Latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is 30°. Then why is the North-South extent longer than the East-West extent?
The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is about 30°. The North-South extent is 3214 km and East-West extent is 2933 km.
The distance between any two lines of longitude is maximum at the equator and goes on decreasing as one goes from the equator to the poles. This is because the lines meet at the poles.
The distance between lines of latitude remains the same at all latitudes as these are parallel lines. India is away from the equator and lies in the Tropic of Cancer. So, when the lines of longitude come nearer, the distance varies, therefore the length is more. But the East-West distance do not varies much and lies equal throughout the Earth. Thus, the East-West distance becomes less than the North-South distance.