Key Concepts: India - Size And Location Notes | Study Social Studies (SST) Class 9 - Class 9

Location

1. India lies entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. India’s mainland extends between 8°4'N and 37°8'N latitudes, and 68°7'E and 97°25'E longitudes.
3. The Tropic of Cancer (23°30'N) divides India into two almost equal parts.

Size

1. Covering an area of 3.28 million square kilometres, India’s total area is 2.4% of the total geographical area of the world.
2. India is the world’s seventh largest country with a land boundary of about 15,200 km, with total length of the coastline being 7,516.6 km.
3. India’s east-west extent appears to be smaller than the north-south extent.

India and the World

Fig. India on world map

1. The Indian landmass is centrally located between West and East Asia.
2. India’s protruding Deccan Peninsula helped India to establish close contacts with West Asia, Africa and Europe, South-east and East Asia.
3. India’s contacts with the world via land routes are much more than her maritime contacts.
4. India has contributed a lot to the world in forms of ideas, philosophies (Upanishads, Ramayana, Panchtantra) and mathematics (Indian numerals and decimal system).
5. In exchange, India’s architecture was influenced by Greek sculpture and architectural styles from West Asia.

 India’s Neighbours

1. India has an important position in South Asia and has 28 States and 7 Union Territories.
2. India shares its boundaries with Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.
3. The southern neighbours across the sea consist of the two island countries, namely Maldives and Sri Lanka.
4. India stands apart from the rest of Asia.