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New India

Incredible India

This section investigates India’s varied environment. 

Key questions:

  • What is India’s landscape and climate like?
  • Where do people live in India?

Key concepts:
Place
Space
Physical and human processes  

 
  • India’s main physical features are the ancient Deccan plateau encompassing most of Southern India and flanked by the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats, the vast alluvial plain of the River Ganges, the Himalaya mountains stretching for 2,400 km across the north of India, and the Thar desert which lies mostly in the state of Rajasthan.
  • The highest mountain in India is Mount Kanchenjunga at 8,598 metres.
  • The main rivers are the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, the Kaveri, the Narmada and the Krishna.
  • Because of India’s size its climate depends not only on the time of year but also the location. It ranges from tropical in the south to temperate and alpine in the Himalayas.
  • Most of India has three seasons – summer, rainy or monsoon, and winter. South-west monsoon causes rain over most of the country from June to September. The north-east monsoon hits the east cost between October and February mostly as cyclones. The north-east of India receives rain from both monsoons.
  • The town of Cherrapunjee is famous for being the wettest place on earth. It has 12 metres of rain a year – 15 times the amount of the UK. The total average rainfall for London is 752.1 mm for Bangalore it is 859.6 mm.
  • 73% of Indian’s population live in more than 500,000 villages while 27% of Indians live in towns and cities. The Ganges Plain is one of the most populated areas in the world being home to nearly 900 million people (over 1/8th of the world’s population).
  • India’s main cities are New Delhi (capital), Mumbai (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Bangalore, Cochin, Jaipur, Shimla, Varanasi. Mumbai is the most populated city with a population of over 18 million. About 13 million people live in New Delhi
  • The average density of population in India is 319 per sq km.
  • The least populated areas are in the inhospitable mountain regions of the Western and Eastern Ghats and the Himalayas

Click on an activity:
Starter
Main activity
Plenary 

Interactive:
Monsoon map

Downloads:
Incredible India
India: A country of contrasts

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