NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 1 The Himalayas — In-text Questions

Book page 3 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Look at the length of the Himalayan Range on the map. It is like a massive wall. From the legend, can you guess the altitude at different points of the Himalayas?
Answer

On the map the range stretches in a long arc across the whole north. The caption to Fig. 1.2 tells you its length: about 2500 km.

The colours change as you move north across the range, and the legend turns them into heights:

Part of the rangeColour on the mapApproximate altitude
Shivalik Hills (Outer Himalayas)Light brown, just above the green plainsa few hundred to about 1500 m
Himachal (Lower Himalayas)Darker brownabout 1500–4500 m — the hill-station belt
Himadri (Greater Himalayas)Deepest brown, turning to whiteabove 4500 m, with peaks over 8000 m
Why it looks like a wall: the height rises steeply over a short north–south distance. You climb from about 200 m on the plains to over 8000 m within roughly 200–300 km, which is why the map shows three colour bands packed tightly together.
Check it yourself: the exact figures depend on the legend printed in your own book — read the height bands there before writing your answer.
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