Related Items
Encarta Search
Search Encarta about Bay of Bengal

Advertisement

Windows Live® Search Results

See all search results in
Windows Live® Search Results
Also on Encarta

Bay of Bengal

Encyclopedia Article
Find | Print | E-mail | Blog It
Dynamic Map
Map of Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal, arm of the Indian Ocean, between India on the west and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and the Malay Peninsula on the east. In the southeast, the Andaman and Nicobar islands, formed by the peaks of a submerged mountain range, separate the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea. The area experiences monsoons in both winter and summer, followed by cyclones in spring and fall. Many large rivers flow into the bay, including the Ganges and the Brahmaputra on the north. The two rivers have deposited a huge layer of sediments, called the Ganges Fan, about 2,000 km (about 1,000 mi) into the bay. The Mahānadī, the Godāvari, the Krishna, and the Kāveri (Cauvery) rivers flow in on the west.

The western coast of the bay has few natural harbors. The city of Chennai (Madras) built an artificial harbor on the sandy Coromandel Coast, and it is now one of India’s most important ports. The east coast has many natural harbors, including Sittwe in Myanmar. The bay is 2,100 km (1,300 mi) long and 1,600 km (1,000 mi) wide.



Find
Print
E-mail
Blog It


More from Encarta


© 2009 Microsoft