🏔 Mountains, rivers and waterways of the world
The world’s physical map: peaks and ranges, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, forests, grasslands and deserts, and the canals and railways that carry the world’s trade.
Maps show India’s boundaries as officially depicted by the Government of India. Pins mark approximate locations.
🏔 Mountains
Most of the world’s mountains are grouped in ranges — the Himalayas in Asia, the Alps in Europe, the Andes in South America — some stretching for thousands of kilometres.
-
Mount Everest
With Kanchenjunga, one of the two highest peaks of the Himalayan range; it lies between Tibet (China) and Nepal.
-
Kanchenjunga
Between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim.
-
Mount Aconcagua
The highest peak of the Andes, in South America.
-
Mount Kilimanjaro
In eastern Africa — an isolated mountain that is not part of any range.
-
Mont Blanc
The highest mountain of the Alps, in Western Europe.
-
Anamudi
In Kerala, also known as ‘Anai Peak’ — the highest mountain in south India.
⛰ Mountain ranges
The great ranges on NCERT’s world map.
-
The Himalayas
Asia’s great range, home to Everest and Kanchenjunga.
-
The Alps
Europe’s great range; Mont Blanc is its highest mountain.
-
The Andes
South America’s great range; Aconcagua is its highest peak.
-
The Rockies
On NCERT’s world map of ranges.
-
The Urals
On NCERT’s world map of ranges.
-
The Atlas
On NCERT’s world map of ranges, in north-west Africa.
🌊 Plateaus, river plains and deserts
Flat lands built by rivers, high tablelands, and dry expanses where people have still adapted.
-
Plains
Extensive flat or gently undulating land, generally not more than 300 metres above sea level; floodplains are formed by rivers. NCERT’s world map shows the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, Yangtze, Indus and Ganga–Brahmaputra plains.
-
The Nile plain
One of the great river plains on NCERT’s world map, in north-east Africa.
-
The Amazon plain
The great river plain of South America on NCERT’s world map.
-
The Mississippi plain
The great river plain of North America on NCERT’s world map.
-
The Yangtze plain
A great river plain of eastern Asia on NCERT’s world map.
-
The Tibetan plateau
Among the plateaus on NCERT’s world map; plateaus are home to many spectacular waterfalls.
-
Victoria Falls
On the Zambezi River in southern Africa.
-
The Sahara
A hot desert in Africa.
-
The Thar
A hot desert in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, with rich cultural traditions.
-
The Gobi
A cold desert in Asia. (Some experts also describe Antarctica as a desert.)
🗺 Continents
A continent is a large, continuous expanse of land. Counts range from four to seven; the list of seven is the one most widely used.
-
Asia
One of the seven continents in the most widely used list: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Europe and Asia form a single landmass, which geologists often call ‘Eurasia’.
-
Europe
Generally counted as a continent separate from Asia, for historical and cultural reasons, though the two form one landmass.
-
Africa
Africa and Eurasia are generally regarded as two continents, but sometimes as one.
-
North America
North and South America are generally two continents, but can be counted as one landmass.
-
South America
One of the seven continents.
-
Australia
One of the seven continents; with Asia and Africa it borders the Indian Ocean.
-
Antarctica
The continent around the South Pole, beyond the southern edge of this map. Some experts also describe it as a desert.
🌏 Oceans and seas
The world map shows five oceans — but they are not really separate; the dividing lines are only conventions. Seas differ in how salty they are.
-
Pacific Ocean
The largest of the five oceans, followed by the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern and — the smallest — the Arctic.
-
Atlantic Ocean
One of the five oceans on the world map.
-
Indian Ocean
Bordered by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east, with the Southern Ocean to the south; its average salinity is 35 parts per thousand.
-
Arctic Ocean
The smallest of the five oceans.
-
Southern Ocean
Also called the Antarctic Ocean; the fourth largest.
-
Arabian Sea
Two parts of the Indian Ocean on either side of India. The Bay of Bengal is less salty because of river water; the Arabian Sea is saltier because of high evaporation.
