Latitudinal and Longitudinal extent of India- explained in detail

Geography of World and India is essential when you are appearing for competitive examinations like KAS, PSI etc. You should be aware of the Latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India as it is an important factor. In this blog you will learn about the latitudinal extent of India and longitudinal extent of India. If you are preparing for the Karnataka PSI exam, OliveBoard has started PSI exam Paper 1 course to boost your preparation. You can visit our website for more details. 

Latitude and Longitude

Before we go for what is the longitude and latitude of India, we will see what is latitude and longitude. Latitude means the geographical coordinates that specifies the north and south position on the earth’s surface and Longitude means the geographical coordinates that specifies the east and west positions on the earth’s surface. The longitudinal distance reduces as we move towards the pole whereas the latitudinal distance remains the same.

The distance between the latitudes is 111km which remains same throughout and the distance between longitudes is 111km at the equator but when we move towards the pole it reduces to 0. The international standard for 0° longitude is known as the prime meridian with reference to which all the time zones are calculated. Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich city hence it is called Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich Mean time is also known as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) which is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. 

So what is the longitude and latitude of India? The coordinates of latitude and longitude specifies a certain geographical position on the earth’s surface of a place. You might be familiar with the coordinates of location you see in your mobile locations. If you were asked a question like,

Q: What is the longitude and latitude of India?

1.  6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitudes and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitudes.
2.  6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitudes and 68° 7′ and 87° 25′ east longitudes.
3.  6° 44′ and 30° 35′ north latitudes and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitudes.
4.  6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitudes and 68° 7′ and 97° 24′ east longitudes.

Ans:  6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitudes and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitudes.

Tricks to Remember Longitude and Latitude

It might be confusing between latitude and longitude, when you are writing the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India you might get lost in the numbers and degrees as of what is latitude and what is longitude. So to make it easier for you to remember the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India we will mention a children’s poem to remember latitude and longitude. 

I’m climbing the Ladder of Latitudes, latitudes, latitudes.

I’m climbing the ladder of latitudes, all around the world.

It’s a LONG LONG way from pole to pole, pole to pole, pole to pole.

It’s a LONG LONG way from pole to pole, so we call those LONGITUDES.

With the help of this poem and the ladder perception of Caitlin Dempsey you can easily remember the concepts of latitude and longitude and which helps you remember latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India

 It is very confusing to remember which runs east to west and which runs north to south. So consider this ladder as an example where latitude is the rung of the ladder which runs connecting to the longer pieces of the ladder and longitude is the big long pole. Now the middle of the earth, named as the equator, is at the  zero degree latitude.

If you don’t know what comes first, latitude or longitude, remember when you see the coordinates the first coordinates indicate latitude and longitudinal coordinates are mentioned later.

Latitudinal and Longitudinal extent of India 

The Indian subcontinent is located in the Northern and Eastern hemisphere of the earth. 

Latitudinal extent of India

The mainland (excluding the islands of India) Latitudinal extent of India is 37°6′N to 8°4′N from north end Kashmir to Kanyakumari which is the south end of India. The Latitudinal extent of India from its southern boundary extends to 6°45′N in the Bay of Bengal including the islands. The extremity of this latitudinal extent of India from north to south is 3,214km. 

Longitudinal Extent of India

The mainland (excluding the islands of India) Longitudinal extent of India is 97°25′ E to 68°7′ E from east end Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat which is the West end of India. The Longitudinal extent of India having the variation of ~29° degrees creates two hours time difference in Its eastern and westernmost points. The extremity of this Longitudinal extent of India from north to south is approximately 2,933km. 

Tropic of Cancer 

Located at the northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun is directly overhead, the Tropic of Cancer is also known as the Northern Tropic. This tropic of Cancer runs through India at 23°30’N. The tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of India, it runs north from the Equator. In india tropic of cancer passes through 8 states namely 

• Gujarat
• Rajasthan
• Madhya Pradesh 
• Chhattisgarh 
• Jharkhand 
• West Bengal
• Tripura
• Mizoram 

• The Indian state with longest Coastline is Gujarat 
• Southern most point is Indira Point or Pygmalion Point in Great Nicobar Island of India
• Southern most tip of mainland of India is Kanyakumari
• Eastern coast of India is known as Coromandel Coast 
• Western coast of India is known as Malabar Coast 

Indian Standard Time (IST)

• India has only one standard time. India is 5.5 hours ahead of GMT(GreenWich Mean Time)/UTC(Coordinated Universal Time), it is behind Australian eastern standard time by 4.5 hours and ahead of American eastern standard time by 10.5 hours.
• The standard longitude of India is 82 ½°  E longitude. Which passes through Naini near Allahabad City. 
• The five states through which the Indian Standard Time (IST) crosses are:  

• Uttar Pradesh 
• Madhya Pradesh
• Chhattisgarh 
• Odisha
• Andhra Pradesh

• The distance between East-West is approximately 2,933km resulting in 29° of longitude, because of which the sun rises and sets almost two hours earlier on India’s eastern Border than in Rann of Kutch (Gujarath) which is in the far west of India. 

The GreenWich of India

Ujjain is considered as the GreenWich of India because it is the point at which the zero meridian of longitude and the tropic of cancer intersect. Before GreenWich was universally accepted as prime meridian, Ujjain was the central meridian for Indian people.