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1. Geographical Features
a. Relative location [whole planet w/no labels, borders, or reference lines]
b. Latitude with respect to America (tropic of cancer runs through Mexico,
Equator runs through South America)
[w/labels]
i. North: China (Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan
ii. East: Bangladesh (form. E. Pakistan), Myanmar (form. Burma)
iii. SE: Bay of Bengal
iv. S: Gulf of Manar, Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean
v. W: Pakistan, Arabian Sea
c. Four Regions:
i. Himalayas (highest mt system in world):
1. [image: if-karakoram] Karakoram range part of the western
Himalayas. The range contains approximately 60 peaks
averaging 6,600 m (22,000 ft) in height. Among them is the
world’s second tallest mountain, K2 (>28k).
2. [image: everest], Everest > 29K, the world’s highest mountain
at 8,850 m (29,035 ft), is located in the Himalayas.
ii. Gangetic Plain: South and parallel to the Himalayas a belt of flat,
alluvial lowlands 175 to 250 miles wide. This area includes some of
the most agriculturally productive land in India. [image: ifindiarivers]The Indian portion of the broad Gangetic Plain
encompasses several river systems, and stretches from Punjab state in
the west, through the Gangetic Plain, to the Assam Valley in the east.
Marking the western end of the Gangetic Plain are the Indus River and
its tributaries, including the Sutlej and Chenāb rivers, which flow
through Punjab in India’s northwest corner. The Gangetic Plain is
formed by the Ganges River and its tributaries, which drain the
southern slopes of the Himalayas. Assam Valley is separated from the
Gangetic Plain by a narrow corridor of land near the city of Dārjiling
(Darjeeling). The valley is watered by the Brahmaputra River, which
rises in Tibet and crosses into India at its northeast corner, then flows
north of the Khāsi Hills into Bangladesh. [image: if-thar] The Thar
Desert, a huge, dry, sandy sandy region extending into Pakistan, lies at
the southwestern end of the Gangetic Plain
iii. [image:if-deccan1] Deccan Plateau: rocky & uneven, most of
peninsular India; a vast triangular region in peninsular India. The land
is rocky but contains areas of fertile soils. The Deccan Plateau has a
dry season that lasts six to nine months. [image: if-deccan2] Much of
its surface is covered by thorn scrub forest interspersed with small
areas of deciduous broadleaf forest. The term “Deccan” comes from
the Sanskrit word dakshina, meaning “the south.” It is also applied
more generally to the entire Indian Peninsula.
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iv. Western and Eastern Ghats [image:if-ghats]. The Ghats are two
mountain ranges in southern India. Dense tropical forests cover the
mountains’ seaward slopes due to heavy rainfall during the monsoon
season
1. [image: if-westernghats] The Western Ghats, which runs
parallel to the Arabian Sea coast, has elevations of about 2,134
m (about 7,000 ft), averages about 3.5k.
d. Climate: India’s shape, unusual topography, and geographical position give it
a diverse climate. Most of India has a tropical or subtropical climate, with
little variation in temperature between seasons. The northern plains, however,
have a greater temperature range, with cooler winters and hotter summers.
The mountain areas have cold winters and cool summers. As elevations
increase sharply in the mountains, climate type can change from subtropical to
polar within a few miles.
e. Seasonal cycle: India’s seasonal cycle includes three main phases: the cool,
dry winter from October to March; the hot, dry summer from April to June;
and the southwest monsoon season of warm, torrential rains from mid-June to
September. India’s winter season brings cold temperatures to the mountain
slopes and northern plains; temperatures in the Thar Desert reach freezing at
night. Farther south, temperatures are mild.
2. Linguistic Features [image: if-indialanguages]:
The map depicts the areas in the Indian subcontinent in which various language families
are spoken. Languages belonging to the Indo-Iranian group (a branch of the IndoEuropean language family), such as Bengali, Hindi-Urdu, Gujarāti, Persian, and Punjabi,
are prevalent in northern and central India and most of Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and
Bangladesh. In southern India, Dravidian languages are more common, the most widely
spoken being Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Other languages spoken in the
region belong to the Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic language families, and English is
often used as a trade language.
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