India

India: population, cities, states

Population

According to Countryaah website, India has around 1.2 billion residents.

Approx. 72% Indo-Aryans, 25% indigenous and approx. 3% Mongolians and other ethnic groups live in India.

Religious affiliation

In India approx. 81% of the population are followers of Hinduism, approx. 12% followers of Islam, approx. 5.9% followers of Christianity and approx. 2% followers of Sikhism.

There are also religious communities of Buddhism, Jainism, Parsees and other

Hindi and English are the official languages. However, there are 21 other recognized languages in India, such as Sanskrit, Bengali, Bihari, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Gujarati, Assami, Kashmiri, Nepali and Urdu. Drawida languages are spoken in southern India, especially Tamil, Telugu, Malajalam and Kannada.

Capital and other cities

The capital of India is New Delhi with a population of around 14 million.

Other cities are:

Mumbai and Bombay (Maharashtra) with approx. 12,693,000 residents

Bangalore (Karnataka) with approx. 4,932,000 residents,

Calcutta and Colcata (West Bengal) with approx. 4,632,000 residents

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) with approx. 4,329,000 residents,

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) with approx. 3,720,000 residents,

Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) with approx. 3,598,000 residents,

Pune (Maharashtra) with approx. 2,936,000 residents,

Surat (Gujarat) with approx 2,895,000 residents,

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 2,824,000 residents,

Jaipur(Rajasthan) with approx. 2,712,000 residents

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 2,472,000 residents,

Nagpur (Maharashtra) with approx. 2,229,000 residents,

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) with approx. 1,837,230 residents,

Patna (Bihar) with approx. 1,600,000 residents,

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) with approx. 1,600,080 residents,

Ludhiana (Punjab) with approx. 1,546,000 residents,

Thane (Maharashtra) with approx. 1,487,000 residents,

Agra (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 1,430,000 residents

Vadodara (Gujarat) with approx. 1,410,000 residents,

Jodhpur (Rajasthan) with approx. 1,400 residents

Nashik (Maharashtra) with approx. 1,290,000 residents,

Pimpri-Chinchwad (Maharashtra) with approx. 1,285,000 residents,

Faridabad (Haryana) with approx. 1,281,000 residents,

Kalyan-Dombivali (Maharashtra) with approx. 1,262,355 Residents,

Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 1,224,000 residents,

Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 1,199,000 residents,

Rajkot (Gujarat) with approx. 1,178,000 residents,

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 1.1645. 000 residents

Amritsar (Punjab) with approx. 1,093,000 residents,

Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 1,074,000 residents,

Visakhapatnam(Andhra Pradesh) with approx. 1,063,000 residents,

Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) with approx. 1,030,000 residents,

Howrah (West Bengal) with approx. 1,028,000 residents,

Aurangabad (Maharashtra) with approx. 1,017,000 residents,

Solapur (Maharashtra) with approx. 998,000 residents,

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) with approx. 976,000 residents,

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) with approx. 960,000 residents,

Ranchi (Jharkhand) with approx. 945,000 residents,

Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) with approx. 915,000 residents,

Chandigarh (Chandigarh) with approx. 914,000 residents,

Madurai (Tamil Nadu) with approx. 910,000 residents,

Guwahati (Assam) with approx. 899,000 residents,

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) with approx. 883,000 residents,

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) with approx. 875,000 residents,

Mysore (Karnataka) with approx. 869,000 residents,

Hubli-Dharwar (Karnataka) with approx 840,000 residents,

Jalandhar (Punjab) with approx. 785,000 residents,

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) with approx. 784,000 residents,

Salem (Tamil Nadu) with approx. 779,000 residents,

Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu) with approx. 776,000 residents,

Kota (Rajasthan) with approx. 763,000 residents,

Bhubaneswar (Orissa) with approx. 762,000 residents,

Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 753,000 residents,

Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 746,000 residents,

Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 721,000 residents,

Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) with approx. 707,000 residents,

Mira Bhayandar (Maharashtra) with approx 688,000 residents,

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) with approx. 680,000 residents,

Gorakhpoor (Uttar Pradesh) with approx. 674,000 residents,

Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) with approx. 625,000 residents,

Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) with approx. 617,000 residents,

Kochi (Kerala) with approx. 605,000 residents,

Amravati (Maharashtra) with approx. 604,000 residents,

Cuttack (Orissa) with approx. 592,000 residents,

Bikaner (Rajasthan) with approx. 576,000 residents,

Warangal (Andhra Pradesh) with approx. 558,000 residents,

Bhavnagar (Gujarat) with approx. 555,000 residents,

Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) with approx. 531,000 Residents,

Dehra Dun (Uttaranchal) with approx. 522,000 residents,

Durgapur (West Bengal) with approx. 519,000 residents,

Ajmer (Rajasthan) with approx. 518,000 residents,

Ulhasnagar (Maharashtra) with approx. 517,000 residents.

