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India is a large
country in the southern part of Asia. It borders Pakistan in the
northwest; China and Nepal in the north; and Bhutan, Bangladesh, and
Myanmar (Once called Burma) in the northeast. The southern part of the
India is a peninsula, or land surrounded by water o three sides. The
Arabian Sea lies to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east, and the
India Ocean to the south. India has three main
regions: the mountainous north, the Plains, and the peninsula. Winters in the
mountains are very cold, and the snow piles high. Summers are warm and
dry. Much of the world’s tea is grown in the eastern part of this
region. South of the
foothills of the Himalayas, the land levels off to form the northern
plains. The hot and dry Thar Desert lies in the northwestern part of the
plains, but to the east the land is well watered. Here three major
rivers flow: The Brahmaputra, the Indus and Ganges. The waters of the
Ganges are sacred to Indian people. Because of the abundance of water
and rich soil, the northern plains region of the India is the densely
populated area of the nation. Summer is unbearably hot, but winter is
cool and dry. Here the rivers flood every spring because of water
created when the snow on the northern mountains melts. A system of huge
dams has been built to contain these floods. There dams generated
hydroelectric power, and give water to farmers all year round. The Ganges delta, the
muddy fertile area where the Ganges River empties into the Bay of
Bengal, flood during monsoon season. Monsoons are heavy rainstorms that
blow in every year from the Indian Ocean. Most of the southern, or peninsular, region of the India is taken up by a huge, raised, flat area called the Deccan Plateau. Highlands rose on the east and west coasts of the plateau. These are called the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats, (Ghats is an Indian word that mean “stairs”) The Climate in the southern part of India is warmer and wetter than the climate in the north. Some coastal areas have much as 428 inches (1,087 centimeters) – almost 36feet(10.9 meters) – of rain every year! The average rainfall in the west coast of the peninsula, however, is about 80 inches (203 centimeters) a year.
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