Life

The place where a river flows into another water

body is called a rivers mouth.
Many rivers join the Amazon river to form the
Amazon Basin.
The Amazon river drains the portions of Brazil,
parts of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia and a
small part of Venezuela.
Tributary
Tributaries are small rivers that join the main river.
The main river along with all its tributaries that
drain an area forms a river basin or the catchment
area.

Eg. The Amazon Basin (which is the largest
river basin in the world).
Climate
The Amazon Basin stretches directly on the equator
and is characterized by hot and wet climate
throughout the year.
Both day and nights are hot and humid.
The skin feels sticky.
It rains almost everyday.
The day temperatures are high.
At night, the temperature goes down.
Rainforests
It rains heavily in this region, thus thick forests grow.
A roof is created by leaves and branches do not
allow the sunlight to reach the ground thus it
remains dark and damp.
Only shade tolerant vegetation may grow there like
Orchids, Bromeliads that grow as plant parasites.
Orchid
Bromeliads
These are special plants that
store water in their leaves.
Frogs use these pockets
for laying their eggs.
The rainforest is rich in fauna.
Birds such as Toucans, Humming birds and Birds of
Paradise are found there.
Toucan Humming Bird Bird of Paradise
Animals like Monkeys, Sloth and ant-eating Tapirs
are found there.







Reptiles like Crocodiles and snakes like Anaconda,
Boa Constrictor, Python are also found here.

Monkey Sloth Tapir
The basin is home to thousands of species of insects
Fishes like flesh-eating Piranha is also found in the
river.






This basin is thus extraordinarily rich in the variety
of life found there.
Piranha
People of
Rainforests
Tribal People
People living there grow most of the food in small
areas after clearing some trees in the forest.
Men hunt and fish along the rivers and women take
care of the crops.
Food Crops
People of Amazon Rainforest mainly grow:







As hunting and fishing are uncertain, it is the
women who keep their families alive by feeding them
the vegetable they grow. They practice slash and
burn agriculture.

Tapioca Pineapple Sweet Potato
Slash and Burn Method
It is a way of cultivating land.
Farmers clear the land by slashing or cutting down
trees and bushes.
These are then burnt, which releases the nutrients
into the soil.
Now crops are grown in this field.
This is done to restore the soils fertility because
when a piece of land is used repeatedly, it loses its
nutrients.
Staple Crops
The staple food is:






which is also know as Cassava that grows under the
ground spreading leaves above the ground.








Manioc
Cash Crops
Cash crops are also grown there like:













Coffee Maize Cocoa
The forests provide a lot of wood for houses.
Some families live in thatched houses while some live in
large apartment houses called Maloca with a steeply
slanting roof.

Ganga
Brahmaputra
Basin
The basin is situated between 10N to 30N latitudes.
Life
The tributaries of rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra
together form the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin in the
Indian subcontinent.
The tributaries of river Ganga like the Ramganga, the
Gomto, the Ghaghara, the Gandaki, the Burhi Gandak,
the Koshi, the Mahananda, the Yamuna, the Tamsa, the
Son and the Punpun and, the tributaries of Brahmaputra
like the Dibang, the Lohit, the Dhansiri, the Raidak, the
Jaldhaka, the Teesta drain the sub-tropical region.
The plains of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, the
mountains and the foothills of the Himalayas and the
Sunderbans delta are the main features of the basin.
Climate
Population Density
It means the number of people living in a km square
of area.
The area is dominated by monsoon climate.
The monsoon brings rain from mid-June to mid-
September.
The summers are hot and the winters are cool.
People
of the
Area
The basin area has varied topography.
The mountain area with steep slopes have
inhospitable terrain. Thus, less people live in the
mountain region.
The plain area is fertile. Thus it is the most suitable
land for human habitation as agriculture is the main
occupation of people and they can grow crops.

The main crop grown is:







whose cultivation requires sufficient water and
thus, it is grown in areas having high rainfall.
Paddy
Food Crops
The other crops grown are:
Wheat Maize Sorghum






Gram Millet
Cash Crops
Cash crops are also grown there like:













Sugarcane Jute
Plantations








are also seen in some areas. are grown in areas of
West Bengal and Assam.
Banana Plantations Tea Plantations
is produced through the cultivation of
silk worms in parts of Bihar and Assam.
Silk
Terrace Farming (Step Farming)
In the mountains, where slopes are gentle, crops are
grown on terraces.
Terraces are built on steep slopes to create flat land
surfaces on which plants are grown.
The slope is removed so that water does not run off
rapidly.
Vegetation
In the Ganga and Brahmaputra plain, tropical
deciduous trees grow, along with:







Thick bamboo groves are common in Brahmaputra
plain.
Teak Sal Peepal
There is a variety of wildlife in the basin.
Elephants, Tigers, Deer and Monkeys are common.






The one-horned rhinoceros is
found in the Brahmaputra plain.
Elephant Tiger Deer Monkey
One-horned Rhinoceros
In the delta area,






Bengal Tiger
Crocodiles and Alligators are also found.
Aquatic life abounds in the fresh water of Bengal.
The most popular varieties of fish are Rohu, Catla
and Hilsa.





Fish and rice is the staple diet of the people living in
the area.
Rohu Catla


Hilsa
The Blind Dolphin
In the fresh waters of river Ganga and river
Brahmaputra, a specie of blind dolphin is found.
The presence of it is an indication of the health of
river.
The untreated industrial and urban wastes with high
amount of chemicals are killing this species.
Plains

Towns and Cities
The Ganga-Brahmaputra plain has several big towns
and cities.
Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna and
Kolkata: all with the population of more than 10 lakh
are located along river Ganga.
The wastewater from the industries in these towns is
discharged into the rivers which leads to water
pollution in rivers.
Statue of
Goddess
Ganga built on
river Ganga at
Haridwar.
Transportation in holy areas
oAll 4 ways of transport are developed in Ganga-
Brahmaputra basin:
Roadways and Railways help in transporting on land.
Waterways are followed in water.
Kolkata is an important port on river Hooghly, the
plain area has a number of Airports for air travel.
Tourism
Tourism is another important activity on the basin.
Taj Mahal on the banks of river Yamuna in Agra,
Prayag, Allahabad on the confluence of the rivers
Ganga, Yamuna and the invisible or believed
Saraswati, Buddhists stupas in Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar, Lucknow with its Imambara, Assam with
Kaziranga and Manas wild life sanctuaries and
Arunachal Pradesh with a distinct tribal culture are
some of the places worth a visit.
Made
by:
Aviral Arora
7-B