Our Country India - Revision Notes

 CBSE Class 06 Social Science

Revision Notes
Chapter – 07 Geography
Our Country-India


• India is a vast country with diverse geographical features.
• India is surrounded by the Himalayas in the north, Arabian Sea in the west, Bay of Bengal in the East and the Indian Ocean in the south.
• India covers an area of 3.28 million sq km. It extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in south which is about 3,200 km apart and Arunanchal Pradesh in east to Gujarat in west about 2,900 km apart .
The lofty mountains, the Great Indian Desert, the Northern Plains, the uneven plateau surface and the coasts and islands present a diversity of landforms.
It has a great diversity in the climate, vegetation, wildlife as well as in the language and culture but also has unity which is reflected in traditions that bind us as one nation.

• India is the seventh largest country in area and second largest in population .

• Locational Setting:
(i) India is situated in the northern hemisphere.
(ii) The Tropic of Cancer  passes almost halfway through the country.
(iii) From south to north, main land of India extends between  and latitudes.
(iv) From west to east, India extends between and longitudes.
(v) The local time changes by four minutes for every one degree of longitudes. The sun rises two hours earlier in the east (Arunachal Pradesh) then in the west (Gujarat).
(vi) Due to great longitudinal extent of about 29o , there could be wide differences in local time of places located at two extreme points of India.
(vii) The local time of  longitude has been taken as the Indian Standard time.(IST)

• India’s: Neighbours and Administrative Divisions:

(i) India shares its border with seven countries-Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afganistan and Myanmar(Burma). Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Palk Strait.
(ii) India is a vast country. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into 29 states(including Telangana) and 7 Union Territories. New Delhi is the capital of India. Image 1
(iii) Rajasthan is the largest state and Goa is the smallest and Goa is the smallest state in terms of area.

• Physical Divisions

India is marked by a diversity of physical features such as high mountains, plateaus, fertile plains, long coastline and island groups. image 2

(i) Himalayas that literally mean the ‘abode of snow’ are located towards the north .Himalayas consist of three main ranges- Great Himalayas or Himadri, the Middle Himalaya or Himachal and the Shiwalik or outer himalayas .
(ii) The Northern Plains lie towards the south of the Himalayas. They are formed by the rich alluvial deposits of rivers like Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra and their tributaries which makes the land very fertile .These river plains are suitable for cultivation because of their fertility. So, become a home for large chunks of population.
(iii) In the western part of India is the Great Indian Desert.It consists of a dry, hot and sandy tract of land with no or very little vegetation.
(iv) To the South of Northern Plains lies the Peninsular Plateau.It is triangular in shape and its relief feature is highly uneven. It has the Aravalis,one of the oldest ranges in the world, the Vindhyas and the Satpuras ranges . The Narmada and the Tapi rivers flowing through these ranges and draining into the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats form western and eastern boundary respectively.While the Western Ghats are almost continuous,the Eastern Ghats are broken and uneven.
(v) The coastal plains lie to the west and east of western and Eastern Ghats . Konkan coast and Malabar coast are among the popular coast lines.Western coastal plains are very narrow ,where as Eastern coastal plains are much broader.The rivers Mahanadi,Godavari,Krishna and Kaveri drain into Bay of Bengal and form fertile deltas at their mouth.
(vi) Two group of Islands Lakshdweep Island in the Arabian sea and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal are a part of india. Lakshdweep Islands are coral islands located off coast of Kerela.