NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science (Exploring Society) Chapter 1: Locating Places on the Earth (NCERT 2026–27)

These Class 6 Social Science Exploring Society Chapter 1 solutions cover Locating Places on the Earth from Exploring Society: India and Beyond, the new NCF textbook for the 2026–27 session. The chapter belongs to the theme India and the World: Land and the People and explains what a map is and its components, how latitude and longitude form a grid to locate any place, and how longitude is linked to time, time zones, standard time and the International Date Line. Below you get step-by-step answers to every question in the Questions, activities and projects section, clear notes on key terms, extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason and FAQs.

Class: 6 Subject: Social Science Book: Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter: 1 Theme: India and the World: Land and the People Session: 2026–27
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Class 6 Social Science Exploring Society Chapter 1 – Overview

Chapter 1, Locating Places on the Earth, begins with a simple city map to show that a map is a drawing of an area seen from the top, and that its three main components are distance (shown by the scale), direction (the cardinal and intermediate directions) and symbols (small signs that stand for buildings, roads and natural features). Because the Earth is nearly a sphere, a flat map cannot show it perfectly, so we use a globe. On the globe, imaginary lines form a grid: parallels of latitude run east–west and measure distance from the Equator (0° to 90°N/S), while meridians of longitude run pole to pole and measure distance from the Prime Meridian (Greenwich, 0°) up to 180°E/W. Together, latitude and longitude give the two coordinates of any place. Since the Earth turns 360° in 24 hours (15° per hour), longitude also tells the local time; countries adopt a single standard time (India uses IST, GMT + 5½ hours) organised into time zones, and the International Date Line near 180° marks where the date changes.

Key Concepts & Terms

Map: a representation or drawing of an area — a village, a district, a country or the whole world — seen as if you are looking at the surface from the top. A book or collection of maps is called an atlas.

Kinds of maps: physical maps show natural features (mountains, oceans, rivers); political maps show countries, states, boundaries and cities; thematic maps show one specific kind of information.

Three components of a map: distance (handled by the scale), direction (the cardinal and intermediate directions) and symbols.

Scale: the relation between a distance on the map and the real distance on the ground, e.g. 1 cm = 500 m. The scale lets a huge area fit on a small piece of paper.

Cardinal & intermediate directions: the four cardinal directions are north, east, south and west; the four intermediate directions are northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW) and northwest (NW).

Symbols: small standard signs that stand for features such as a railway station, post office, river or forest. The Survey of India has fixed a set of symbols for maps of India.

Globe: a sphere on which a map is drawn; because it has the same spherical shape as the Earth, it represents the Earth’s geography better than a flat map.

Latitude & parallels: latitude measures distance from the Equator; a parallel of latitude runs east–west, parallel to the Equator, and forms a circle. The Equator is 0° (the longest parallel) and the poles are 90°N and 90°S. Parallels grow smaller towards the poles.

Longitude & meridians: longitude measures distance from the Prime Meridian; a meridian of longitude is a half-circle running from pole to pole. Longitude runs 0° to 180° East or West.

Prime Meridian: the reference line of 0° longitude, fixed in 1884 through Greenwich (London). Long before, India used its own prime meridian, the madhya rekhā through Ujjayinī (Ujjain).

Coordinates & grid: latitude and longitude together are the two coordinates that locate any place, e.g. Delhi at about 29°N, 77°E. All the lines together form the grid (grid lines).

Hemispheres: the Equator divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; the Prime Meridian divides it into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Time, standard time & time zones: the Earth turns 360° in 24 hours, i.e. 15° per hour, so longitude also marks local time. A country adopts a standard time based on one meridian; Indian Standard Time (IST) is GMT + 5½ hours. Standard times are grouped into time zones.

International Date Line: the line near 180° longitude, opposite the Prime Meridian, where the date changes — subtract a day crossing eastward, add a day crossing westward.

Estuary: the place where a river meets the sea.

“Questions, activities and projects” — Full Solutions

All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Questions, activities and projects section. Answers are original, written in exam-ready style.

1. Returning to page 10 and to Fig. 5.2 in Chapter 5 of this textbook, taking the scale to be 2.5 cm = 500 km, calculate the real distance from the estuary of the Narmada River to the estuary of the Ganga river. (Hint: round off your measurement on the map to an easy number.)

