Geography of India: Size, Location, Boundaries, and Physical Features

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering the geography, boundaries, state specifications, and standard time of India.

Konkan

The region along the west coast of India in which Goa is situated, extending to the Western Ghats range and separating it from the Deccan Plateau.

Sonsogad

The highest point in the state of Goa.

Mandovi and Zuari

The main rivers of Goa referred to as its lifelines, whose tributaries drain 69% of Goa's geographic area.

Mormugao harbour

One of the best natural harbours in South Asia, located at the mouth of the river Zuari in Goa.

Panaji and Margao

The respective headquarters of the North Goa and South Goa administrative districts.

McMahon Line

The boundary between India and China that extends over 890 kms from Bhutan in the west and over 260 kms covering the great bend of the Bramhaputra River in the east.

Radcliffe Line

The border established between India and Pakistan on the 17th of August, 1947, following the partition of India.

Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait

The water bodies that separate Sri Lanka from India in the south.

Nautical Mile

A unit of distance measurement where 1 nautical mile is equal to $1.85\text{ kms}$.

Territorial Waters of India

The sea area extending as much as 12 nautical miles ($22.2\text{ kms}$) from India's coast into the sea.

Standard Meridian of India

The central-most meridian of $82^\text{o}30'\text{ E}$ passing through Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, taken as the reference for Indian Standard Time (IST).

GMT Offset of IST

The time difference of Indian Standard Time, which lies 5½ hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) based on the Prime Meridian of $0^\text{o}$ longitude.

Longitudinal Extent of India

The east-west geographic span stretching from $68^\text{o}7'\text{ E}$ to $97^\text{o}25'\text{ E}$ longitude (about 29 degrees), causing a 2-hour time difference between eastern and western extremes.

Latitudinal Extent of India

The north-south geographic span stretching from $8^\text{o}4'\text{ N}$ to $37^\text{o}6'\text{ N}$ latitude (about 29 degrees).

Tropic of Cancer

The parallel of latitude at $23^\text{o}30'\text{ N}$ that divides India into nearly two equal parts.

Kibithu

The location on India's eastern border in Arunachal Pradesh where the sun rises and sets almost two hours earlier than in the far west.

Guhar Moti

The location on India's western border in Gujarat.

Total Geographical Area of India

An area of 3,287,263 sq. km (3.287 lakh sq. km), representing 2.4% of the total geographical area of the world.

Land Frontier of India

The total land boundary of India, which measures 15,200 kms.

Coastline of India

The total coastline measuring 7,517 km, of which 6100 km form the coastline of the Indian mainland.

Kanyakumari

A location in Tamil Nadu near the equator where the difference in the duration of day and night is hardly felt.

Siachen Glacier

A location in Ladakh away from the equator that experiences a marked difference between the duration of day and night.