LATITUDINAL AND LONGITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF COUNTRIES

LATITUDINAL AND LONGITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF COUNTRIES
(A) Major Countries Situated on or Near the Equator Kiribati, Ecquador, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Zaire (Zaire), Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Palau and Micronesia (countries are arranged in west to east direction)
(B) Major Countries Situated on or Near the Tropic of Cancer Mexico, Cuba, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Mauritania, Algeria, Mali, Niger, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and Phil­ippines (countries are arranged in west-east direction)
(C) Major Countries Situated on or Near the Tropic of Capricorn Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Madagascar, Mauritius and Australia (coun­tries are arranged in west-east direction)
(D) Mid-latitude (North) Countries USA, Canada (in part), most of the European countries, including Russia in part, Mongolia, China, Japan, North Korea and South Korea
(E) Mid-latitude (South) Countries Argentina (in part) and New Zealand
(F) Countries Touching 0° Longitude/Greenwich Merid­ian or Located near it United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Ghana (countries are arranged in north-south direction)

OCEAN-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF MAJOR PORTS

Ocean Major Ports

1. Pacific Ocean Bangkok Hong Kong, Kao-hsiung, Los
Angeles, Manila Pusan, San Fransciso, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Vladivostok, Wellington, Yokohama. Singapore is the leading container port in the world.

2. Atlantic Ocean Alexandria, Algiers, Antwerp, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Colon, Copenhagen, Dakar, Gdansk, Hamburg, Helsinki, Las Palmas, Le Havre, Lisbon, London, Marseille, Montevideo Montreal, Naples, New York, Oran, Oslo, Peiraiefs or Piraeus, Rio de Janeiro Rotterdam, Saint Petersbl.!-rg, Stockholm.

3. Indian Ocean Chennai, Colombo, Durban, Jakarta, Kolkata, Melbourne, Mumbai, Richards Bay.

4. Arctic Ocean Churchill, Murmansk, Prudhoe Bay

CONTINENT-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF MAJOR PORTS

CONTINENT-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF MAJOR PORTS

1. AFRICA

Alexandria, AI Ghardaqah, Aswan, Asyut, Bur Safajah, Damietta, Marsha Matruh, Port Said and Suez in Egypt; Calabar, Lagos, Onne, Port Harcourt, Sapple and Warrie in Nigeria; and Cape Town, Durban, East London, Mosselbaai, Port Elizabeth, Richards Way and Saldanha in South Africa.

2. ASIA

Chittagong, Dhaka, Mongla Port, Narayanganj in Bangladesh; Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Huangpu, Lianyungang, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Tianjin, Xiamen, Xingang, Yantai and Zhanjiang in China; Cilacap, Cirebon, Jakarta, Kupang, Makassar, Palembang, Se!11arang and Surabaya in Indonesia; Ashdod, Ashqelon, Etat or Eilat, Hadera, Haifa and Tel Aviv-Yafo in Israel; Akita, Amagasaki, Chiba, Hachinohe, Hakodate, Higashi harima, Himeje, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kinuura, Kobe, Kushiro, Mizushima, Moje, Nagoya, Osaka, Sakai, Sakaide, Shimizu, Tokyo and Tomakomai in Japan; Ch'ongjin, Heeju, Hungnam or Hamhung, Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong or Unggi, Ungsang and Wonsan in Korea (North); Chinhae, Inch' on, Kunsan, Masan, Mokp'o, P'ohang, Pusan, Tonghae-hang, Ulsan and Yosu in Korea (South): Bintulu, Kota Kinahalu, Kuantan, Kuching, Kudat, Labuan Lahad Datu, Lumut, Miri, Pase'r Gudang, Penang, Port Dickson, Port Kelang, Sandakan, Sibu, Tanjung Berhala, Tanjung Kidurong and Tawau in Malaysia; Karachi, Port Muhammad bin Qasim in Pakistan; Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Guimaras Island, Iligan, Iloilo, Jolo, Legaspi, Manila, Masao, Puerto Princesa, San Fernando, Subic Bay and Zamboanga in the Philippines; Chi-lung or Keelung, Hua-lien, Kaohsiung, Su-ao and T'ai-Chung in Taiwan; Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Pattani, Phuket, Sattahip, Si Racha and Songkhla in Thailand; and Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Das Island, Khawr Fakkan, Mina Jabal' Ali, Mina' Khalid, Mina' Rashid, Mina' Saqr; Mina' Zayid and Umm al Qaywayn in United Arab Emirates.


