Our Country India

The seven countries that share boundaries with India are: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal.

A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a rivers, where that river flows into an ocean, sea. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river. Herodotus the great historian coined the term delta for the Nile River delta because the sediment deposited at its mouth had the shape of the Greek letter Delta: Δ. The Ganga and Brahmaputra form the world’s largest delta which is called the Sunderban delta.

There are four major physical divisions of India:

1. The Great Himalayas
2. The Northern Plains
3. The Peninsular Plateau
4. The Coastal Plains and Islands

Corals are skeletons of tiny marine animals Polyps. When the living polyps die, their skeletons are left. Other polyps grow on the top of the hard skeleton which grows higher and higher, thus forming coral islands. Lakshadweep Island in Arabian sea is the example of coral island.

The Indian peninsula is surrounded by Arabian Sea in the west, Bay of Bengal in the east and by Indian Ocean in the south.

Lakshadweep islands are located in the Arabian Sea. These islands are formed when the living polyps die and their skeletons are left. Other polyps grow on top of hard skeletons which grow higher and higher thus coral islands are formed.

India is well connected with South West Asia, Africa and Europe and even North and South America through Suez Canal and theCape of Good Hope. Suez Canal is an international highway of trade and commerce and India gets advantages of this highway linking east with west.

The second parallel range of Himalayas is known as Himachal Himalayas or middle Himalayas.

Due to the great longitudinal extent of about 29° there are a wide difference in the local time of two extremes of India.

The northern plains are formed by alluvial deposits. The alluvium is the fertile soil brought down by rivers. So, they are fertile.

The union territories of India are:

1. Pondicherry
2. Daman and Diu
3. Chandigarh
4. Dadra & Nagar Haveli
5. Andaman & Nicobar
6. Lakshadweep
7. Delhi

India has an area of about 3.28 million sq.km. The north–south extent from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is about 3,200 km. The east–west extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kuchchh is about 2,900 km. The lofty mountains, the Great Indian Desert, the Northern Plains, the uneven plateau surface and the coasts and islands present and forms diverse landform.

India is located in the northern hemisphere. The Tropic of Cancer (23°30’N) passes almost halfway through the country. From south to north, India extends between 8°4' N and 37° 06' N latitudes. From west to east, India extends between 68°7’ E and 97°25’ E longitudes

The Ganga and the Brahmaputra forms the worlds largest delta. It is known as Sunderban delta. It is the fastest growing delta. It is the most fertile delta.

The peninsular plateau lies to the south of northern plains. It is triangular in shape. It is a region of numerous hill ranges. It is rocky and uneven.

The states on the western coast are:

1. Gujarat
2. Maharasthra
3. Goa
4. Karnataka
5. Kerala

Some of the newly formed states are:

1. Chattisgarh
2. Uttarakhand
3. Jharkhand
4. Telangana

1. Itanagar - Arunachal Pradesh
2. Imphal - Manipur
3. Aizwal - Mizoram
4. Agartala – Tripura

Their awareness of the ocean and its movements has been accumulated over years of inhabiting the islands. The isolated tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands survived the tsunami of December 26, left their coastal settlements when the water receded. They had set up temporary camps in the forests of their island, Little Andaman.

The local time changes by four minutes for every one degree of longitude. There is a difference of 29o between longitudinal extent from east to west India. So the time difference is about two hours. That is why the sun rises two hours earlier in the east (Arunachal Pradesh) than in the west (Gujarat).