India comprises the entire Indian Peninsula and portions of the Asian mainland. With an area of more than 1 million square miles, it is bounded on the north by Afghanistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan; on the east by Bangladesh, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and the Bay of Bengal; on the south by Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar (which separate it from Sri Lanka) and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan. India's capital is New Delhi; the largest city is Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay).

The Himalayan mountain range (the highest in the world), is nearly 200 miles wide, and extends 1,500 miles along the northern and eastern margins of the country. South and parallel to the Himalayas lies the northern river plains region, a belt of flat, alluvial lowlands about 250 miles wide. Because of the abundance of water and rich alluvial soil, the northern plains region is the most fertile and densely populated area of the republic and was the cradle of Indian civilization.

Because it is a peninsula, India's unusual topography and geographical position creates unique and widely diversified climatic conditions. The diversity ranges from tropical to temperate zonal extremes, with the temperature extremes confined largely to the slopes of the Himalayas