3. Europe

Antwerp (one of the busiest ports in the world), Brugge, Gent, Hasselt, Liege, Mons, Namur, Oostende and Zeebrugge in Belgium; Abenra, Alborg, Arhus, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Fredericia, Kolding, Odense, Roenne or Bornholm and Vejle in Denmark; Hamina, Helsinki, Kokkola, KQtka, Loviisa, Oulu, Pori, Rawna, Turku, Uusikaupunki and Varkaus in Finland; Bordeaux, Boulogne, Cherbourg, Dijon, Dunkerque, La Pallice, Le Havre, Lyon, Marseille, Mullhouse Nantes, Paris, Rouen, Saint Nazaire, Saint Malo, Strasbourg in France; Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Ham­burg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart in Gem Alexandroupolis, Elefsis, Irakleion (0 Kavala, Kerkyra, Chalkis, Igou?,enitsa, Lav Patrai, Peiraiefs (Piraeus), Thessaloniki, Vol Greece; Aasiaat (Egedesminde), Uuli (Jakobshavn), Kangerlussuaq, Nanort Narsarsuaq, Nuuk (Godthab), Qaqo Oulianehab), Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg), Tas in Greenland; Akureyri, Hornafjon Isafjordhur, Keflavik, Raufarhofn, Reykjc Seydhisfjordhur, Straumsvik, Vestmannae in Iceland; Arklow, Cork, Drogheda, Ou! Foynes, Galway, Limerick, New Ross Waterford in Ireland; Augusta or Sicily, BagJ Bari, Brindise, Gela, Genoa, La Spezia, Livo Milazzo, Naples, Porto Foxi, Porto Torret Sard.inia, Salerno, Savona, Toranto. Treiste Venice in Italy; Amsterdam, Oelfziji, Dordre Eemshaven, Groningen, Haarlem, Ijmuic Maastrichi, Rotterdam, Terneuzen, Utrecht i Vlissingen in The Netherlands; Berg Drammen, Floro, Hammerfest, Harst Huugesund, Kristiansand, Larvik, Narvik, 0: Porsgrunn, Stavanger, Tromso and TrondhE in Norway; Gdansk, Gdynia, Gliwice, Kolobr2 Szczecin, Swinoujscie, Ustka, Warsaw, Wrocl in Poland; A veiro, FW1chai (Madeira Islam Horta (Azores), Leixoes, Lisbon, Porto, POI Delgada (Azores), Praia da Viltoria (Azon Setubal, Viana do Castelo in Portug Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Kaliningrad, Kaza Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Mosco Murmansk, Nakhodka, Neve1'5 Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskl Saint Petersburg, Rostov, Sochi, Tuap1 Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostoclmyy, Vybo in Russia; A viles, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cadi Cartagena, Castellon de la Plana, Ceuta, Huelv La Coruna, Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Malag Melilla, Pasajes, Gijon, Santa Cruz de Teneri (Canary Islands), Santander, Tarragon Valencia, Vigo in Spain; Gavle, Gotebor Halmstad, Helsingborg, Hudiksvall, Kalma Karlshamn, Malmo, Solves borg, StockholE Sundsvall; Berdyans'k, IlIichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerd Kherson, Kievor Kyyiv, Mariupol', Mykolayi' Odesa, Reni and Sevastopol' in Ukraine; Abel deen, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmoutl Felixstowe, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull, Leitl Liverpool, London, Manchester, Peterhead, Ply mouth, Portsmouth, Scapa Flow, Southamptofl Sullom Voe, Tees and Tyne in United King dom; and Bar, Belgrade, Kotor, Novi Sad Pancevo, Tivat, Zelenika in Yugoslavia.

4. North America

Becancour (Quebec), Churchill, Halifax Hamilton, Montreal, New Westminster, PrincE
Rupert, Quebec, Saint John (New Brunswick), St. John's (Newfoundland), Sept Isles, Sydney. Trois-Rivieres, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Windsor in Canada; Acapulco, Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Ensenada, Guaymas, La Paz, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Progreso, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topoiobampo'l
Tuxpan, Veracruz in Mexico; and Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Duluth, Hampton Roads, Honolulu, Houston, Jackson­ville, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Port Canaveral,Portland (Oregon), Prudhoe Bay, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Tampa, Toledo in the USA.

5. South AMERICA

Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, Concepcion del Uruguay, La Plata,
Mar del Plata, Necochea, Rio Gallegos, Rosario, Santa Fe, Ushuaia in Argentina; Belem, Fortaleza, Ilheus, Imbituba, Manaus, Paranagua, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande, Salvador, Santos, Vitoria in Brazil; Antofagasta, Arica, Chanaral, Coquimbo, Iquique, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, San Antonio, San Vicente, Talcahuano, Valparaiso in Chile; Fray Bentos, Montevideo, Nueva Palmira, Paysandu, Punta del Este, Colonia, Piriapolis in Uruguay; and Amuay, Bajo Grande, El Tablazo, La Guaira, La Salina, Maracaibo, Matanzas, Palua, Puerto Cabello, Puerto la Cruz, Puerto Ordaz, Pu;:!rto Sucre, Punta Cardon.

6. Australia

Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Devonport (Tasmania), Fremantle, Geelong, Hobart (Tas­mania), Launceston (Tasmania), Mackay, Melbourne, Sydney, Townsville in Australia; and Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Tauranga, Wellington in New Zealand.

INDIA'S EXTREMES

INDIA'S EXTREMES
Largest Lake Wular Lake (Kashmir)
Longes"t Glacier Siachen Glacier (75.6 km long and 2.8 wide)
Longest River Bridge Mahatma Gandhi Setu over R Ganga in Patna (5,575 m/18286 ft in length)
Highest Airport Leh Airport, Ladakh (3256 m/1608 high)
Largest Public Sector Bank State Bank of India
Longest Canal Indira Gandhi Canal (959 km long)
Largest Auditorium Sri Shanmukhananda Hall, Muml
Largest Cave Amarnath (44 km from Pahalgam, Jam and Kashmir)
Largest Church' Se . Cathederal, Goa
Oldest Church St Thomas Church, Thrissur, Kerala built in 52 AD
Largest Gurudwara Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab
Highest Gateway Buland Darwaza, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra (53.5 m/ 175 ft high)
Most Populous City Mumbai
Largest Cave Temple Ellora, Maharashtra
Highest Dam Bhakra Nangal Dam on River Sutiej, Punjab (226m/ 738 it high and 518 m/1699 it long)
Longest Dam Hirakud Dam on River Mahanadi, Orissa (24.4 km long)
Largest Fresh Water Lake Kolleru, Andhra Pradesh
Largest Library National Library, Kolkata
Highest Mountain Peak Kanchenjunga
Fastest Train Shatabdi Express between New Delhi and Bhopal at a speed of 140 kmph
Largest Tribe Gond
Longest River Ganga (2460 km long)
Longest Road Grand Trunk Road from Kolkata to Delhi
Most Populated State Uttar Pradesh
Smallest State in Area Goa
Largest State in Area Rajasthan
Least Populated State Sikkim
Most Densely Populated State West Bengal
Least Densely Populated State Arunachal Pradesh
Most Literate State Kerala
Most Women State Kerala
Largest Stupa Great Stupa of Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh
Highest Waterfall Jog Wateraiall, Karnataka
Largest Union Territory in Area Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8,249 sq km)
Smallest Union Territory in Area Lakshadweep (32 sq km)
Most Populated Union Territory Delhi (1,37,82,976)
Least Populated Union TerritoryLakshadweep (60,595)
Longest Corridor Corridor in Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu (1220m/ 4002 ft long)

