STATE, INDIA

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 Table Of Contents

 Introduction

 Land

 People

 Economy

 Government and society

 Cultural life

 History

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 Introduction
  Land
o Relief, drainage, and soils
o Climate
o Plant and animal life
 People
o Population composition
o Settlement patterns
 Economy
o Agriculture
o Resources and power
o Manufacturing and labour
o Transportation
 Government and society
o Constitutional framework
o Health and welfare
o Education
 Cultural life
 History

HOME GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL STATES & OTHER SUBDIVISIONS

Gujarat
STATE, INDIA
WRITTEN BY: 
 Devavrat Nanubhai Pathak
 Deryck O. Lodrick
See Article History

Gujarat, state of India, located on the country’s western coast, on

the Arabian Sea. It encompasses the entire Kathiawar
Peninsula (Saurashtra) as well as the surrounding area on the
mainland.
 BRITANNICA QUIZ

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The state is bounded primarily by Pakistan to the northwest and by

the Indian states of Rajasthan to the north, Madhya Pradesh to the
east, and Maharashtra to the southeast. Gujarat also shares a small
segment of its southeastern border with the Indian union territory
of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and, together with the Arabian Sea, it
surrounds the territory of Daman and Diu. The coastline of Gujarat is
992 miles (1,596 km) long, and no part of the state is more than 100
miles (160 km) from the sea. The capital is Gandhinagar, on the
outskirts of the north-central city of Ahmadabad (Ahmedabad)—the
former capital, the largest city in the state, and one of the most-
important textile centres in India. It was in Ahmadabad
that Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi built his Sabarmati ashram
(Sanskrit: ashrama, “retreat” or “hermitage”) as a headquarters for his
campaigns against British rule of India.
 Royal Palace at Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.Baldev/Shostal Associates
Gujarat draws its name from the Gurjara (supposedly a subtribe of the
Huns), who ruled the area during the 8th and 9th centuries CE. The
state assumed its present form in 1960, when the former Bombay state
was divided between Maharashtra and Gujarat on the basis of
language. Area 75,685 square miles (196,024 square km). Pop. (2011)
60,383,628.
Land
Relief, drainage, and soils
Gujarat is a land of great contrasts, stretching from the seasonal salt
deserts of the Kachchh (Kutch) district in the northwest, across the
generally arid and semiarid scrublands of the Kathiawar Peninsula, to
the wet, fertile, coastal plains of the southeastern part of the state,
north of Mumbai. The Rann of Kachchh—including both the Great
Rann and its eastern appendage, the Little Rann—are best described
as vast salt marshes, together covering about 9,000 square miles
(23,300 square km). The Rann constitutes the Kachchh district on the
west, north, and east, while the Gulf of Kachchh forms the district’s
southern boundary. During the rainy season—slight though the rains
may be—the Rann floods, and the Kachchh district is converted into
an island; in the dry season it is a sandy, salty plain plagued by dust
storms.
 Girnar HillsGirnar Hills, Junagadh, Gujarat, India.Dhwani.bhatt
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To the southeast of Kachchh, lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and

the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay), is the large Kathiawar Peninsula. It is
generally arid and rises from the coasts to a low, rolling area of hill
land in the centre, where the state reaches its highest elevation, at
3,665 feet (1,117 metres), in the Girnar Hills. Soils in the peninsula are
mostly poor, having been derived from a variety of old crystalline
rocks. Rivers, except for seasonal streams, are absent from the area.
An intermittent river in the southern Gir Range, on the Kathiawar Peninsula,
Gujarat, India.Gerald Cubitt
To the east of the Kathiawar Peninsula, small plains and low hills in
the north merge with fertile farmlands in the south. The richness of
the southern soils is attributable to their partial derivation from the
basalts of the Deccan, the physiographic plateau region that
constitutes most of peninsular India. Southeastern Gujarat is crossed
from east to west by the Narmada and Tapti (Tapi) rivers, both of
which empty into the Gulf of Khambhat. Toward the eastern border
with Maharashtra, the terrain becomes mountainous; the region is the
northern extension of the Western Ghats, the mountain range that
runs parallel to the Arabian Sea on the western edge of southern India.

Climate
Winter (November through February) temperatures in Gujarat usually
reach a high in the mid-80s F (about 28 °C), while lows drop into the
mid-50s F (about 12 °C). Summers (March through May) are quite
hot, however, with temperatures typically rising well above 100 °F (38
°C) during the day and dropping only into the 90s F (low 30s C) at
night.
Gujarat is drier in the north than in the south. Rainfall is lowest in the
northwestern part of the state—in the Rann of Kachchh—where it may
amount to less than 15 inches (380 mm) annually. In the central
portion of the Kathiawar Peninsula as well as in the northeastern
region, annual rainfall typically amounts to about 40 inches (1,000
mm). Southeastern Gujarat, where the southwest monsoon brings
heavy rains between June and September, is the wettest area; annual
rainfall usually approaches 80 inches (2,000 mm) along the coastal
plain.

Plant and animal life

Forests cover only a small portion of Gujarat, reflecting human activity
as well as meagre rainfall. Scrub forest occurs in the northwestern
region and across the Kathiawar Peninsula, the main species being
babul acacias, capers, Indian jujubes, and toothbrush bushes
(Salvadora persica). In some parts of the peninsula and northeastern
Gujarat, deciduous species such as teak, catechu (cutch), axlewood,
and Bengal kino (butea gum) are found. Deciduous forests are
concentrated in the wetter southern and eastern hills. They produce
valuable timbers, such as Vengai padauk (genus Pterocarpus;
resembling mahogany), Malabar simal, and haldu (Adina cordifolia).
The west coast of the peninsula is known for its algae, and the east
coast produces papyrus, or paper plant (Cyperus papyrus).

Gir National Park, in the southwestern region of the Kathiawar

Peninsula, contains rare Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica), and
endangered Indian wild asses (Equus hemionus khur) are protected in
a sanctuary near the Little Rann of Kachchh. The Nal Sarovar Bird
Sanctuary, near Ahmadabad, attracts many species of birds migrating
from the Siberian plains and elsewhere in winter. Saras cranes,
Brahmini ducks, bustards, pelicans, cormorants, ibises, storks, herons,
and egrets are among the most-notable species. The Rann of Kachchh
is India’s only nesting ground of the greater flamingo. There is
excellent offshore and inland fishing in Gujarat. Catches include
pomfret, salmon, hilsa (a type of shad), jewfish (scianid fish),
prawn, Bombay duck (a food fish), and tuna.