INDIAN GEOGRAPHY:

Area : 3, 287, 263 square km. (Seventh largest country in the world)

8^o4' to 37^o6 north latitudes and from 68^o7  to 97^o25  degrees east longitude.

Length:  3,214 kilometers from north to south and 2,933 kilometers from east to west. 

The length of the coastline of the peninsula and the two islands-Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep together is 7, 516.6 km.

Boundaries:  

·         Northwest -- Pakistan,

·         North- China. Nepal, Bhutan And Himalayas

·         Northest- China and Himalayas

·         East- Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bay of Bengal

·         South- Srilanka and Indian Ocean

·         Southwest- Arab Sagar and Maldives

·         West – Pakistan and Arabian Sea.
                  
  

      Physical divisions:

·         The northern mountains (The Himalayan Mountains): Has some of the tallest peaks in the world which are mostly covered with snow throughout the year. Many big rivers originate from the Himalayas. 

·         The fertile plains of the Ganga (The Indo- Gangetic Plain): The plains lie to the south of the Himalayas between the Indus and the Ganga river. This region extending from Punjab to Assam is a densely populated area and produces the major part of the country's food grains and is referred to as the 'Food Bowl of India'

·         The desert region (The Thar Desert): The north western part of India is made up of the Thar desert and occupies most of Western Rajasthan. 

·         The plateaus (The Malwa, the Chotanagpur and the Deccan Plateau) : The plateaus are separated from the Northern plains by mountains and hill ranges including the Vindhyas, Aravalli, Satpura, Maikala and Ajanta. The Deccan plateau with its rolling hills and numerous rivers, occupies most part of central and southern India.

·         The coastal plains (The Eastern and the Western Coastal Plains): They are narrow strips of plain land that lie on either side along the coast of the peninsula, beyond the ghats. The Eastern Coastal plains includes the Coromandel Coast in the south and the Western Coastal plains includes the Konkan, Kankara, and the Malabar coasts.

·         The Two Ghats (Eastern and the Western Ghats): The Ghats are mountain ranges on the east and west coasts of the subcontinent. To the east and west of the Deccan plateau lie the Eastern Ghat and the Western Ghat, respectively.  

·         The Islands ( The Andaman and Nicobar, the Lakshadweep Islands): Lakshadweep lies in the Arabian Sea on the west of the Indian Peninsula and Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal on the east.

      The Indo gangetic plains, the desert region and the Himalayas together form the North India and the south peninsula with the coastal plains, the two ghats and the Deccan Plateau form the South India.

Mountains:

• ·         Himalayas extend 2500 km and covers an area of about 500,000 sq km. 
• ·         Himalayas comprises three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and Valleys.
• ·         The Himalayas has some of the world's highest peaks.

                   

Sr.        Mountain                                                      Height (m)

1          Mount Everest/Sagarmatha/Chomolungma        8,848

2          Godwin Austen                                                8,611

3          Kangchenjunga                                                8,586

4          Lhotse                                                             8,516

5          Makalu                                                            8,485

6          Cho Oyu                                                         8,201

7          Dhaulagiri I                                                      8,167

8          Manaslu                                                          8,163

9          Nanga Parbat                                                  8,126

10        Annapurna I                                                    8,091

• ·         The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh lie mostly in the Himalayas.
• ·         Patkai and other ranges in the north and the north east. Also called the Eastern Ghats, it runs from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. Average elevation is about 610 metres.
• ·         The Vindhya Range is a low mountain range of central India. It extends for a distance of 1050 km and separate the Indo-Gangetic plain from the Deccan Plateau on the south.
• ·         The triangular shaped, Satpura Range is in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast, running east through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Chhattisgarh.
• ·         The Aravalli ranges runs along western India and extends approximately 300 miles northeast-southwest across Rajasthan state.
• ·         The Sahyadri ranges or the Western ghats range runs along the western border of the Deccan plateau (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu), from the Tapti river near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra to the southern tip of the Indian peninsula (Kanyakumari). 
• ·         It runs approximately 1600km. and elevation generally ranges from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising over 2,440 metres in places.

