Separating this plateau from the narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The mountain range begins near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti River, stretches for about 1,600 km through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, ends in Kanyakumari, the southern end of Hindustan. About 60% of the Western Ghats lie in Karnataka.
The mountains occupy 60,000 km², the average height is 1,200 m, the highest point is Anamudi (2695 m). More than 5,000 species of flowering plants, 139 species of mammals, 508 species of birds, 179 species of amphibians live in the mountains. Many species are endemic.
Geology
The Western Ghats are not a complete mountain range, but represent the shifted edge of the Deccan plateau. They probably formed during the collapse of the supercontinent Gondwana about 150 million years ago. Geophysicists Barren and Harrison of the University of Miami defended the theory that the western coast of India was formed from 100 to 80 million years ago, after it broke off from Madagascar. Shortly after the break-off, the peninsular region of the Indian plate drifted through the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Reunion (21 ° 06 ′ S, 55 ° 31 ′ E). During major eruptions, the Deccan Plateau formed - a wide basalt bed in central India. These volcanic processes led to the formation of the northern third of the Western Ghats, their domed outlines. The underlying rocks formed over 200 million years ago. They can be seen in some places, for example in Nilgiris.
Basalt is the main rock, it is found at a depth of 3 km. Other rocks include harnockites, granite gneisses, hondalites, granulites, metamorphic gneisses with random inclusions of limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. There are also laterite and bauxite deposits in the southern hills.
The mountains
The Western Ghats extend from the Satpur range in the north, pass south through Goa, Karnataka, to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. A large mountain range starting in the north is Sahiadhri, there are many mountain stations on it. Among the small chains, one can distinguish the Kardom hills, Nilgiri, Anaimalai and Pallni in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the Western Ghats lies the highest point of India south of the Himalayas - Ana Moody (2695 m).
Rivers
The Western Ghats create one of the watersheds of India. They give rise to important rivers of peninsular India, flowing from west to east into the Bay of Bengal, such as Krishna, Godwari and Kaveri. Reservoirs have been built on many rivers in Maharashtra and Kerala.
Climate
The climate of the Western Ghats is humid and tropical, changing depending on the height and distance from the equator. At an altitude of more than 1,500 m in the north and more than 2,000 m in the south, the climate is closer to temperate. The average temperature here is +15, sometimes in winter the temperature drops to 0. The coldest periods coincide with the wettest.
The mountains are stopped by the western monsoon winds that carry rain, and therefore there is a lot of rainfall, especially on the western slopes. Dense forests also contribute to rainfall in this area. 3000-4000 mm of precipitation falls annually.
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See what "Western Ghats" is in other dictionaries:
Mountains, see East Ghats. Geographical Names of the World: Toponymic Dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001. The Western Ghats (Western Ghāts ... Geographic Encyclopedia
- (Sahyadri) western elevated outskirts of the Deccan Plateau, in India. Length approx. 1800 km. Altitude 1500 2000 m, the greatest 2698 m. Steeply breaks off to the Arabian m., The eastern slopes are gentle, the peaks are plateau-like. On the western slopes, wet ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (Sahyadri), western elevated outskirts of the Deccan Plateau, in India. The length is about 1800 km. Altitude 1500 2000 m, the greatest 2698 m. Cool breaks off to the Arabian Sea, the eastern slopes are gentle, the peaks are plateau-like. On the western slopes ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Western Ghats - mountains, see East Ghats ... Toponymic Dictionary
Sahyadri, a mountain range in India, the western elevated edge of the Hindustan Peninsula. Length about 1800 km, height up to 2698 m (Anaymudi city). The western slope is a steep cliff of the Deccan Plateau, steps falling to the Arabian Sea, the eastern ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Western Ghats, Sahyadri, the mountain system forming the west. edge of the Deccan Plateau (India). Ghats in Sanskrit are "steps". The length from north to south is 1,500 km, from the river valley. Tapti to Cape Comorin. Separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of plains of the Malabar coast. Wednesday height 900 m, max. 2698 m (city of Anaimoudi). In the north in ext. in the structure, basalt covers up to 2 km thick take part, and granites and gneisses in the south. West the slope is high and steep, descending steps to the coastal plains. It receives 2000–5000 mm of rainfall per year, covered with tropical rainforests. East the slope is more gentle and dry (600–700 mm of precipitation), savannas are widespread. In the south are the reserves of Bandipur and Mudumalai.
