NCERT Book Class 6 Social Science Landforms and Life

Introduction

Humans, like most mammals, live on land. Land, as you may have noticed, has many forms and features; its appearance changes a lot from one region to another. Suppose that you are travelling by road from the region known as Chhota Nagpur in Jharkhand, reach Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, and go on to Almora in Uttarakhand. On the way, you will see very different landscapes. In fact, you will encounter three major landforms, which we will now explore.

LET’S EXPLORE

→ As a class activity, form groups of four or five students and observe the school’s surroundings. What kind of landscape do you see? Will the landscape change a few kilometres away? Or within some 50 kilometres? Compare with other groups.

→ In the same groups, discuss a journey that any of you has made through a region of India. List the different landscapes seen on the way. Compare with other groups. A landform is a physical feature on the surface of our planet Earth. Landforms take shape over millions of years and have a significant connection with the environment and life. They can broadly be divided into three categories — mountains, plateaus and plains (Fig. 3.1).

These landforms have different climates and are home to a variety of flora and fauna. Humans have adapted to all landforms, but the number of people living on different kinds of landforms varies throughout the world.

Mountains

Mountains are landforms that are much higher than the surrounding landscape. They can be recognised by a broad base, steep slopes and a narrow summit. Depending on their height, some mountains are covered with snow. At lower altitudes, the snow melts every summer and turns