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Class 6 Geography — The physical divisions of India

Name the great physical divisions of India — the Himalayas, the Northern Plains, the desert, the Peninsular Plateau, the coastal plains and the islands — and say where each one lies and what its land is like.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Sort each description under the division of India it belongs to.

    Groups: The Himalayas · The Northern Plains · The Peninsular Plateau

    • Bordered by the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats
    • Snow lies on the peaks all through the year
    • The most crowded farmland in the country
    • The highest mountains in the world
    • Old, hard rock, rich in minerals
    • Flat, level land built out of silt dropped by rivers

  2. 2.What is the land of the Great Indian Desert like?

    • a) High and cold, with snow on it most of the year
    • b) Old hard rock, cut into by deep river valleys
    • c) Sandy, dry, and with very little rain
    • d) Flat and green, and crossed by great rivers

  3. 3.Why is so much of India's farming done in the Northern Plains?

    • a) It is the only part of the country where it ever rains
    • b) The soil there is old, hard rock, which crops grow best in
    • c) The plains are higher than anywhere else, so crops get more sun
    • d) The land is flat, the soil is deep, and great rivers cross it

  4. 4.India has a strip of coastal plain along each of its two coasts. Sort each description into the right one.

    Groups: The Western Coastal Plains · The Eastern Coastal Plains

    • Lie along the Bay of Bengal
    • Lie along the Arabian Sea
    • The Coromandel coast is part of them
    • Narrow, with the Western Ghats rising close behind them
    • Broader, and carrying the deltas of great rivers
    • The Konkan and Malabar coasts are part of them

  5. 5.Which great range of mountains stretches across the whole of the north of India?

  6. 6.Match each division of India to where it lies.

    • The Himalayas
    • The Northern Plains
    • The Great Indian Desert
    • The Peninsular Plateau
    • The coastal plains
    • South of the plains, filling most of the south
    • In the west, in Rajasthan
    • In two narrow strips, one along each coast
    • Right across the north
    • South of the mountains and north of the plateau

  7. 7.The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats are the two raised edges of which division of India?

    • a) The Himalayas
    • b) The Northern Plains
    • c) The Peninsular Plateau
    • d) The Great Indian Desert

  8. 8.Which group of islands lies in the Bay of Bengal?

    • a) The Lakshadweep Islands
    • b) The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • c) The Western Ghats
    • d) The Shiwaliks

Answer key — Class 6 Geography — The physical divisions of India

  1. 1. The highest mountains in the world → The Himalayas; Flat, level land built out of silt dropped by rivers → The Northern Plains; Old, hard rock, rich in minerals → The Peninsular Plateau; Snow lies on the peaks all through the year → The Himalayas; The most crowded farmland in the country → The Northern Plains; Bordered by the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats → The Peninsular Plateau
  2. 2. c) Sandy, dry, and with very little rain
  3. 3. d) The land is flat, the soil is deep, and great rivers cross it
  4. 4. Lie along the Arabian Sea → The Western Coastal Plains; Lie along the Bay of Bengal → The Eastern Coastal Plains; Narrow, with the Western Ghats rising close behind them → The Western Coastal Plains; Broader, and carrying the deltas of great rivers → The Eastern Coastal Plains; The Konkan and Malabar coasts are part of them → The Western Coastal Plains; The Coromandel coast is part of them → The Eastern Coastal Plains
  5. 5.
    • the Himalayas
    • Himalayas
    • the Himalaya
    • Himalaya
  6. 6. The Himalayas → Right across the north; The Northern Plains → South of the mountains and north of the plateau; The Great Indian Desert → In the west, in Rajasthan; The Peninsular Plateau → South of the plains, filling most of the south; The coastal plains → In two narrow strips, one along each coast
  7. 7. c) The Peninsular Plateau
  8. 8. b) The Andaman and Nicobar Islands