ANSWER This question uses the scale 2.5 cm = 500 km, which means 1 cm = 200 km on the ground. First, measure the straight-line distance on the map between the estuary of the Narmada (where it meets the Arabian Sea, in Gujarat) and the estuary of the Ganga (where it meets the Bay of Bengal). Rounding off to an easy number, this measurement comes to about 10 cm on the printed map. Calculation: 1 cm = 200 km, so 10 cm = 10 × 200 = about 2,000 km. So the real distance from the estuary of the Narmada to the estuary of the Ganga is approximately 2,000 kilometres. (Your exact figure may differ a little depending on how you round off your own measurement.)

Note: This is a map-measurement activity; the value above uses the textbook’s scale and a rounded map distance. Measure on your own printed map and apply the scale 1 cm = 200 km.

2. Why is it 5:30 pm in India when it is 12 pm or noon in London?

ANSWER London lies on the Prime Meridian (0° longitude), where the time is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). India lies to the east of London, so the Sun rises and the time advances there earlier than in London. India has chosen a single standard time, Indian Standard Time (IST), based on a meridian passing through the country. IST is fixed at 5 hours 30 minutes (5½ hours) ahead of GMT. Therefore, when it is 12 pm (noon) at Greenwich/London, we add 5 hours 30 minutes to get the time in India: 12:00 + 5:30 = 5:30 pm. That is why it is 5:30 pm in India when it is noon in London.

3. Why do we need symbols and colours in the map?

ANSWER A map has only a small, limited space, but the area it shows may contain a huge number of features — many buildings, roads, railway lines, rivers, ponds and forests. There would not be enough room to draw each of them in detail. Symbols solve this problem: a small standard sign stands for a feature (for example, a sign for a railway station, post office, police station, temple or bridge), so numerous details can be shown clearly in the limited space. Standard symbols, such as those fixed by the Survey of India, also let many different users understand the same map. Colours make a map easier to read at a glance — for example, blue is used for water bodies (rivers, lakes, seas), green for forests or low land, and brown for high land or mountains. Together, symbols and colours make a map compact, clear and easy to understand.

4. Find out what you have in the eight directions from your home or school.

ANSWER This is an observation activity, so your answer will depend on your own surroundings. First find north (the Sun rises roughly in the east, so face it and north is to your left). Then identify the eight directions: the four cardinal directions — north, east, south, west — and the four intermediate directions — northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest. A model answer, taking the school as the centre: North – the playground; Northeast – a park; East – the main market; Southeast – a bus stop; South – a temple; Southwest – a pond; West – the railway station; Northwest – a hospital. (Replace these with the actual landmarks around your own home or school.)

5. What is the difference between local time and standard time? Discuss it in groups, with each group writing an answer in 100 to 150 words. Compare the answers.

ANSWER Local time is the time of a particular place, decided by the position of the Sun over that place’s own meridian of longitude. When the Sun is highest in the sky over a place, it is noon there. Since longitude keeps changing as we move east or west, every meridian has a slightly different local time — places to the east have a later local time and places to the west an earlier one. Within one country there can be many local times. Standard time is a single time that a whole country (or a large region) agrees to follow, based on one chosen meridian passing through it. It avoids the confusion of using many different local times. For example, India follows Indian Standard Time (IST), which is 5½ hours ahead of GMT, for the entire country. In short: local time varies from meridian to meridian according to the Sun, while standard time is one common, convenient clock fixed for the whole country.

6. Delhi’s and Bengaluru’s latitudes are 29°N and 13°N; their longitudes are almost the same, 77°E. How much will be the difference in local time between the two cities?

ANSWER Local time depends on longitude, not on latitude. Delhi and Bengaluru differ only in latitude (29°N and 13°N), but their longitudes are almost the same, 77°E. Since the difference in longitude between the two cities is about 0°, there is practically no difference in their local time — both have nearly the same local time. (This shows that two places can be far apart north–south yet still share the same local time, because time is decided by how far east or west a place is, i.e. by its longitude.)

7. Mark the following statements as true or false; explain your answers with a sentence or two.

• All parallels of latitude have the same length.

ANSWERFalse. Parallels of latitude form circles that grow smaller as we move from the Equator towards the poles. The Equator is the longest parallel, while parallels near the poles are very small circles, so they do not all have the same length.

• The length of a meridian of longitude is half of that of the Equator.

ANSWERTrue. A meridian of longitude is a half-circle running from the North Pole to the South Pole, whereas the Equator is a full circle around the Earth. So a meridian is half the length of the Equator.

• The South Pole has a latitude of 90°S.

ANSWERTrue. By convention, the Equator is 0° and the two poles are at the greatest distance from it: 90°North for the North Pole and 90°South for the South Pole.

• In Assam, the local time and the IST are identical.

ANSWERFalse. IST is based on a meridian roughly in the middle of India. Assam lies to the east of that meridian, so the Sun rises there earlier and its local time is ahead of IST; the two are not identical.

