- Location and size: Important terms and concept: Size: Total area of India is 32,87,782 sq. km. This comprises about 2.4% of the areas of the world. In terms of size, India is the seventh largest country in the world. Countries larger than India in size: Russia, Canada, China, USA, Brazil and Australia. Argentina is the 8 th largest country in the world. Latitudinal Extent of Republic of India: 6 °45’ N to 37 °6’ N Latitudinal Extent of main landmass of India: 8 °4’ N to 37 °6’ N Northernmost point of India: Indira Col (37 °6 ’ N) Southernmost point of Republic of India: Indira point (6 °45’N) Southern point or tip of Main Landmass of India: Kanniyakumari ( 8 °4’ N) Easternmost point of India: Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh (97 °25’ E) Westernmost point of India: (68 °7’ E) Longitudinal Extent of India: 68 °7’ E to 97 °25’ E longitude North-south distance in km: 3,214 km East-west distance in km: 2,933 km Two dividing lines:

1) Tropic of Cancer (23 ° N) - This line divides India into temperate North and tropical south. 2) Indian Standard Meridian (82 °E) – This Standard Meridian, passes through Mirzapur in Eastern UP. India’s Frontier: Total length of land Frontier of India from Gujarat in the West to Tripura in the East- 15,200 km Total length of sea Frontier of India- 7,516.6 km Total length of coastline of India- 6,100 km Total no. of States and Union Territories of India: States- 28, Union Territories- 9 Important Fact: The Article 370 was abolished and as a result, the State Jammu & is converted into 2 Union Territories as Jammu & Kashmir and . States along the Western Coastline of India: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and small part of Tamil Nadu States along the Eastern Coastline of India: West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu State with the longest Coastline: Gujarat Landlocked States: Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand The Seven Sisters: (All the North-Eastern States)- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya Himalayan Kingdom: The States’ names are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The Union Territories are Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. States sharing Land Frontier with on the North-West: (From South to North)- Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and the of Jammu & Kashmir States sharing Land Frontier with China on the North: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh and the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh States sharing Land Frontier with on the North-East: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim States sharing Land Frontier with Bhutan on the North-North-East: Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh States sharing Land Frontier with Myanmar (Burma) on the East: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram States sharing Land Frontier with Bangladesh on the East: West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram Countries of Indian Subcontinent: India is at the Core, Pakistan in the North-West, Nepal in the North-East, Bhutan in the North-North-East and Bangladesh in the East. Neighbouring Countries of India- Pakistan, , China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Southern Neighbours- Sri Lanka and Maldives Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow stretch of water known as Palk Strait The country located just South of Lakhshadweep Islands- Maldives Two largest State- Rajasthan and Maharashtra Groups of Islands- Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Lakhshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea Theory: Implication of latitudinal extent of India: - With respect to the latitudinal extent, India lies completely to the north of equator in the Northern Hemisphere of the globe - The Tropic of Cancer (23 ° N) passes through the middle of India and divides India almost into two equal halves such as Peninsular India and Extra Peninsular India (temperate north) - The Peninsular India falls in the tropical zone and the Extra Peninsular India lies in the sub-tropical or warm temperate zone - The peninsular India, on being located in the tropical zone, having no distinct seasons whereas Extra Peninsular India on being located in the Sub- Tropical or warm temperate zone has well defined seasonal cycle - Due to latitudinal extent the temperature decreases from south to north - The difference in the duration of day and night is less than 1 hour at Kanniyakumari and more than 4 hours in the extreme North of Kashmir Implication of longitudinal extent of India: - With respect to the longitudinal extent, India is located to the east of Prime Meridian or Greenwich Meridian, exclusively in the Eastern Hemisphere if the globe - It is located centrally in the eastern hemisphere of the globe and it occupies the South-central peninsula of Asia at the head of Indian Ocean - Its large longitudinal extent enables it to have easy economic, political and cultural contact with West Asia, East Africa and Europe on the West and the south East Asia and the Far East on the east. Hence, India is located on the cross way of International trade and commerce - Due to the longitudinal of India the difference in duration of the local time between Arunachal Pradesh in the East and Gujarat in the west is nearly 2 Hours ( 1hr 56 mins) - Due to longitudinal extent of India 82 °E, has been made the Standard Meridian of India. It gives the Indian Standard Time (IST)

