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India- Size and Location
I. Learning Objectives
1. Students will be able to understand the location and size of India in the Indian subcontinent.
2. Students will be able to know the latitudinal and longitudinal extension and in which
hemisphere India is located.
II. Key words
1.Latitudes: The imaginary circles running parallel to the Equator.
2.Longitude:A longitude is the angular distance of a place east or west of the Prime Meridian.
3.Bay: It is a body of water connected to ocean or lake formed by an indentation of the shoreline
larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf.
4.Gulf:A large bay, that is an arm of an ocean or sea.
5.Island:A piece of land surrounded by seas on all sides, e.g.,Sri Lanka , Lakshadweep.
6.Peninsula: Peninsula is a landmass which is surrounded by waterbodies on three sides.
e.g.,India is surrounded with the Arabian Sea in the west , Bay of Bengal in the east and Indian
Ocean in the south.
7.Strait: It is a narrow stretch of water which separates two landmasses e.g.,the Palk Strait.
8.Tropic of Cancer: It is 23°30'N latitude . Rays of sun falls vertically on it on 21st June.
9.Tropical Zone: The Earth’s surface between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.
III. Pre-test or Recap Session
1. India is the ___________largest country in the World.
2. Which latitude is the Zero degree latitude?_______________________________
3. Identify the Latitude that crosses through India and divides into almost two equal
parts?_____________________________
4. What is the difference between an Island and a Peninsula?_______________________
5. List out the three zones of the Earth.___________________________________
IV. a. Important points - Location of India
● Location: India is located in Northern Hemisphere.
● Latitudinal extent of India is 8°4'N -37°6'N which influences the duration of day and
night.
● Longitudinal extent of India is 68°7'E to 97°25'E due to which there is a 2 hour
difference between Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
● Tropic of Cancer : (23°30'N) divides India into 2 halves.
● Islands: Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located in Bay of Bengal(South east) and
Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea( South west).
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b. Important points - Size of India
● Area: India has a total area of 3.28 million square km. It is 2.4% of the total geographical
area of the World.
● Size of India: India is the 7th largest country in the world after Russia, Canada, U.S.A,
China , Brazil and Australia.
● India’s land boundary is 15,200 km and the total length of the coastline of the mainland ,
including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, is 7,516.6 km.
● Boundaries of India: India is bounded by the Himalayas in the North, Northwest and
Northeast , the Arabian Sea to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Indian
Ocean to the South.
● Standard Meridian:India has selected 82°30'E as the Standard Meridian of India.
Please Note: From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, there is a time lag of two hours. Hence ,time
along the Standard Meridian of India ( 82°30'E) passing through Mirzapur ( in UttarPradesh) is
taken as the Standard time for the whole country. The latitudinal extent influences the duration of
day and night, as one moves from South to North.
V. Learning Objective:
1. To analyse the significance of India’s central location and India’s contact with the World .
● Important Points - India and the World
Significance of the India’s Central location:
● India is located in the Centre between East Asia and West Asia.
● The trans-Indian Ocean routes which connect the countries of Europe in the west and
countries of East Asia provides a strategic central location to India.
● The Deccan Peninsula protrudes into Indian Ocean,helping India to have close contact
with West Asia,Africa and Europe from the Western Coast and with Southeast and East
Asia from the Eastern coast.
● Indian Ocean gets it name from India since India has a long coastline on this ocean.
Contacts:
● India’s contact through land routes are much older than those through the sea as people
were afraid of travel by sea.
● These land routes were through the mountain passes.
● The ancient travellers exchanged ideas and commodities as they moved through these
routes.
● The ideas of Upanishads , Ramayana ,Stories of Panchatantra, Indian numerals and the
decimal system spread to many parts of the world.
● Similarly the influence of Greek sculpture, the architectural styles of domes and minarets
of West Asia can be seen in India.
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VI. Learning Objective:
1. Students will be able to identify the water bodies and neighbouring countries of India:
Water bodies around India:
● Bay: Bay of Bengal
● Gulfs: Gulf of Kutchch
Gulf of Mannar
Gulf of Khambat(Cambay)
● Seas: Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep Sea and Andaman Sea
● Ocean: Indian Ocean
● Strait: Palk Strait
VII. Learning Objective:
1. Students will be able to list out and identify the Neighbours of India and the countries in the
Indian subcontinent.
