91 Stunning India Geography Facts You Should Know About

India, with its diversified culture and vast history, is one of the world's oldest civilizations.

It spans from the snow-capped Himalayan ranges in the north to the tropical rain forests in the south, covering 1,269,220 sq mi (3,287,263 sq km). Due to mountains and the sea, India, the world's seventh-largest country, is geographically unique from the rest of Asia.

It has a 9,445 mi (15,200 km) long land boundary. The seashore of the mainland is 4,670 mi (7,517 km) long.

So sit back, unwind, and read the 91 intriguing facts about India's geography that will both astound and enlighten you.

Introduction To Indian Geography

India controls the vast majority of the South Asian region. New Delhi, India's capital, was constructed in the 20th century to serve as the country's administrative hub.

India's government is a representative democracy. It caters to a diverse population of tens of thousands of people who speak a multitude of new languages. With about a sixth of the world's population, India is the world's second-most densely populated country, after China.

According to archaeological evidence, the northwestern region of the mainland was ruled by the Ancient world, a highly developed urbanized culture.

India acted as a practically self-contained historical and social arena at the era, giving rise to a separate heritage linked principally with Hinduism, with roots dating back to the Indus Valley Civilization.

Other faiths, such as Buddhism and Jainism, began in India, and Indians have developed a rich academic development in areas like mathematics, architecture, music, fine arts, and literature.

Invasions from outside India's northern mountain boundary have disrupted the country's history on several occasions.

The introduction of Islam from the northwest by Turkish, Persian, and Arab starting in the early eighth century CE was an especially significant part of Indian history.

Some of the invaders stayed, and up to the 13th-century era, much of the subcontinent had fallen under Muslim control, with the Muslim population steadily growing.

India was subjected to considerable environmental cues arriving by water once Vasco da Gama landed in 1498 and the subsequent rise of European naval dominance in the country.

As a result, the reigning Muslim class fell out of favor, and the Britishers absorbed the entire region. The British Rule came to a halt in August 1947.

India's physical wealth and intellectual vitality are currently reflected in its well-developed facilities and varied manufacturing capacity.

The rate of India's agricultural growth, as well as its robust culture and art of music, literature, and movie, make it a hub of scientific and engineering experts.

Main Geographical Features Of India

India is a diversified country not only culturally but also geographically. Mountains, plains, and plateaus, as well as islands and deserts, make up India's physical landscape. The 'Theory of Plate Tectonics,' which asserts that plate movement caused folding and faulting in continental rocks, as well as volcanic activity, explains the genesis of these distinct traits.

India is the world's seventh-largest country, roughly one-third the size of the United States.

India covers an area of approximately 1.26 million mi (3.28 million sq km). The Indian mainland is located between latitudes 8°4′ and 37°6′ N and longitudes 68°7′ and 97°25′ E.

The Tropic of Cancer (23°30′ N) separates India in half. In addition, the coastline is 4,670 mi (7,517 km) long in total.

The Indian subcontinent sailed across the Indian Ocean, beginning around Madagascar and crashing into southern Asia tens of millions of years later. Around 55 million years ago, two planets collided. The Himalayas, which are still rising, were produced by the force of the crash.

When the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia 65 million years ago at the end of a 70-million-year voyage across the Indian Ocean, the Himalayas were born.

Massive folds of sedimentary rock were thrust up from the earth by the power and pressure of the Asian plate colliding with India.

Plate tectonics is continuing to push the Indian subcontinent beneath Nepal and China, both of which are located on the Eurasian Plate, driving Tibet and the entire Himalayan range to rise around 10 mm (1 cm) per year and move towards China at a rate of about 50 mm (5 cm) per year.

Tibet was once a well-watered plain that was pushed uphill. As the Himalayas pushed higher, Tibet lost its rain, transforming it into a dry plateau.

Unlike the Eurasian Plate, which covers much of Asia and Europe, the Indian plate moves northeastward at a rate of 2 in (5 cm) per year.

A large amount of energy is produced at the plate borders as the plates collide, which explains why India, Nepal, Tibet, and China occasionally experience disastrous earthquakes.

The geography of India is extremely diverse, including snow-capped mountain ranges, deserts, plains, hills, and plateaus.

In ancient times, the Indo-Gangetic Plain's major river valleys, as well as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers' valleys in West Asia and the Huang He (Yellow River) in East Asia, were among Asia's primary cradles of civilization.

As a result of thousands of years of cultural and political expansion and fusion, India presently consists of several different natural and cultural regions.

The mainland of India spans eastward from Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh and Burma in the east, occupying much of the South Asian peninsula. On the north side, India shares borders with China, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Having a coastline of over 4,670 mi (7,517 km), the Indian peninsula tapers southward, dividing the Indian Ocean into two bodies of water, namely The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

South Asia encompasses a total area of 1,982,496 sq mi (5,134,641 sq km). India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka comprises Southern Asia.

Because some of India's boundaries are contested, its actual size is up for question. The entire area is 1,269,220 sq mi (3,287,263 sq km).

India's geological features are classified according to their formation era. A small portion of this time spans western and central India.

