India

Page 1

India
I

INTRODUCTION

India(inHindi,Bharat),officiallyRepublicofIndia,federaldemocracyinsouthernAsiaandamember
oftheCommonwealthofNations,comprising,withPakistanandBangladesh,thesubcontinentof

India.Indiaistheseventh-largestcountryintheworldandthesecondmostpopulous,afterChina.It
geographicallyconsistsoftheentireIndianpeninsulaandportionsoftheAsianmainland.Indiais

borderedonthenorthbyAfghanistan(ifPakistan-controlledKashmirisincluded),Tibet,Nepal,China,
andBhutan;onthesouthbythePalkStraitandtheGulfofMannar,whichseparateitfromSriLanka,
andtheIndianOcean;onthewestbytheArabianSeaandPakistan;ontheeastbyMyanmar

(Burma),theBayofBengalandBangladesh,whichalmostcutsoffnorth-eastIndiafromtherestof

thecountry.WithJammuandKashmir(thedefinitivestatusofwhichhasnotbeendetermined),India
hasanareaof3,165,596sqkm(1,222,243sqmi).ThecapitalofIndiaisNewDelhi,andthe

countryslargestcitiesareMumbai(formerlyBombay),Delhi,andKolkata(formerlyCalcutta).

II

LANDANDRESOURCES

Indiamaybedividedintofourmainregions:theHimalaya,thenorthernriver-plains,theDeccan
Plateau,andtheEasternandWesternGhats.

TheHimalayamountainsystemisabout160to320km(100to200mi)wideandextendsabout

2,410km(1,498mi)alongthenorthernandeasternmarginsoftheIndiansubcontinent,separatingit
fromtherestofAsia.Itisthehighest,youngest,andoneofthemostactivemountainsystemsinthe
world.NotablepeakswhollyorpartlywithinIndiaincludeKanchenjunga(8,598m/28,209ft),the

third-highestpeakintheworld,afterMountEverestandK2(MountGodwin-Austen),NangaParbat
(8,125m/26,657ft),NandaDevi(7,817m/25,645ft),Rakaposhi(7,788m/25,550ft),andKamet
(7,756m/25,447ft).

LyingsouthofandparalleltotheHimalayaisthenorthernplainsregion,avastbeltofflatlandsabout
280to400km(175to250mi)inwidth.Theregionistheworldslargestalluvialplainandcomprises

themajorpartoftheareawateredbytheIndus,theGanges,andtheBrahmaputrarivers.Becauseof
theabundanceofwaterandtherichalluvialsoil,thenorthernplainsarethemostfertileanddensely

populatedpartofIndiaandwerethecradleofitscivilization.Theyextendwest-eastfromthePakistan
bordertotheBangladeshborder,continuingeastintonorth-eastIndiaviathenarrowcorridorofland
nearDarjiling.

ThecentralandwesternportionsoftheIndianplainsregionarewateredbytheRiverGangesandits

tributaries,whichdrainthesouthernslopesoftheHimalaya;theregionisknownconsequentlyasthe
Gangeticplain.Thenorth-easternstatesofAssamandArunachalPradesharewateredbytheRiver

Brahmaputraanditsaffluents,whichriseinthenorthernrangesoftheHimalaya.TheBrahmaputra
crossesintoBangladeshnorthoftheKhasiHills.TheRiverIndusrisesinTibet,flowswestthrough

JammuandKashmirState,andcrossesintoPakistan.Onthesouth-westernborderwithPakistanthe
plainsgivewaytotheGreatIndianDesertandthesaltmarshesknownastheRannofKachchh.

Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.