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Rivers and Hills
The Sahyadris
mountain range run from Belgaum in the north to Mysore in the south. They form
a triangular area in conjunction with the Eastern Ghats. The Ghats are only 305
to 610 meters in height in the middle but towards the south, they are quite tall
and rise to a height of 1830 meters above sea level. It is here that the
Nilgiris overlap the Ghats and at places, they rise to 2440 meters. Naturally at
that height there are wooded areas and evergreen valleys, deep gorges, and
pleasant plateaus. They lend themselves to the growth of plantations of
different kinds which yield coffee, tea, areca nut, cashew nut and cardamom.
 The
Kalinadi, the Gangavathi Bedti, the Tadri, and the Sharavati are the prominent
rivers of North Karnataka. Sharavati is the shortest river and is famous
for the mighty Jog Falls, the site of the hydel projects. All these rivers
are west flowing and some of them are torrential streams which are in
full flow in the monsoon.
Most of the major rivers of the state have their origin in the
Ghats and flow
eastwards towards the Bay of Bengal, through Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.
Krishna with its tributaries like the Bhima and Ghataprabha and Tungabhadra is
among these mighty rivers. The Kaveri river in the southern part of the state,
which has its origin on Brahma Giri in Coorg, with its tributaries like the
Shimsha, Hemavati, Kapila and others enters Tamil Nadu and is a major source of
irrigation both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is a river of discord between
the two states because of the great demand on its waters for the farmers in each
of the two states and the matter often reaches emotional where politicians take
over. The rivers Polar and Pennar in the eastern parts of the state are among
the other important rivers.
The Krishna which originates in
Maharashtra, is also a cause of
dissension
between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The coast has several
ports. Ports like Karwar, Ankola, Honavar and Bhatkal
are situated at the mouth of the rivers where they fall into the Arabian sea.
Mangalore and Malpe are important ports in the southern part of the state and
the river of significance is the Netravathi. In ancient times these ports
provided India's contacts, commercial and cultural with far way and near lands
like Egypt and Sumeria.
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