AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN GEOGRAPHY

INDIA

1. In the north, it is bound by the lofty Himalayas.
2. The Arabian Sea in the west
3. The Bay of Bengal in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south
4. The north-south extent from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is about 3,200 km.
5. And the east-west extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kutch is about 2,900 km.

LOCATIONAL SETTING

1. India is located in the northern hemisphere
2. The Tropic of Cancer (23°30 ' N) passes almost halfway through the country
3. From south to north, India extends between 8°4' N and37°6' N latitudes.
4. From west to east, India extends between 68°7 ' E and97°25 'E longitudes.
5. The southernmost point of the Indian Union– ‘Indira Point’ got submerged under the sea
water in 2004 during the Tsunami.

SIZE

1. An area of 3.28 million square km.
2. India’s total area accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the total geographical area of the
world.
3. India is the seventh largest country of the world.
4. India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km
5. The total length of the coast line of the mainland including Andaman and Nicobar and
Lakshadweep is 7,516.6 km.
6. India is bounded by the young fold mountains in the northwest, north and north east.
7. From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh there is a time lag of two hours.
8. Hence, time along the Standard Meridian of India (82°30'E) passing through Mirzapur (in
Uttar Pradesh) is taken as the standard time for the whole country.
9. Rajasthan is the largest state
10. Goa is the smallest state in terms of area.
11. No other country has a long coastline on the Indian Ocean as India has and indeed, it is
India’s eminent position in the Indian Ocean which justifies the naming of an Ocean after it.
12. Since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, India’s distance from Europe has been reduced
by 7,000 km.

Do you know?

1. The USA and Canada have six time zones extending from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic
coast.
2. The local time changes by four minutes for every one degree of longitude.
3. The local time of longitude of 82°30' E has been taken as the Indian Standard Time.

INDIA’S NEIGHBOURS

1. There are seven countries that share land boundaries with India
2. Across the sea to the south, lie our island neighbours— Sri Lanka and Maldives.
3. Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Palk Strait.

India shares its land boundaries with

1. Pakistan
2. Afghanistan
3. China (Tibet)
4. Nepal
5. Bhutan
6. Myanmar
7. Bangladesh
Two island countries
1. Sri Lanka
2. Maldives

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA

1. Most volcanoes and earthquakes in the world are located at plate margins, but some do
occur within the plates.
2. The oldest landmass, (the Peninsula part of India), was a part of the Gondwana land.
3. The Gondwanaland included India, Australia, South Africa and South America as one single
land mass.

4. The convectional currents split the crust into a number of pieces.
5. This leads to the drifting of the Indo-Australian plate after being separated from the
Gondwana land, towards north.
6. The northward drift resulted in the collision of the plate with the much larger Eurasian Plate
7. Due to this collision, the sedimentary rocks which were accumulated in the geosynclines
known as the Tethys were folded to form the mountain system of western Asia and
Himalaya.

What is Gondwanaland?

1. It is the southern part of the ancient super continent Pangea with Angara Land in the
northern part.
2. The Himalayan uplift out of the Tethys Sea and subsidence of the northern flank of the
peninsular plateau resulted in the formation of a large basin.
3. In due course of time this depression, gradually got filled with deposition of sediments by
the rivers flowing from the mountains in the north and the peninsular plateau in the south.
4. A flat land of extensive alluvial deposits led to the formation of the northern plains of India.
5. Geologically, the Peninsular Plateau constitutes one of the ancient landmasses on the
earth’s surface.