Indian Geography

Introduction of India

– India is a country located in south Asia.
– India lies in southern hemisphere of world between following latitude and longitude.
Latitude-between 8°4′ N & 37°6′ N, from south to north.
Longitude-between 68°7′ E & 97°25′ E, from west to east.

– The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in the south (3214 Km) and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west(2933 Km)
– India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea upto 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.
– India is seventh largest country in the world (in terms of area).
– India, in terms of population, is the second largest country in the world.
– India has total land area of 32.87 lakh Square Kilometer.
– India occupied 2.4% of world’s total land.
– India consist of 28 States and 8 Union Territory.
– India can be divided into the following physiographic divisions:

(1) The Northern and North-eastern Mountains
(2) The Northern Plain
(3) The Peninsular Plateau
(4) The Indian Desert
(5) The Coastal Plains
(6) The Islands.
– India’s 43% area is Plain, 29.3% area is hills &Mountains, 27.7 % is plateau.

India is called subcontinent. Why?

India is regarded as subcontinent because of following reasons –

• India has 2.4% of the world’s total land area. It has a land border of about 15,200 km and coastline of about 7516.6 km.
• India’s natural borders are like the Himalaya’s in the North and the Deccan Peninsula in the South which provides a unique identity in the world.
• In terms of political aspect, the Indian subcontinent is made up of  at least 7 countries : India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
• The people of the Indian subcontinent have shared ethnic, linguistic, cultural and historical connections.
• Earlier, India used to be a continent. But due to continuous movement of land and continental drift, it collided with Asia and became its part.