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The Indo-Gangetic Plain is a large and fertile alluvial plain encompassing most of northern and eastern India, the most populous parts of Pakistan, and virtually all of Bangladesh. The region is named after the Indus and the Ganges, the twin river systems that drain it.

The Indo-Gangetic plain is bound on the north by the abruptly rising Himalayas, which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the Vindhya- and Satpura Range, and the Chota Nagpur Plateau. On the west rises the Iranian Plateau.

The region is one of the most populated areas on Earth, being home to nearly 900 million people (or over 1/8th of the world's population).

Topography

Topographically the plain is homogeneous, with only the floodplain bluffs, changes in river channels and other related features of river erosion forming natural features.

Two narrow terrain belts, collectively known as the Terai, constitute the northern boundary of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In the area where the foothills of the Himalayas encounter the plain, small hills known locally as ghar (meaning house in Hindi) have been formed by coarse sands and pebbles deposited by mountain streams.

Groundwater from these areas flow on the surface where the plains begin, converting large areas along the rivers into swamps. The southern boundary of the plain begins along the edge of the Great Indian Desert in the state of Rajasthan, before continuing east along the base of the hills of the Central Highlands to the Bay of Bengal. The hills vary in elevation from 300 to 1200 metres and lie on a general east-west axis.

The Central Highlands are divided into northern and southern parts. The northern part is centered on the Aravalli Range of eastern Rajasthan. In the northern part (in the state of Madhya Pradesh), the Malwa Plateau comprises the southern part of the Central Highlands and merges with the Vindhya Range to the south.

Divisions

Some geographers subdivide the Indo-Gangetic Plain into several parts: the Indus Valley, the Punjab Plain, the Haryana Plains, and the middle and lower Ganga. These regional distinctions are based primarily on the availability of water.

By another definition, the Indo-Gangetic Plain is divided into two drainage basins by the Delhi Ridge; the western part consists of the Punjab Plain and the Haryana Plain, and the eastern part consists of the Ganga-Brahmaputra drainage systems. This divide is only 300 metres above sea level, causing the perception that the Indo-Gangetic Plain appears to be continuous between the two drainage basins.

Both the Punjab and Haryana plains are irrigated with water from the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers. The irrigation projects in progress on these rivers have led to a decrease in the flow of water, which reaches the lower drainage areas in the state of Punjab in India and the Indus Valley in Pakistan. The benefits that the increased irrigation has brought to Haryana farmers are controversial, due to the effects that irrigation has had on agricultural life in the Punjab areas of both India and Pakistan.

The middle Ganga extends from the Yamuna River in the west to the state of West Bengal in the east. The lower Ganga and the Assam Valley are more verdant than the middle Ganga.

The lower Ganga is centered in West Bengal, from which it flows into Bangladesh. After joining the Yamuna, both rivers form the Ganges Delta.

The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River and flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, before crossing into Bangladesh.

Extent

As a large plain, the exact extent can vary from source to source. Roughly, the Indo-Gangetic Plain stretches across:

• Kashmir in the north;
• the Punjab region of Pakistan and the Aravalli Range;
• Sindh in the west;
• the Himalayan foothills in the east; and
• the Vindhya- and Satpura Range, and the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the south.

The fertile Terai region is the Nepalese extension of the Plain. The rivers encompassed are the Beas, the Chambal, the Chenab, the Ganges, the Gomti, the Indus, the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. The soil is rich in silt, making the plain one of the most intensely farmed areas of the world. Even rural areas here are densely populated.

Agriculture

Farming on the Indo-Gangetic Plain primarily consists of rice and wheat grown in rotation. Other crops include maize, sugarcane, and cotton.

The main source of rainfall is the southwest monsoon which is normally sufficient for general agriculture. The many rivers flowing out of the Himalayas provide water for major irrigation works.

Stressed water supplies

Due to a rapidly growing population (as well as other factors such as global warming which affects monsoon and Himalayan runoff), this area is considered at high risk for water shortages in the future.

History The region is known for the Indus Valley Civilisation and is responsible for the birth of ancient India. The flat and fertile terrain has facilitated the repeated rise and expansion of empires, including the Gupta empire, Kanauj, Magadha, the Maurya Empire, the Mughal Empire and the Sultanate of Delhi - all of which had their demographic and political centres in the Indo-Gangetic plain. During the Vedic and Epic eras of Indian history, this region was referred to as "Aryavarta" (Land of the Aryans) which was bordered on the west by the Indus and on the south by the Vindhya Mountain range. During the Islamic period, the Turkish rulers referred to this region as "Hindustan" (Land of the Hindus), deriving from the Persian term for the Indus Valley. This term was later used to refer to India in general but even into the modern era, the dialect of Hindi-Urdu spoken in this region is called Hindustani as well as the local music and culture.

Both British and independent India also had their demographic and political centres here (first in Calcutta and then Delhi).

Languages

The language of the Indo-Gangetic plain was previously Indo-Aryan.

There is in addition a great variety of regional languages, which in several cases form a dialect chain with one another.

Cities

Among the largest cities of the Indo-Gangetic plain are Ahmedabad, Delhi, Dhaka, Faisalabad, Hyderabad (Pakistan), Kanpur, Karachi, Kolkata,Lahore, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Multan, Patna, Rawalpindi-Islamabad, and Surat. In this region, it is hard to define where one megalopolis begins and one ends.

Administrative divisions

Because it is not fully possible to define the boundaries of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, it is also difficult to give an exact list of which administrative areas are part on the plain.

The areas that are completely part or more than half part of the plains are:

• Bangladesh (almost the whole country)
• India
• Assam
• Bihar
• Delhi
• Gujurat
• Haryana
• Punjab
• Rajasthan
• Tripura
• Uttar Pradesh
• West Bengal
• Nepal
• the Madhesh
• Pakistan
• Punjab
• Sindh

Small parts of the following administrative areas are or are not part of the plain:

• India
• Madhya Pradesh
• Meghalaya
• Jharkhand
• Orissa
• Pakistan
• Balochistan
• Northwest Frontier Province

•  • [ e] Geography of South Asia
Himalayas	Himalaya Western Ghats Eastern Ghats Aravalli Range The Nilgiris Vindhya Range Satpura Range Garo Hills Shivalik Hills Khasi Hills Annamalai Hills Cardamom Hills Sulaiman Mountains Karakoram Hindu Kush Chittagong Hill Tracts Deccan Plateau Thar Desert Makran Chota Nagpur Naga Hills Mysore Plateau Ladakh Plateau
Coastal	Indo-Gangetic plain Indus River Delta Ganga basin Ganges Delta Atolls of Maldives Coromandel Coast Konkan Lakshadweep Andaman and Nicobar Islands Sundarbans Rann of Kutch Protected areas of Tamil Nadu
Main	India Pakistan Nepal Bhutan Sri Lanka Bangladesh The Maldives