Watch value Western Ghats in other dictionaries
Atlantic Western Languages - see West Atlantic languages.
Eastern Ghats - (Eastern Ghats) - mountains that form the eastern edge of the Decan Plateau, in India. They are divided into separate massifs with a height of up to 1680 m. The eastern slopes facing ........
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Ghats - (Ghaty) - mountains on the Hindustan Peninsula, in India; see Western, Eastern.
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Western Alps - the highest (up to 4807 m, Mont Blanc) part of the Alps in France, Switzerland, Italy, west of the conditional line connecting Lake Bodenskoe and Como. Includes Bernese, Glarn, ........
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Western Beskids - part of the northern border of Zap. Carpathians in Poland and Slovakia. Length approx. 250 km Height up to 1725 m (Babia city). Beech and coniferous forests, subalpine meadows.
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Western Ghats - (Sahyadri) - the western elevated outskirts of the Deccan Highlands, in India. Length approx. 1800 km. Height is 1500-2000 m, the largest is 2698 m. Cool ends to the Arabian m., Eastern ........
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Western Carpathians - part of the Carpathians in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary. Length approx. 400km Altitude up to 2655 m (Gerlachowski Shtit in the Tatras).
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Western Romanian Mountains - (Apuseni) (Muntii Apuseni) - part of the Carpathians in the west of Romania. They include Bihor (height up to 1848 m), Metalich and other massifs. Beech, oak and coniferous forests, meadows.
Great Encyclopedic Dictionary
Northwest Territories - (Northwest Territories) - an administrative territorial unit in northern Canada. 3380 thousand km2. Population of 62 thousand people (1992). Adm. c. - Yellowknife.
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Eastern Ghats - mountains to the east. the coast of the Hindustan Peninsula; India. The name of the Ghat (Ghat) from Hindi ghati is “mountain passage, pass; gorge, valley; slope”. Multiple form h. (Eng. Ghauts) accepted ........
Geographical Dictionary
Western Ghats - mountains, see East Ghats
Geographical Dictionary
Southwest Islands - see Barat-Daya
Geographical Dictionary
The Western Provinces of the Roman Empire In the Second Half of the First Century - Common features in the development of provinces. Britannia. Gaul. Spain
It has already been said that the provinces in the I-II centuries. n e. experienced a famous upsurge. However, the economic recovery ........
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Western Satrapies of the Achaemenid Power - Traveling in the middle of V c. BC. but the western outskirts of the Achaemenid state, the “father of history” Herodotus drew attention to the diversity of this territory, to the diversity ........
Historical dictionary
The Western Ghats is one of those rarest mountain regions on the earth where, on the edge of the Deccan plateau, which breaks off into the Arabian Sea, a special, unexplored world of wildlife has been preserved.
ON THE WESTER DEFENSE OF INDOSTAN
The Western Ghats are not really quite mountains, and the edge of the Deccan Plateau, ascended over the plains when the most ancient supercontinent of Gondwana disintegrated.
The Western Ghats, or Sahyadri, is a vast mountain system stretching from north to south, from the valley of the Tapti River to Cape Komorin. This mountain system forms the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, which occupies almost the entire Hindustan Peninsula. The Western Ghats are separated from the Indian Ocean by a narrow strip of plains: their northern segment is called Konkan, the central - Canara, the southern - Malabar coast.
The name of the mountains reflects not only their position on the Hindustan, but also their appearance: Ghats in Sanskrit means "steps". Indeed, the western slope is confined by steps to the coastal plains that stretch along the coast of the Arabian Sea. The stepped landscape of the mountains was the result of ancient tectonic activity, the “hitting” of the tectonic plate of the Deccan Plateau on less elevated sections of the earth's crust. The process lasted millions of years at different speeds. The Western Ghats are not in the full sense of a mountain range, but the shifted edge of the Deccan basalt plateau. These advances occurred 150 million years ago, when the forefather of Gondwana disintegrated. Therefore, the northern part of the Western Ghats is composed of a basalt layer with a thickness of up to 2 km, and in the south less significant layers of gneiss and a variety of granite - charnockite predominate.
The highest peak of the Western Ghats - Mount Ana Moody - is also the highest point south of the Himalayas.