WORLD'S EXTREMES

Coldest Place Polus Nedostupnosti, pole of Antarctica
Largest Landmass The Eurasian Land
Smallest Landmass The Australian Mainland
Biggest Continent Asia
Smallest Continent Australia
Largest Island Greenland (considering Australia as a con­tinentallandmass)
Largest Gulf The Gulf of Mexico
Largest Single Country Brazil
Country with the Largest Population China
Lowest Body of Water Dead Sea
Largest Ocean Pacific
Largest Sea The South China Sea
Largest Bay Hudson Bay
Highest Mountain Peak Mt. Everest (Nepal)
Largest Desert Sahara in Africa
Largest Forest Coniferous forests of northern Russia
Tallest Tree The redwood near the Californian coast
Highest Waterfall Salto Angel Falls in Venezuela
Highest Dam Rogunsky earthfill dam in Tajikistan.
Largest Wall The Great Wall of China
Tallest Office Building Sears Tower (Chicago, USA)
Tallest Tower CN Tower (Toronto, Canada)
Largest Stadium Strahov (Czech Republic)
Longest Bridge New River Gorge Bridge (W.Virginia, USA)
Longest Road Tunnel St. Gotthard Road Tunnel (Switzer­land)
Longest Rail Line 9438km on Trans-Siberian line (Russia)
Longest Railway Tunnel Seikan Rail Tunnel Oapan)
Biggest Railway Statian Grand Central Terminal (New York, USA)
Largest Sea Port Port of New York and New Jersey Busiest Port and Harbour Rotterdam Europort (The Neth­erlands)
Largest Airport King Khalia International Airport (Saudi Arabia)
Busiest Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Largest Animal Blue or Sulphur-bottom Whale.
Tallest Animal The Giraffe
Fastest Moving Creature The Peregrine Falcon
Fastest Land Animal over Short Distance The Cheetah or
Hunting Leopard
Largest Land Anim!,l The African Bush Elephant.
Biggest Dam Grand Be (USA)
Highest Airport Lhasa (Tibet)
Biggest Country (in area) Russia
Largest Archipelago Indonesia (3,000 islands)
Biggest City (in area) Mount Isa, Queensland (AI. 41,225 sq. km)
Largest Bird Ostrich
Largest Electorate India
Largest Delta Sundarbans (India)
Highest Waterfall Angel (Venezuela)
Highest Road Leh Nobra Road (India)
Highest City Wenchuan (China)
Highest Datn The Grands (Switzerland)
Largest Railway Platform Kharagpur, West Bengali
largest Zoo Etosha Reserve (South West Africa)
Longest Epic Mahabharata
Longest Mountain Range Andes (South America)
Smallest Country (in area) Vatican City
Tallest Minaret Sultan Hassan Mosque (Egypt)
Tallest Minaret (Free Standing) Qutab Minar (India)
Smallest Bird Humming Bird
Longest River The Nile
Hottest Place Azizia (Libya)
Driest Place Death Valley (California)
Rainiest Place Cherrapunji (India)
Fastest Bird Swift
Tallest Fountain Fountain Hills (Arizona)
Largest Peninsula Arabia (Area: 3,250,000 sq.km)
Largest Mosque Jama Masjid (India)
Biggest Museum American Museum of Natural Hi! New York
Biggest Palace Vatican (Italy)
Biggest Dome Gol Gmubaz (India)
Largest Satellite Titan (Satellite of Saturn)
Tallest Statue Motherland, Volgograd (Russia)
Brightest Planet Venus

NEW NAMES OF COUNTRIES/CITIES

New Name Ankara Bangladesh Beijing Belize Benin Botswana Bourkina Faso Cambodia Cape Kennedy Chennai Cote D'Ivoire Dhaka Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea Ghana Guinea Guinea Bissau Harare Hawaiian Islands Ho Chi Minh City Indonesia Iraq Iran Istanbul Jakarta Kalaallit Nunaat Kinshasa Kochi Kollam Kozhikode Leningrad Lesothe Loro Sae Malagasy Malaysia Malawi Mali Manchuria Mumbai Myanmar Namibia Netherlands Nippon Oslo Panaji Pune Sambhaji Nagar Shimla Sri Lanka Suriname Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Thanjavur Thiruvananthapuram Thrissur Tuvalu United Arab Emirates Udhagamandalam United Arab Republic Uttar Pradesh Vanuatu Volgograd Yangon Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe

