There are 247 main islands in India. 204 in the Bay of Bengal and 43 in the Arabian Sea. The Islands of India are divided into two parts

(a) The Islands close to the const.

(b) The Islands distant from the coast.

(a) The Islands close to the Coast.

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In the Gangas delta the main islands arc Short, Wheeler and Sugar. Near Chilka Lake is island named Bhasra.

An island in the Gulf of Mannar is Crocodile Is. Among other islands arc Pamban Is near Rameshwaram and Dieu (12 km long) near Bay of Khambat, etc.

(c) Islands Distant from the Coast.

A group of islands is situated away from the Malabar Coast and is known as Lakshdweep Islands which arc 35 in number.

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These are coral islands. There are 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks. Only 10 islands are inhabited.

Lakshdweep islands cover an area of 32 sq km. The distance of these islands from Kerala Coast is 220-440 km between 8° N to 12° 13′ N latitude.

Though the land area is small, extremely small (32 sq km) yet if we consider the following features about them, the islands become one of the largest territory of India:

(a) Lagoon Area – 4,200 sq km

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(b) Territorial Water – 20,000 sq km

(c) Economic Zone – 7, 00,000 sq km

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

This group has 3,000 islands. Most of the islands are uninhabited. Only a few are inhabited. This group of islands is known as Devil Islands. These islands, in the Bay of Bengal, arc considered to Ix: the counterparts of Lakshdweep Islands which are in the Arabian Sea. These islands lie between 6-14° N and 92-94° E.

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They form two groups – Andaman and Nicobar separated by 10°N channel. Geographically these islands arc a part of the landmass of South-cast Asia. Geologically these islands arc the remnants of two vast mountain ranges which once stretched from Burma (Myanmar) to Sumatra.

The total area of the two groups of islands is 8,249 sq km with Andaman forming 76% of total land area. The capital is Port Blair and its population is 2, 77,989 (1991).

In Andaman, the original inhabitants arc four Negrito groups: (i) the great Andamnanese (ii) Onge (iii) Jarawa (iv) Sentinelese.

There are two groups of tribes in Nicobar (i) Nicobars and (ii) Shompen. These are Mongoloid tribes.