• Lines separating the time zones are identical with meridians of longitude.

ANSWERFalse. Although time zones broadly follow the 15° meridians, the actual lines separating them are not straight; they bend to respect each country’s standard time and tend to follow international borders, so they are not identical with meridians of longitude.

• The Equator is also a parallel of latitude.

ANSWERTrue. The Equator is the parallel of latitude at 0° — it is the largest parallel and the starting point from which all other latitudes are measured.

8. Solve the crossword below.

ANSWER The crossword answers, based on the clues, are given below.
ClueHint givenAnswer
Across 1Lets you squeeze a huge area into your mapSCALE
Across 4A convenient sphereGLOBE
Across 5The longest parallel of latitudeEQUATOR
Across 6The place the Prime Meridian is attached toGREENWICH
Across 8So convenient to find your wayMAP
Across 10A measure of the distance from the EquatorLATITUDE
Down 2A measure of the distance from the Prime MeridianLONGITUDE
Down 3These two together allow us to locate a placeCOORDINATES
Down 6What latitudes and longitudes together createGRID
Down 7The time we all follow in IndiaIST
Down 9On top of the worldNORTH POLE
Down 11An abbreviation for a line across which the day and date changeIDL (International Date Line)

Extra Practice Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. What is a map, and what is an atlas?

ANSWERA map is a representation or drawing of an area — small or large — seen as if you are viewing the surface from the top. A book or collection of maps is called an atlas.

Q2. Name the three important components of a map.

ANSWERThe three important components of a map are distance (shown by the scale), direction (cardinal and intermediate directions) and symbols (signs that stand for features). Together they make a map clear and useful.

Q3. What is the Prime Meridian, and where does it pass?

ANSWERThe Prime Meridian is the reference line of 0° longitude from which longitudes are measured. In 1884 some nations agreed that the meridian passing through Greenwich (an area of London) would be the international standard, so it is also called the Greenwich Meridian.

Q4. Why is a globe a better representation of the Earth than a flat map?

ANSWERThe Earth is nearly a sphere, and a sphere cannot be shown accurately on a flat sheet without tearing or distortion (as you see when you flatten orange peel). A globe is also a sphere, so it has the same shape as the Earth and represents its geography more correctly.

Q5. What is the International Date Line, and what happens when you cross it?

ANSWERThe International Date Line is the line at approximately 180° longitude, opposite the Prime Meridian. When you cross it travelling eastward you subtract a day, and when you cross it travelling westward you add a day. It is not perfectly straight, as it bends to avoid dividing some countries into two different days.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Explain the difference between parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude.

ANSWERParallels of latitude are imaginary lines that run east–west, parallel to the Equator, and form complete circles around the Earth. Latitude measures the distance of a place from the Equator: the Equator is 0°, and the poles are 90°N and 90°S. The Equator is the longest parallel, and the parallels grow smaller as we move towards the poles. Meridians of longitude are imaginary half-circles that run from the North Pole to the South Pole. Longitude measures the distance of a place from the Prime Meridian (0°), increasing from 0° to 180° both East and West. All meridians are of equal length and meet at the poles. Latitude and longitude together form a grid, and their two values give the coordinates that locate any place on the Earth.

Q2. How is longitude connected with time and time zones?

ANSWERThe Earth spins on its axis from west to east, making one full turn of 360° every 24 hours. This works out to 15° in one hour (15 × 24 = 360). So, as we move eastward from the Prime Meridian, the local time increases by one hour for every 15° of longitude; moving westward, it decreases by one hour for every 15°. For example, if it is 12 noon at Greenwich (0°), it is 1 pm at 15°E and 11 am at 15°W. Because using many local times within one country would be inconvenient, most countries adopt a single standard time based on one meridian passing through them — India uses Indian Standard Time (GMT + 5½ hours). These standard times are organised into time zones that broadly follow the 15° meridians but bend to follow international borders. Thus, longitude not only locates a place but also tells us its time.

Q3. Describe the three important components of a map with examples.

ANSWERA map has three important components: distance, direction and symbols. Distance is handled by the scale, which tells us how a distance on the map relates to the real distance on the ground — for example, a scale of 1 cm = 500 m means every centimetre on the map equals 500 metres in reality, which lets a huge area fit on a small sheet. Direction is shown by an arrow, usually pointing north; the four cardinal directions are north, east, south and west, and between them lie the intermediate directions northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest. Symbols are small standard signs that stand for features such as a railway station, post office, river or forest, so that many details can be shown in the limited space of a map; colours such as blue for water and green for forests also help. The Survey of India has fixed a standard set of symbols for maps of India so that everyone reads them the same way.

