Significance of the Himala as
1.
Isolating and Gu arding Effect : It should be noted that al
ost half of the
humans and livestock of IIndia live on one-third of the landscape within 00 km of the Himalayan range. The Himalayas, due to their large size and expanse, have been a natural barrier to the movement of people for tens of thousands of years. In particular, this h s prevented intermingling of people f om the Indian subcontinent with people from hina and Mongolia, causing signifi antly different languages and customs betwee n these regions. The Himalayas have also hindered trade routes and prevented military expeditions across its expanse. For instance, Genghis Kh an could not expand his empire south of the H imalayas into the subcontinent. subcontinent.
2.
Climate Climate Influenc e e: The Himalayas have a profound effect on the cli
ate of the Indian
subcontinent and the Tibet an plateau. They prevent frigid, dry Arctic winds blowing south into
the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan and Gobi.
The mountain ranges also prevent western winter disturbances in Iran from traveling further, resulting in snow in Kashmir and rainfall for parts of Punjab and n orthern India. Despite being a barrier to the cold, northerly winter winds, the Brahmaputra valley receives part of the frigid winds, thus lowering the temperature in the North East India and Bangladesh.
3. Glaciers and river systems
3
The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers , which store about 12,000 km of freshwater . The 70 km-long Siachen Glacier at the India-Pakistan border is the second longest glacier in the world outside the polar region. Some of the other more famous glaciers include the Gangotri and Yamuno tri (Uttarakhand), Nubra, Biafo and Baltoro (karakoram region), Zemu (Sikkim) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region). The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they the y form the sources for several large perennial perenn ial rivers, most of which combine into two large river systems: s ystems:
4. Source Fertile Soil : Source of Fertile
Himalayan rocks have provided wonderful parent
material for the fertile soils of the northern plains. This material, a result of constant erosion because of water, wind etc.. is removed and deposited over the great northern plains by the Himalayan Rivers.
5. Richest of Flora and Fauna : the Himalayan region is very rich in animal and forest resources, thereby improving the quality of environment apart from giving India a rich bio-diversity. Much of our forest wealth is located in Himalayas.
6. Tourist abode : the high altitude snowy ranges have a moderating influence on the temperature and humidity of northern India. When the neighboring plains are suffering from scorching heat in summer, the Himalayas ranges enjoy a cool and pleasant climate and are therefore great place of tourist interest.
Signific nce of Indian O ean
1. Isolating an Guarding Effect: Like the formidable Himalayas in the north, the great Indian Oc an on the south has at times acted as barriers imposing a certain degree of isolati n and restricting human i teraction. Together with the Himalayas, it m akes it look as if India was planned by nature as an indisputable geographic u it, sharply isolated from the ou side world.
2. Climate The climate north of the equator is affected by a monsoon climate. Strong north-east winds blow from October until April; from May until October south and west winds prevail. In the Arabian Sea the violent Monsoon brings rain to the Indi n subcontinent. In the southern hemisphe e the winds are generally milder, but summer s orms near
Mauritius can be severe. When the monsoon mon soon winds change, cyclones sometimes strike the shores of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The Indian Ocean is the warmest ocean in the world.
3. Economy 3. Economy The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oil fields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and Western Australia. An estimated 40% o f the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Due to the relatively high traffic of petroleum tankers, piracy off the Somali coast has been rising. This has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century.
4. Marine Marine Life Life Marine The warmth of the Indian Ocean keeps phytoplankton production low, except along the northern fringe and in a few scattered spots elsewhere; life in the ocean is thus limited. Fishing is confined to subsistence levels. Its fish are of great and growing impo rtance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and ex port. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly mainl y for shrimp and tuna. Endangered marine species include the dugong, d ugong, seals, turtles, and whales. Oil and ship pollution threatens the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea.
5. Major Major Major ports ports and harbours Mumbai is the chief Indian trading port on the coast of Indian Ocean. It is often known as "The Gateway of India". The port of Kochi from the Southern Indian is known as "The Queen of the Arabian Sea". It is the finest natural harbour of India. Kolkata and Chennai are other important ports of India. The y control the Indian goods flowing towards the east. Aden is the important Arabian p ort controlled by the country of Yemen. . Perth is the important Australian port Karachi is the major seaport in Pakistan.
Port Louis, Mauritius is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can accommodate fourth and fifth generation container vessels. At present, only Cape Town and Port Louis can achieve that in Sub-Saharan Africa
