INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
👉 India is a country of vast geographical expanse
👉 In the north, it is bound by the lofty Himalayas. The Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south.
👉 India has an area of about 3.28 million sq. km.
👉 Areawise It is the seventh-largest country in the world.
👉 The north-south extent from Ladakh to Kanyakumari is 3,214 km.
👉 The east-west extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kuchchh is 2,933 km.
👉 India is the second-most populous country in the world after China.
LOCATIONAL SETTING
👉 India is located in the northern hemisphere.
👉 The Tropic of Cancer (23°30’N) passes almost halfway through the country.
👉 From south to north, the main land of India extends between 8°4’N and 37°6’N latitudes.
👉 From west to east, India extends between 68°7’E and 97°25’E longitudes.
👉 The local time changes by four minutes for every one degree of longitude.
👉 Due to the great longitudinal extent of about 29°, there could be wide differences in local time of places located at two extreme points of India.
👉 The local time of longitude of 82°30’E has been taken as the Indian Standard Time. This meridian or longitude is also termed as the Standard Meridian of India.
INDIA’S NEIGHBOURS
👉 There are seven countries that share land boundaries with India.
👉 The seven countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
👉 Our island neighbours are Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
👉 Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Palk Strait.
POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
👉 India is divided into 28 states and 8 union territories.
👉 Delhi is the national capital.
👉 Areawise Rajasthan is the largest state and Goa is the smallest state.
PHYSICAL DIVISIONS
👉 India is marked by a diversity of physical features such as
The Himalayan Mountains
The Northern Indian Plains
The Great Indian Desert
The Peninsular plateau
The Coastal Plains
The Islands
The Himalayan Mountains
👉 The Himalayan mountains are divided into three main parallel ranges.
👉 The northernmost is the Great Himalaya or Himadri.The world’s highest peaks are located in this range.
👉 Middle Himalaya or Himachal lies to the south of Himadri.Many popular hill stations are situated here.
👉 The Shiwalik is the southernmost range.
The Northern Indian Plains
👉The Northern Indian plains lie to the south of the Himalayas.
👉 They are generally level and flat.
👉 These are formed by the alluvial deposits laid down by the rivers– the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, and their tributaries.
👉 These river plains provide fertile land for cultivation.
👉 That is the reason for the high concentration of population in these plains.
The Great Indian Desert
👉 The Great Indian desert lies in the western part of india.
👉 It is a dry, hot and sandy stretch of land.
👉 It has very little vegetation.
The Peninsular plateau
👉 To the south of northern plains lies the Peninsular plateau.
👉 It is triangular in shape.
👉 The relief is highly uneven.
👉 This is a region with numerous hill ranges and valleys.
👉 Aravali hills, one of the oldest ranges of the world, border it on the north-west side.
👉 The Vindhyas and the Satpuras are the important ranges.
👉 The rivers Narmada and Tapi flow through these ranges.
👉 These are west-flowing rivers that drain into the Arabian Sea. -The plateau is rich in minerals like coal and iron-ore
Western and Eastern Ghats
👉 The Western Ghats or Sahyadris border the Peninsular plateau in the west and the Eastern Ghats provide the eastern boundary.
👉 The Western Ghats are almost continuous, the Eastern Ghats are broken and uneven.
The Coastal Plains
👉 To the West of the Western Ghats and the East of Eastern Ghats lie the Coastal plains.
👉 The western coastal plains are very narrow.
👉 The eastern Coastal plains are much broader.
👉 The rivers Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri are east-flowing rivers and drain into the Bay of Bengal.
👉 These rivers have formed fertile deltas at their mouth.
👉 The Sunderban delta is formed where the Ganga and Brahmaputra flow into the Bay of Bengal.
The Islands
👉 The Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands are also part of India.
👉 The Andaman and the Nicobar Islands lie to the southeast of the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal.
👉 Lakshadweep Islands are located in the Arabian Sea.
IMPORTANT FACTS
👉 The peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water on three sides.
👉 Alluvial deposits: These are very fine soils, brought by rivers and deposited in the river basins.
👉 Tributary: A river or stream which contributes its water to the main river by discharging it into the main river from either side.
👉 The Ganga and the Brahmaputra form the world’s largest delta, the Sundarbans delta.
👉 The Place where a river meets an ocean is called the mouth of the river.
👉 Corals are skeletons of tiny marine animals called Polyps. When the living polyps die, their skeletons are left. Other people grow on top of the hard skeleton which grows higher and higher, thus forming the coral islands.
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