States

Andhra Pradesh

has an area of approx. 276,754 km² with approx. 75.7 million residents.

The capital is Hyderabad. The main language spoken is Telugu. Andhra Pradesh is bordered by the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and to the east by the Bay of Bengal.

Arunachal Pradesh

has an area of approx. 83,743 km² with approx. 1.1 million residents. Arunachal Pradesh borders in the south on the states of Assam and Nagaland, as well as in the west on Bhutan, in the north on Tibet and in the east on Myanmar.

Assam

has an area of approx. 78,438 km² with approx. 22.4 million residents.

The main languages spoken are Assamese, Bengali and English. Assam borders the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya in the south and West Bengal in the west, as well as Bhutan in the northwest and Bangladesh in the southwest.

Bihar

has an area of approx. 94,163 km² with approx. 82.9 million residents.

Its capital is Patna. Bihar is considered one of the poorest and most unstable states. Bihar borders the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, as well as Nepal in the north. The state is hit by monsoons every year. This often puts millions of people at risk from flooding.

Chhattisgarh

has an area of approx. 135,000 km², with approx. 20.8 million residents.

Chhattisgarh borders the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.

Goa

is the smallest Indian state. It is located on the central west coast of India. Goa has an area of approx. 3,702 km² and approx. 1.2 million residents. Goa borders the state of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the south and east, and the Arabian Sea to the west. The capital is Panaji, it is located in the Tiswad district.

Gujarat

has an area of approx. 196,024 km² and approx. 50.7 million residents. The capital of the state is Gandhinagar, the economically most important city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat borders the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as the Pakistani province of Sindh and the Arabian Sea.

Haryana

has an area of approx. 44,212 km² with approx. 21.08 million residents. The capital Chandigarh is also the capital of neighboring Panjab, on whose border it lies.

Himachal Pradesh

has an area of approximately 55,673 km² and a population of approximately 6.4 million people. The capital is Shimla. Himachal Pradesh borders on the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Panjab, Haryana and Uttaranchal, and to the east on Tibet. Himachal Pradesh consists of 68% large forest areas, around 90% of which are expressly designated as protected. There are also 32 protected areas for flora and fauna as well as two national parks (Great Himalayan National Park, Pin Valley National Park).

Jammu and Kashmir

is an Indian state and part of between China, India and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir border the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, the Pakistani province of Punjab of the same name, the semi-autonomous Pakistani Azad Kashmir, the Pakistani northern regions and Tibet. Since the 1950s, Kashmir has repeatedly triggered serious conflicts between India and Pakistan.

Jharkhand

has an area of approx. 79,722 km² with approx. 27 million residents. The capital is the industrial city of Ranchi. The biggest cities are Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. The most important coal mining areas in India are located in Jharkhand. The highest mountain in Jharkand is Parasnath at 1,365 m, an important place of pilgrimage for the Jain religious community. Jharkhand borders the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Karnataka

has an area of approx. 192,000 km² with approx. 45 million residents. The capital of Karnataka is Bangalore and the official language is Kannada. Karnataka was formed in 1956 from part of what was then the state of Hyderabad, Mysore and Madras. Karnataka borders the states of Goa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala as well as the Arabian Sea.

Kerala

has an area of approx. 38,864 km² with 32.6 million residents. The population density is 839 residents per km2. This makes the state one of the most densely populated regions in India. The capital is Thiruvananthapuram. The name "Kerala" literally means "land of coconuts". It is derived from the Malayalam word "kera" for "coconut", the palm trees on which this fruit grows can be found in large numbers all over the country. Kerala borders on the state of Karnataka in the north, in the east it is shielded by the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu and in the west bordered by the Arabian Sea. Kerala occupies almost the entire Malabar coast. The total coastline is 590 km. There is a narrow but fertile plain between the coast and the Western Ghats. Over the middle stretch of coast,

Madhya Pradesh

has an area of approx. 308,209 km² with approx. 60.4 million residents. The capital is Bhopal and the main languages are Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Gujarati and English. Madhya Pradesh borders the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Maharashtra

has an area of approx. 308,000 km² and approx. 91.1 million residents. The capital of Maharashtra is Mumbai (Bombay), the main languages are Marathi and English. Maharashtra borders the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa, as well as the Arabian Sea.