Q 1. Describe India’s location on the globe. - With respect to the latitudinal extent, India is located to the north of equator exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere of the globe. - Tropic of Cancer divides India almost in to two equal halves, such as the Peninsular India and the Extra Peninsular India - The peninsular India is located in the northern tropical zone, i.e; between Equator and Tropic of Cancer and the Extra Peninsular India is located beyond tropic of Cancer in the warm temperate or sub-tropical zone. - With respect to the longitudinal extent, India is located to the east of the Prime Meridian, exclusively in the eastern Hemisphere of the globe. - India thus occupies south central peninsula of Asia, at the head of the Indian Ocean. Advantages of India’s Location on the globe: - India is centrally located in the Eastern Hemisphere of the globe and due to its central location, India was very favourably located on the cross road of the Oriental world in the historical past. Its trade could reached to the South-East Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia as well as to the West Asia, Middle East and to the Far west, such as Mesopotamia, Greek and Egypt e.t.c. Thus, it helped in establishing commercial and cultural contacts with the East and the West in the ancient times. Because of the central location, the countries in the Far East, East and the South- East as well as the countries in the west, such as West Asia, Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas are connected by air routes and sea routes that pass through Indian Sub-Continent and India Ocean respectively. Due to this favourable factors, India can able to carry out its trade and commerce with almost all the countries of the world. Due to flourishing trade and commerce between the countries of the East and the West, there have been transformation of India’s rich and diverse cultural heritage which implies peace and prosperity. Due to its central location, India has been established its bilateral political ties with almost all the countries of the world, which enable India to develop universal understanding , friendship, culture in the true spirit to lead India in the path of peace and prosperity. India occupies the South-Central Peninsula of Asia at the head of Indian Ocean and as a result of this, it is the largest littoral country with the longest coastline on the Indian ocean. Hence, Indian Ocean is truely India’s Ocean. Q 2. Why is the north-south extent of India more than its east-west extent in kms. though the difference in the degrees of latitude and longitude are of the same value? Explanation: - Latitudes are parallel and they maintained equidistant from each other and never meet each other. Where as longitudes are not parallels and they meet at North Pole and South Pole. - The distance on a particular line of longitude between between two consecutive parallels of latitude, is called Longitudinal Distance or Meridian Scale , remains the same distance from equator to the poles in the both hemisphere as latitudes are parallel with each other. - On the other hand, the distance on a particular line of latitude, between two consecutive meridians of longitude, is called Latitudinal Distance or Parallel Scale, goes on decreasing from equator to the poles in the both hemisphere as longitudes are not parallel and they never maintain equidistant from each other at any points and they merge at North Pole and South Pole. - Thus we conclude that the north-south extent is measured on the Longitudinal Distance or Meridian Scale which remains the same distance from Equator to the North Pole, where as the east-west extent is measured on the Latitudinal Distance or Parallel scale which goes on decreasing from Equator to the North Pole. This explains why the east-west extent of India gets reduced from 3214 km ( north-south ) to about 2933km, in spite of being 29 degree in extent. Kanniyakumari and Kashmir do not have the same duration of day and night: - The circle of illumination divides the Equator in to two equal parts. As a result of this, the days and nights are of the same duration at the Equator. - As Kanniyakumari is quite near the Equator, ( I.e, 8 ° north of the Equator ) the day and night difference is hardly I hour there. - But as we move away from the Equator to the poles, the variation in the duration of day and night becomes greater. It is because of the unequal division of the parallels of latitude by the circle of illumination. - Kashmir is over 30° away from the Equator and so the difference in the duration of day ad night is over 4 hours there. The 82 °E meridian has been selected as the STANDARD MERIDIAN OF INDIA: - There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select a Standard Meridian in multiples of 7 °, east and west of the Prime Meridian. It s equal to half an hour. i.e; For 1° longitude, the difference is 4 minutes. For 7 °, the difference is 