Old Name Angora East Pakistan Peking British Honduras Dahomey Bechunaland Upper Volta Kampuchea Cape Canaveral Madras Ivory Coast Dacca Abyssinia Spanish Guinea Gold Coast French Guinea Portuguese Guinea Salisburg Sandwich Islands Saigon Dutch East Indies Mesopotamia Persia Constantinople Batavia Greenland LeopildviIle Cochin Quilon Calicut Petrograd Basutoland East Timor Madagascar Malaya Nyasaland French West Africa Manchukuo Bombay Burma South West Africa Holland Japan Christina Panjim Poona Aurangabad Simla Ceylon Dutch Guyana Formosa Tanganyika and Zanzibar Siam Tanjore Trivandrum Trichur Ellice Islands TrucialOman Ooty Egypt United Provinces New Hebrides Stalingrad Rangoon Congo Northern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia

BOUNDARY LINES

BOUNDARY LINES
Durand Line: Boundary between India and Afghanistan. Demarcated by Sir Mortimer Durand in 1896. Hindenberg Line: The Line to which the Germans retreated in 1917 during the First World War; defines the boundary between Germany and Poland.
Mannerhiem Line: Boundary between Russia and Finland drawn up by Gen. Mannerhiem.
McMahon Line: The boundary between Chin~ and India as demarcated by Sir Henry McMahon; China does not recognise this line.
Maginot Line: Boundary betw.een France and Germany. A line of fortification .constructed by France for protection from possible German attack.
Oder Niesse Line: The boundary between Germany and Poland drawn after the Second World War.
Radcliffe Line: Drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947, it demarcates the boundary of India and Pakistan. Siegfried Line: Between Germany and France. A line of fortification drawn up by Germany.
17th Parallel: The line which defined the boundary between North Vietnam and South Vietnam before the two were united.
24th Parallel: A latitude line which according to Pakistan should be the line of demarcation in the Kutch dispute. India has rejected such claim.
38th Parallel: The boundary line between North K.
and South Korea. .
49th Parallel: The boundary between USA and Cani

NATIONAL EMBLEMS

Country Australia Bangladesh Belgium Canada Denmark France German y Guyana India Iran Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Japan Lebanon Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Papua New Guinea Spain Senegal Sierra Leone Sri Lanka Syria Turkey United Kingdom USA

Emblem Kangaroo Water Lily Lion White Lily Maple Leaf Beach Lily Com Flower Canje Pheasant Lion Capital Rose Shamrock Candelabrum White Lily Elephant Chrysanthemum Cedar tree Crowned Lion Lion Fern, Kiwi Lion Crescent Bird of Paradise Eagle Baobab tree Lion Lion Eagle Crescent and Star Rose Golden Rod, Eagle

MAJOR ISLANDS

Island Greenland New Guinea Borneo Madagascar Baffin Sumatra Honshu Great Britain Ellesmere Victoria Celebes South Island Java North Island Cuba Newfoundland Luzon Iceland Mindanao Ireland Hokkaido Hispaniola Tasmania Sri Lanka Sakhalin(Karafuto) Banks Devon Tierra del Fuego Kyushu Melville Axel Heiberg Southampton

Location and Status North Atlantic (Danish) Southwest Pacific (Irian Java, Indone­sian, west part; Papua New Guinea, east part) West mid-Pacific (Indonesian, south part, British protectorate, and Malaysian, north part) Indian Ocean (Malagasy Republic) North Atlantic (Canadian) North Indian Ocean (Indonesian) Sea of Japan-Pacific Gapanese) Off coast North-west Europe (England, Scotland and Wales) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) West mid-Pacific (Indonesian) South Pa.cific (New Zealand) Indian Ocean (Indonesian) South Pacific (New Zealand) Caribbean Sea (republic) North Atlantic (Canadian) West mid-Pacific (Philippines) North Atlantic (republic) West mid-Pacific (Philippines) West of Great Britain (republic, south part; United Kingdom, north part) Sea of Japan-Pacific Gapanese) Caribbean Sea (Dominican Republic, east part; Haiti, west part) South of Australia (Australian) Indian Ocean (republic) North of Japan (Russia) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) Southern tip of South America (Argentinian, east part; Chilean, west part) , Sea of Japan-Pacific Gapanese) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) Arctic Ocean (Canadian) Hudson Bay (Canadian)

PRINCIPAL PEAKS

PRINCIPAL PEAKS

Mountain Mount Everest K-2 (Godwin Austen) Kanchenjunga Dhaulagiri I Nanga Parbat Annapuma I Nanda Devi Kamet

Range Himalayas Karakoram Himalayas Himalayas Himalayas Himalayas Himalayas Himalayas

Country Nepal India Nepal-India Nepal India Nepal India India

DEEP SEA TRENCHES

DEEP SEA TRENCHES

Name Deepest Point
Mariana Trench Challenger Deep
(West Pacific)
Tonga-Kermadec Trench Vityaz 11 (Tonga)
(South Pacific)
Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
(West Pacific)
Philippine Trench Galathea Deep
(West Pacific)
Idzu-Bonin Trench
(sometimes included
in the Japan Trench)
New Hebrides Trench North Trench
(South Pacific).
Solomon or New Britain
Trench (South Pacific)
Puerto Rico Trench Milwaukee Deep
(West Atlantic)
Yap Trench (West Pacific)
Japan Trench
(West Pacific)
South Sandwich Trench Meteor Deep
(South Atlantic)
Aleutian Trench
(North Pacific)
Peru-Chile (Atacama) Bartholomew Deep
Trench (East Pacific)
Palau Trench (sometimes
included in the Yap Trench)

OCEANS

OCEANS
If the adjacent seas. are detached and the Arctic Sea regarded as an ocean, the oceanic areas may be listed as under:

Ocean Area in sq km Percentage of
sea area
Pacific Atlantic Indian Other Seas
46.0 23.9 23.7
6.1
16,62,40,000 8,65,60,000 7,34,30,000
2,22,80,000 .

