Download Locating Places on the Earth – NCERT Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1 PDF from the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book Exploring Society: India and Beyond (2026-27). Read the chapter online or download the free PDF. A map is a drawing of an area seen from above. It may show a village, a district, a State, India or the whole world. A book or collection of maps is an atlas.
Locating Places on the Earth PDF – Chapter 1 of Exploring Society: India and Beyond
Read the chapter online or download the PDF.
| Chapter | Download | |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 PDF | Locating Places on the Earth | View PDF |
| Full book | NCERT Class 6 Social Science – Exploring Society: India and Beyond | View Book |
Read Online
What Is in Locating Places on the Earth? (Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1)
- A map is a drawing of an area seen from above. It may show a village, a district, a State, India or the whole world. A book or collection of maps is an atlas.
- Maps are of three main kinds — physical (mountains, rivers, oceans), political (countries, States, capitals) and thematic (one special kind of information).
- Every map has three components: distance (shown by the scale, e.g. 1 cm = 500 m), direction (the four cardinal points N, E, S, W and the four intermediate ones NE, SE, SW, NW) and symbols (fixed by the Survey of India for Indian maps).
- The Earth is nearly a sphere, so a globe shows it better than a flat sheet. On the globe, parallels of latitude measure the distance north or south of the Equator (0°, up to 90°N and 90°S) and meridians of longitude measure the distance east or west of the Prime Meridian at Greenwich (0°, up to 180°).
- Latitude and longitude together are the two coordinates of a place — Delhi lies near 29°N, 77°E. India extends roughly from 8°N to 37°N and from 68°E to 97°E.
- The Earth turns 360° in 24 hours, that is 15° in one hour or 1° in 4 minutes. So longitude also fixes time. Indian Standard Time is GMT + 5:30, and the International Date Line, near 180°, changes the date by one day.
- Long before Greenwich, India had its own prime meridian — the madhya rekhā through Ujjayinī (Ujjain), where the astronomer Varāhamihira worked about 1,500 years ago.
Quick revision – Locating Places on the Earth
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Map | A drawing of an area as seen from above | Page 8–9, Fig. 1.1 | The map of the imaginary small city |
| Atlas | A book or collection of maps | Page 9 | Your school atlas |
| Scale | How much ground one centimetre on the map stands for | Page 10 | 1 cm = 500 m; 2.5 cm = 500 km on Fig. 5.2 |
| Cardinal directions | North, east, south, west | Page 10 | The N arrow on every map |
| Intermediate directions | NE, SE, SW, NW | Page 10 | The museum is southeast of the bank |
| Symbol | A small fixed sign that stands for a feature | Pages 11–12, Fig. 1.2 | Survey of India signs for a bridge, a temple, a post office |
| Globe | A sphere with a map drawn on it | Page 12 | The classroom globe |
| Coordinates | The pair of numbers that fixes a position | Page 13 | D4 on a chessboard; 29°N, 77°E for Delhi |
| Equator | The 0° parallel, the largest circle, halfway between the poles | Page 14, Fig. 1.3 | Passes through Kenya, Indonesia, Ecuador |
| Parallel of latitude | An east–west circle showing distance from the Equator | Page 14 | Tropic of Cancer, about 23½°N, crosses eight Indian States |
| Meridian of longitude | A half-circle from pole to pole showing distance from the Prime Meridian | Pages 15–16 | 82°30′E, India’s standard meridian |
| Prime Meridian | The 0° meridian, fixed at Greenwich in 1884 | Page 16 | Greenwich, in London |
| Madhya rekhā | India’s own ancient prime meridian through Ujjayinī | Page 17, Fig. 1.5 | Ujjain, Kurukṣhetra, Rohitaka |
| Standard time | One clock time for a whole country, based on one meridian | Page 21 | IST = GMT + 5:30 |
Old NCERT vs New – Class 6 Social Science
This chapter is from Exploring Society: India and Beyond, the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book (NCF-SE 2023, used from 2024-25). It replaced the old book “Our Pasts, The Earth Our Habitat and Social and Political Life”, so chapter numbers and names differ from older PDFs.
Solutions and All Chapters
Answers to the exercises and the full chapter list of Exploring Society: India and Beyond:
Locating Places on the Earth – Overview
| Class | Class 6 |
| Subject | Social Science |
| Book | Exploring Society: India and Beyond – new NCERT book |
| Chapter | 1 of 14 – Locating Places on the Earth |
| Book pages | 1 – 25 |
| Edition | NCERT Reprint 2026-27 |
| Session | 2026-27 |
| Free – read online or download |
Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1 – FAQs
Where can I download Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 PDF?
From the download table on this page – the chapter PDF is free, and the full book is linked too.
What is Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1 about?
A map is a drawing of an area seen from above. It may show a village, a district, a State, India or the whole world. A book or collection of maps is an atlas.
Is Locating Places on the Earth from the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book?
Yes. It is chapter 1 of exploring society: india and beyond, the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book for 2026-27.
Is this the latest NCERT edition for 2026-27?
Yes – the PDF is NCERT’s latest edition for the 2026-27 session.
Where are the NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1?
Open the NCERT Solutions link above for answers to the exercise questions.