Geography

There are 572 islands in the territory having an area of 8,249 km (3,185 sq mi). Of these, only 38 are permanently inhabited. The islands extends from 6° to 14° North latitudes and from 92° to 94° East longitudes. The Andamans are separated from the Nicobar group by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some 150 km (93 mi) wide. The highest point is located in North Andaman Island (Saddle Peak at 732 m (2,402 ft)). The Andaman group has 325 islands which cover an area of 6,408 km (2,474 sq mi) while the Nicobar group has only 24 islands with an area of 1,841 km (711 sq mi).

The northernmost point of the Andaman and Nicobars group is 901 km (560 mi) away from the mouth of the Hooghly River and 190 km (120 mi) from Burma. The southernmost island, Great Nicobar's southernmost point, called Indira Point, lies only 150 km (93 mi) from Sumatra in Indonesia. The capital of the union territory, Port Blair, is located 1,255 km (780 mi) from Kolkata, 1,200 km (750 mi) from Visakhapatnam and 1,190 km (740 mi) from Chennai.

Flora

Andaman & Nicobar Islands are blessed with a unique tropical rainforest canopy, made of a mixed flora with elements from Indian, Myanmarese, Malaysian and endemic floral strains. So far, about 2,200 varieties of plants have been recorded, out of which 200 are endemic and 1,300 do not occur in mainland India.

The South Andaman forests have a profuse growth of epiphytic vegetation, mostly ferns and orchids. The Middle Andamans harbours mostly moist deciduous forests. North Andamans is characterized by the wet evergreen type, with plenty of woody climbers. The North Nicobar Islands (including Car Nicobar and Battimalv) are marked by the complete absence of evergreen forests, while such forests form the dominant vegetation in the central and southern islands of the Nicobar group. Grasslands occur only in the Nicobars, and while deciduous forests are common in the Andamans, they are almost absent in the Nicobars. The present forest coverage is claimed to be 86.2% of the total land area.

This atypical forest coverage is made up of twelve types, namely:

• Giant evergreen forest
• Andamans tropical evergreen forest
• Southern hilltop tropical evergreen forest
• Cane brakes
• Wet bamboo brakes
• Andamans semi-evergreen forest
• Andamans moist deciduous forest
• Andamans secondary moist deciduous forest
• Littoral forest
• Mangrove forest
• Brackish water mixed forest
• Submontane hill valley swamp forest
  

Timber

Andaman Forest abounds in a plethora of timber species numbering 200 or more, out of which about 30 varieties are considered to be commercial. Major commercial timber species are Gurjan (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides). The following ornamental woods are noted for their pronounced grain formation:

• Marble Wood (Diospyros marmorata)
• Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides)
• Silver Grey (a special formation of wood in white chuglam)
• Chooi (Sageraea elliptical)
• Kokko (Albizzia lebbeck)
  

Padauk being sturdier than teak is widely used for furniture making.

There are burr wood and buttress formations in Andaman Padauk. The largest piece of buttress known from Andaman was a dining table of 13 × 7 ft (4.0 × 2.1 m). The largest piece of burr was again a dining table to seat eight persons at a time.

The holy Rudraksha (Elaeocarps sphaericus) and aromatic Dhoop/Resin trees also are found here.

Fauna

These islands because some like turbo, trochus and nautilus etc. are used as novelties supporting many cottage industries producing a wide range of decorative items and ornaments. Shells such as giant clam, green mussel and oyster support edible shell fishery, a few like scallop, clam, and cockle are burnt in kilns to produce edible lime.