In contrast to the monolithic ridges of the north in the south, separate massifs prevailing here and there with irregular outlines of the peaks prevail.
The eastern slope of the Western Ghats is gently sloping plains, lowering to the inner regions of Hindustan.
The Western Ghats are the most important watershed of India: here are the sources of rivers flowing from west to east and flowing into the Bay of Bengal - Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri, and from east to west into the Arabian Sea - Karamans.
The Western Ghats play a decisive role in shaping the climate of the entire Hindustan Peninsula, hampering the movement of moist air masses from the Arabian Sea brought by the Western monsoons. If almost 5 thousand mm of precipitation falls annually in the west of the mountains, then in the east - five times less. Therefore, the steep western slopes of the mountains are covered with tropical rainforests (almost all of them are cut down for firewood and plantations), and the gentler and drier eastern ones are covered with vast shrouds, where in the middle of the grass there are separate candelabra-shaped milkweeds, acacias and palm trees.
The communication of people living on both sides of the Western Ghats is helped by the transverse tectonic valleys that divide the mountains. It became a kind of road connecting the Malabar coast and the Deccan Plateau.
For this reason, the Western Ghats have always attracted invaders who wanted to take these few trade routes from the sea inland. The mountains witnessed the emergence of the largest Indian empires, were part of British colonial India. Today, they are located in almost a dozen Indian states.
FIVE THOUSAND MOUNTAINS
In the Western Ghats, a surprisingly diverse fauna, many species of flora are endemic.
There is a clear difference in the composition of the population on both sides of the Western Ghats. The indigenous inhabitants of the western slopes are representatives of small tribal groups who speak many languages, but are united by common traditions and religions. Here they worship the spirits of their ancestors, poisonous snakes, buffaloes. The main tribes are Konkani and Tuluva.
Unlike many other geographical areas of India, the Western Ghats are less advanced in technology and tourism. Mostly they are engaged in agriculture, growing the so-called "English" vegetables and fruits cultivated since the time of the British colonial East India Company: potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and from fruits - pear, plum and strawberries. The British heritage is also the manufacture of hard cheese.
But the greatest wealth of the Western Ghats is tea: terraces with rows of tea bushes were made at the end of the 19th century. led by the British East India Company. After the departure of the British, the plantations were preserved, and today India is the second country in the world in terms of the amount of tea produced after.
For the sake of tea, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Western Ghats, almost all the sacred groves that have surrounded every temple since ancient times have been brought together. The few remaining are the property of village communities and are governed by a council of elders.
The Western Ghats are also the largest number of conservation areas in India. The last of the remaining rare species of animals survive here: the lion-tailed macaque, the Indian leopard, the Nilgir goat-tar (living on Mount Ana Moody), the deer zambar and the muntzhaki, the prickly sleepyhead, the Nilgir harza, the primacy of the hood Muslims. The total number of species threatened with complete destruction and living in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Western Ghats is about 325.
The climate of the Western Ghats is currently undergoing significant changes. Previously, every year from September to December, people from all over the world gathered on the slopes of the Western Ghats, especially in Anaykati, to enjoy magnificent butterflies. Now the number of fluttering insects has decreased dramatically. Scientists see the reasons for this phenomenon in global climate change, and the Western Ghats have proved to be the most sensitive to them from all regions of the world. Forest fires and the expansion of the network of roads and plantations also played their role.
Cities in the Western Ghats are located at a considerable height above sea level, for example, the popular Indian resort - the city of Udhagamandalam - is located at an altitude of 2200 m. The largest city of the Western Ghats is Pune, the first capital of the Maratha empire.
Another famous city in the Western Ghats is Palakkad. It is located next to the wide (40 km) Palakkad passage, separating the southernmost part of the Western Ghats from the northern one. In the past, the Pa-Lakkad passage was the main route of population migration from the interior of India to the coast. The passage also serves as an important source of wind energy: the average wind speed here reaches 18-22 km / h, and large wind farms have been built along the entire passage.
ATTRACTIONS
Natural:
■ The reserves of Bandipur and Mudumalai.
■ Waterfalls and rapids of the Picara River.
■ Wenlock Lowlands.
■ National Parks of Mukurtha, Karimpuzh, Eravikulam and Silent Valley.
■ Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
■ Lakes Emerald, Porthi Mund and Avalanche.
