Course Overview

Geography is one of the basic and most important subjects in UPSC CSE. It is a descriptive science dealing with the surface of the earth, its division into continents and countries, and the climate, plants, animals, natural resources, inhabitants, and industries of the various divisions. It also examines how human culture interacts with the natural environment and the way the locations and places can have an impact on people. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there, and how they develop and change over time.

In UPSC, geography is included in the General Studies paper in Prelims as well as GS Paper 1 (CS Mains) examination. Questions related to Geography are asked in all the three stages of the examination; and hence, it is essential to study it in detail.

The Geography syllabus for UPSC Prelims can be broadly divided into six broad areas such as: 1.      

1. Indian Geography
2. Physical Geography
3. Human Geography
4. Biogeography & Natural Resources
5. World Geography

Indian Geography

Indian Geography is one of the largest sections of the Geography syllabus. It covers almost all aspects of India including major sections like Physical Features, Climate, Soil Vegetation, Drainage System, Economic Activity, and Human Resource among others.

The Indian subcontinent is surrounded by Bay of Bengal in the East, Arabian Sean in the west and Indian Ocean in the south which is easily recognisable on the world map. She has great diversity of landforms such as the world's highest mountain range, deep valleys, extensive Northern plains, Plateau and coastal ghats, the desert and a number of islands.

Physical Geography:

Physical geography is one of the important branches of geography.  It is the study of Earth and all of the activity found in the four spheres (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere) of Earth. It is basically concerned with natural features and phenomena of the earth's surface, as landforms, drainage features, climates, soils, and vegetation.  

Human Geography:

Human geography studies the inter-relationship between the physical environment and sociocultural environment created by human beings through mutual interaction with each other. As per Ratzel Human geography is the synthetic study of relationship between human societies and earth’s surface.

The topics of Human Geography include:  Economic geography; Cultural geography;  Geopolitics; Urban geography; Migration studies; Political geography; Population studies and  Travel & Tourism;

Biogeography,

Biogeography is the study of the geographic distribution of plants, animals, and other forms of life. It is concerned not only with habitation patterns but also with the factors responsible for variations in distribution. Biogeography can be divided into two subcategories; (i) Phytogeography which study the distributional pattern of plants on the earth and (ii) Zoogeography, studies about how animals are distributed on the earth (including bacteria)

World Geography

World Geography describes the various geographical regions of the world. It studies the patterns of distribution, location and concentration of phenomena over space and describes that how people are distributed over the earth, how they make their living from it, and how they transform it.

Reference Books

a)        India - Physical Social, Economic Geography

1.  NCERT-IX, X, XI & XII

2.  Indian Geography by D R Khullar

3.  School Atlas - Orient Black Swan 

b)         World - Physical Social, Economic Geography

4.  Made Simple Series by Rupa Publication-Vol-I & II

5.  A certificate course in geography by Goh Cheng Leong

6.  Physical, Human and Economic Geography for Civil Services Examination by D R Khuller

7.  Geography Through Maps by K.Siddhartha

8.  Terms and Concepts of Geography – Majid Husain