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Geography of India

Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

Geographic coordinates: 20 00 N, 77 00 E

Map references: Asia

Area:
total: 3,287,590 km²
land: 2,973,190 km²
water: 314,400 km²

Area - comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land boundaries:

• total: 14,103 km
• border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

Coastline: 7,000 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles
continental shelf: 200 nautical miles or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles
territorial sea: 12 nautical miles

Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Terrain: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north

Elevation extremes:

• lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
• highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

Natural resources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 56%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 4%
forests and woodland: 23%
other: 16% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 480,000 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common; earthquakes

Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes

See also : India

External link

• Maps of India (http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-political-map.htm)

es:Geografía de India fr:Géographie de l'Inde sv:Indiens geografi

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This article uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.