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Chapter 2 HumAn EnvirOnmEnt
intErACtiOn-tHE trOPiCAl
And Sub-trOPiCAl rEGiOnS
Most of the people reside in modern cities availing different facilities like electricity,
internet, markets and the list is endless. But while enjoying our comfortable lives we
often forget the people living in the rainforests who have a primitive way of life. There
are different types of tribal people living in different regions – some are from dry deserts,
some from frozen lands and some from hot wet rainforests. They experience varied climatic
conditions, vegetation and wildlife too.
We will specifically discuss about people living in the Amazon basin, rainforests and the
Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. We will also explore about their climatic conditions, vegetation
and wildlife.
thE amazon Basin
locatioN
The tropical regions of the world are lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn in both the hemispheres. The Amazon basin forms huge portion of this tropical
region. The Amazon basin lies in South America. Brazil,
the largest country of South America occupies the most
of the Amazon basin. Venezuela and Colombia lie to the
north and north–west of Amazon basin. Ecuador lies to
the west, Peru to the south–west and Atlantic coast to
the north–east. The latitudinal extent of Amazon basin
is 10°N and 10°S latitudes. The Amazon Basin is the
largest river basin in the world. The Amazon river is Amazon River
about 6400 km long and carries more water. It is about 150 km wide. This river basin covers
about 7,000,000 sq. km of area. Ships can enter the river.
climatE
The Amazon Basin stretches directly on the equator and is characterised by hot and wet climate
throughout the year. Both days and nights are almost equally hot and humid. The skin feels
sticky. It rains almost everyday, that too without much warning. The day’s temperatures are
high with very high humidity. At night the temperature goes down, but the humidity remains
high.
Natural vEgEtatioN
The warm wet climate results in luxuriant thick evergreen forests called tropical rain
forests. These are called ‘Selvas’. The trees here are tall with thick foliage which prevents
10 Social Studies-7
