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Indian Geography – Size and Location

  • Area of India: 32,87,263 km2 
  • India is the 7th largest country in the world (in Area).
  •  Distance from West to East of India: 2933 km
  •  Distance from North to South of India: 3214 km
  • India’s total area is 2.4% of the total Geographical area of the world.
  • Land Boundary or Terrestrial Boundary of India: 15,200 km
  • Coastal Boundary of Mainland India: 6100 km
  • Coastal Boundary of India including Lakshadweep and  Andman & Nicobar Island: 7516 km 

Location

  • India lies in Northern Hemisphere.
  • The main land extends between:  8°4’N and 37°6’N Latitudes
  • And 68°7’E and 97°25’E Longitudes
  • “Tropic of Cancer” (23.5 degrees)  divides India into almost 2 equal parts.
  •  Standard Time Meridian of India passes through 82˚5′ E longitude (Mirzapur, near Allahabad)
  • Northern Point of India: Indira Col, near Ladakh
  • Southern Point of India(Mainland): Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
  • Southernmost Point of India: Indira Point, Nicobar Island
  •  Western Point of India: Guhar Moti, Gujrat
  • Eastern Point of India: Kibithu, Arunachal Pradesh

Neighbouring Countries

  • These countries are  neighbouring countries of India-
  • Bangladesh
  • China
  • Pakistan
  • Nepal
  • Myanmar
  • Bhutan
  • Afghanistan
Bangladesh
  • Border Length: 4096 km
  • Bordering States: (1)West Bengal (2)Meghalaya (3)Tripura (4)Assam (5)Mizoram
China
  • Border Length: 3488 km
  • Bordering States: (1)Jammu and Kashmir (2)Himachal Pradesh (3)Uttarakhand (4)Sikkim (5)Arunachal Pradesh
Pakistan
  • Border Length: 3323 km
  • Bordering States: (1)Jammu and Kashmir (2)Punjab (3)Rajasthan (4)Gujrat 
Nepal
  • Border Length: 1751 km
  • Bordering States: (1)Uttar Pradesh (2)Bihar (3)West Bengal (4)Uttarakhand (5)Sikkim 
Myanmar
  • Border Length: 1643 km
  • Bordering States: (1)Arunachal Pradesh (2)Nagaland (3)Manipur (4)Mizoram 
Bhutan
  • Border Length: 699 km
  • Bordering States: (1)Arunachal Pradesh (2)Assam (3)West Bengal (4)Sikkim 
Afghanistan
  • Border Length: 106 km
  • Bordering States: POK
  • Which neighbouring country of India share the largest border with India: Bangladesh, 4096 km

Tropic of Cancer

  • The Tropic of Cancer (23° 30′ N) divides the country into almost 2 equal parts.

Tropic of Cancer passes through these Indian states:

  1. Gujrat
  2. Rajasthan
  3. Madhya Pradesh
  4. Chattisgarh
  5. Jharkhand
  6. West Bengal
  7. Tripura
  8. Mirzapur

Standard Meridian

  • Standard Meridian of India is 82° 30′
  • Standard Meridian of India passes from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.
  • India Standard Time (IST): +05:30 UTC

It passes through following states of India:

  1. Uttar Pradesh
  2. Madhya Pradesh
  3. Chhattisgarh
  4. Odisha
  5. Andhra Pradesh

Territorial Water Boundary

Territorial Sea
  • Territorial sea is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from Baseline.
Contiguous Zone
  • Contiguous Zone is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from Territorial Sea.
  • It ranges from 12 nm from Baseline to 24 nm.
Exclusive Economic Zone
  • An exclusive economic zone extends from the Baseline 200 nautical miles (370.4 km).
  • It includes the contiguous zone.

Coastal States/UT of India

There are 9 Coastal States and 4 Coastal Union Territories of India.

  • Length of Total Coastline of India 7516.6 km including Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Island.
  • Length of coastline of Mainland India is 6100 km.
  • Largest Coastal Line of India is Gujrat.

Coastal States of India:

  1. Gujarat
  2. Maharashtra
  3. Goa
  4. Karnataka
  5. Kerala
  6. Tamil Nadu
  7. Andhra Pradesh
  8. West Bengal

Coastal Union Territories of India:

  1. Daman & Diu
  2. Puducherry
  3. Andaman & Nicobar Islands
  4. Lakshadeweep 

Important Points

  • Barren Island (Andaman) is only active volcano in South Asia and India.
  • Lakshadweep is the Smallest Union Territory of India.
  • Kavaratti is the administered capital of Lakshadweep.
  • 8° Channel separates Minicoy and Maldives.
  • 9° Channel separates Lakshadweep from Minicoy.
  • 10° Channel separates Andaman Islands and Nicobar Island.

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