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The Geography of India presents a varied and diverse landscape ranging from snow-clad mountain ranges, deserts to plains, hills and plateaus.
Climate ranges from equitorial in the far south, to tundra in the Himalayan altitudes. India has a long coastline of over seven thousand kilometres, most of which lies on a peninsula, which protrudes into the Indian Ocean. Western India is bounded by the Arabian Sea and eastern India, the Bay of Bengal.
India is the seventh largest country in the world, it spans an amazing 3,214km from north to south, and 2,933km from east to west. The coastline adds up to over 6,000km, and if you were to take into account the islands as well, the figure would be somewhat close to 7,500km.
China lies beyond the northeastern border of India, with the Himalayas towering between the two countries as a colossal divide, Nepal forms a perfect Himalayan niche between India and China. To the west of India is Pakistan, an independent nation today that was a part of India till 1947. The southern fringes of the country are washed by the massive blue-green expanse of water – the Indian Ocean – that distinguishes India from its neighbouring landmasses.
India can be organized along the compass points. North India, shaped like a throat and two lungs, is the country's largest region. It begins with the panhandle of Jammu and Kashmir, a dynamic area with terrain varying from arid mountains in the far north to the lake country and forests near Sringar and Jammu.
Falling south along the Indus river valley, the North becomes flatter and more hospitable, widening into the fertile plains of Punjab to the west and the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh and the Ganges river valley to the East. Cramped between these two states is the capital city, Delhi. The southwestern extremity of the North is the large state of Rajastan, whose principal features are the Thar Desert and the stunning "pink city" of Jaipur. To the southeast is southern Uttar Pradesh and Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal.
West India contains the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, and part of the massive, central state of Madhya Pradesh. The west coast extends from the Gujarat peninsula down to Goa, and it is lined with some of India's best beaches.
The land along the coast is typically lush, with rainforests reaching southward from Bombay all the way to into Goa. A long mountain chain, the Western Ghats, separates the verdant coast from the Vindya mountains and the dry Deccan plateau further inland.
Home of the sacred Ganges river and the majority of Himalayan foothills, East India begins with the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, which comprise the westernmost part of the region. East India also contains an area known as the eastern triangle, which is entirely distinct. This is the last gulp of land that extends beyond Bangladesh, culminating in the Naga Hills along the Burmese border.
India reaches its peninsular tip with South India, which begins with the Deccan in the north and ends with Cape Comorin, where Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the three oceans will wash away their sins. The states in South India are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, a favorite leisure destination. The southeast coast, mirroring the west, also rests snugly beneath a mountain range --- the Eastern Ghats.
Geographical regions
There are five main geographical regions in India:
Himalayan range
Indo-Gangetic plains
Thar desert
Deccan plateau
Western and Eastern Ghats
Coastal plains
Natural Resources : coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
Natural Hazards : droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes
Total Area 3,287,590 sq km
Land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq km
Border Shared With Countries
Bangladesh 4,053 km
Bhutan 605 km
Burma 1,463 km
China 3,380 km
Nepal 1,690 km
Pakistan 2,912 km |
