Islands

THE ISLAND GROUPS OF INDIA

THE ISLANDS

An island is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water.

THE ISLANDS

Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet.

THE ISLANDS


An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot.

THE ISLANDS


An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot. A grouping of geographically or geologically related

islands is called an archipelago.

THE ISLANDS

There are two main types of islands: 1) Continental islands 2) Oceanic islands. There are also artificial islands.

There is no standard of size which distinguishes islands from islets and continents.


India has a vast main land. Besides this, the country has also two groups of islands.

1) The Lakshadweep Islands.

2) The Andaman & Nicobar Islands.


Location of the Island Groups of India

Lakshadweep Islands

Lakshadweep islands, the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea. It's located in 8º and 12º North latitude and 71º and 74º East longitude.

Lakshadweep Islands

There are 36 coral islands that constitute Lakshadweep islands, only 10 are inhabited and only six have been opened for tourism.

Their total land area is 32 km². These islands, formed of coral deposits, are

called atolls. Atolls are circular or horse shoe shaped coral reefs.

Lakshadweep Islands

Karavatti is the administrative headquarters of Lakshadweep Islands.

This island group has great diversity of flora and fauna.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located between 6o and 14o North latitude and 92o and 94o East longitude in the Bay of Bengal near the Myanmar coast. It is located 1255 km from Kolkata and 193 km from Cape Negrais in Myanmar.


They are bigger in size and are more numerous and scattered.

The entire group of islands is divided into two broad categories – The Andaman in the north and the Nicobar in the south. The Andamans and Nicobars are separated by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some 150 km wide.


There are 572 islands in the territory, of which only approximately 38 are permanently inhabited. Most of the islands (about 550) are in the Andamans group, 26 of which are inhabited. The smaller Nicobars comprise some 22 main islands (10 inhabited). These islands spread over a length of 350 km.


They are submerged hill ranges, some of them are of volcanic origin.


India's only active volcano is found on Barren island in Andaman & Nicobar group of Islands.


The total area of the Andaman & Nicobar islands territory is approximately 8337 km² in which the total area of the Andaman Islands is about 6,496 sq.km and the total area of the Nicobar Islands is approximately 1,841 sq.km.

The highest point is located in North Andaman Island (Saddle Peak at 732 metres (2,402 ft)).


There is diversity of flora and fauna in this group of islands. These islands lie close to equator and experience equatorial climate and has thick forest cover.


These island groups are of great economic and strategic importance for the country.

– Tourism potential. – Security. – Trade. – Migration. – Arms smuggling. – Smuggling of all natural resources – Control on Indian Ocean.

Travel

Islands