The
Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as
Indus-Ganga and the
North Indian River Plain, is a 255 million hectare (630 million acre) fertile plain encompassing most of northern and eastern
India, the eastern parts of
Pakistan, and virtually all of
Bangladesh. The region is named after the
Indus and the
Ganges, and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The Indus-Ganga plain is bound on the north by the
Himalayas which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile
alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the
Chota Nagpur Plateau. On the west rises the
Iranian Plateau.