CONTINENTS

CONTINENTS

Name % of Earth's area Highest Point Lowest Point

Asia 29.5 Everest Dead Sea
Africa 20.0 Kilimanjaro Lake Assai
North America 16.3 McKinley Death Valley
South America 11.8 Aconcagua Valdes Penin
Europe 6.5 Elbrus Caspian Sea
Australia* 5.2 Kosciusko Lake Eyre
Antarctica 9.6 Vinson Massif Bentley Sub­
glacial Trench * Australia with New Zealand, Tasman~ New Guinea and the Pacific Islands (Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian Islands) is called Australasia or Oceania.

IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON MAJOR CITIES

IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON MAJOR CITIES In India problems related to massive poverty-induced migration from rural to the major metros are due to 'lopsided, unplanned and over-congested urbanisation' which has caused overall deterioration of urban environment in India.

Most of the metropolitan cities are growing at an alarmingly fast rate and, according to UN estimates, most of them will double their population in the next 12 to 15 years. Increasing migration of the poor to urban areas has already led to urban involution, decay, poverty, exploita­tion, insecurity and inequality among the migrant popu­lation. As most of the migrants are poor, landless, illiterate and lack basic skills, they fail to get jobs in the capital­intensive production system of urban India. These un­skilled migrants are absorbed by the unorganised sectors characterised by low productivity, tremendous competition, poor pay and insecurity. Even if such migrations help the rur'i11 poor to avoid starvation death, it causes a huge loss in terms of human resources and national potential. As a consequence, major urban centres of India have become much involutJd, not evoluted, Le" they have grown merely in population, not in prosperity. Mega-cities look like "over-blown villages without urban culture and urban functional characteristics".

During the last few decades, acute problems have arisen--extreme housing scarcities, and frequent break­down of essential municipal services such as water supply, elecmtity, sewerage, transport-d.ue to the massive pres­sure of population on the basic urban facilities.

Tht$ problemp caused by migration can be checked by curbin~ population growth and promoting a balanced economic development in the country. It is imperative that the government, NGOs, scholars, planners, policy-makers and administrators cooperate and formulate well-thought out action plans for remedying the situation.

TRENDS OF MIGRATION

TRENDS OF MIGRATION The pattern of internal migration in India may be divided into the fonowing: intra-state movement in the case of move­ment of people within the state itself, and inter-state movement when the migrants cross the borders of 'a state and settle down in another state.
The volume of inter-state migration in India is less than intra-state migration. Data analysis suggests that a major portion of intra-state migrants belonged to rural India while in the case of inter-st;ate category rural migrants accounted for more than 60 per cent.

Out-migration Imostly takes place from underdevel­oped states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Migrants had a tendency to move into compara~ively dt!veloped regions like West Bengal, Maharashtra, the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Chandigarh, and Andaman and, Nicobar Islands. Assam and Madhya Pradesh also witnessed in-migration but on a lesser scale.
Uneven development between regiorls is believed to be the major cause of migration. It is unfortunate that most of the major metropolitan cities of India are currently witnessing heavy in-migration and consequent population growth due to work opportunities offered by these cities. Cities like Delhi, for example, are badly affected by huge influx of migrants.

MIGRATION

MIGRATION
The movement of population from one re­gion to another is termed as migration. Tempo­rary migration encompasses annual, seasonal or even daily movements of population between two cities for example. Migration can be divided into the following types on the basis of their origin and destination:
(a) rural to rural R -> R (b) rural to urban R -> U
(c) urban to urban U -> U (d) urban to rural U -> R
In some cases, the population moves from
villages to small towns and then to a bigger metropolitan city: this may be termed 'step-wise migration'. Migration due to a number of attrac­tions offered by a city is interpreted as migration due to "push" factors; on the other hand, people also move out of villages due to "pull" factors, such as, better opportunities of employment, education, recreation, health care facilities, busi­ness opportunities, etc., outside villages or some such regions. Some "push" factors are unemploy­ment, poverty, social insecurity, political instabil­ity, ethnic conflicts, etc.

PROBLEMS OF URBANISATION

PROBLEMS OF URBANISATION

Urban growth may be due to two reasons. (i) Towns form concentrations of population and in each succeeding generation these con­centrations will be prone to out-migration. (ii) Towns constantly increase in population by in-migration-the drift to the towns. The movement of people from rural to urban areas first took place in the now industrialised countries, but at present it is the underdeveloped countries which lead the rates of urban growth. This rapid urban growth in the underdeveloped countries shows some special fea­tures: (i) Rural-urban migration is more important than natural increase as the cause of urban growth. (ii) Rates of natural increase are much higher than what occurred at the peak of.- urban growth in the developed world. (Hi) Industrialisation met the demand for jobs in western Europe and the USA, whe're towns grew as manufacturing centres; but industrial development is unlikely to provide jobs for the majority of people entering Third World cities. People in developing countries have to be content with what livelihood they can get in an 'informal' service sector. (iv) The growth of housing is totally unable to keep pace with demand and people are forced to construct temporary accommodation in slums. (v) The movement of people to the towns is unlikely to slow down in the developing countries, as villages lack in modern amenities and devel­opment.

