Together with Pakistan and Bangladesh, India forms what the British called the Indian subcontinent at the time. Detached for thousands of years from Asia, it is now connected to the Asian continent through the Himalayas. India occupies most of this territory. It is bordered by China (Tibet), Nepal and Bhutan in the north; Bangladesh and Myanmar in the northeast and the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean in the east. To the west is the Arabian Sea and further north is Pakistan.

Geography

From north to south, India is 3,214 km long and from east to west, 2,933 km. Its land border is 15,200 km long and its coastline 7,516.5 km long. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakedive Islands are part of the Union of India. The country is bordered to the southwest by the Arabian Sea and to the southeast by the Bay of Bengal. Its coasts are more than 7,000 km long. To the north, both east and west, is the Himalayas. The city and cape of Kânyâkumârî are at the southern end of the Indian peninsula, which narrows before flowing into the Indian Ocean. The Indian subcontinent is characterized by a great diversity of landscapes: mountains, deserts, hills, plains and plateaus. The different regions each have their own climate: equatorial at the southern tip, harsh near the Himalayas. The North can be divided into three units: the Himalayas and associated mountain ranges; the Indus plain, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra; and the peninsular plateau.

Climate

The North Indians will reveal to you - with pride - which their country knows five seasons: winter (cold), spring (sunny), summer (hot), rain (heavy) and autumn (pleasant). In Europe, we therefore lack the monsoon.

Environment

With a population of more than a billion people and industrialization in constant and rapid development, the country is facing serious environmental degradation. Virtually all of its natural resources are being exploited to the limit and it is only very recently that the government and the population have become aware of the ecological damage inflicted on the country and its inhabitants, both in the long and short term. Efforts have been made to reverse the trend, but much remains to be done.

The of fauna and flora

The concept of conservation of fauna and flora is very old in India; Indian culture and literature promote non-violence and respect for all forms of human life. Since time immemorial, fauna and flora have enjoyed special protection through ideals and religion. Many gods are associated with animals: Brahma with deer, Vishnu with lion and cobra, Shiva with bull and Ganesh, the eternal symbol of wisdom is half man, half elephant. The first conservation laws appeared in India in the 3rd century BC, when Emperor Ashoka drafted the Fifth Pillar Decree, prohibiting the felling of certain wild species and limiting forest clearing. Unfortunately, this tradition has been lost. Intensive hunting by English and Indian kings, logging for agriculture, poaching, pesticides and population growth have had disastrous effects on the environment.