Chapter 1 India: Location | class 11th | Geography Notes NCERT: India Physical Environment |

Notes of Ch 1 India-Location| Class 11th Geography

India – Location

• India extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west.

• India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea up to 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.

• The southern boundary extends up to 6°45′ N latitude in the Bay of Bengal.

• The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India, they are roughly about 30 degrees, whereas the actual distance measured from north to south extremity is 3,214 km, and that from east to west is only 2,933 km.

• The distance between two longitudes decreases towards the poles whereas the distance between two latitudes remains the same everywhere.

• The southern part of the country lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone or the warm temperate zone. This location is responsible for large variations in landforms, climate, soil types and natural vegetation in the country.

• From the values of longitude, it is quite visible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees, which causes a time difference of nearly two hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country

• A general understanding among the countries of the world to select the standard meridian in multiples of 7°30′ of longitude. That is why 82°30′ E has been selected as the ‘standard meridian’ of India. Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours and 30 minutes.

• There are some countries where there is more than one standard meridian due to their vast east-to-west extent. For example, the USA has seven time zones.

• India with its area of 3.28 million sq. km accounts for 2.4 percent of the world’s land surface area and stands as the seventh-largest country in the world.

Size

Indian subcontinent

• Indian subcontinent includes the countries — Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and India.

• The Himalayas, together with other ranges, have acted as a formidable physical barrier in the past.

• Except for a few mountain passes such as the Khyber, the Bolan, the Shipkila, the Nathula, the Bomdila, etc. it was difficult to cross it. These passes contributed towards the evolving of a unique regional identity of the Indian subcontinent.

• Peninsular part of India extends towards the Indian Ocean. This has provided the country with a coastline of 6,100 km in the mainland and 7,517 km in the entire geographical coast of the mainland plus the island groups.

• Andaman and Nicobar located in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

India and its neighbours

• India is located in the south-central part of the continent of Asia, bordering the Indian ocean and its two arms extending in the form of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

• This maritime location of Peninsular India has provided links to its neighboring regions through the sea and air routes.

• Sri Lanka and the Maldives are the two island countries located in the Indian Ocean, which are our neighbors.

• Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.