India As a Geographical Unit

  • India Location w.r.t. World: Of the world India comes in Northern Hemisphere or North-East part.
India Location w.r.t. World
  • The southernmost point of the country is the Pygmalion Point, or Indira Point is located at 6° 45′ N latitude.
  • North-south extent from Indira Col in Kashmir to Kanyakumari is 3,214 km.

East West Extent of India:

  • East-west width from the Rann of Kutch to Arunachal Pradesh is 2,933 km.
  • Following table will help you remember the Geographical Extent:
East-West Extent68° 7′ East to 97° 25′ East longitude
South-North Extent of mainland India (Including POK)8° 4′ North to 37° 6′ North latitude
South-North Extent of India (Including POK and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands) 6° 45′ North to 37° 6′ North latitude

Total Geographic Area of India:

  • With an area of 32,87,263 km , India is the seventh largest country in the world.
India is the seventh largest country
credit: https://www.statista.com/statistics/262955/largest-countries-in-the-world/
  • India accounts for about 2.4 % of the total surface area of the world.
  • 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.
  • East-West time difference is nearly 2 hrs. (A dif-ference of 1° longitude will make a difference of 4 minutes in time. ~30 x 4 = ~120 minutes or ~2 hours).

India’s frontiers

  • India’s longest border is with Bangladesh and shortest border is with Afghanistan (PoK touches Afghanistan).
  • Land Border: 15106.7 Km running through 17 States.
  • Coastline: India has a coastline of 7516.6 Km (6100 km of mainland coastline + coastline of 1197 Indian islands) touching 13 States and Union Territories (UTs).
  • Frontline states: States which touches the boundary with other countries, or International borders or coastline.
  • Exception to frontline states: Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattis- garh, Jharkhand, Delhi and Haryana.
Neighbouring countryLength of the common  border (in km)No. of states with common bordersNames of Indian states having common borders
Bangladesh40965West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram
China34885Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh
Pakistan33234Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat
Nepal17515Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim
Myanmar16434Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram
Bhutan6994Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Afghanistan1061Jammu & Kashmir (POK)

1. India-China Border

  • Second largest border after Bangladesh.
  • States touches the Boundary with China:
01Jammu and Kashmir
02Himachal Pradesh
03Uttarakhand
04Sikkim
05Arunachal Pradesh
  • The Indo-China border is divided into three sectors:
  1. the Western Sector
  2. the Middle Sector
  3. the Eastern Sector

1. The Western Sector

  • Length: 2152 km long border separates Jammu and Kashmir from Sinkiang province of China.
  • The frontier between Sinkiang and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is about 480 km. Long.
  • The Western sector Boundary is an outcome of British Policy towards Jammu and Kashmir. Known as Laddakh tibet Agreement.
  • Chinese claims that Aksai Chin is just an extension of Tibet with regards to language, religion and culture.
  • The Indians, on the other hand claim that the area has been historically administered by the state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1849.

2. The Middle Sector

  • Boundary: 625 km. Long
  • States touring this border: (i). Himachal Pradesh (ii). Uttarakhand.
  • Important rivers near: Spiti and Para Chin and Kalia and Alaknanda.

3. The Eastern Sector

  • 1140 km long boundary between India and China runs from Eastern limit of Bhutan to point near Talu Pass at Tri-junction of India, Tibet and Myanmar.
  • This is also Called as Mac Mohan line: Why it is so? Because Mac Mohan foreign secretory of British government of Indian negotiated Boundary agreement between Great Britain and Tibet also known as Shimla Accord in 1913-14.

2. India-Nepal Border

  • Length: 1752 Kilometer long.
  • State touching the boundary: 5 States
01Uttarakhand
02Uttar Pradesh
03Bihar
04West Bengal
05Shimla
  • Major portion runs in the east-west direction almost along foothills of Shiwalik Range.

3. India-Bhutan Border

  • Bhutan Shares 587 km long border with India. Bhutan is protection form external invasion.
  • Bhutan has friendly relation with India based on 1949 treaty. Under this treaty, India has got the rights to protect Bhutan’s sovereignty and defend its borders.

4. Indo-Pakistan Border

  • The Indo-Pakistan boundary is the result of the partition of the country in 1947 under the Rad- cliffe award of which Sir Cyril Radcliffe was the chairman.
  • Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Creek are the major disputed regions.
  • This boundary has created several disputes from Runs of Kachchh to Jammu and Kashmir.

5. The India-Bangladesh Border

  • Longest and nearly 27% of total land border of India.
  • 5 Indian States share boundary with Bangladesh.
01West Bengal
02Assam
03Meghalaya
04Tripura
05Mizoram
  • West Bengal has 2,272 Km. long border with Bangladesh.
  • This boundary has been determined under the Radcliffe Award which divided the erstwhile province of Bengal into two parts.

6. India-Myanmar Boundary

  • Length: 1458 km long.
  • This Boundary runs roughly along the watershed between the Brahmaputra and Ayeyarwady.
  • It passes through thickly forested regions, with Mizo Hills, Manipur and Nagaland on the Indian side and Chin Hills, Naga Hills and Kachin state on the Myanmar side.

7. India-Sri Lanka Boundary

  • India and Sri Lanka are separated from each other by a narrow and shallow sea called Palk Strait.
  • Dhanushkodi on the Tamil Nadu coast in India is only 32 km away from Talaimanar in Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka. These two points are joined by a group of islets forming Rama Setu (Adam’s Bridge).


Credit Sources/References

01https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_India
02https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/iess102.pdf
03Rajtanil mam Geography Youtube Videos and ppts.
04India a comprehensive geography book by Dr. R. S. Khullar
05https://www.pmfias.com/india-geographical-extent-frontiers-border-with-china-pakistan-bangladesh-nepal-bhutan-myanmar/

More Topics on Geography:

Rock SystemIndo-Gangatic Brahmaputra plain
Himalayan RangesPeninsular Plateau
Coastline of IndiaIndian Islands
Drainage system of IndiaIndian Monsoon
Indian ClimateNatural Vegetation of India
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