Hello friends! Welcome to Window on the World. This week we will be learning about a very large peninsula. A peninsula is an area of land that is surrounded on 3 sides by water. Let us learn about India! Its official name is the Republic of India. India's neighbors are Afghanistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan in the north; and Bangladesh, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and the Bay of Bengal on the east. You will find the Arabian Sea and Pakistan on the west and the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar (which separates it from Sri Lanka) and the Indian Ocean in the south. India has an area of 3,165,600 square kilometers. The capital of India is New Delhi.
India may be divided into four main regions: the Himalayas, the northern river-plains region, the Deccan, and the Eastern and Western Ghats. The Himalayas is a mountain system, about 160 to 320 km wide, along the northern and eastern borders of India. The Himalayas is the highest mountain system in the world. It has the highest peaks in the world including Mount Everest and K2. South of the Himalayas lies the northern river-plains. This area is much flatter and receives water from 3 rivers: the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra rivers. This region has very rich soil and many people live here. It is known as the cradle or birthplace of Indian civilization. Below the river-plains is a region known as the Deccan. It is rocky and uneven. It has low mountain ranges and deep valleys. The final mountain regions are the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats.
The climate of India varies because of these 4 land regions. You could find tropical temperatures to very cold temperatures in the high Himalayas. The seasons of India may be classified as rainy and dry. The rainy season lasts from June through September. Heavy rainstorms called monsoons bring great amounts of rain sometimes up to 3175 mm. A cooler rainy season begins in December and lasts until February. A hot and dry season, begins about the middle of March and lasts until May. Temperatures get as high as 49 degrees Celsius.
India has such interesting land regions and weather. I know we will enjoy learning more about this interesting peninsula country next week. Join me next week as I open our Window on the World to learn about the people of the Republic of India. Goodbye, friends!