Manipur

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 22,237 km² and approx. 2.4 million residents. The capital is Imphal and the main languages are Manipuri and English. Manipur borders the states of Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram and, to the east, Myanmar.

Meghalaya

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 22,429 km² and approx. 1.8 million residents. The capital is Shillong and the main languages are Khasi, Garo and English. Meghalaya borders the state of Assam in the north and Bangladesh in the south.

Mizoram

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 21,087 km² and approx. 0.9 million residents. The capital is Aizawl and the main languages are Mizo and English. Mizoram borders the states of Tripura, Assam and Manipur, as well as Bangladesh to the west and Myanmar to the east.

Nagaland

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 16,527 km² and approx. 1.6 million residents. The capital is Kohima (63,000 residents), the official language is English. It is named after the Naga ethnic group. Nagaland borders the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur as well as Myanmar to the east and consists of 7 administrative districts.

Orissa

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 155,707 km² and approx. 32 million residents. The capital of Orissa is Bhubaneshwar, and the national languages are Oriya (84%), Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi and English. Orissa borders the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well as the Bay of Bengal.

Punjab

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 50,362 km² and approx. 24.5 million residents. The Punjab borders the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana (and Chandigarh) and Rajasthan as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab of the same name. The capital Chandigarh is also the capital of neighboring Haryanas, on whose border it lies, and is administered as a union territory by the central government in Delhi. The national languages are Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English.

Rajasthan

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 342,239 km² and approx. 56.5 million residents. The capital is Jaipur and the national languages are Hindi and English. Rajasthan borders the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat as well as the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab. The northeast of Rajasthan is characterized by the Thar Desert, which merges into the Cholestan in Pakistan. In the southeast runs a foothills of the Dekkan highlands.

Sikkim

is an Indian state and a formerly independent kingdom with an area of approx. 7,096 km² and approx. 0.5 million residents. The capital is Gangtok and the national languages are Nepalese, Lepcha, Limbu, Tibetan, Hindi and English. Sikkim borders the state of West Bengal, as well as Nepal to the west, Tibet to the northeast and Bhutan to the southeast. The third highest mountain on earth, the Kanchenjunga (8,598 m), lies on the border between Sikkim and Nepal.

Tamil Nadu

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 130,058 km² and approx. 62.1 million, predominantly Tamil, residents. The capital of Tamil Nadu is Chennai (formerly Madras). Other important cities are Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli. The national languages are Tamil and English. Tamil Nadu borders the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, as well as the Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal). To the east is the city of Pondicherry, administered by the central government in Delhi. Sri Lanka is in the southeast.

Tripura

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 10,492 km² and approx. 2.8 million residents. The capital is Agartala and the national languages are Bengali and Kakborak. Tripura borders the states of Assam and Mizoram, as well as Bangladesh.

Uttaranchal

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 53,483 km² and approx. 8.5 million residents. After the state was founded by splitting off from Uttar Pradesh in November 1999, Dehradun was declared the capital of Uttaranchal. The national languages are Hindi and Urdu. Uttaranchal is located in the southern Himalayas and extends from the Ganges plain in the south over the foothills of the Himalayas to the high mountains with the Nanda Devi (7,816 m), the highest mountain in India. It consists of the two mountain regions Garhwal in the west and Kumaon in the east, as well as a narrow strip of the Ganges plain in the south. In the mountains of Garhwal are the holy springs of the two rivers Ganges and Yamuna. Uttaranchal borders the states of Uttar Pradesh in the south and Himachal Pradesh in the north,

Uttar Pradesh

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 236,286 km². With around 166 million residents, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India. The capital is Lucknow and the national languages are mainly Hindi, alongside Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, and English. Uttar Pradesh borders the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttaranchal as well as Nepal to the northeast.

West Bengal

is an Indian state with an area of approx. 88,752 km² and approx. 80 million residents. The capital is Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). The national language is Bengali. West Bengal borders the states of Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam as well as Nepal in the northwest, Bhutan in the northeast, Bangladesh in the east and the Bay of Bengal in the south.

