Location of India
India is an extensive country as well as the 7th largest country in the world. It’s lying completely in the northern hemisphere. The mainland expands between latitude (84′ N and 37°6′ N) and longitude (68°7’E and 97°25’E) and the tropic of cancer (23°30’N) cleft the country into nearly two equal parts to the southeast and southwest of the mainland, lies in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
The southernmost point of the Indian Union – Indira point got submerged under seawater in 2004 during the tsunami. The mainland of India is wide from Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west. India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea up to 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast. When we talk about the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India, they are roughly about 30 degrees. Whereas the actual distance measured from north to south extremity is 3,214 km and that from east to west is only 2,933 km. from the values of Latitudes, it is understood as-
- The southern parts of the countries lie within the tropics.
- The northern part lies in the subtropical zone or the warm temperature zone.
Time Difference
From the values of longitude, it is quite discernible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees. it causes a time difference of nearly two hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country.
Concept of IST and GMT
- IST stands for Indian Standard Time. It is based on longitude 82.5° which passes through Mirzapur near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
- GMT stands for Greenwich meantime. The world clock works on basis of Greenwich meantime. It passes from London and is set according to meantime.
Size and Location of India
India often called Bharat or Hindustan, is one of the most culturally rich and influential countries in Asia. It lies in the northern hemisphere, centrally located amidst eastern and western Asia. The country is located north of the equator between 84′ N to 37°6′ N latitude and 68°7′ E to 97°25′ E longitude. The total size and geographical area of India stands at 3,287,263 square kilometers.