Geography of South India
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The Geography of South India comprises the diverse topological and climatic patterns of South India. South India is a peninsula in the shape of a vast inverted triangle, bounded on the west by the Arabian Sea, on the east by the Bay of Bengal and on the north by the Vindhya and Satpura ranges.
The Satpura ranges define the northern spur of the Deccan Plateau, one of the main geographic features of South India. The Western Ghats, along the western coast, mark another boundary of the plateau. The narrow strip of verdant land between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is the Konkan region; the term encompasses the area south of the Narmada as far as Coastal Karnataka.
The Western Ghats continue south, forming the Malnad (Canara) region along the Karnataka coast, and terminate at the Nilgiri mountains, an inward (easterly) extension of the Western Ghats. The Nilgiris run in a crescent approximately along the borders of Tamil Nadu with northern Kerala and Karnataka, encompassing the Palakkad and Wayanad hills, and the Satyamangalam ranges, and extending on to the relatively low-lying hills of the Eastern Ghats, on the western portion of the Tamil Nadu–Andhra Pradesh border. The Tirupati and Anaimalai hills form part of this range.
The Deccan Plateau, covering the major portion of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, is the vast elevated region bound by the C-shape defined by all these mountain ranges. No major elevations border the plateau to the east, and it slopes gently from the Western Ghats to the eastern coast.[citation needed]
India is entirely contained on the Indian Plate, a major tectonic plate that was formed when it split off from the left over land of the ancient continent Gondwanaland. About 91 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period, the Indian Plate began moving north at about 15 cm/yr (6 in/yr).[1]
The vast volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period, between 67 and 66 million years ago. Some paleontologists speculate that this eruption may have accelerated the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted many thousands of years, and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table. Hence it is also known as Table Top. The volcanic hotspot that produced the Deccan traps is hypothesized to lie under the present day island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
Climate
The region has a tropical climate with the monsoons playing the major part. The southwest monsoon accounts for most of the rainfall in the region and much of it occurs from about June to September. Tamil Nadu and southeast Andhra Pradesh receive rains from the northeast monsoon from about October to January. Much of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has a distinct dry season from November until May when there is not much rainfall. This region also experiences cooler nights from October to March while the days are pleasantly warm. In the northern parts of the region temperatures can fall below 10 °C or 50 °F on occasions at night. Days are very hot from March to June when temperatures can surpass 40 °C or 104 °F.
States and Union Territories
South India includes five states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana – where the official and majority languages are Dravidian languages. State boundaries generally follow linguistic lines.
The northern portion of the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau are in the states of Goa and Maharashtra, although these states are often classed in Western India. The official and majority languages in Goa and Maharashtra are Indo-European languages.
South India also has two Union territories, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
Regions
South India has a number of overlapping traditional geographic regions. Some of these regions are:
- Bayaluseemae- The plain area of Deccan Plateau in Karnataka
- Carnatic – etymologically related to the Deccan, refers to all of South India
- Canara or Karaavali – the Karnataka coast
- Chera Nadu – Western Tamil Nadu and most of modern Kerala
- Chettinadu – Southern Tamil Nadu surrounding Sivagangai
- Chola Nadu – Central Tamil Nadu surrounding Thanjavur.
- Cochin - The region of Kerala which lies between the rivers Bharathappuzha and Periyar, sometimes extended to Pamba.
- Coromandel Coast – south coastal Andhra Pradesh, North coastal Tamil Nadu and the Puducherry Union Territory
- Deccan – plateau region covering interior Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Includes the Marathwada, Vidarbha, Telangana, Rayalaseema, North Karnataka and Mysore regions.
- Kammanadu – Region south of Krishna River up to Nellore in
- Konaseema – Coastal region between the tributaries of the Godavari River in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh
- Kongu Nadu – Western Tamil Nadu surrounding Coimbatore
- Konkan – coastal region comprising coastal Maharashtra, Goa and part of coastal Karnataka
- Kosta – Coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh
- Malabar region – Northern Kerala
- Malenadu – Sahyadri hills between the coast and the plateau in Karnataka
- Mulakanadu – Region to the north of the Godavari River
- Mysore – South Karnataka around Mysore
- North Karnataka – North Karnataka around Dharawad
- North Malabar - The northern most region in Kerala which lies between Mangalore and Kozhikode. It was the former seat of Ezhimala kingdom, Mushika dynasty and Kolathunadu.
- Northern Circars – Muslim administrative units in Madras state in British India, namely Chicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Kondapalli and Guntur
- Palnadu – Northern Tamil Nadu and Southern districts of Andhra Pradesh
- Pandya Nadu – Southern Tamil Nadu around Madurai
- Raichur Doab – mostly northern Karnataka, between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers
- Rayalaseema – Southern parts Andhra Pradesh consisting of Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapuram and Chittoor districts.
- South Malabar - The north-central region of Kerala, which lies between the rivers Korapuzha and Bharathappu.
- Tondai Nadu – Northern Tamil Nadu around Kanchipuram
- Thiruvithaamkoor or Travancore – Southern Kerala and Kanniyakumari District of Tamil Nadu
- Tulu Nadu – Coastal districts of Udupi and South Canara in Karnataka
- Velanadu – Places on the banks of Krishna River from Guntur to Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh
- Uttarandhra – Northern parts of Andhra Pradesh comprising three districts (Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam)
The low-lying coral islands of Lakshadweep are off the south-western coast of India. Sri Lanka lies off the south-eastern coast, separated from India by the Palk Strait and the chain of low sandbars and islands known as Rama's Bridge. The Andaman and Nicobar islands lie far off the eastern coast of India, near the Tenasserim coast of Burma. The southernmost tip of mainland India is at Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) on the Indian Ocean.