It may be pointed out, however, that population growth in India, China and Japan may be unevenly distributed, but is more similar to the western pattern, embracing not only the largest cities but also the large and moderate-sized towns. However, in many developing countries, urbanisation means almost exclusive develop­ment of primate cities. A single, uS\lally a capital city, completely dominates the whole country.

Urban growth poses many problems. These may be due to increase in the population or due to the physical expansion of the towns. In many cases the people who come to the towns are unemployed. Standards of housing and health are therefore low. Public services in underde­veloped countries are taxed beyond their powers. A major environmental problem is created by towns growing at the expense of surrounding agricultural land.
The growth of urban population is also on account of natural increase and net migration from rural to urban areas. The sample registration system data suggest that the rate of natural growth changed only marginally in most of the major states during the 1991-2001 decade. This suggests that a slower pace of migration to the urban areas possibly explains the slower overall urban growth. By size and class of towns, slower urban growth is a fairly general phenomenon observed in the big cities as well as the smaller towns.

Nevertheless, there was an increasing concentration of population in the cities (above one lakh population). This does not necessarily imply that the big cities or metropo­lises are growing faster than the small towns. On the contrary, it only suggests that fewer new small towns have sprung up while more of the existing towns have gradu­ated into medium-sized towns and cities. On account of such upward mobility, the number of cities has increased. Their weightage in the country's urban population has also risen accordingly. Under these circumstances, the number of metropolises has also nearly doubled to 27. The new­comers to metropolitan status are Surat, Kochi, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, Patna, Madurai, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Varanasi and Ludhiana. The fastest growth rates over the 1981-91 decade were registered by Visakhapatnam, followed by Hyderabad and Ludhiana.

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Rural - Urban Areas
The Census data on houses, household amenities and assets are presented separately for rural and urban areas. The unit of classification in this regard is 'town' for urban areas and 'village' for rural areas. According to the definition of town by the Census of India 2001, urban area includes:
(a) all places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment
board or notified town area committee, etc.
(b) a place satisfying the following three criteria simul­
taneously:
(i) a minimum population of 5,000;
(ii) at least 75 per cent of male working population
engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
(iii) a density of population of at least 400 per sq km
(1,000 per sq. mile).
Apart from these, the outgrowths (OGs) of cities and towns have also been treated as urban under 'Urban Agglom­erations': Examples of OGs are railway colonies, university campuses, port areas, military camps, etc. that may have come up near a statutory town or city but within the revenue limits of a village or villages contiguous to the town or city. Each such individual area by itself may not satisfy the demographic criteria laid down at (b) above to qualify it to be treated as an independent urban unit but may deserve to be clubbed with the towns as a continuous urban spread. Thus, the town level data, wherever presented, also includes the data for OGs of such towns.

City
Towns with population of 1,00,000 and above are called cities.

URBANISATION TRENDS

URBANISATION TRENDS In the Census, an urban area is defined as (a) all places with a municipality, corporation, etc.; and (b) all other places that satisfy the following criteria: (i) minimum population of 5,000, (ii) at least 75 per cent of male working population engaged in non­agricultural pursuits; and (iii) a density of at least 400 persons per sq. km. In 2001, urban population was 27.82 per cent as against 23.34 per cent in 1981 and about 17 per cent in 1951. In absolute terms, this comes to a very large number. From 1961 onwards, the number of towns have increased steadily to more than 5,500 in 2001.

A comparison of the growth trend of urban population and that of towns shows that the population of existing towns has risen significantly, rather than villages having graduated into town status. This stability in structure indicates a resistance to change in the socio-economic structure of the country.
It is in the Class I towns (or cities) that population tends to concentrate, and within cities the maximum concentration of urban population is found in the largest urban centres, especially in the million-plus cities (i.e., cities with population of more than ten lakh each). This is similar to what happens in developed countries. Going by the pattern of urbanisation, the major factor causing accelerated urbanisation is industrialisation.

The higher rate of population growth is in urban areas, and this indicates migration of rural population to urban areas. Class I cities with more than a lakh population accounted for more than 73 per cent of the total urban population mainly because of migration. The non-economic factors could be: seeking an escape from the more rigid
social organisation in rural areas; climatic disasters; modernising impact of radio, television and cinema. But migration is mainly caused by economic factors: seeking work as the subsistence agriculture is not enough to make a living by, and seeking better wages-as urban wages are generally higher compared to rural wages. When some of these people are unable to get absorbed in the urban job sector, they are pushed back towards rural areas, and there is a reverse migration of sorts.
Urban growth has, however, also led to increase in number of urban poor. Population projections postulate that slum growth is expected to surpass the capacity of civic authorities to respond to their health and infrastructure needs.
Migrants to urban areas are generally in the age bracket of 15-24. The young who have spent more years in schools show a greater tendency to migrate to cities. There is also a high percentage of landless unskilled migrants for whom there is hardly any work opportunity in rural areas.

URBAN SETTLEMENT

URBAN SETTLEMENT

As in case of rural settlements, there are different bases of classifying urban settlements, e.g., population size, occupational structure and administration.
SIZE OF POPULATION It is the most important criteria used by almost each country of the world to designate a settlement as urban. However, there are differences among the countries in the exact number that differentiates urban settlements form rural settlement. For example, in Den­mark, Sweden and Finland, all places having more than 250 persons are called urban. In Iceland, Canada, Columbia, Argentina and USA, the minimum size of population for a city is 300,1000,1500,2000 and 2500 persons respectively. In Japan, places having more than 30,000 persons are called urban areas. In India, the lower limit of population for a place to be termed urban is 5,000. In India, besides the size of population, its density is also an additional condition, which is over 400 persons per sq km.

OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE Some countries take into account the major economic activities as a criterion for designating a settlement as urban. For example, in Italy, a settlement is urban if more than 50 per cent of its economically productive population are engaged in non­agricultural activities. In India, more than 75 per cent of the work force of the settlement should be engaged in non­agricultural pursuits to be called urban.

ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION The administrative set up is also a criterion for classifying a settlement as urban in some countries. For example, in India, even a settlement with less than 5,000 population is eligible for becoming urban if it has a municipality, cantonment board or a notified area. In Brazil and Bolivia, any administrative centre is called urban irrespective of its size.
GROWTH OF URBANISATION IN INDIA In 1901, only 11% of the total population (2.56 crore) was urbanised. There were 1834 towns and cities. The urban-rural ratio was 1:8.1. By 1951, urban population had grown to 6.16 crore, comprising 17.6% of the total population. Thus, from 1901 to 1951, the growth in urban population was 240%, while that from 1951 to 2001 was about 450°,.{.. The rapid growth in last few decades has been because of rapid industrialisation' and migration to urban areas, 50% of which are from rural areas.

Towns and Cities These are classified in six categories according to their population (see table on growth of urbanisation by class of town). Class-I towns, having a population of 1,00,000 or more, have grown rapidly. There were 24 class I towns in 1901 having a total population of 6.59 million. The number has gone up to over 300 in 2001, accounting for 139.73 million population. The class I towns accounjed for 25.71 per cent of the total urban population, while in 2001, they accounted for 64.89 per cent of the total urban population. Larger towns grow faster because they have the necessary infrastructure for the development of industries.
Smaller towns in classes IV, V and VI, having popu­lation of less than 20,000, are more numerous than towns in classes I, II, and III. But the share of urban population living in towns of smaller size (classes IV, V, and VI) has declined sharply from 47.23 per cent to 10.88 per cent in 1991. The number of towns in classes II and III together declined slightly from 27% to 24.29% during the same period. Thus, we can distinguish three categories of towns according to their growth. While class I towns have shown maximum growth, class II and class III towns have retained their growth rate at the average level. The towns of classes IV, V, and VI have shown a decline in growth rate during the last eighty years.

Dispersed or Scattered Settlement

Dispersed or Scattered Settlement Also known as isolated settlements, such patterns are characterised by settlement units of small size which may consist of a single hamlet (two to seven huts). Hamlets are scattered over a vast area and the settlement follows no specific plan.

Such settlement patterns are generally distributed over undulating or hilly and forested areas. Those settlements which are situated on hillocks and knolls overlooking the fields along the slope are generally associated with tribal communities, as in northern West Bengal, Chhotanagpur plateau, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, etc. Such patterns are also 'common in the hills of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Such settlements are a characteristic feature of regions where the households organise their labour on cooperative basis in order to carry out agricultural operations, as in the north-eastern region, especially in Meghalaya, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Sometimes, the dispersed settlements are totally shapeless or amorphous. This happens in south­western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Malwa, Chhotanagpur plateau, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.'Scattered settlements are common in Africa. Such settlements are also found in mountainous regions of China.

Semi-Clustered Settlements

2. Semi-Clustered Settlements Also known as par­tially agglomerated settlements, such settlements are characterised by a small, but compact nucleus around which hamlets are dispersed and form a ring around the main settlement. In case the houses are situated along a road or stream, the settlement looks like a linear cluster.
Such settlements are situated along streams in Manipur, and in Mandla, Raigarh and Balaghat districts. Different tribal groups inhabit such settlements in the Chhotanagpur region. In Nagaland, such settlements are situated on hilltops and are fortified. In coastal areas, such settlements may be in the form of fishing villages. Apart from these, the semi-clustered settlements may acquire the following forms.
A checker board pattern is a feature of some of the large rectangular villages and occurs, generally, at the junction of two roads. The village streets meet each other at an angle of 90°, or are parallel to each other. This is because of the tendency to align the dwellings with cardinal axes. This type is common in the northern plains and in the south.
An elongated pattern occurs as a result of elongation of the rectangular pattern due to influence of site features. For instance, in the Ganga plains, in areas liable to inundation, the rectangular pattern becomes unusually elongated along the high ground. Even otherwise, the advantage offered by a riverside location forces such a pattern.
A fan-shaped pattern is seen where some focal point or line is situated at one end of the village. A focal object may be a tank, a riverside, a road, an orchard, a well or even a place of worship. Such patterns are common in the delta regions where the dwellings simply follow the fan­shaped profile of the delta, as in case of delta regions of Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna. Such patterns are also common in the Himalayan foothills.

TYPES OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS

There are three main types of rural settlement patterns.

1. Clustered or Compact Settlement These are also known as agglomerated or nucleated settlements, and consist of a compact of rural dwellings with narrow, winding streets separating two rows of houses. Most of the river plains of monsoon Asia present compact settlements.

In the plains of India, China and Thailand, large nucleated village is the prevailing type. The Kwanto plain of Japan has the largest concentration of compact or clustered settlements. In Europe, compact settlements are typical in the river valley of Volga and Danube. The Rhine hill tops are also dotted with compact settlements leaving plain areas for farming.