-
Bay of Bengal
Lower salinity, from the river water flowing into it.
-
Mediterranean Sea
Records higher salinity because of high evaporation; the Suez Canal links it with the Red Sea.
-
Red Sea
Land-locked; its salinity is as high as 41 parts per thousand.
-
Black Sea
Very low salinity because of the enormous inflow of fresh water from rivers; the Volga-Don Canal links it with the Volga.
-
Baltic Sea
Low salinity because of the large inflow of river water.
-
North Sea
Despite its high latitude, higher salinity from the saline water of the North Atlantic Drift.
-
Caspian Sea
The Volga, Russia’s great waterway, drains into it.
-
South China Sea
Tropical cyclones here, as in the Western Pacific, are called typhoons.
-
Gulf of Mexico
The Mississippi–Ohio waterway connects the interior of the USA with it.
💧 Lakes
Freshwater lakes that carry ships, and salt lakes saltier than any sea.
-
Lake Van
In Turkey; NCERT lists it as the most saline water body, at 330 parts per thousand.
-
Dead Sea
A salt lake with salinity of 238 parts per thousand.
-
Great Salt Lake
In North America; salinity 220 parts per thousand.
〰 Rivers
Great rivers named in NCERT — the cradles of civilisation and highways of trade.
-
Euphrates and Tigris
City life began in Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris, now part of Iraq.
-
Ganga and Brahmaputra
Their great plain is on NCERT’s world map of plains.
-
Indus
Its plain is on NCERT’s world map of plains.
-
Zambezi
The Victoria Falls are on this river in southern Africa.
-
Danube
Rises in the Black Forest and flows east through many countries; an important waterway of Eastern Europe.
-
St. Lawrence
With the Great Lakes, its estuary forms a unique commercial waterway in northern North America.
🌳 Forests and grasslands
Rain forests near the equator, coniferous forests in the north, and the great temperate grasslands.
-
Amazon forest
Tropical wet climate is found near the equator — the Amazon Basin, western equatorial Africa and the East Indies. Tropical rain forests hold 50 per cent of the species on earth.
-
Western equatorial Africa
A major area of tropical wet climate.
-
East Indies
The islands of the East Indies are a major area of tropical wet climate.
-
Coniferous forests of Canada
The Trans-Canadian Railway linked the Prairie wheat belt with the coniferous forest region in the north.
-
Eurasian Steppes
One of the temperate grasslands where extensive commercial grain farming is best developed.
-
Prairies
The Canadian and American Prairies.
-
Pampas
The Pampas of Argentina.
-
Velds
The Velds of South Africa.
-
Downs
The Australian Downs.
🚢 Canals, waterways and sea routes
The gateways of world commerce.
-
1869
The Suez Canal
Built in Egypt between Port Said and Port Suez, linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; a sea-level canal without locks, about 160 km long.
-
The Panama Canal
Links the Atlantic and the Pacific across the Panama Isthmus; about 72 km long with a six-lock system, it shortens the sea distance between New York and San Francisco by 13,000 km.
-
The Rhine waterway
Through Germany and the Netherlands, navigable for 700 km from Rotterdam to Basel — the world’s most heavily used waterway.
-
The Volga waterway
Russia’s most important waterway, 11,200 km navigable, draining into the Caspian Sea.
-
The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway
Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario are linked by the Soo and Welland canals; with the St. Lawrence estuary they form a unique waterway deep into North America.
-
The Northern Atlantic Sea Route
Linking north-eastern USA and north-western Europe, it carries one-fourth of the world’s foreign trade — the busiest route, called the Big Trunk Route.
-
1886
The Trans-Canadian Railway
A 7,050 km line from Halifax to Vancouver.
-
The Trans-Siberian Railway
Russia’s major rail route from St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast.
How we check: every entry is from an NCERT textbook; our build fails unless its key phrases are found in the chapter itself. Map pins show approximate locations.