MCQs & Assertion–Reason

1. A book or collection of maps is called:

(a) a globe    (b) an atlas    (c) a scale    (d) a grid

2. Which of the following is NOT one of the three components of a map?

(a) Distance    (b) Direction    (c) Symbols    (d) Climate

3. The longest parallel of latitude is:

(a) the Prime Meridian    (b) the Tropic of Cancer    (c) the Equator    (d) 90°N

4. The latitude of the North Pole is:

(a) 0°    (b) 45°N    (c) 90°N    (d) 180°

5. The Prime Meridian (0° longitude) passes through:

(a) Ujjain    (b) Greenwich    (c) New York    (d) Tokyo

6. The Earth turns through how many degrees in one hour?

(a) 15°    (b) 24°    (c) 30°    (d) 360°

7. Indian Standard Time (IST) is ahead of GMT by:

(a) 5 hours    (b) 5 hours 30 minutes    (c) 6 hours    (d) 4 hours 30 minutes

8. Meridians of longitude run:

(a) east to west, parallel to the Equator    (b) from pole to pole    (c) only around the Equator    (d) in circles of equal size

9. The line near 180° longitude where the date changes is the:

(a) Prime Meridian    (b) Equator    (c) International Date Line    (d) Tropic of Capricorn

10. The ancient Indian prime meridian (madhya rekhā) passed through the city of:

(a) Delhi    (b) Ujjayinī (Ujjain)    (c) Kanyakumari    (d) Kolkata

Answer key: 1-(b), 2-(d), 3-(c), 4-(c), 5-(b), 6-(a), 7-(b), 8-(b), 9-(c), 10-(b).

For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.

A-R 1. Assertion: Latitude and longitude together can locate any place on the Earth.

Reason: Latitude and longitude are the two coordinates of a place, forming a grid on the globe.

A-R 2. Assertion: All parallels of latitude have the same length.

Reason: The Equator is the longest parallel, and the parallels grow smaller towards the poles.

A-R 3. Assertion: It is 5:30 pm in India when it is 12 noon in London.

Reason: Indian Standard Time is fixed at 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

A-R 4. Assertion: A globe represents the Earth’s geography better than a flat map.

Reason: The globe is a sphere and has the same shape as the nearly spherical Earth.

A-R 5. Assertion: Local time depends on the latitude of a place.

Reason: As the Earth spins, the Sun’s position over a place changes with its longitude, deciding the local time.

Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(D), 3-(A), 4-(A), 5-(D).

Exam Tips & Common Mistakes

How to score full marks in this chapter

Memorise the three components of a map (distance, direction, symbols) and the kinds of maps (physical, political, thematic). Be very clear that latitude is measured from the Equator (0° to 90°N/S, parallels run east–west) while longitude is measured from the Prime Meridian (0° to 180°E/W, meridians run pole to pole). Remember the key numbers: 360° in 24 hours = 15° per hour, and IST = GMT + 5½ hours. For time questions, first find the difference in longitude, convert at 15° per hour, then add (going east) or subtract (going west). Mention India’s own ancient prime meridian through Ujjayinī for a bonus mark on cultural-heritage points.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Saying all parallels of latitude are equal in length — only the Equator is the longest; parallels shrink towards the poles.
  • Mixing up latitude (distance from the Equator, east–west lines) with longitude (distance from the Prime Meridian, pole-to-pole lines).
  • Thinking local time depends on latitude — it depends on longitude.
  • Forgetting that IST is GMT + 5 hours 30 minutes, not 5 hours.
  • Assuming time-zone lines are perfectly straight — they bend to follow country borders.
  • Leaving activity/observation questions (Q4) blank — write your own examples of nearby landmarks in each direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Chapter 1 of Class 6 Social Science Exploring Society about?

Chapter 1, Locating Places on the Earth, explains what a map is and its components (distance, direction, symbols), how the globe uses latitude and longitude as a grid to locate any place, and how longitude is linked to local time, standard time, time zones and the International Date Line.

What is the difference between latitude and longitude?

Latitude measures the distance of a place north or south of the Equator (0° to 90°N/S), shown by parallels that run east–west. Longitude measures the distance east or west of the Prime Meridian (0° to 180°E/W), shown by meridians that run from pole to pole. Together they give the coordinates of any place.

What is the exercise heading for Chapter 1 of Exploring Society Class 6?

The end-of-chapter exercise in Exploring Society: India and Beyond Class 6 Chapter 1 is headed Questions, activities and projects and contains 8 questions (including a true/false set and a crossword), all answered step by step on this page.

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