Category Geography

India’s golden triangle is a tourist circuit which connects the national capital Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. The Golden Triangle is so called because of the triangular shape formed by the locations of New Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan on a map. The trips usually start in Delhi moving south to the site of Taj Mahal at Agra, then west, to the desert landscapes of Rajasthan. It is normally possible to do the trip by coach or private journey through most tour operators. The Golden Triangle is now a well traveled route providing a good spectrum of the country’s different landscapes. The circuit is about 720 km by road. Each leg is about 4 to 6 hours of drive. The Shatabdi express train also connects Delhi with Agra and Jaipur.

The three cities of the Golden Triangle are unique in their own way. Delhi, the capital city, is more sophisticated and modern, with a cosmopolitan culture, and is one of the busiest cities in India. The city of Agra, on the other hand, reflects the grandeur of the Mughal Empire, showcasing their rich architectural preference and styles. Jaipur is among the most dazzling and colorful cities that speaks of the mighty Rajputs and their opulent lifestyles, culture and heritage.

Some of the major attractions in Delhi are Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Humayun’s Tomb, Qutab Minar, Chandni Chowk, Lodhi Gardens, Lotus Temple, India Gate, Gandhi Smriti and the Garden of Five Senses.

Agra is famous for the Taj Mahal, which is the Seventh Wonder of the World. It is the main attraction of the circuit tour. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Emperor Shah Jahan of the Mughal Dynasty, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Jaipur, famously known as the Pink City, boasts of being a major tourist destination with attractions such as City Palace, Hawa Mahal, Nahargarh Fort, Amber Fort and Palace, Jaigarh Fort, Jantar Mantar, Government Central (Albert Hall) Museum, Dera Amer Elephant Safari and Galta Monkey Temple.

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The Golden Throne or Chinnada Simhasana or Ratna Simhasana in Kannada, was the royal throne of the rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore. It is one of the main attractions of Mysore Palace. It is kept for public viewing only during Dasara festival and on the rest of the days, it is disassembled and kept in safe lockers of the palace. The Throne comprises a main seat, steps leading to the main seat, and a golden umbrella over the main seat. The throne is carved out of figwood and decorated with ivory plaques. It was embellished with jewellery, gold, precious stones and silver figurines by “Swarnakala Nipuna” Singannacharya. 

According to tradition, the throne belonged to the Pandavas of Mahabharata fame and was in Hastinapura. Kampilaraya brought this throne from Hastinapura to Penugonda, now in Andhra Pradesh, where it was kept underground. In 1336 AD, Vidyaranya, the royal preceptor of the Vijayanagar kings, showed the spot where it was buried to Harihara I, one of the founders of the Vijayanagar empire, who retrieved the throne. The throne was then used by the Vijayanagar kings at Anegondi for more than a century and a half. During the early part of the 17th century the Governor of Vijayanagar rulers at Srirangapatna obtained the throne. In 1609, the governor Srirangaraya gave the throne to Raja Wodeyar. In 1610, Raja Wodeyar ascended the throne. Inaugurated the Dasara festivities. Epigraphical evidence shows that this royal throne was in the possession of Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar in 1699.

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Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India after Kangchenjunga and the highest located entirely within the country. (Kangchenjunga, which is higher, is on the border of India and Nepal.) It is the 23rd-highest peak in the world. It was considered the highest mountain in the world before computations in 1808 proved Dhaulagiri to be higher. It was also the highest mountain in India until 1975 when Sikkim, the state in which Kangchenjunga is located, joined the Republic of India.

Nanda Devi is a two-peaked massif, forming a 2-kilometre-long (1.2 mi) high ridge, oriented east-west. The western summit is higher, and the eastern summit, called Nanda Devi East, (locally known as Sunanda Devi) is the lower one. The main summit stands guarded by a barrier ring comprising some of the highest mountains in the Indian Himalayas, twelve of which exceed 6,400 metres (21,000 ft) in height, further elevating its sacred status as the daughter of the Himalaya in Indian myth and folklore. The interior of this almost insurmountable ring is known as the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, and is protected as the Nanda Devi National Park. Nanda Devi East lies on the eastern edge of the ring (and of the Park), at the border of Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts.

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Atlantic Ocean, body of salt water covering approximately one-fifth of Earth’s surface and separating the continents of Europe and Africa to the east from those of North and South America to the west. The ocean’s name, derived from Greek mythology, means the “Sea of Atlas.” It is second in size only to the Pacific Ocean.

Although not the largest of the world’s oceans, the Atlantic has by far the largest drainage area. The continents on both sides of the Atlantic tend to slope toward it, so that it receives the waters of a great proportion of the major rivers of the world; these include the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Orinoco, the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Niger, the Loire, the Rhine, the Elbe, and the great rivers draining into the Mediterranean, Black, and Baltic seas. In contrast to the South Atlantic, the North Atlantic is rich in islands, in the variety of its coastline, and in tributary seas. 

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The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, with the consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebec Agreement. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

By August 1945, the Allies’ Manhattan Project had produced two types of atomic bombs, and the 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was equipped with the specialized Silverplate version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that could deliver them from Tinian in the Mariana Islands. The Allies issued orders for atomic bombs to be used on four Japanese cities on July 25. On August 6, one of the modified B-29s dropped a uranium gun-type bomb (“Little Boy”) on Hiroshima. Another B-29 dropped a plutonium implosion bomb (“Fat Man”) on Nagasaki three days later. The bombs immediately devastated their targets. Over the next two to four months, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. 

Scholars have extensively studied the effects of the bombings on the social and political character of subsequent world history and popular culture, and there is still much debate concerning the ethical and legal justification for the bombings.

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Africa is No. 2 on both lists: population and size. In area, it spans 11.6 million square miles (30 million square kilometers). Its population is estimated at 1.3 billion. Along with Asia, these two continents are forecast to be the highest areas of world population growth in the coming decades.

Africa is home to the longest river in the world, the Nile. It stretches 4,100 miles (6,600 kilometers) from Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea.

The continent is cut almost equally in two by the Equator, so that most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the Tropic of Cancer and on the south by the Tropic of Capricorn. Because of the bulge formed by western Africa, the greater part of Africa’s territory lies north of the Equator. Africa is crossed from north to south by the prime meridian (0° longitude), which passes a short distance to the east of Accra, Ghana.

Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral resources, including some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, and gems and precious metals. This richness is matched by a great diversity of biological resources that includes the intensely lush equatorial rainforests of Central Africa and the world-famous populations of wildlife of the eastern and southern portions of the continent. Although agriculture (primarily subsistence) still dominates the economies of many African countries, the exploitation of these resources became the most significant economic activity in Africa in the 20th century.

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