■ Laccom Waterfall.
City of Udhagamandalam (Ooty):
■ State rose garden.
■ John Sullivan's Stone Bungalow (1822).
■ Church of St. Stephen (1830).
■ Botanical Garden (1847).
■ Lake Udhagamandalam.
■ Toda huts.
■ Ooty Railway (1908).
■ Deer Park.
City of Palakkad:
■ The Jain Temple of Jainimed Jain (XV century).
■ The Brahmin cloister of Kalpati (15th century).
■ Fort Palakkad (1766).
■ Malampuja Dam (1955).
■ Temple of Imur Bhgavati.
Pune City:
■ Raja Kelkara Museum.
■ The palace of the Aga Khan.
■ Pataleshwar Temple.
■ The fortresses of Simha Gad, Rajgarh, Thorne, Purander and Shivneri.
■ Palace of Shanvar da da (1736).
■ Parvati Temple.
■ In the state rose garden of Udagamandalam, there are more than 20 thousand varieties of roses, and in the Botanical Garden there is a petrified tree 20 million years old.
■ Males of the Indian muntzhak deer mark their territory with secretions of lacrimal glands.
■ Representatives of the Yurul people almost all suffer from respiratory diseases. This is caused by smoke from grass burned in the fields: this is how the Irulah fight rats, destroying up to a quarter of the grain harvest.
■ Zambar is the largest Indian deer, growing at the withers about one and a half meters, weighing more than three centners and with horns up to 130 cm long.
■ The name of Mount Ana Moodi literally translated from Malayalam means “Elephant Mountain”, or “Elephant Forehead”: its sloping peak really resembles the forehead of an elephant.
■ The small rodent prickly dormouse got its name because of the needle-like wool on the back. It is sometimes called a pepper rat - for addiction to the fruits of ripening pepper.
■ The traditional art form of the Western Ghats - Yakshagan, dance and dramatic performances with scenes from the ancient Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, first mentioned back in 1105. Yakshagan is performed only by men.
■ Studies conducted in 2014 in the tropical forests of the Western Ghats allowed us to describe more than a dozen new species of “dancing frogs”. They are so named because of unusual movements in the mating season: males “dance”, stretching their paws to the sides, attracting the attention of females.
■ Rows of trees are found on tea plantations in the Western Ghats. This is also tea, the bushes turn into trees, if they are not pruned. Tea trees are left for shade and moisture.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Location: South Asia, west of the Indian subcontinent.
Origin: tectonic.
Internal ridges: Nilgiri, Anaymalai, Pallni, Kardomom hills.
Administrative affiliation: Gujarat, Maharashtra. Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Kanyakumari.
Cities: Pune - 5,049,968 people (2014), Palakkad - 130 736 people. (2001), Udagamandalam (Tamil Nadu) - 88,430 people. (2011).
Languages: Tamil, Badag, Kannada, English, Mapaya Lam, Tulu, Konkani.
Ethnic composition: tribes of Konkani, Tuluva, Mudugar, and Rula and Kurumbar.
Religions: Hinduism (majority), Islam, Catholicism, animism.
Currency: Indian rupee.
Large rivers: Krishna, Godavari, Kaveri, Karamana, Tapti, Picara.
Large lakes: Emerald, Porthimund, Avalanche, Upper Bhavani, Kodaikanal. Major airports: Coimbatore (international), Mangalore (international).
NUMBERS
Area: 187,320 km 2.
Length: 1600 km from north to south.
Width: up to 100 km from east to west.
Average height: 900 m.
Maximum height: Mount Ana Moody (2695 m).
Other peaks: Mount Doddabetta (2637 m), Gekuba (2375 m), Kattadadu (2418 m), Kulkudi (2439 m).
CLIMATE
Subequatorial, monsoon.
Average January temperature: + 25 ° C.
Average July temperature: + 24 ° C.
Average annual rainfall: 2000-5000 mm, on the eastern slope - 600-700 mm.
Relative humidity: 70%.
ECONOMY
Industry: food (cheese making, milk powder, chocolate, spices), metal products (needles), woodworking.
Hydroelectricity
Wind farms.
Agriculture: crop production (tea, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, pear, plum, strawberries).
Services: travel, transport, trade.