Union Territories

The islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are Indian Union Territory. They extend from 6 ° 45 'to 13 ° 41' north, roughly along the 93rd east longitude west of the Thai holiday coast and northwest of Sumatra. About a third of the approximately 356,000 residents live in the capital Port Blair. The Andaman Sea with the North Preparis Channel separates the territory from Myanmar (Burma) to the east. On December 26, 2004, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean (9.0 on the Richter scale) and the resulting tsunami waves on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands wreaked havoc and killed thousands of residents. The number of islands has changed as a result. The exact extent of the disaster for the Union territory cannot yet be foreseen.

The Indian city of Chandigarh, which itself enjoys the status of a union territory, is also the capital of the two Indian states of Punjab in the west and Haryana in the east of the city. The population is about 900,914 people. The main languages are Hindi, Punjabi and English. The illiteracy rate is below 20%. Chandigarh has an area of 114 km².

Dadra and Nagar Haveli are two small, non-contiguous areas about 130 km north of Mumbai. Together they form an Indian Union Territory, administered by the Indian central government in Delhi. The territory has about 220,000 residents. The capital is called Silvassa. The lingua franca is Gujarati, but Marathi and other languages are also spoken. The majority of the population is Hindu, there is a small Christian and a small Muslim minority. Location of the territory Dadra is an enclave in the Indian state of Gujarat, Nagar Haveli is only a few kilometers south between the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The total area of the Union territory is 491 km2.

Daman and Diu, formerly part of the Portuguese colony Portuguese India together with Goa, is now a union territory in India, which is divided into the districts of Daman and Diu, both of which border the Indian state of Gujarat.

Delhi is an Indian union territory with special rights and has an area of approx. 1,483 km² and around 15.8 million residents. The main languages spoken are Hindi and Urdu. The territory is bordered by the state of Haryana to the west and Uttar Pradesh to the east. The two largest cities of the Union Territory are the city of the same name Delhi and the Indian capital New Delhi.

The Laccadives are a group of islands southwest of the Indian subcontinent in the Indian Ocean with 17 main islands and numerous atolls, and a size of approx. 20 km2, located between 10 ° and 12 ° 20 'north latitude and 71 ° 40' and 74 ° east longitude. The archipelago lies north of the Maldives.

Pondicherry is a union territory in India, unlike the federal states, Pondicherry is governed by the central government in New Delhi.

India: geography, map

Defined by DigoPaul, India is located in South Asia and covers a total area of 3,287,590 km², of which 2,973,190 km² is land and 314,400 km² is water. Of the land area are:

• Forest

  Around 23.4% of the country is forested area, that is around 770,100 km².

• Around 200,000 km² of the area of meadow, pasture land

  Around 4% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.

• Fields and fields

  Around 57% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing wheat, rice, sugar cane, tea, potatoes, tobacco, cotton and jute.

• Desert

  About 200,000 ^{km² of}the area of India is desert, of which about 33% can be cultivated. The Thar Desert forms the largest part of the western border with Pakistan.

• Swamp

  South of the Thar desert is the Rann of Kutch, a huge salt swamp.

  In the south of India there are river plains that are up to 400 kilometers wide. It is the largest alluvial plain in the world; it covers most of the catchment area of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. Due to the abundance of water and the productive alluvial soils, the region is one of the most fertile and most populous parts of India. The plains of Ganges and Brahmaputra extend in a west-east direction from the Pakistani border to the border with Bangladesh and to the northeast over the narrow land corridor near Darjeeling. The Indus lowlands run north-south on both sides of the border with Pakistan.

• Mountains

  In India there are the following mountains: Himalaya, Aravalli Mountains, Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats.

National borders, length of coast

India has borders with a total of six countries:

- Bangladesh with a length of 4,053 km,

- Myanmar (Burma) with a length of 1,463 km,

- Bhutan with a length of 605 km,

- Nepal with a length of 1,690 km,

- China with a length of 3,380 km and to

- Pakistan with a length of 2,912 km.

India's coastline to the Arabian Sea and to the east and the Bay of Bengal is over 7,516 km long.

Tidal range

In India the tidal range is up to 12 m in some places.

For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare

The world's highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

India extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For India, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in New Delhi

New Delhi lies at a north latitude of around φ = 28.5 °.

If the sun, or its image point, is at the northern tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer starts in New Delhi, this is June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

28.5 ° = (90 ° - h) + 23.5 °

so:

At 85 °, the sun in New Delhi has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

mountains

Kangchenjunga (Kangchenjunga)

The highest mountain in the country is the Kangchenjunga, which with a height of 8,586 m belongs to the 14 eight-thousanders. The third highest mountain in the world lies between Nepal and the Indian Sikkim. In addition to the main summit, the mountain range has four other "secondary summits", they are: West summit (8,505 m), middle summit (8,482 m), south summit (8,476 m) and Kangbachen Peak (7,902 m). The main peak was first climbed on May 25, 1955 by British climbers George Band and Joe Brown. They were part of the expedition led by the British doctor and mountaineer Charles Evans.

