Himalayan Mountains on World Map

The Himalayas are the greatest mountain system in Asia and one of the planet’s youngest mountain ranges, that extends for more than 2,400km across the nations of Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The term ‘Himalaya’ literally means the ‘Abode of Snow’ and has been derived from a combination of two Sanskrit words, ‘Hima’ which means ‘snow’ and ‘Alaya’ which means ‘Abode’. The Himalayas act as a mighty barrier between the Tibetan Plateau in the north and the Indian subcontinent in the south. Some of the highest peaks in the world are located in the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, etc.

Overview of Himalayan Mountains

Himalayas, great mountain system of Asia forming a barrier between the Plateau of Tibet to the north and the alluvial plains of the Indian subcontinent to the south. The Himalayas include the highest mountains in the world, with more than 110 peaks rising to elevations of 24,000 feet (7,300 metres) or more above sea level. One of those peaks is Mount Everest (Tibetan: Chomolungma; Chinese: Qomolangma Feng; Nepali: Sagarmatha), the world’s highest, with an elevation of 29,032 feet (8,849 metres; see Researcher’s Note: Height of Mount Everest. The mountains’ high peaks rise into the zone of perpetual snow.

For thousands of years the Himalayas have held a profound significance for the peoples of South Asia, as their literature, mythologies, and religions reflect. Since ancient times the vast glaciated heights have attracted the attention of the pilgrim mountaineers of India, who coined the Sanskrit name Himalaya—from hima (“snow”) and alaya (“abode”)—for that great mountain system. In contemporary times the Himalayas have offered the greatest attraction and the greatest challenge to mountaineers throughout the world.

The ranges, which form the northern border of the Indian subcontinent and an almost impassable barrier between it and the lands to the north, are part of a vast mountain belt that stretches halfway around the world from North Africa to the Pacific Ocean coast of Southeast Asia. The Himalayas themselves stretch uninterruptedly for about 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from west to east between Nanga Parbat (26,660 feet [8,126 metres]), in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region, and Namjagbarwa (Namcha Barwa) Peak (25,445 feet [7,756 metres]), in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Between those western and eastern extremities lie the two Himalayan countries of Nepal and Bhutan. The Himalayas are bordered to the northwest by the mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram and to the north by the high and vast Plateau of Tibet. The width of the Himalayas from south to north varies between 125 and 250 miles (200 and 400 km). Their total area amounts to about 230,000 square miles (595,000 square km).

Though India, Nepal, and Bhutan have sovereignty over most of the Himalayas, Pakistan and China also occupy parts of them. In the disputed Kashmir region, Pakistan has administrative control of some 32,400 square miles (83,900 square km) of the range lying north and west of the “line of control” established between India and Pakistan in 1972. China administers some 14,000 square miles (36,000 square km) in the Ladakh region and has claimed territory at the eastern end of the Himalayas within the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Those disputes accentuate the boundary problems faced by India and its neighbours in the Himalayan region.

Geography Of The Himalayas

The Himalayas are considered as the world’s youngest, tallest, and most populated mountain systems. The Himalayas are bounded by the Tibetan Plateau in the north; the 800km long Hindu Kush and 500km long Karakoram Mountain ranges in the northwest; and by the vast Indo-Gangetic Plains in the south. The mighty Himalayan Mountain Range covers an area of about 595,000 sq. km and its maximum width varies between 150 to 350km. The major portion of the Himalayan Mountain Range is occupied by the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, and India, though some parts of this massive mountain range are also occupied by China as well as by Pakistan.

The Himalayan Mountains contain a series of parallel mountain ranges which include the Tibetan Himalayas, the Greater Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Siwalik ranges. From the west to east direction, the Himalayan Mountains are further divided into three regions namely, the Western, Central, and Eastern Himalayas. The Himalayan Mountains are also referred to as the “Third Pole” as these mountains contain the third-largest deposition of ice and snow on the planet after the Arctic and the Antarctic regions. It is estimated that there are more than 15,000 glaciers in the Himalayas including the Gangotri, Khumbu, Langtang, Yamunotri, and Zemu glaciers.