people adhere to various forms of Buddhism. Islam is the predominant religion in Afghanistan, the Maldives (99%), Pakistan (96%) and Bangladesh (90%). Afghanistan and Pakistan are situated at the western periphery of South Asia, where the cultural character has been made by both, Persia, a civilization rooted in Mesopotamia and the Indosphere. Pakistan is split with its two western regions of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sharing a greater Iranic heritage due to the native Pashtuns and Baloch people of the regions. Its two eastern regions of Punjab and Sindh share cultural links to Northwest India. Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal share a common heritage and culture based on the Bengali language. The Culture of India is diverse and a complex mixture of many influences. Nepal is culturally linked to both India and Tibet and the varied ethnic groups of the country share many of the festivals and cultural traditions used and celebrated in North and East India and Tibet. Nepali, the dominant language of Nepal uses the Devanagari alphabet which is also used to write many North Indian languages. Bhutan is a culturally linked to Tibet and India. Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religion in Bhutan and the Tibetan alphabet is used to write Dzongkha, the dominant language of Bhutan. There is a cultural and linguistic divide between North and South India. Sri Lanka is culturally tied to both India and Southeast Asia. Sinhala, the dominant language in the country is written in Sinhala script which is derived from the Kadamba-Pallava alphabet, certain cultural traditions, and aspects of its cuisine, for example, show South Indian influences. Cultural festivals, aspects of its cuisine and Theravada Buddhism, the dominant religion in Sri Lanka, show a Southeast Asian affinity. Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sinhala of Sri Lanka and most of North, West and East India and Nepal. Dravidian languages are spoken in South India and in Sri Lanka by the Tamil community. Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and North & North East India. Iranic Languages are spoken in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The main languages of Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari. Southeast Asia Southeast Asia divides into Mainland Southeast Asia, that encompasses Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and West Malaysia, and Maritime Southeast Asia, that includes Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Christmas Island. At the