Nanga Parbat

The Nanga Parbat is with a height of 8,125 m - located in the Kashmir Mountains, which belongs to Pakistan, but is claimed by India - the second eight-thousanders in India. It was climbed for the first time on July 3, 1953 by Innsbruck-born Hermann Buhl (1924-1957) - single-handedly. The mountain is considered to be the Germans' fateful mountain - so by the end of the 1930s a large number of the best German Himalayan mountaineers had perished on Nanga Parbat. The German Nanga Parbat expedition of 1937 ended particularly tragically, in which seven German mountaineers and nine Sherpas were killed under a huge avalanche. A drama that was even made into a film ("Nanga Parbat" in the cinemas from January 2010) occurred in 1970,

Other high mountains are:

• Rakaposhiwith a height of 7,788 m
• Nanda Deviwith a height of 7,819 m
• Kametwith a height of 7,756 m
• Nunkunwith a height of 7,135 m
• Shillawith a height of 7,026 m

The 6,200 m high Cerro Kishtwar in the border area to Pakistan and China is a specialty, as it is considered an extremely difficult mountain, especially with its north and northwest flanks. The north-west flank was not climbed until 1993 by the British Michael Fowler. And on September 28, 2011 the Swiss Stepan Siegrist reached the summit of the mountain via the northern flank.

Rivers

Brahmaputra

The longest river in the country is the Brahmaputra with a total length of around 2,900 km. It rises in the Jema Yangdzom glacier around 130 km east of the 6,714 m high Kailash. Then it flows in the area of Tibet about 1,500 km in an easterly direction - roughly parallel to the northern borders of Nepal, India and Bhutan. In the Dihang gorges, it then flows through the mountains in a southerly direction to then reach the Bengal lowlands. There it flows in India in a westerly direction until it bends sharply to the south and then reaches Bangladesh. Here the main arm of the river joins the main arm under the name "Jamuna" with the Ganges and then forms with it - in front of the confluence with the Bay of Bengal - the huge Ganges delta.

Ganges

The approximately 2,510 km long Ganges is the holy river of the Hindus, in which ritual purifications take place and on the banks of which they burn their dead and then hand them over to the river. The river passes through India and Bangladesh. It has its origin in the Indian Garhwal - in the southwest of the Himalayas - by the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. In Bangladesh, it unites with the main Brahmaputra branch and then flows through the country under the name Padma. The river forms the approximately 350 km long and extensive Ganges delta - one of the largest estuary deltas in the world. is - before it flows into the Bay of Bengal. The estuary delta is famous for its extensive mangrove swamps, the Sundarbans. As a result of hurricanes, the very flat delta is repeatedly flooded and often costs numerous lives. The following major Indian cities are located on the extremely polluted river: Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna and Calcutta.

Other rivers in the country are:

• Induswith a total length (mostly in Pakistan) of around 3,180 km
• Narmada
• Godavari
• Krishna
• Yamuna

Lakes

Wular Lake

The largest lake in India is Wular Lake with a diameter of 15 miles.

Other larger lakes:

• Govinh Ballabh Pant Sagar
• Chilika Talah
• Hirakud reservoir
• Nagarjuna Sagar
• Nizam Sagar
• Rana Pratap Sagar
• Gandhi Sagar
• Pulicat Lake
• Thungabhadra Reservoir
• Bhadra Reservoir
• Krishnaraja Sagar
• Tawa reservoir

Comparisons

The Bodensee (571.5 km²) Germany, Switzerland and Austria;

the world's largest inland lake: the Caspian Sea (393,898 km²) in Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan;

of Lake Ontario (19,259 sq km) in the United States and Canada

as well as the Lake Victoria (69,000 square kilometers) in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Islands

The country are offshore of the following islands or belong elsewhere to the state:

archipelago of Lakshadweep

islands of the Andaman

archipelago of Nikkobaren.

The residents of the two latter islands were victims of the devastating tsunami on Christmas 2004.

Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

India borders the Arabian Sea to the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the east. These two seas are marginal seas of the Indian Ocean - which India borders in the southwest and south.

A detailed description of these seas can be found under the following links:

- Arabian Sea

- Bay of Bengal