Rivers:

Rivers in India may be classified as-

1. Himalayan Rivers- The major rivers in the Himalayan group are generally snow fed and have reasonable flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months (June to September), the Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and the rivers carry the maximum amount of water, causing frequent floods. Himalayan rivers discharge about 70% of their inflow into the sea. This includes about 5% from central Indian rivers. They join the Ganga and drain into the Bay of Bengal.

Major Rivers: Indus, Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

2. Peninsular or Deccan Rivers- The Peninsular rivers are generally rain-fed and, therefore, fluctuate greatly in volume. A very large number of them are non-perennial. Peninsular rivers contribute 30 percent of 
the total outflow in India.

Major Rivers: Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Pennar, Mahanadi, Damodar, Sharavati, Netravati, Bharathapuzha, Periyar, Pamba, Narmada and Tapti. 

3. Coastal Rivers- The coastal rivers, especially on the west coast, are short and have limited catchment areas. Most of these are non-perennial as well. 

Major Rivers:
 

West Bengal Coastal Rivers - Subarnarekha River, Kharkai River, Kangsabati River.

Andhra Pradesh Coastal Rivers - Vamsadhara and Nagavalli Rivers are the two chief coastal rivers in Srikakulam district. Sharada River commences at Devarapally in Viishakhapatnam district and drains into the Bay of Bengal.

Tamil Nadu Coastal Rivers - Thamirabarani River, Palar River, Vaigai River, Vellar, Vasishta Nadi and Sweta Nadi.

Karnataka Coastal Rivers - Coastal rivers in Karnataka flow through three coastal districts and unite into the Arabian Sea. These include: Netravati River, Sharavathi River, Aghanashini River and rivers of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

Maharashtra Coastal Rivers - Shastri River, Gad River, Vashishti River, Savitri River, Patalganga River, Ulhas River, Thane Creek and Vasai Creek acting as distributaries to Ulhas River, Mithi River or Mahim River, Oshiwara River, Dahisar River, Tansa River in Thane, Vaitarna River and Surya River.

4 . Rivers of the inland drainage basin-
 

The rivers on the inland drainage basin consists of those in Western Rajasthan which are very few and short lived.

Major Rivers:

Sambhar- It is lost in the desert sands,

Loni- It drains into the Rann of Kutch.

Mahi -This river originates from the northern slope of the Vindhya Range in Madhya Pradesh. It enters the southeastern portion of Rajasthan and flows through the Banswara district. Further it takes a `U` shaped loop in Rajasthan and finally surrenders itself to the sea by a wide estuary near Cambay.

The Main Rivers in India

Name	Length (km)	Originates from	Ends in	Passes through
Ganga (Bhagirati)	2,507	Gaumukh	Bay of Bengal	Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal
Yamuna (Jamuna)	1,370	Garhwal in Yamunotri	Bay of Bengal	Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh
Brahmaputra	2,850	Chemayung-Dung glacier, between lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash	Bay of Bengal	North Eastern states of India
Kaveri (Dakshina Ganga" or Ganges of the south)	765	Hills of Coorg, Karnataka	Bay of Bengal	Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Godavari	1,465	Trimbakeshwar near Nasik Hills in Maharashtra	Bay of Bengal	South-easterly direction, through Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh
Krishna	900	Near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra	Bay of Bengal	Maharastra, Karnataka  and Andhra Pradesh
Narmada	1,300	Amarkantak hill in Madhya Pradesh	Arabian Sea	Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
Tapti	724	Pachmari, Madhya Pradesh	Arabian Sea	Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
Gomti	805	Himalaya Range of Nepal	Bay of Bengal	Uttar Pradesh
Ghagghar	467	Shivalik mountain range of Himachal Pradesh	Disappears into the Thar Desert	Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan
Mahanadi	860	Satpura Range	Bay of Bengal	Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharashtra