The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c4.5

v1.c4.5

The four sub-continents of Asia . . . . . . 1 Ceylon; Colombo, the strategic centre of British sea-power in the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . 1 The Malabar and Coromandel coasts; the Western and Eastern Ghāts . 2 The Carnatic; Travancore; Cochin . . . . . . 3 The Gap of Coimbatore or Pālghāt . . . . . . 3 The plateau between the Ghāts; Mysore . . . . . 4 Climate of the southern extremity of India . . . . . 4 Madras; some causes of the comparative isolation of southern India . 5 Burma, the connecting link between the Far East and the Middle East . 5 The geography of Burma . . . . . . . 6 The geography of Bengal . . . . . . . 8 Calcutta . . . . . . . . . 9 Countries of the Himālayan fringe . . . . . . 10, 25 Valley of the Brahmaputra . . . . . . . 11 The plain of the Ganges and Jumna . . . . . . 12 Central India . . . . . . . . . 15 The situation of Bombay . . . . . . . 16 The Marāthā country; Hyderābād; the Deccan plateau . . . 18 The Central Provinces; Baroda . . . . . . 19 Kāthiāwār and Cutch . . . . . . . . 20 The Himālayan barrier . . . . . . . 20 Rājputāna; historical importance of the great Indian desert and the Delhi gateway . . . . . . . . 20 The north-west frontier . . . . . . . 26 The plain of the Indus . . . . . . . 27, 31 Routes leading into N.W. India . . . . . . 28 Kashmīr . . . . . . . . . 32 Gilgit; Chitrāl; the Karakoram; the Hindu Kush . . . . 33 Lateral communication between the Khyber and Bolān routes . . 33 The Hindu Kush and the Indus as boundaries between India and Irān . 34 Summary of the principal physical features of the sub-continent . . 34