Indian geography notes JKSSB Stock assistant Wildlife guard lecture 1

 Indian geography notes

India is the 7th largest country in the world separated from  the rest of Asia by the Himalayas. The mainland of India,  extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in the   south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the  west

Geographical facts about India
● Area of India is 3.28 million square km.
● India accounts for about 2.4 percent of the total geographical area of the world

The coastline of India stretches along the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Arabian Sea in the west.
● There is a time difference of two hours between Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh. (1° = 4 minute).
● The maximum length of the mainland from north to south is about 3214 km.
● The maximum length of the mainland from east to west is about 2933 km.
● India’s total length of coastline is 6,100 km of its mainland and after including Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep islands, it is about 7,516 km.
● India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea up to 12 nautical miles (i.e. about 21.9 km) from the coast

Indian Standard Meridian
● 82°30’E Meridian crossing through the Mirzapur city of Uttar Pradesh is taken as India’s Standard Meridian.
● Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (also known as GMT or 0° or Prime Meridian) by 5 hours and 30 minutes.

● Tropic of cancer (23°30'N) passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, and Mizoram.

The Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of the country dividing it into two latitudinal halves
● The area to the north of Tropic of Cancer is near twice the area which lies to the south of it
● South of 22° north latitude, the country tapers off over 800 km into the Indian Ocean as a peninsula.
● This location is responsible for large variations in landforms, climate, soil types and natural vegetation in the country

Longitudinal and Latitudinal Extent