7 ° x 4’= 30 minutes. - A country’s standard time is derived from such a central meridian. The minimum difference of time between two consecutive Standard Meridians should be half an hour. For instance, if it is 8 am in India then in Pakistan, it would be 7: 30 am and in Bangladesh it would be 8: 30 am. - Another consideration is that the central meridian of a country should pass through, as far as possible, from the middle part of the country. - The Standard Meridian of India nearly lies between the westernmost and the easternmost longitudinal extent of India. i.e; nearly in the middle of the country and it passes through Mirzapur in the eastern Uttar Pradesh. The local time of this meridian is the standard time for the whole country of India. This is done to avoid the variation of local time at different places in India. From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh there is atime difference of two hours: - The time difference between any two meridian of longitude is 4 minutes. - The difference in the degree of longitude between the easternmost and the westernmost meridians of India is 29°. i.e; 97° - 68° = 29°. - For 1° longitude, the difference is 4’. For 29° longitudes, the difference is 29° x4’= 116 minutes or 1 hour 56 minutes ( nearly 2 hours ). - For this very reason, the difference in duration of local time between Arunachal Pradesh in the east and Gujarat in the west is 1hour 56 minutes or nearly 2 hours. No overhead noon sun at any places in India, that lie beyond Tropic of Cancer: - The sun’s apparent movement towards north and south of Equator, is within or up to the tropics. i.e; the apparent movement of the sun from Tropic of Capricorn on December 22 nd towards the Tropic of Cancer on 21 st of June or vice versa . Thus, all the places which lie between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn have overhead sun twice a year. - For instance, Kolkata in the east and Ahmedabad in the west are located just south of Tropic of Cancer within the northern tropical zone. i.e; these places are located between Equator and Tropic of Cancer. These places face vertical overhead sun for the first occasion, when apparent onward movement of the sun takes place from Equator on March 21 st ( Spring Equinox ) towards the Tropic of Cancer on June 21 st ( Summer Solstice ) and these places face vertical overhead sun on the second occasion, when apparent backward movement of the sun takes place from Tropic of Cancer on 21 st June ( Summer Solstice ) towards Equator on 23 rd of September ( Autumnal Equinox ). - On the other hand , there is no overhead sun at any places in India, that lie beyond Tropic of Cancer. For instance, Bokaro or Patna or Delhi is located beyond Tropic of Cancer in the Sub-Tropical zone and so these places never have vertical overhead sun in any part of the year. India’s contacts with the outside world in the ancient and medieval times: - India’s contact with the world has continued since time immemorial. Her contacts through land routes are much older than the sea routes. - India’s contact with the ancient world had led to the exchange of knowledge, ideas and merchandise. - The ideas of the Upanishads, the Ramayana and the stories of Panchtantra spread to many countries. Indian merchandise such as silk and spices could reached to the various parts of the oriental world. - Indian numerals and decimal system spread to many European countries through the Arabs. Buddhism spread to South-East Asia. - At the same time, the influence of the Greek architecture and sculpture can be clearly seen in the images of Buddha ( the Mahayana form of Buddhism ). - The architectural style of domes and minarets were brought by the Muslim invaders in the 13 th century from West Asia, can be clearly seen even today in many building architecture of India. Subcontinent: A relatively large self-contained landmass having distinct identity of its own is a subcontinent. India as a Sub-Continent: - India is a big landmass, which stands out a distinct geographical unit from the rest of continent. - It is separate natural well-knit geographical unit in the world. - It is a part of a big continent and it possesses all the characteristics of a big continent such as large size and extents, diversified landscape features, diverse flora fauna and climatic condition, diversity of people, etc. - It has a distinct history and culture of its own.

HOT Question:

1.) Write a brief account of the implications of latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India?

2.) Why is 82 °E longitude selected as Standard Meridian of India? 3.) “ When the people of Arunachal Pradesh got up from the bed in the early morning, the people of Gujarat remain asleep.” Elucidate. 4.) Highlight the values of the India’s contact with the outside world in the ancient and medieval times? 5.) Explain why the central location of India at the head of the Indian Ocean is considered of great significance?