Question

Assess the influence of the geographical features of India on its history with special reference to the Himalayas and the Peninsular India.

Answer 1

To form a holistic image of India, – an attempt to understand and appreciate the role of geography and ecology in molding the character and psyche of Indians is necessary.

What we observe is a harmonious adjustment of physical and cultural environments.

Further, we notice that the physical features of the subcontinent facilitating the coexistence of different levels of cultures in different regions is due to ecological and geographical conditions.

Answer 2

THE HIMALAYAS AND HIMALAYAN RIVERS - the 2,400 kilometres long Himalayan range was created as a result of collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian Plate that took place around 50 million years ago.

The Himalayas are home to 9 out of the 10 highest peaks in the world.

They have the third largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic covered in around 15,000 glaciers. And this is despite being close to the warmer part of earth where the permanent snow line is around 18,000 feet.

Two of the world's largest river basins originate from the Himalayas -

Indus basin - including Western rivers - the mighty Indus, and Sutlej, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Jhelum

Ganga-Brahmaputra basin - the mighty and holy Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, and several other tributaries.

OTHER RANGES AND RIVERS - Apart from Himalayas, there are the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in Central India and the Shahyadri or Western Ghats in Western India that are sources of other major rivers in India like Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, and the Aravali range that is the oldest and runs for around 800 kms.

MONSOONS - One of the most anticipated, tracked, and studied weather phenomena in the region. The monsoon can be categorized into two branches based on their spread over the subcontinent -

Arabian Sea branch

Bay of Bengal branch

Now coming over to History. Modern humans stepped out of Africa around 70,000 years ago and spread to other parts of the world. As part of that exodus, they arrived in India as well and there are many cave sites (Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh being a prominent one) that have preserved records of human activity. However, historians consider all that under Pre-History category. History, by definition is related to the period since humans started some form of writing. Based on this criteria, history of India is supposedly the period of last 5,000 years.