong to one that broke away from the Church, but generally all sects have stayed under one source of context, (the Bible), and have similar practices, claiming the same religion.

you're right that White Europeans dont pray to their native Gods of Olympus, or of Valhalla much anymore (gimmie that OLD TIME religion! Its good enough for me! Aphrodite is very flightly but looks nice her nighty, and its good enough for me!). They have abandoned their many homegrown deities for a single God of a certain Middle Eastern tribe in Judea.

On the opposite end of the Eurasian landmass the Japanese retain their native Shinto and its many gods, but mix it with Buddhism and Confucianism imported from mainland Asia.

Basically civilization itself started in small areas in 3000 BC (Egypt and Sumer) and then spread both east and west, or appeared spontaneously in other small areas like India, North China, and the Aegean. Then spread beyond to the entire length of Eurasia. So religious ideas (like ideas about everything else) spread outward from those early centers of civilization.

Europe was backward for most of history. There were no cities north of the Alps until the Romans conquered chunks of Europe and built cities.

Modern Europeans use Roman letters, Hindu-Arabic numbers, as well as worship a God from Judea. But in more recent centuries European civilization began to advance and expand and proceeded to dominate the world -bringing Christianity along with it.

So the Aztec religion (centered on human sacrifice performed on top of pyramids in the middle of town)invented here in North America kinda died out. And you dont see Aztec missionaries much.

You could almost say the same for the northeastern US, which gave rise to Mormonism, Christian Science, Adventism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Millerites, and more; and although they began in England, the Quakers and the Shakers caught on more in the northeastern US than elsewhere. And that's all within the course of less than 200 years. You may say they aren't as large as some other religions, but they've only been around for a couple hundred years.

To return to the question in the OP (with the qualifications concerning the exact geography), it may not be the case that a disproportionate number of religions originated in the Indian subcontinent. A very large number of religions originated in The Middle East, but most of them are currently extinct (except for a small Zoroastrian community).

However, a disproportionate number of religions have survived on the Indian subcontinent.

Many - but not all - branches of Hinduism are very inclusive, so there isn't automatically an aggressive stance towards other religions as seen in Christianity and (especially) Islam.

Hindus could probably have wiped out Buddhism and Jainism on several occasions in the long history of India, but never saw any reason to do so. Under the Mughal Islamic empire, there were instances of severe persecution of other religious communities (especially the Sikh), but like all other rulers of India until 1947, the Mughals never achieved total control and sovereignty over India, and were thus unable (and probably unwilling) to wipe out other religious communities.

For Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism you could say that Hinduism, really the stem, has a way of being non-unitary. Lots of different ideologies would bud off of it - those you mentioned are those which we're familiar with.

As far as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam seeming to have some degree of eastern elements you can really look to the silk road. Ideas were being exchange between Greece, Egypt, and India quite a bit during early antiquity and it isn't uncommon to read about a Greek philosopher who spent time in both Egypt and India. Judaism has fingerprints of Babylonian astrotheology, Egyptian use of number and ark building, and adopted it's degree of dualism and monotheism from the Persians who were responsible for the liberation of the Jewish people from Babylon. Christianity, particularly with Paul and John, has heavy doses of Neoplatonism - including ideas like Jesus being the 'true vine' or the idea of humanity being members in the body of Christ, it speaks to the idea of an archetypal human in very Platonic terms.

When you're dealing with ideas like evolution through reincarnation you're dealing with a philosophy shared by all three of the major players of that time - Greece, Egypt, and India. At least in any outward sense Christianity and Judaism don't have reincarnation but you can see all kinds of hints at it because their holy books raided scraps of philosophy from cultures who did.

I'm not sure this is true. Here is a list of British cities which were here before the Romans invaded:
Original Name Anglosaxon Name
Caer Caint. Canterbury.
Caer Wyn. Winchester.
Caer Municip. St. Albans.
Caer Sallwg. Old Sarum.
Caer Leil. Carlisle.
Caer Odor. Bristol.
Caer Llear. Leicester.
Caer Urnach. Wroxeter.
Caer Lleyn. Lincoln.
Caer Glou. Gloucester.
Caer Meini. Manchester.
Caer Coel. Colchester.
Caer Gorangon. Worcester.
Caerleon ar Dwy. Chester.
Caer Peris. Portchester.
Caer Don. Doncaster.
Caer Guorie. Warwick.
Caer Cei. Chichester.
Caer Ceri. Cirencester.
Caer Dur. Dorchester.
Caer Merddyn. Carmarthen.
Caer Seiont. Carnarvon.
Caer Wyse. Exeter.
Caer Segont. Silchester.
Caer Baddon. Bath.


Apparently Julius Ceasar mentions them, although he says that they're not as good as the Roman cities! lol

Buddhists were chased out of India, that is why they settled in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Hindu nationalism can and has been quite violent. Granted so have some Buddhists.