Geography of West Bengal

West Bengal is on the eastern bottom neck of India. It stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. It is bounded on the north by Sikkim and Bhutan and to its east it has Assam and Bangladesh. On the south it has the Bay of Bengal and in the west it has Bihar, Odisha and Nepal. The state lies between 27o13'15" and 21o25'24" north latitudes and 85o48'20" and 89o53'04" east longitudes. Its area is 88,725 kms. West Bengal has two natural divisions i.e. the Himalayan north and the alluvial plains. The Darjeeling Himalayan hill region to the extreme north of the state has Sandakfu, the highest peak of the state. West Bengal is essentially a flat, featureless alluvial plain large portion of it being a part of delta of river Ganga, only one per unit of its area in the far north is really mountainous. The narrow Terai region separates the region from the plains, which in turn moves into the Ganga delta towards the south. (Interactive map of West Bengal)

The land is flat; shade and shelter are plentiful. Not so long ago, Bengal was known better for its prosperity than its poverty and the dangers of famine are more than matched by the land�s natural resilience and abundance. The state comes under high rainfall and receives about 100-200 cm/year. About 65% of the net irrigated area in West Bengal comes under canal irrigation. Kangasabati, Mayurakshi and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) are some of the important canal systems of West Bengal. The Ganges is the main river, which divides in West Bengal. One branch enters Bangladesh as the Padma or P�dda, while the other flows through West Bengal as the Bhagirathi River and Hooghly River. The Teesta, Torsa, Jaldhaka and Mahananda rivers are in the northern hilly region. The western plateau region has rivers such as the Damodar, Ajay and Kangsabati. The Ganges delta and the Sundarbans area have numerous rivers and creeks.

City maps of West Bengal

Baharampur Balurghat Bankura Barasat Barddhaman Chunchura Darjeeling Hoara Jalpaiguri Kharagpur Kishanganj Kochbihar Kolkata Krishnanagar Medinipur Purulia Raiganj Shantiniketan Siliguri  Siuri