Download Introduction: - E

Travel geography
The geography of India 7.1
Introduction:



India is the seventh largest country accounting for 2.4%
of the total world area. India is second in cultivable
land to USA and the second most populous country in
the world.
Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the
mainland extends between latitude 8: 4’N and 37: 6’N
and 68: 7’ E and 97: 25’E and is a part of Asian
continent.
India measures about 3,214 km from north to south
and about 2933 km from east to west.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.2
Political Features:



China, Bhutan, and Nepal border India. To the west
Pakistan and east Bangladesh. The Himalayas and
Nepal in the north separate India from Tibet.
The boundary line between India and China is called
the MacMohan Line. The protected state of Bhutan lies
in the north-east, India shares a boundary with
Pakistan in north-west. India-Afghanistan border is only
80 km long whereas Indo-Pak border is 3,310 km long.
India is divided into twenty eight states and seven
union territories.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.2
Political Features:

The Indian political system is dates from India’s
Independence from British in 1947 and the
proclamation of India’s Constitution in 1950.

The LokSabha is the lower house where as RajyaSabha
or the Council of States too is the Upper House of the
Indian Parliament.

The Head of the State is the President. The President
can declare a state of emergency.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.2
Political Features:

The head of the government is the Prime Minister and
is appointed by the President on nomination or
election by the majority party in the lokSabha.

Prime Minister has to be a member of either house or
get elected within six months if not a member at the
time of appointment.

The Ministers are then appointed by the President on
the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.2
Political Features:

The lokSabha is composed of 552 members directly
elected, that includes 530 members to represent the
states and 20 members to represent Union Territories
and 2 members of the Anglo-Indian Community if the
president feels that the community is not adequately
represented.

The ratio between the number of seats allotted to each
State and the population of the State is kept same for
all States.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.2
Political Features:



The RajyaSabha has 250 members, 12 of which are
nominated by the President for their accomplishment
in art, literature, Science, or social services.
The reminder of the house is elected indirectly by the
state and territorial legislatures in proportion to the
unit’s population.
The two houses share legislative powers, except in the
area of Money Bill where LokSabha has overriding
powers.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:

India is situated north of the equator between 8:4’
and 37:6’ north latitude and 68:7’ and 97:25’ east
longitude.

The country has a total area of 3,166,414 sq.km and
measures 3,214 km from north to south and 2933 km
from east to west.

On the south, it is bordered by Indian Ocean-the
Arabian Sea on the south west and the Bay of Bengal
on the southeast.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:



The Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar separate India from
Sri Lanka to its immediate southeast, and the Maldives
are some 400 kms to the southwest. Andaman and
Nicobar Islands some 1200 Kms southeast of the
mainland.
Southern most point in India is Indira Point on Great
Nicobar Island.
India’s territorial waters extend into the sea to a
distance of 12 nautical Miles (22.2kms) from the coast
baseline.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The mainland consists of four well-defined regions.
The great mountain zone.
The Indo-Gangetic plain.
The desert region.
The southern Peninsula.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Mountains):
 India is home to some of the tallest mountain ranges
in the world-the Western Ghats, Himalaya, Aravalli,
Eastern Ghats, Nilgiri, Shivalik, Vindhya and Satpura
mountain ranges.
 India has seven major mountain ranges with peaks of
over 1000 meters. These ranges come with some of the
most attractive sceneries and ecosystems in the world.
 The mountains of India are prominent tourist
attractions.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Himalaya):
 Stretching for more than 2500 km from East to West,
and 250 km to 400 km from South to North, the Great
Himalayan mountain ranges are the highest mountains
of India.
 Kanchanjenga is the highest peak in India and third
highest in the world and Nanda Devi is the second
highest mountain peak in India.
 The Himalayas bisects India from the rest of Asia and is
the primary source of rivers.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Himalaya):
 India’s rivers the Ganga, Sutlej, Yamuna, Chenab, Ravi,
and Brahmaputra are fed by the melting snows of the
Himalaya Mountain Range.
 The Himalayan Mountain Range is also famed for
mountaineering expeditions. The glaciers are one of
the favorite attractions for the mountaineers.
 The Siachen Glacier is regarded as the biggest glacier
away from the Arctic zones.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (The Vindhya):
 This range is one of the seven holy mountain ranges in
India.
 It separates Northern India from the Southern India as
it runs across the central India.
 It extends in an east west direction from Varanasi
through Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat. It lies parallel to
Satpura range.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (The Satpura Range):
 It stretches through the states in the central part of
India. It extends across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
and Chhattisgarh.
 The satpura range is triangular in shape with its apex at
Ratnapuri with the two sides being parallel to the Tapi
and Narmada rivers.
 It is heavily forested and provide habitat for some of
the India’s remaining large mammals, including The
Royal Bengal Tiger, Gaur, Bear and Blackbuck.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Western/Eastern Ghats)
 Western Ghats: or the Sahyadri starts near the border
of Gujarat and ends at Kanyakumari. It runs north to
south along the western edge of the Deccan plateau.
About sixty percent of the Western Ghats are located in
Karnataka.
 Eastern Ghats: is an irregular range of mountains,
which include four major rivers, The Godavari,
Mahanadi, Krishna and the Kaveri. Its range starts from
West Bengal to Tamil Nadu.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Mountains of West Bengal)
 Darjeeling Himalayan hill region is situated on the
North-Western side of West Bengal.
 This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range.
Sandakfu and Phalut are the only places in West Bengal
from where Mt. Everest is visible.
 Darjeeling a popular hill resort is a beautiful region,
famous for its tea garden.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (The Indo-Gangetic Plain)

It is also known as The North Indian River Plain, named
after the Indus and the Ganges, the twin river system
that drain it. The Plains population density is very high
due to the fertile soil for farming.

The major rivers in this region are the Ganges, Indus,
and Brahmaputra along with their main tributariesYamuna, Chambal, Gomti, Ghaghara, Kosi, Sutlej, Ravi,
Beas, Chenab and Tista as well as the rivers of Ganges
Delta, such as Meghna.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (The Desert)

The Thar desert forms a significant portion of western
India and covers an area of about 77000 sq mi to
92200 sq mi. It lies mostly in Rajasthan, covering 61%
of its geographic area, and extends into the southern
portion of Haryana and Punjab states and into northern
Gujarat State.

About 10 percent of this region comprises sand dunes
and 90% consists of craggy rock forms, compacted saltlake bottoms. Temperature ranges from 0:C in winter
to 50:C in summer.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (Kutch Desert)


The Rann of Kutch is a seasonally marshy saline clay
desert located in the Thar Desert biogeographic
province in the state of Gujarat.
The Rann was originally part of the Arabian Sea, until
a geological rising of the seabed disconnected it from
the sea, forming a vast lake whose lower reaches
gradually dried up, leaving a salty marshland.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:


The Cold Mountain Desert of the Trans-Himalayas
The Trans-Himalayan region of India consists of the cold
deserts of Ladakh and Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir,
and Lahaul and Spiti valleys of Himachal Pradesh.
Bounded by Tibet in the east and Ladakh in the north,
The Lahaul-Spiti district is located at a mean elevation
of 3,048-4,572m. The temperature plummet to - 40: C
and rainfall is scanty. It is one of the highest inhabited
area in the world with one of the lowest population
densities.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features: (The southern Peninsular)



The southern Peninsula is generally known as Deccan
Plateau, which is making up most of the southern part
of the country.
It raises a hundred meters high in the north, and more
than a Kilometer high in the south forming a raised
triangle. It is located between the Western Ghats and
Eastern Ghats.
The Western Ghats Range is very tall and blocks the
moisture from south west monsoon from reaching the
Deccan Plateau, so the region receives very little
rainfall.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:
The rivers of India may be classified as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Himalayan river system.
The Indus river system.
The Brahmaputra river system.
The Peninsular river system.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Himalayan River System:

The Himalayas are drained by 16 major rivers.

