Geography Class IX - Contemporary India - I

India  - an ancient civilisations in the world.

          - After Indepedence (five decades) it has gone thorugh socio-economic development. 

Various fields India has progressed in - Agriculture, Industry, Technology, and overall economic development. 

India -  vast country 

India lies entirely in northern hemisphere. We can say that it lies in the North-East (NE) quadrant of the globe as shown in the figure 1.1.1 below.

               Figure 1.1.1 India's location on the globe 

Mainland - land relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it.

Island - piece of land surrounded by water on all sides. 

Pennisula - piece of land surrounded by water on only three sides.

Equator - an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth. It is halfway between the North and South Poles, and divides the Earth into two equal parts, the Northern and Southern Hemisphere

                           Figure 1.1.2 Equator, Prime (Greenwich) Meridian Line, Latitudes, Longitudes

A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°.

Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great circle.

This great circle divides a spheroid, like the Earth, into two hemispheres: the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere (for an east-west notational system).

Figure - 1.1.3 Equator and Prime Meridian

Latitudes and Longitudes are angular measurements that give a location on the earth’s surface a unique geographical identification.

Latitudes - Lines of latitude, also called parallels, are imaginary lines that divide the Earth. They run east to west, but measure your angular position north or south. The equator is the most well known parallel. At 0 degrees latitude, it equally divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. From the equator, latitude increases as you travel north or south, reaching 90 degrees at each pole.  As shown in Figure below :- 

Latitudes are the progressive angular measurements north or south of the equator are the imaginary lines running from east to west on the Earth’s surface. 

     

                                                                                                         Figure - 1.1.4 Latitudes and major parallels of latitudes. 

Latitude is the measurement of distance north or south of the Equator.

It is measured with 180 imaginary lines that form circles around Earth east-west, parallel to the Equator.

These lines are known as parallels. A circle of latitude is an imaginary ring linking all points sharing a parallel.

The Equator is the line of 0 degrees latitude. Each parallel measures one degree north or south of the Equator, with 90 degrees north of the Equator and 90 degrees south of the Equator.

The latitude of the North Pole is 90 degrees N, and the latitude of the South Pole is 90 degrees S.

Longitudes -  While Longitudes are the measurements east or west of the Prime Meridian and run from the north pole to the south pole. As shown in figure below -