Physical division of india

ssc chapter no-1 Physical division of India

1. PHYSICAL DIVISION OF INDIA

2. INTRODUCTION India, our homeland, is a great country in terms of it’s geography and history. It has been well known for it’s cultural and commercial prosperity for a long time. The Aryan assimilation with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants has formed the classical Indian culture. Arabs came to India in the 8 th century and Turks in the 12 th century followed by European traders in the late 15 th century.

3. INTRODUCTION India is a land of a great diversity. It has a large extent and geographical variations which are reflected by the variety of natural resources. It spreads from the snowy ranges of the Himalayas in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south. India has plenty of natural resources like sunshine, fertile soil, water, minerals, vegetation, animal life etc. All these together contribute to the progress of our homeland.

4. INTRODUCTION The name Bharat is accepted by the Constitution of India as the official name for the country. India is a democratic country which is divided into 28 states and 7 union territories for the convenience of administration and regional development. Rajasthan is the largest State in terms of area followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, whereas Goa is the smallest state of India.

5. LOCATION & EXTENT I) India lies in the Northern & Eastern Hemispheres. It has a central position in the southern part of the Asian continent. The tropic of Cancer passes through the central part of India.

6. LOCATION & EXTENT II. The latitudinal extent of mainland India is form 8º 4´28 ´´ to 37º 6´53´´ North. Thus its latitudinal extent is 29º 2´25´´. Away from the mainland the southernmost tip of India is Indira Point which is in the Nicobar Island. It is located at 6º 45´ north latitude. Latitudinal extent has impact on rainfall, temperature and duration of days and nights.

7. LOCATION & EXTENT III. The difference between the longest and shortest day near Kanniyakumari is about 45 minutes whereas this difference is nearly 4 hours in Leh and Ladakh .

8. LOCATION & EXTENT IV. India’s longitudinal extent is from 68º 7´33´´ to 97º 24´47´´ East. Thus it’s longitudinal extent is 29º 17´14´´. Local time, sunrise, sunset etc., are determined by longitudinal extent.

9. LOCATION & EXTENT V. The difference in the time of sunrises at kibithu village in Arunachal Pradesh in the east and Ghuar Mota (near Sir Creek) in Gujarat in the west is about 116 minutes. The meridian of longitude 82º 30´ East, which passes through Allahabad is taken as our standard meridian.

10. LOCATION & EXTENT VI. India’s standard time (IST) is determined as per local time of this longitude.

11. LOCATION & EXTENT VII. The Indian Ocean is the only ocean in the world that has been named after a country.

12. LOCATION & EXTENT VIII. India is the seventh-largest country in the world, with the total land area of 32,87,263 square kilometers. The distance from the western most point in Gujarat to the eastern most point in Arunachal Pradesh is about 2,993 kilometer while the distance between the northern most point in Kashmir and the southern most mainland point is about 3,214 kilometer. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km and a coastline of about 7,517 km.

13. SURROUNDING NATIONS LAND FRONTIER Name of the country States sharing the land boundary Length of border shared (in percentage) Pakistan Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. 22.00 Afghanistan Jammu and Kashmir. 00.70 China Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand , Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh. 23.00 Nepal Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim. 12.00 Bhutan Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh. 04.50 Myanmar Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram 10.80 Bangladesh West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram 27.00

14. SURROUNDING NATIONS WATER FRONTIER India is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the west and southwest, the Bay of Bengal in the east and southeast and the Indian Ocean in the south. Kanniyakumari is the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. Sir Lanka is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the narrow channel of Palk Strait.