INDIA/The Land

India covers 1,269,346 square miles (3,287,590 square kilometers). Great mountains separate most of northern India from the rest of Asia. The southern half is a triangular peninsula that extends into the Indian Ocean. The Arabian Sea lies to the west of India, and the Bay of Bengal to the east. The coastline is 4,252 miles (6,843 kilometers), of which 815 miles (1,312 kilometers) belong to India's island territories.

India has three main land regions: (1) the Himalaya; (2) the Northern Plains; and (3) the Deccan, or Southern Plateau.

The Himalaya, the highest mountain system in the world, rises partly in India and partly in China. It curves for about 1,500 miles (2,410 kilometers) from northernmost India to northeastern India. The Himalaya is as much as 200 miles (320 kilometers) wide in some places. It includes India's tallest mountain, Kanchenjunga which is 28,208 feet (8,598 meters) high. Many other Himalayan mountains are more than 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) high. Many kinds of wildlife, including tigers, monkeys, rhinoceroses, and several species of deer, live in the foothills.

The Northern Plains lie between the Himalaya and the southern peninsula. They stretch across northern India for about 1,500 miles (2,410 kilometers), and have an average width of about 200 miles (320 kilometers). The Northern Plains region includes the valleys of the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus rivers and their branches. The Brahmaputra and the Ganges are India's longest and most important waterways. They rise in the Himalaya from the constant mountain snows.

This region makes up the world's largest alluvial plain (land formed of soil left by rivers). The soil ranks among the most fertile in the world. The flatness of the plains makes them easy to irrigate. Most of the Indian people live in this region.

The Deccan, a huge plateau, forms most of the southern peninsula. It slants up toward the west, where it meets the Western Ghats, a rugged mountain range that is 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) high. This range falls sharply to a narrow coastal plain. In the east, the Eastern Ghats, another range, rises 2,000 feet (610 meters) at the edge of the Deccan. This range gradually slants down to a coastal plain much wider than the one in the west. The Western and Eastern Ghats meet at the southernmost point of the Deccan in the Nilgiri Hills. The Vindhya, which is 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) high, and other mountain ranges extend across India and separate the Deccan from the Northern Plains.

The Deccan has farming and grazing land, most of India's ores, and forests filled with elephants and other large animals. Major rivers in the region include the Cauvery, the Godavari, and the Krishna. They flow eastward through the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal. The rivers sometimes overflow in the rainy season.