Paleozoic strata from the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian systems can be found in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh's Western Himalaya region. Sub-aerial volcanic activity is assumed to have generated the Mesozoic Deccan Traps, which cover much of the northern Deccan.

The Trap soil is dark in color and suitable for agriculture. The western Himalayas are home to the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic systems. In the western Himalayas and Rajasthan, the Jurassic system can be seen.

Physical Geographical Regions Of India

The geography of India includes flowing rivers, tranquil lakes, beautiful waterfalls, mighty mountains, vast coastal plains, scattered islands, surrounding oceans, and many other features. The country is renowned as the 'Land of Rivers' because of its numerous rivers.

India has mountain ranges stretching from the north to the central plateau region. The nation's western and eastern coastline regions are surrounded by plains.

Cherrapunji, the world's wettest place, is located in India.

India's woods are the world's 10th largest, spanning 21.6% of the country.

The Aravalli Craton, or Marwar-Mewar Craton or the Western Indian Craton, includes two important states, namely Rajasthan and western and southern regions of the state of Haryana.

The Great Boundary Fault traverses the Aravalli Craton on the eastern region of India, the sandy Thar desert on the western side of the country, Indo-Gangetic alluvium on the northern side as well as Son-Narmada-Tapti on the southernmost side.

The Himalayan range is named as the world's highest mountain range, with Mount Everest on the Nepal–China border serving as its highest peak at 29,029 ft (8,848 m). The range runs along India's northeastern border, separating it from northeastern Asia.

The Aravali Range is India's oldest mountain range, stretching 500 mi (800 km) from northeast to southwest 420 mi (670 km).

The Vindhya range, north of the Satpura range and east of the Aravali range, runs 650 mi (1,050 km) across central India. Geographically, it divides Northern India from Southern India.

The Chhota Nagpur Plateau lies in the eastern India region, and it comprises parts of four states, namely Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh. With a total area of roughly 25,000 sq mi (65,000 sq km), it is made up of three smaller plateaus: Ranchi, Hazaribagh, and Kodarma.

South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, is covered in southern granulite terrain, excluding the eastern and western ghats.

The Deccan Plateau, or the Deccan Trapps, is a huge triangular plateau that is surrounded to the north by the Vindhyas and to the east and west by the Eastern and Western Ghats.

The Deccan Plateau slopes gently from west to east, giving rise to various peninsular rivers that fall into the Bay of Bengal, including the Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, and Mahanadi.

The Sahyadri Mountains, or the Western Ghats, run along the western edge of India's Deccan Plateau, separating it from a small coastal plain along the Arabian Sea.

The highest peak in the Western Ghats is Anai Mudi in the Anaimalai Hills in Kerala, at 8,842 ft (2,695 m).

The three major rivers that flow through India's Indo-Gangetic Plain are the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra (also known as the Great Plain) parallel to the Himalayas from Jammu and Kashmir in the western side to Assam in the eastern region, draining most of the northern and eastern regions of India.

The northern boundary of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is formed by two widely known terrain belts commonly referred to as the Terai.

Little mountains known locally as Ghar (meaning referred to as the house in Hindi) have formed where the Himalayan slopes meet the plains, produced by coarse grains and stones deposited by streams and rivers.

Where the plains begin, rainwater from these areas rises to the surface, altering broad expanses along streams.

The plain's southern boundary begins in Rajasthan, at the border of the Great Indian Desert, and extends east to the Bay of Bengal, following the foothills of the Central Highlands.

The Thar Desert is named the seventh-largest desert of this beautiful world. It covers a large part of western India, with an area varying from 77,200-92,200 sq mi (200,000-238,700 sq km).

The Kutch region of Gujarat and Koyna in Maharashtra are classified as Zone IV (high risk) earthquake zones in western India. The Rann Of Kutch, with desert on one side and sea on the other, supports a diversity of ecosystems, including mangroves and desert flora.

The Eastern Coastal Plain is a large swath of territory that runs between the Eastern Ghats and India's oceanic border. It runs between the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the eastern state of West Bengal.

The region receives rain from both the northeast and southwest monsoons. The rains from the southwest monsoon get divided between two branches called the Arabian Sea branch and the Bay of Bengal branch.

The Bay of Bengal branch flows northwards in early June, crossing across northeast India. The Arabian Sea branch flows north, draining the rainwater on the windward side of the Western Ghats.

The Western Coastal Plain lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. The Western Coastal Plain is estimated to be 31-62 mi (50-100 km) long. In the north, Gujarat is located, whereas, in the south, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala are located.

The region is flooded by numerous rivers and backwaters. The rivers originating from the Western Ghats are fast-flowing, perennial, and get drained into estuaries. The Tapti, Narmada, Mandovi, and Zuari are major rivers that discharge into the sea. The plain is split into two parts called the Malabar Coast and the Konkan.

In the Indian Ocean, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are famous tourist destinations and one of India's most beautiful islands.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a series of 572 islands in the Bay of Bengal that stretch 566 mi (910 km) north to south along Myanmar's coast.

Indira Point is located at 6°45'10′′N and 93°49'36′′E, 117 mi (189 km) southeast of Sumatra, Indonesia. This is also India's southernmost land point.

The Himalayan river systems are snow-fed and provide a year-round source of water. The Himalayan rivers Ravi, Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Beas, and Sutlej, flow westward into Punjab.

The Ganges River has been given the title of India's longest river.

Because of the high yearly rainfall levels in its catchment basin, the Brahmaputra river has the most water of all the rivers in India. The annual rainfall is 280 cm (2,800 mm) in Dibrugarh and 243 cm (2,430 mm) in Shillong.

The southernmost extremity of mainland India, Kanyakumari or Cape Comorin, is a significant cape.

The Indian wetland ecosystem is diverse, ranging from the cold and arid Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir to the wet and humid Indian peninsula. The majority of the wetlands are connected to river networks, either directly or indirectly.

The Indian government has designated a total of 71 wetlands as sanctuaries or national parks for conservation.

In some regions of the Indian plains, temperatures can drop below freezing. During this season, fog blankets much of northern India.

The Himalayas act as a protective barrier against the cold katabatic winds that blow down from Central Asia.

During the summer, India has a damp and humid environment. The hottest temperature ever recorded in India was 51 degrees C (124 degrees F) in Phalodi, Rajasthan. The lowest temperature was -60 degrees C (-76 degrees F) in Dras, Jammu, and Kashmir.

Political Geography Of India

India shares its border with Pakistan 2,065 mi (3,323 km); the Jammu and Kashmir border is 675 mi (1,085 km), China 2167 mi (3,488 km) of actual control, Bhutan 434 mi (699 km), Nepal 1,150 mi (1,850 km), Burma 1,020 mi (1,643 km), and Bangladesh 2,582 mi (4,156 km).

India is divided into 28 states. These Indian states are further subdivided into various districts and eight union territories.

India's borders stretch over 9,400 mi (15,200 km).

The Radcliffe Line, which was established in 1947 during India's Partition, was used to define India's borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Its western boundary with Pakistan stretches for 2,065 mi (3,323 km), splitting the Punjab area and running along the Thar Desert and the Rann of Kutch's limits.

In India, this border runs through Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Punjab. Both countries established a Line of Control (LoC) as an informal border between Indian and Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

India asserts that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and China-occupied Aksai Chin, were seized.

India was partitioned in 1947, resulting in two India-Pakistan borders: one on the west and one on the east (East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971).

The United Nations (UN) brokered a cease-fire on January 1, 1949, which divided control of Kashmir. Pakistan holds the hilly area to the northwest, while India formally occupies Jammu, the Vale of Kashmir, and the capital, Srinagar).

India considers the 1963 China-Pakistan border agreement, which ceded a portion of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to China, to be illegal. The two sides also disagree on the Siachen Glacier, which is located near the Karakoram Pass.

The Tashkent Declaration, negotiated by the Soviets, ended further hostilities between India and Pakistan in the 1965 War.

The Indian Armed Forces' mission to capture control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, which sparked the Siachen conflict, was codenamed Meghdoot. Meghdoot was the world's first military offensive, launched on the morning of April 13, 1984, on the world's highest battleground.

Currently, the Indian army is the world's first and only army to have deployed tanks and other heavy weapons to such altitudes as over 16,000 ft (5,000 m).

The Indus Water Treaty stipulates that the waters of the Indus River System are shared by both India and Pakistan.

The border between India and Bangladesh stretches for 2,582 mi (4,156 km). Bangladesh shares a border with West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Before 2015, Bangladesh had 92 enclaves on Indian soil, and India had 106 enclaves on Bangladeshi soil. To simplify the boundary, these enclaves were later exchanged. India lost around 15.4 sq mi (40 sq km) to Bangladesh as a result of the swap.

The Burma (Myanmar) border stretches for 1,020 mi (1,643 km) along the southern borders of four states, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram in India's northeastern regions.

India's border with Bhutan is 434 mi (699 km) long and passes through the Himalayan range. The Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh share a border with Bhutan.

Even though India and Sri Lanka do not share a land border, the Palk Strait separates the two countries by only 40-85 mi (64-137 km) wide and 85 mi (137 km) long.

The Nepal border stretches 1,150 mi (1,850 km) through the Himalayan foothills of northern India. Nepal shares its borders with Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Sikkim.

The Siliguri Corridor, which is bordered by Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, connects peninsular India with the northeastern states.

Kalapani is a 13.5 sq mi (35 sq km) territory claimed by Nepal. Bangladesh claims ownership of the newly formed New Moore Island (South Talpatty) in the Bay of Bengal, and part of the boundary with Bangladesh is .

The Indian coastline stretches for 4,670 mi (7,517 km), the Lakshadweep Islands have an area of 12 sq mi (31 sq km), the Andaman has an area of 2,382 sq mi (6,170 sq km), and the Nicobar Islands have an area of 681 sq mi (1,765 sq km).

As per the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, India has a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone, a 12-nautical-mile 22.2 km) territorial sea, a 24-nautical-mile (44.4 km) contiguous zone, and a legal continental shelf extending to 8,202 ft (2,500 m) or the end of the continental margin.