The Western Ghats extend along the coast of the Hindustan Peninsula from north to south. They are usually called a mountain range, but in reality they are not quite ordinary mountains. The folds of the area formed in ancient times, when the ancient supercontinent of Godwan collapsed. Ghats - this is the edge of the huge peninsula forming the whole. The ridge is separated from the Indian Ocean by a small plain strip.
Location
The name very accurately describes the external features of the mountains. Translated from ancient Sanskrit, the word "ghats" means steps. Mountains, however, look like them. The Western and Eastern Ghats differ from each other. The western region is steep, and the eastern one goes into the plain more smoothly. The northern part of the mountains is represented by monolithic ridges formed during the influx of one plate to another more than 150 million years ago. The Southern Ghats, called the Malabar Coast, are more like solitary sloping hills.
One of the most popular tourist destinations for which the Western Ghats are famous is Goa. This small Indian state is dotted with river beds flowing from the mountains and carrying their waters to the Arabian Gulf. The traveler will easily pick up a suitable excursion to the mountains that will meet his wishes. By the way, rest and accommodation in Goa is considered one of the most economical options. The tourism infrastructure of the region is under active development; local business owners have room to grow. But the beautiful nature more than compensates for the shortcomings of the service.
An equally popular place for which many seek to visit the Western Ghats is Mumbai. This ancient city is the second most populous in the world (after the Philippine capital). Here you will find luxurious hotels and restaurants, theaters and museums, colorful antiquities and monuments of modern art.
Unique nature
Biologists call the Western Ghats a unique nature reserve. There are several species of animals that are not found anywhere else in the world: macaques, lion-tailed macaques, hood gulman, prickly dormouse, goat-tar, and others. Along with them live less rare animals, for example, the Indian elephant and the baboon. Many tourists go here to admire the butterfly population. In recent years, their numbers have declined, and once was one of the largest in the world. The total number of rare species of animals living in the Ghats has exceeded 3 hundred.
The flora is also diverse. India's calling card is tea. The country ranks second in the world (after China) in its procurement. Most of the harvest is obtained on the terraces of the Gat mountains. Organized by the East India Company at the end of the century before last. When the English colonialists left Hindustan, the plantations were preserved and have since been carefully cultivated.
For centuries, the local population has been engaged in agriculture. Many cultures are brought here, imported by Europeans back in colonial times.
Man-made and natural attractions
Going to the Western Ghats, consider a route. Fans of the animal world will be interested in visiting unique nature reserves: Mudumalai, Bandipur, Nilgiri. The magnificent rose garden in Udhagamandalam is noteworthy. The national parks of Eravikulam, Karimpuzh, Mukurtthi and Silent Valley attract coolness on a hot day and help to learn more about the unique nature of the Gat mountains.
There is something to see for lovers of antiquities. Especially interesting in this regard is the city of Palakkad. Going to it, visit the ancient fort, the Jain temple, the Brahmin monastery.
- Mount Ana Moody is the highest point of India south of the Himalayas. Its name is translated from Sanskrit as "elephant head." In shape, it resembles an elephant's forehead.
- Yakshagan is a traditional art in these parts. This is a dance with a plot that is performed only by men.
- In the Botanical Garden you can admire the petrified tree, whose age is 20 million years.
- Unique tea trees sprouted from bushes grow on the terraces of the Western Ghats.
- And the most important thing is as follows. The Western Ghats is a unique place in which the concept of "holiday season" does not exist. The nature is affectionate here all year round, and you can go on a trip at any time.
Ascended over the plains when the most ancient supercontinent of Gondwana disintegrated.
The Western Ghats, or Sahyadri, is a vast mountain system stretching from north to south, from the valley of the Tapti River to Cape Komorin. This mountain system forms the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, which occupies almost the entire Hindustan Peninsula. The Western Ghats are separated from the Indian Ocean by a narrow strip of plains: their northern segment is called Konkan, the central - Canara, the southern - Malabar coast.
The name of the mountains reflects not only their position on the Hindustan, but also their appearance: Ghats in Sanskrit means "steps". Indeed, the western slope of the mountain range is high and steep, and it descends the steps to the coastal plains that stretch along the coast of the Arabian Sea. The stepped landscape of the mountains was the result of ancient tectonic activity, the “hitting” of the tectonic plate of the Deccan Plateau on less elevated sections of the earth's crust. The process lasted millions of years at different speeds. The Western Ghats are not in the full sense of a mountain range, but the shifted edge of the Deccan basalt plateau. These advances occurred 150 million years ago, when the forefather of Gondwana disintegrated. Therefore, the northern part of the Western Ghats is composed of a basalt layer with a thickness of up to 2 km, and in the south less significant layers of gneiss and a variety of granite - charnockite predominate.