The dwelling clusters may be fragmented due to social segregation on caste lines, as in. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Here, the hamlets inhabited by the low castes are gen~rally situated away from the mainnucleus of the village. These secondary settlement units are often known as para, palli, nagla or dhani. These settlements are distributed over fertile, well- watered plains in thewhole of north Indian plains (from Punjab in north-we: to West Bengal in the east), Orissa coast, basins of Mahana( (in Madhya Pradesh), Cauvery and Vaigai, maidans ( Karnataka, Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, an Assam and Tripura in the east. Very often, these settll ments have a definite layout plan-linear, square, rectal gular, circular, etc. Very often, clustered or compact settlements have definite layout plan-linear, square, rectangular circula etc.

A linear pattern is common along main roads or alon streams. It may have a single row of houses arranged alon the main artery. It may develop, in course of time, int some other type if conditions are favourable.

A rectangular pattern is a common type which evolvE around the rectangular shape of fields, since it is commo to find a system of land measurement based on squal units. Village paths and cart tracks also conform to tll rectangular field patterns and run through the village i north-south and east-west directions.

A hollow rectangular pattern is an interesting variar of the rectangular type. This happens when the rectangul2 pattern has an open space in the middle. This may be du to the location of an old, deserted fort, large house, mound or a pond in the middle. This open space may hay a few trees and used as a place for cattle grazing, for havin panchayat assembly or for having weekly or bi-weekl markets.

A circular pattern is seen in the Upper Doab an Trans-Yamuna districts, Malwa, Punjab and Gujarat, wher large villages are characterised by a very high degree c compactness. The outer walls of dwellings adjoin eac other and present a continuous front, so that when viewel from outside, the villages look like a walled and fortifiel enclosure pierced by a few openings. The round form wa a natural outcome of maximum aggregation for the purpos of defence during the past.

A hollow circular pattern is a variant of the circula type. This pattern has an inbuilt, open space in the middl of the village. The causes for this pattern are more or les the same which lead to the rectangular pattern of settle ment.
A square pattern is basically a variant of the rectan gular type. Such a pattern is associated with villages lyinl at the crossings of cart-tracks or roads and also related features restricting the extension of the village outside, square space. These features may include an old boundar~ wall, thick orchards, a road or a pond.
A herring bone pattern occurs where the rectangle i: characterised by a main lane with all the subsidiary lane: meeting the former almost at right angles. The patten evidently is a result of the unusual importance of the mair street indicated by the tributary nature of the by-lanes.

In the radial pattern:, a number of streets converge or one centre which may be a source of water (pond, well) a temple, a centre of commercial activity or simply an oper space. Thus, the streets seem to be radiating from, common centre.
A polygonal pattern may be identified as an interme­diate type between the rectangular and circular patterns It seems to be a later development of the circular pattern,... with the need for defence having ended and subsequent expansions not confining themselves to the circular aggre­gation.

A horse-shoe shaped pattern is characteristic of a large number of foothill villages in the peninsular upland. The villages built on the site or at the base of the rounded ridges or hillocks line, the advantageous side of the hill, forming a girdle around it and the resulting form is like a thick crescent of horse-shoe shaped pattern.

The 'dopple-dorfer' (double village) is a group of two villages so near each other that it would seem that one of them has grown up by colonisation upon the edge of the other. A minor physical obstacle may be the cause of such a form, which may include, a nala, a pond, a mound or hillock, an intervening road, etc.

RURAL SETTLEMENT

RURAL SETTLEMENT
PATTERN Villages in India, where the concept of planned rural settlements does not seem to exist, are a sort of natural growth in their physical and cultural setting. Thus, although they do not possess well-defined shapes and a distinct internal plan, there is considerable organisation, both in the internal structure and in external profile of villages, which is very closely related to the attributes of the site and its cultural setting. The configu­ration of the site, surface water, nature of soil, cultivation patterns, tracks, roads and the level of security in the past along with the present social structure of the village are significant factors in the evolution of rural settlement patterns in India.
A typical Indian rural settlement consists of houses, streets and the surrounding farmland, along with areas for commercial and religio-cultural activities.
Rural settlements can be of three sizes:

1. Isolated Settlements These consist of single or two­
three dwellings in a remote farmland. There is no shopping or religio-cultural activity.
2. Hamlet This comprises two-three to ten dwellings.

3. Village It consists of a number of dwellings,
farmland around them, a street network, a religious centre like a temple, mosque or gurudwara, and areas for com­mercial and cultural activities.

Human Settlements and Migration

Human response to environment finds expression in settlements. A settlement is a group of human dwellings. In some places, like India, the term 'settlement' may imply a unit area identifiable for revenue collection (in which case it may be an uninhabited settlement, too).

CLASSIFICATION

Settlements may be classified in several ways. The most common division is into towns and villages, the basic
difference between them being that the chief occupation of the. people in towns is trade or indus~1'Y. while most of the people in villages deal in agricultural work. '.
Settlements can also be classiffed by their design or spatial structure: in some areas large numbers of farms or homes may be spread over aq area to produce a dis~ersed pattern, while at other places people prefer to live close to one anothe.!- in compact or nucleated settlements.

Yet another way of looking at settlements is by virtue of their site or position.
The shapes of settlement are often related to their sites. If farming is the major concern, the shape ofthe settlement may have a grid pattern. If the settlement is focussed on a water supply source ora fort, it tends to take a circular pattern; settlements at the convergence of transport routes often assume the shape of a star.
Whatever type it may be, basic requirements for a settlement art! availability of water, food supplies, material for building shelters, means of protection against natural hazards as well as human enemies.