India,
with an area of 3.3 million sq. km, is a subcontinent. The peninsula is
separated from mainland Asia by the Himalayas.
The country lies
between 8° 4' and 37° 6' north of the Equator and is surrounded
by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the
Indian Ocean to the south.
The Himalayas form the highest
mountain range in the world, extending 2,500 km over northern India.
Bounded
by the Indus river in the west and the Brahmaputra in the east, the three
parallel ranges, the Himadri, Himachal and Shivaliks have deep canyons
gorged by the rivers flowing into the Gangetic plain.
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