The most important are :
• The Indus system.
• The Ganga System.
• The Brahmaputra system.

These rivers are long and are joined by many large and
important tributaries.

The rivers are both snow fed and rain fed therefore
perennially flow throughout the year.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.

The Indus System:
It is the westernmost of the Himalayan Rivers which
originates from a glacier near Bokhar.

It is one of the largest river systems of the world with
total channel length of 2880 Km. (in India 709 km).

Although most of the river’s course runs through
Pakistan a portion of it does run through Indian
territory, as do parts of the courses of its five major
tributaries.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.



The Indus System:
The collective flow of its well-known Punjab tributaries
(The five sisters- Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum )
The river flow across Pakistan to merge into the
Arabian sea east of Karachi.
Under the Indus Water Treaty signed by India and
Pakistan in 1960, India has got the exclusive right of
utilizing the waters of three eastern most rivers (Sutlej,
Beas and Ravi) and Pakistan for the remaining rivers,
after meeting the needs of Jammu & Kashmir state.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.

River Brahmaputra
One of the great rivers of Asia, it commences its
3,000km journey from the slopes of Kailash in western
Tibet to the Bay of Bengal but most of its course is not in
India.

The Ganges Brahmaputra river system forms the largest
delta in the world known as the Sunderbans.

Its courses for most of its tremendous length, under
various names, through Tibet/China, takes a sharp turn
near the north eastern tip of India, gathers momentum
through Assam before joining the major stream of the
Ganga near Dacca in Bangladesh to become might Padma.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.



The Peninsular River System:
Peninsular India is the vast plateau regions of western
and southern India.
As the rivers of this region are mostly rain fed they
behave according to the providence and fluctuate
immensely in volume, a number of them are nonperennial in nature.
Peninsular rivers contribute 30 percent of the total
outflow in India.
Cont…..
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Peninsular River System:

Most of the major rivers of the peninsula such as
Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri
flow eastwards and drain into the Bay of Bengal.

The Narmada and Tapi are the Only long rivers which
flow west and make estuaries.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Peninsular River System: Mahanadi:

It is a major river in eastern India. 900 km long, and
traverses states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa and
Jharkhand.

It originates from Baster Hills in Chhattisgarh, makes a
delta in Orissa and meets the Bay of Bengal.

It flows in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and
Orissa.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Peninsular River System: Godavari:

It originates in the Nasik district of Maharashtra State,
passes through Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and
form a delta in Bay of Bengal.

On account of its mild slope and mature stage it is
called the old Ganga.

The Godavari is the longest and biggest river in South
India and the second longest river in India, it is 1500 km
long. It is also named as Dakshina Ganga.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Peninsular River System: Krishna:




It originates near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra State.
It makes the delta close to that of Godavari and meets
the Bay of Bengal.
Its length is 1400 Km. It passes through Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
It is one of the important rivers in south India. Its
tributes are Koyna, Varna, Panch Ganga, Dudh Ganga
Bhima, Tung Bhadra etc.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.3
Physical Features:.
The Peninsular River System: Narmada:

It is the fifth longest river in India with a length of
1312 km and its catchment area is 93000 sq km.

It flows from east to west. It passes across the Vindhya
and Satpura mountain ranges.

Catchment area spread into Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh and Gujarat.

This river is also known as Rewa.
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.4
Climate:
The Indian meteorological department recognizes four
seasons:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Cold Weather (Dec-Feb)
The Hot Weather (March-May)
The Monsoon Season (June-Sept)
The season of the retreating monsoon (Oct-Nov)
Travel geography
The geography of India 7.4
Climate:
The study of geography is comprised of two parts.
Physical geography and human geography.
Physical geography: is the study of the earth’s surface
the different landforms and the bodies of water.
It also includes the study of climate, earth’s natural
resources such as plant life and minerals.
Human geography: is the study of how people interact
with the earth and how various cultures living in
different regions use the earth and its resources.