Geography : India Physical Environment
Revision Notes Geography Class 11 Chapter 1 India – Location
Summary
- Subcontinent: A subcontinent is part of a larger continent, made up of a number of countries that form a large mass of land.
- India with its area of 3.28 million sq. km accounts for 2.4 per cent of the world’s land surface area and stands as the 7th largest country in the world.
- India is located in the south-central part of the continent of Asia, bordering the Indian ocean and its two arms extending in the form of Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. This maritime location of Peninsular India has provided links to its neighbouring regions through the sea and air routes.
- Sri Lanka and Maldives are the two island countries located in the Indian Ocean, which are our neighbours.
- The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the North to Kanyakumari in the South and Arunachal Pradesh in the East to Gujarat in the West.
- India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea upto 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.
- The size of India has endowed her with great physical diversity.
- India has the presence of lofty mountains in the North; large rivers such as Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri; green forested hills in North East and South India; and the vast sandy expanse of Marusthali.
- Bounded by the Himalayas in the North, Hindukush and Sulaiman ranges in the North West, Purvachal hills in the North-East and by the large expanse of the Indian ocean in the South, it forms a great geographic entity known as the Indian subcontinent. It includes the countries — Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India.
- The Himalayas, together with other ranges, have acted as a formidable physical barrier in the past.
- Except for a few mountain passes such as the Khyber, the Bolan, the Shipkila, the Nathula, the Bomdila, etc., it was difficult to cross it.
- Peninsular part of India extends towards the Indian Ocean. This has provided the country with a coastline of 6,100 km in the mainland and 7,517 km in the entire geographical coast of the mainland plus the island groups Andaman and Nicobar located in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
- Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.
- The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is 8°4’N – 37°6’N and 68°7’E – 97°25’E respectively. There is about 30 degrees, difference between its latitudinal and longitudinal extent.
- The actual distance of India measured from north to south extremity is 3,214 km, and that from east to west is only 2,933 km.
- Our southern boundary extends up to 6°45′ N latitude in the Bay of Bengal. This was represented by Indira point which was submerged during 2004 Tsunami.
- From the values of latitude, it is understood that the southern part of the country lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone or the warm temperate zone.
- From the values of longitude, it is quite discernible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees, which causes a time difference of nearly 2 hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country.
- There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select the standard meridian in multiples of 7°30′ of longitude. That is why 82°30′ E has been selected as the ‘Standard Meridian’ of India. Indian Standard Time (IST) is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) by 5 hours and 30 minutes.
- Currently India has 28 states and 8 Union Territories, Rajasthan is the largest and Goa is the smallest state in terms of area, while Uttar Pradesh is the largest and Sikkim is the smallest state in terms of population.
- Terrestrial border of India touches 7 countries, these countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
- India has longest terrestrial border with Bangladesh.
- Sri Lanka and Maldives are the two island countries located in the Indian Ocean, which are our neighbours.
- Places in India through which the standard meridian passes:
- Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad)
- Kakinada
- Neighbouring Countries of India:
- Myanmar
- Bangladesh
- Sri Lanka
- Maldives.
- Pakistan
- China
- Nepal
- Bhutan
Important Facts about India
| Longest River | Ganga |
| Largest Lake | Lake Chilka |
| Highest Point | Mt. K2 (8611 m) |
| Highest Point of Himalaya | Kanchan Junga (8,598 m) |
| Lowest Point | Kuttanad (-2.2 m) |
| Northernmost Point | Siachen Glacier near Karakoram |
| Southernmost Point | Indira Point, Great Nicobar, Nicobar Islands |
| Southernmost Point (Mainland) | Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari) |
| Westernmost Point | West of Ghuar Mota, Gujarat |
| Easternmost Point | Kibithu, Arunachal Pradesh |
| Highest Altitude | Kanchenju, Sikkim |
| Lowest Altitude | Kuttanad (Kerala) |
| Territorial Sea | 12 nm (nautical miles) |
| Contiguous Zone | 24 nm |
| Exclusive economic Zone | 200 nm |
| Continental Shelf | 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
1 nautical mile (nm) = 1.852 kilometers (km)
Find out the distance between two latitudes?
From the values of latitude, it is understood that the southern part of the country lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone or the warm temperate zone. This location is responsible for large variations in land forms, climate, soil types and natural vegetation in the country. From the values of longitude, it is quite discernible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees, which causes a time difference of nearly two hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country. While the sun rises in the northeastern states about two hours earlier as compared to Jaisalmer, the watches in Dibrugarh, Imphal in the east and Jaisalmer, Bhopal or Chennai in the other parts of India show the same time.
Why does this happen?
There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select the meridian in multiples of 7°30′ of longitude. That is why 82°30′ E has been selected ‘standard meridian’ of India. Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours and 30 minutes.
There are some countries where there are more than one standard meridian due to their vast east-to-west extent. For example, the USA has seven time zones.