Significance of the Himalayas

1. Isolating and Guarding Effect: It should be noted that almost half of the
humans and livestock of India live on oneone-third
third of the landscape within 500 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 has prevented
intermingling of people from the Indian subcontinent with people from China and
Mongolia,
olia, causing significantly different languages and customs between these regions.
The Himalayas have also hindered trade routes and prevented military expeditions
across its expanse.
For instance, Genghis Khan could not expand his empire south of the Him Himalayas into
the subcontinent.

2. Climate Influence: The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian
subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau
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 northern 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

The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers , which store about 12,000 km3
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 Yamunotri (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 form the sources for several large perennial rivers, most
of which combine into two large river systems:

4. Source of Fertile Soil:

Soil 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.
Significance of Indian Ocean

1. Isolating and Guarding Effect:

Like the formidable Himalayas in the north, the great Indian Ocean on the south
has at times acted as barriers imposing a certain degree of isolation and
restricting human interaction. Together with the Himalayas,, it makes it look as
if India was planned bbyy nature as an indisputable geographic unit, sharply
isolated from the outside world.

2. Climate
The climate north of the equator is affected by a monsoon climate. Strong north-east
north
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 Indian subcontinent.
In the southern hemisphere the winds are generally milder, but summer storms near
 Mauritius can be severe. When the monsoon 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
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% of 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 Life
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 importance to
the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia,
Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and
tuna.

Endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales.

Oil and ship pollution threatens the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea.

5. Major 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. They control the Indian goods flowing
towards the east. Aden is the important Arabian port 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