Deccan Plateau
From Encyclopædia
{dek'-ahn} The Deccan
plateau is a vast upland coextensive with most of the Indian peninsula. The term deccan, which means "south," is sometimes used to designate all of peninsular India; the word
plateau refers only to the
Central tableland. Triangular in shape, the Deccan
plateau is enclosed by the Western and Eastern
Ghats, mountains that converge at the southern tip of the peninsula, and by several ranges across the base of the triangle in the north, which wall the
plateau off from the rest of India. The
plateau, averaging about 610 m (2,000 ft) in elevation, is one of the
world's oldest landmasses. The
soil, generally poor, is considerably eroded, and rainfall is limited. Farming conditions are better in the areas bordering the foothills of the mountains and on the highly fertile lava beds of the northwest, where cotton and sugarcane are grown. In other areas millet is the major crop. The
plateau is drained by three river systems--the Cauvery, Godavari, and
Krishna--whose valleys are densely populated. The largest cities are POONA, HYDERABAD, and BANGALORE.
