Geography Of Sikkim
Sikkim is a small beautiful state of India in the Eastern Himalayas with steep mountains and deep valleys. It lies between latitudes 27° 5' N to 20° 9' N and longitudes 87° 59' E to 88° 56' E. It is wedged between Nepal in the west and Bhutan in the east and China in the north and northeast. In the south it shares its Indian border with the state of West Bengal. The longest north-south distance is about a hundred kilometers and the east-west breadth ranges between 60 and 70 kilometers. Its total area is 7, 299 square kilometers.
Physical Features
Spanning Sikkim’s western borders are the Khangchendzonga and the Singalila Range, a north-south spur of the Great Himalaya. The northern limits which reach out to the Tibetan Plateau is straddled by the Donkia Range while the eastern flank is bounded by the Chola Range. The average steepness is about 45 degrees. Sikkim encompasses the Lesser Himalaya, Central Himalaya, and the Tethys Himalaya. Although the trend of Great Himalaya is to run across in an east-west direction, the two ridges demarcating Sikkim’s eastern and western sides, the Chola and the Singalila, follow a north-south pattern. Across the middle, another north-south ridge of lesser elevation separates the Rangeet Valley from the Teesta Valley.
The major mountain peaks of Sikkim are; Khangchendzonga-8,846 m, Jonsang-7,444 m, Talung-7,351 m, Kabru-7,338 m, Siniolchu-6,887 m, Pandim-6,691 m, Rathong-6,680 m Koktang-6,148 m, and Simvo-6,811m.Sikkim’s two major rivers are the Teesta and the Rangeet. The turbulent Teesta, which has its source at the Chho Lhamu lake in the Tibetan Plateau is an unseeming little stream at first but gradually swells into a raging river as more tributaries converge into it’s path as it snakes through deep mountain valleys into the plains of Bengal. The gentler Rangeet has its source at the Rathong Glacier south of the Khangchendzonga massif. It meets with the Teesta at the valley dividing Sikkim and Bengal.There are numerous perennial lakes in Sikkim among which, Khechiperi, Gurudongmar, Chho Lhamu, Changu and Menmetsho are some of the more scenic.
