1. India: General Introduction
Location of India:
- Located latitudinally in the Northern Hemisphere and longitudinally in the Eastern Hemisphere.
- Latitudinal expanse- from 60 4’ N to 370 6’ S latitude
- Longitudinal expanse- from 680 7’ E to 970 25’ E
- Northernmost point- The Indira Col in J&K; Altitude of 5,764 meters is a mountain pass located on the Indira Ridge in the Siachen Muztagh in the Karakoram Range. (Not in POK)
- Southernmost point- Indira point (latitude 60 4’ N/ in Great Nicobar island)
- Previously known as Pygmalion Point or the parson Point (876 km from equator)
- Southernmost part of Mainland India- Kanyakumari (60 4’ N)
- Westernmost Point of India- Ghuar Moti (23.61° N, 68.7° E) Kutch district/ Gujarat
- Easternmost Point of India- Kibithu in Anjaw district/ Arunachal Pradesh/ Located on LAC (28°16′N 97°01′E)
Shape and Size of India:
- Almost quadrangular
- East to west- 2933 km // North to South 3214 km (North to South distance is more)
- Total Land Area – 32,87,263 sq. km.
- Land Frontier- 15200 km
- Coastline- 7516.6 km (9 State+ 4 UT) Coastline of mainland- 6100 km
- Longest coast line- GUJ > Andhra> TN > MH
India’ ocean:
Territorial Sea Frontier/ Zone (TZ) | Contiguous Zone (CZ) | Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) |
12 Nautical from main coastline | From TZ to 24 Nautical from main coastline | From EEZ to 200 Nautical from main coastline |
Absolute right to use | Right related to fiscal, excise duties, pollution control, immigration laws | Right to survey, exploitation, conservation and research on mineral resources, marine power, marine life EEZ area- 2.02 million sq.km |
Tropic of Cancer:
8 states- Guj- Raj-MP- CHG- JhK- WB- Tripura- Mizo
Indian Standard Meridian: 820 30’ E longitude
- Passes through 5 states: UP, MP, CHG, Odisha, Andhra
- Cities present: Mirzapur (UP), Nearby Raipur(CHG), Yanam
- Indian Standard Time (IST) is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time
Administrative Composition:
· 28 States + 8 Union Territory
Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati) | Haryana (Chandigarh)
| Manipur (Imphal) | Sikkim(Gangtok) |
Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar) | Himachal Pradesh (Shimla) | Meghalaya (Shillong) | Tamil Nadu(Chennai) |
Assam (Dispur) | Jharkhand (Ranchi) | Mizoram(Aizawl) | Telangana(Hyderabad) |
Bihar (Patna) | Karnataka (Bangalore) | Nagaland(Kohima) | Tripura(Agartala) |
Chhattisgarh (Raipur) | Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram) | Odisha(Bhubaneshwar) | Uttarakhand(Dehradun) |
Goa (Panaji) | Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) | Punjab(Chandigarh) | Uttar Pradesh(Lucknow) |
Gujarat (Gandhinagar) | Maharashtra (Mumbai) | Rajasthan(Jaipur) | West Bengal(Kolkata) |
Union Territory | Area (sq. km2) | Union Territory | Area (sq. km2) |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 8,249 | Jammu and Kashmir | 42,241 |
Chandigarh | 114 | Ladakh | 59146 |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 603 | Lakshadweep | 32 |
Delhi | 1,484 | Puducherry | 479 |
- Jan 2020 – J&K + Ladakh separated and became two new UT
- Dadara Nagar + Diu Daman merged and became single UT
- Area wise largest : Rajasthan> Madhya Pradesh > Maharashtra > UP
- Area wise smallest state: Goa
- Population wise: UP > Maharashtra > Bihar > West Bengal
- Population wise smallest- Sikkim < Mizoram
Puducherry (Pondicherry) is only one UT which is spread in three states
1. Puducherry (Main)- Tamil Nadu
2. Karaikal – Tamil Nadu
3. Yanam – Andhra Pradesh
4. Mahe – Kerala
· Andaman and Nicobar Islands
1. 
Andaman – North + Middle + South + Little
2. Nicobar – Car + Little + Great
· Port Blair- Capital situated in South Andaman
· Highest peak- Saddle Peak (North Andaman)
· Indira Point – the southernmost point of India is the southern point of Great Nicobar Island.
· Barren Island which is India’s only volcano is in the middle Andaman.
· Narcondam Island is also a volcanic island.
· 10o Channel separates Andaman from Nicobar.
· Duncan pass is between South Andaman and Little Andaman.
· Coco Straight is between North Andaman and Coco island of Myanmar.
· The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are also known as the Emerald islands.
· A & N Island also known as Emerald islands
Lakshadweep:
· Made up of coral reefs
· 8 Degree channel (Between Minicoy and Maldives )
· 9 Degree channel (Separates Minicoy from main archipelago of Lakshadweep)
The Palk Strait:
- · Situated between Tamil Nadu and Shri Lanka
- The Ram Setu or Adam’s bridge is s a chain of natural limestone shoals
- The extreme point from the side of India is Rameshwaram (Pamban Island) where as extreme point from Shri Lanka is Mannar Island.
- The Ram setu divide the Palk strait into two parts
- A. Palk Bay (North- East of Ram Setu); B. Gulf of Mannar (South-West of Ram setu)
Frontiers of India:
· There are seven neighbouring countries on the frontiers of India
· 17 states of India have common land borders with neighbouring countries.
Indian States sharing common border with neighbouring countries
Geography of India by Majid Hussain