Maps Page on India

Outline

  1. Physical/Political
  2. Climate
  3. Culture
  4. Land Usage
  5. Natural Disasters

Physical/Political

This is a political map showing the individual states of India as well as highlighting surrounding countries and bodies of water.  As you can see India is surrounded by Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.  You can see that most cities are in Northern India; the capital, Delhi, is in the north and other cities are closer to the rest of Asia. (http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-political-map.htm)

This shaded relief map shows the landforms of India as well as the political aspects of the country like state names and cities, as noted above.  This map really shows the mountainous area which separates India and China.  The legend shows the various means of transportation including roads and railways.  This shaded relief map has the lines of longitude and latitude, a great way to be able to find India on another map.  (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/india.html)

This map was made by using satellite systems. Boarders are drawn to show the boundaries of the countries.  This satellite map really helps to show the different land areas that India has. You can tell that the north-western region is a lot dryer than the north-eastern region.  (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:India_satellite_image.png)

Climate

This is the general climate distribution of India.  The colors can easily been seen and you can tell what they represent by the legible key on the right-side of the map. This map shows clearly what was stated before, the north-western area is more dry than the north-eastern area.  India is one of few countries that have a wide variety of climates. (http://cee45q.stanford.edu/2003/briefing_book/india.html)

This map from the Australian Government shows the average rainfall for part of June in 2004. Like the above map, the legend on the right side of the map clearly shows the amount of precipitation for the designated time period. Since the seasons are reversed in Australian due to being in the southern hemisphere, the current month is in the wet season. (http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad2/highlights/2004/06/crop_watch/w040618/Slide6.JPG)

Culture

This is a population density map for India. This map clearly shows that the northern region and costal areas are more populated than other areas.  India’s population is about 1.13 billion people, one-sixth of the world’s population. (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/india.html)

This map illustrates India’s religions.  The majority of India is Hindu, which is spread out all over country, the next majority is Muslim, shown in green.  Christianity, shown in blue is the majority religion in the north-eastern area.  Finally, there are spurts of Sikh and other religions.  (http://www.maps.ethz.ch/map_catalogue/map_catalogue-thematic2)

The distribution of languages is shown on this map.  Since one of India’s major religions is Hindu, it only makes since that most of India speaks Hindi.  Basically, each state in India has a different language. (http://www.ling.su.se/staff/ljuba/maps.html)

Land Usage

Rice, Wheat, Jowar, and Bajra are some of the few crops shown on this map.  Also shown is forest area sparse vegetation.  The black letters indicate areas of prominent crops, while the red letters, crops that are not as prominent, which include: Pulses, Sugarcane, Jute, Coconut, Cotton, and Tea.   (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/india.html)

Twelve percent of India’s land is forest.  Other areas of indicated on this map include: Mangrove, Schrub, Open Forest ad Dense Forest.  The forests are important because they can be great producers of the exports India has.  These product exports include: coconuts, bananas, sapota and other crops. (http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln54/saha1.html)

Natural Disasters

Shown in this map is a Tropical Cyclone Sidr headed towards India in November 2007.  The Bay of Bengal is known for the world’s deadliest tropical cyclones and usually effect India.  “An estimated 350,000-550,000 people died when a devastating 34-foot storm surge funneled northwards through the Bay of Bengal into Bangladesh” (Masters). (http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=861&tstamp=200711)

The dark blue in this picture indicates the flood zone of India.  Floods usually take place around the rivers when there are tropical cyclones.  As you can see, the majority of the flood zone is not on the cost lines, but along major rivers and earthquake zones. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:India_flood_zone_map.svg)

This map shows the major earthquake zones in India.  Earthquakes normally take place in India because of the tectonic plate in which India is on, collides with the tectonic plate in which China is on.  Taking a look back to the shaded relief map above, you can see the mountains formed because of the earthquakes.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_hazard_zoning_of_India) 

Submitted Christina Gawley on May 2, 2008.