Continent :Asia
Region Southern Asia Indian subcontinent
Coordinates 21°N 78°E / 21°N 78°E / 21; 78
Area Ranked 7th 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219.3 sq mi) 90.44% land 9.56 % water
Borders Total land borders: 15,106.70 km (9,386.87 mi) Bangladesh: 4,096.70 km (2,545.57 mi) China (PRC): 3,488 km (2,167 mi) Pakistan: 3,323 km (2,065 mi) Nepal: 1,751 km (1,088 mi) Myanmar: 1,643 km (1,021 mi) Bhutan: 699 km (434 mi) Afghanistan: 106 km (66 mi) Highest point Kangchenjunga 8,586 m (28,169.3 ft) Lowest point Kuttanad -2.2 m (−7.2 ft) Longest river Ganges–Brahmaputra Largest lake Chilka Lake
- Himalayas extend 2500 km and covers an area of about 500,000 sq km. It comprises three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and Valleys. The Himalayas has some of the world’s highest peaks. The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh lie mostly in the Himalayas.
- The world’s highest peak Everest is in the Himalayan ranges (7500m)
- 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.
The Indian sub continent has several distinct physical divisions. They can be classified under the following 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.
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