The highest peak of the Western Ghats - Mount Ana Moody - is also the highest point of India south of the Himalayas.
In contrast to the monolithic ridges of the north in the south, separate massifs prevailing here and there with irregular outlines of the peaks prevail.
The eastern slope of the Western Ghats is gently sloping plains, lowering to the inner regions of Hindustan.
The Western Ghats are the most important watershed of India: here are the sources of rivers flowing from west to east and flowing into the Bay of Bengal - Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri, and from east to west to Karamans.
The Western Ghats play a decisive role in shaping the climate of the entire Hindustan Peninsula, hampering the movement of moist air masses from the Arabian Sea brought by the Western monsoons. If almost 5 thousand mm of precipitation falls annually in the west of the mountains, then in the east - five times less. Therefore, the steep western slopes of the mountains are covered with tropical rainforests (almost all of them are cut down for firewood and plantations), and the more gentle and drier eastern ones are covered with vast shrouds, where in the middle of the grass there are separate candelabrum-shaped milkwort, acacia and palm trees.
The communication of people living on both sides of the Western Ghats is helped by the transverse tectonic valleys that divide the mountains. It became a kind of road connecting the Malabar coast and the Deccan Plateau.
For this reason, the Western Ghats have always attracted invaders who wanted to take these few trade routes from the sea inland. The mountains witnessed the emergence of the largest Indian empires, were part of British colonial India. Today, they are located in almost a dozen Indian states.
In the Western Ghats, a surprisingly diverse fauna, many species of flora are endemic.
There is a clear difference in the composition of the population on both sides of the Western Ghats. The indigenous inhabitants of the western slopes are representatives of small tribal groups who speak many languages, but are united by common traditions and religions. Here they worship the spirits of their ancestors, poisonous snakes, buffaloes. The main tribes are Konkani and Tuluva.
Unlike many other geographical areas of India, the Western Ghats are less advanced in technology and tourism. Mostly they are engaged in agriculture, growing the so-called "English" vegetables and fruits cultivated since the time of the British colonial East India Company: potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and from fruits - pear, plum and strawberries. The British heritage is also the manufacture of hard cheese.
But the greatest wealth of the Western Ghats is tea: terraces with rows of tea bushes were made at the end of the 19th century. led by the British East India Company. After the British left, the plantations were preserved, and today India is the second country in the world in terms of the amount of tea produced after China.
For the sake of tea, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Western Ghats, almost all the sacred groves that have surrounded every temple since ancient times have been brought together. The few remaining are the property of village communities and are governed by a council of elders.
The Western Ghats are also the largest number of conservation areas in India. Here the last of the remaining rare species of animals survive: the lion-tailed macaque, the Indian leopard, the Nilgir goat-tar (living on Mount Ana Moody), the deer zambar and muntzhaki, the prickly sleepyhead, the Nilgir harza, the primate hood gulman. The total number of species threatened with complete destruction and living in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Western Ghats is about 325.
The climate of the Western Ghats is currently undergoing significant changes. Previously, every year from September to December, people from all over the world gathered on the slopes of the Western Ghats, especially in Anaykati, to enjoy magnificent butterflies. Now the number of fluttering insects has decreased dramatically. Scientists see the reasons for this phenomenon in global climate change, and the Western Ghats have been the most sensitive to them from all regions of the world. Forest fires and the expansion of the plantation road network also played a role.
Cities in the Western Ghats are located at a considerable height above sea level, for example, the popular Indian resort - the city of Udhagamandalam - is located at an altitude of 2200 m. The largest city of the Western Ghats is Pune, the first capital of the Maratha empire.
Another famous city in the Western Ghats is Palakkad. It is located next to the wide (40 km) Palakkad passage, separating the southernmost part of the Western Ghats from the northern one. In the past, the Palakkad Pass was the main route of population migration from the interior of India to the coast. The passage also serves as an important source of wind energy: the average wind speed here reaches 18-22 km / h, and large wind farms have been built along the entire passage.
general information
Location: South Asia, west of the Hindustan Peninsula.Origin: tectonic.
