Location, Extent and Size

Geography begins with where a place lies. India's position decides its climate, its neighbours, its trade routes and even its time.

Latitude and longitude

• Latitudinal extent: about 8°4'N (Kanyakumari, the southern tip of the mainland) to 37°6'N (Indira Col in the north). The southernmost point of all India is Indira Point (6°45'N) on Great Nicobar, in the Nicobar Islands. Indira Point was called Pygmalion Point and Parson's Point earlier, and was submerged partly by the 2004 tsunami.
• Longitudinal extent: about 68°7'E (Guhar Moti, west Kutch, Gujarat) to 97°25'E (Kibithu, Anjaw, Arunachal Pradesh).
• North-South extent: about 3,214 km. East-West extent: about 2,933 km.
• India lies wholly in the Northern Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere.

Because the Tropic of Cancer divides the country, the part south of it is tropical and the part north of it is sub-tropical by latitude. In practice the monsoon gives all of India a tropical monsoon character.

Size

Coastline by state

India has 9 coastal states and 4 coastal Union Territories (Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar).

Strategic position

• India projects deep into the Indian Ocean, so the ocean carries the country's name. The Arabian Sea is to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south.
• It lies on the sea routes between West Asia, Africa and Europe in the west and South-East Asia and East Asia in the east. The Suez Canal route to the west and the Malacca Strait to the east both pass close.
• The Himalayas guard the north; the ocean guards the rest. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (near the Malacca Strait) are the base for the country's eastern naval presence.
• Central India and the Deccan sit nearly equidistant from both coasts, which is why India has historically looked both east and west.

Map practice

Locate on the map: Kanyakumari, Indira Point, Indira Col, Guhar Moti, Kibithu, the Tropic of Cancer states, the Standard Meridian.