Neighbouring countries of India
● Pakistan and Afghanistan in the West
● China(Tibet) , Bhutan and Nepal in the North
● Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east
● Sri Lanka and Maldives in the South
Countries of the Indian subcontinent
● Pakistan in the west
● Sri Lanka in the south-east
● Maldives in the south
● India in the centre
● Bangladesh in the east
● Bhutan and Nepal in the south.
VIII. Questions & Answers
1. Very short answer type questions:
1.In which hemisphere does India lie?
Ans. India lies in the Northern Hemisphere(latitude) and Eastern Hemisphere(longitude).
2.Name the Parallel of Latitude which divides India roughly into two equal halves.
Ans.The Parallel of Latitude which roughly divide India into two equal halves is the Tropic of
Cancer(23°30'N).
3.Which two island countries are India’s neighbours?
Ans.Sri Lanka and Maldives are the two island countries.
4.Name the States through which the Tropic of Cancer passes.
Ans.Gujarat,Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgarh,Jharkand,West Bengal,Tripura and Mizoram.
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5.With which country Jammu and Kashmir , Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat share international
boundary?
Ans. The country is Pakistan.
6.If you intend to visit Kavaratti during the summer vacations, which one of the following Union
Territories of India, you will be going to :
a) Pondicherry b)Lakshadweep c) Andaman and Nicobar islands d) DamanDiu and Dadra
and Nagar Haveli.
Ans.Lakshadweep.
2. Short answer questions:
1. Name the Union Territories of India.
Ans.
● Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
● Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
● Chandigarh.
● Lakshadweep.
● Puducherry.
● Delhi.
● Ladakh.
● Jammu and Kashmir.
2. What is the longitudinal and latitudinal extent of India? What is its importance? Give two
points. Or What is the significance of India’s location?
Ans. India lies between 68°7'E to 97°25'E longitude, and her latitudinal extent is 8°4'N to
37°6'N.
Importance:
a. India’s geographical location is favourably important for international trade.
b.Due to its central location in the eastern hemisphere,India lies on the major trade routes.
3. Long Answer Question:
1.India occupies an important strategic position in South Asia. Discuss.
Ans. a)The Indian landmass has a central location between the east and the west Asia.
India is a southward extension of the Asian continent.
b)The trans Indian Ocean routes which connect the countries of Europe in the west and
the countries of east Asia provide a strategic central location to India.
c)The part that is attached to the Asian continent connects India through the land routes
and mountain passes to the various countries lying to its north,west and east.
d)The Deccan Peninsula protrudes into the Indian Ocean, thus helping India to establish
close contact with west Asia,Africa and Europe from the western coast and southeast and
east Asia from the eastern coast.
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4. HOTS Question
1.”When the sun rises in Arunachal Pradesh, it is still night in Gujarat”. Why? Give three
reasons.
Or
Explain the major reason for the two hour time difference in local time between
Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Or
State the reason for time lag between sunrise on the easternmost and the westernmost
horizon of India.
Ans.
● The easternmost longitude of India ( in Arunachal Pradesh) is 97°25'E.
● The westernmost longitude of India( in Gujarat) is 68°7'E.
● Thus, the longitudinal extent is about 30°, it means about 30 longitudes pass from
east to west through India.
● There is a time difference of 4 minutes between the consecutive longitudes.
● The time difference between 30 longitudes is 30x4=120 min or 2 hours.
● As a result, there is a time difference of two hours in local time between
Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
5. Map Skills:
I. Locate and Label the Indian States and Capital on the outline map of India.
—Stick an Indian Map, locate and label—
II. On the Physical map given, mark and name the following:
—Stick an Indian Map, locate and label—
a.Island group of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea and Andaman and Nicobar island in
the Bay of Bengal.
b.Neighbouring countries of Pakistan,Nepal,Bhutan and Bangladesh.
c.The northernmost latitude with degrees 37°6'N.
d.The southernmost latitude with degrees 8°4'N.
e.The easternmost longitude with its degrees 97°25'E.
f.The westernmost longitude with its degrees 68°7'E.
g.Tropic of Cancer.
h.Standard Meridian.