Inner ridges: Nilgiri, Anaimalai, Pallni, Kardomom hills.
Administrative affiliation: states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Kanyakumari.
Cities: Pune - 5,049,968 people (2014), Palakkad - 130 736 people. (2001), Udagamandalam (Tamil Nadu) - 88,430 people. (2011).
Languages: Tamil, Badag, Kannada, English, Mala Lam, Tulu, Konkani.
Ethnic composition: Konkani, Tuluva, Mudugar, Yerul and Kurumbar tribes.
Religions: Hinduism (majority), Islam, Catholicism, animism.
Currency unit: Indian rupee.
Large rivers: Krishna, Godavari, Kaveri, Karamana, Tapti, Picara.
Large lakes: Emerald, Porthimund, Avalanche, Upper Bhavani, Kodaikanal.
Major Airports: Coimbatore (international), Mangalore (international).
Figures
Area: 187,320 km 2.Length: 1600 km from north to south.
Width: up to 100 km from east to west.
Average height: 900 m.
Maximum height: Mount Ana Moody (2695 m).
Other peaks: Mount Doddabetta (2637 m), Gekuba (2375 m), Kattadadu (2418 m), Kulkudi (2439 m).
Climate and weather
Subequatorial, monsoon.January average temperature: + 25 ° С.
July average temperature: + 24 ° C.
Average annual rainfall: 2000-5000 mm, on the eastern slope - 600-700 mm.
Relative humidity: 70%.
Economy
Industry: food (cheese making, milk powder, chocolate, spices), metal products (needles), woodworking.Hydroelectricity
Wind farms.
Agriculture: crop production (tea, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, pear, plum, strawberries).
Services: travel, transport, trade.
sights
■ Natural: Bandipur and Mudumalai reserves, waterfalls and rapids of the Picara River, Wenlock lowlands, Mukurtthi, Karimpuzha, Eravikulam and Silent Valley national parks, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Izumrudnoe, Portkhimund and Lavinnoye lakes, Lakkom waterfall.■ City of Udhagamandalam (Ooty): state rose garden, John Sullivan's stone bungalow (1822), St. Stephen's Church (1830), Botanical Garden (1847), Udagamandalam Lake, Toda huts, Uti Railway (1908), Deer Park .
■ City of Palakkad: Jain temple of Jainimedu Jain (XV century), Brahmin monastery of Kalpati (XV century), Fort Palakkad (1766), Malampuja dam (1955), Imur Bhgavati temple.
■ Pune city: Raja Kelkar Museum, Aga Khan Palace, Pataleshwar Temple, Simha Gad Fortress, Rajgarh, Thorn, Purander and Shivneri, Shanvarda Palace (1736), Parvati Temple.
Curious facts
■ In the state rose garden of the city of Udagamandalam there are more than 20 thousand varieties of roses, and in the Botanical Garden there is a petrified tree 20 years old.■ Males of the Indian muntzhak deer mark their territory with secretions of lacrimal glands.
■ Representatives of the Yurul people almost all suffer from respiratory diseases. This is caused by smoke from grass burned in the fields: this is how the Irulah fight rats, destroying up to a quarter of the grain harvest.
■ Zambar is the largest Indian deer, growing at the withers about one and a half meters, weighing more than three centners and with horns up to 130 cm long.
■ The name of Mount Ana Moodi literally translated from Malayalam means “Elephant Mountain”, or “Elephant Forehead”: its sloping peak really resembles the forehead of an elephant.
■ The small rodent prickly dormouse got its name because of the needle-like wool on the back. It is sometimes called a pepper rat - for addiction to the fruits of ripening pepper.
■ The traditional form of art of the Western Ghats - Yakshagan, dance and dramatic performances with scenes from the ancient Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, first mentioned back in 1105. Yakshagan is performed only by men.
■ Studies conducted in 2014 in the tropical forests of the Western Ghats allowed us to describe more than a dozen new species of “dancing frogs”. They are so named because of unusual movements in the mating season: the males “dance”, stretching their legs to the sides, attracting the attention of the females.
■ Rows of trees are found on tea plantations in the Western Ghats. This is also tea, the bushes turn into trees, if they are not pruned. Tea trees are left for shade and moisture.