Interesting Facts about the Swiss Alps of India - The Himalayas

Facts about Himalayas

•    The literal translation of Himalayas amounts of 'abode of snow'.
•    The Himalayas are young folded mountains that stretch across a distance of 2500 km from west to east, in a curve.
•    Majority of the mountain range lies in Nepal, Bhutan and the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in India.
•    Himalaya chain consists of three parallel ranges, with the northern-most range known as the Great or Inner Himalayas.
•    The Himalayan mountain range is home to the highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest and K2.
•    Pir Panjal Range, Dhaula Dhar Range, Zanskar Range, Ladakh Range, and East Korakoram Range are the important mountain ranges of Himalayas.
•    The Himalayan mountain system stretches across six countries, including Bhutan, Tibet, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
•    The main mountain range in Himalayas, which divides the Indian subcontinent stretches on from Nanga Parbat in the west to Sikkim and Bhutan in the east.
•    The formation of Himalayas dates back to 70 million years ago, when a collision occurred between India and Asia, along the convergent boundary, via the Indo Australian and Eurasion Plates.
•    Himalayas stretches over 75% of Nepal, with over 250 mountain peaks, all of them crossing a height of 6000 meters.
•    World's three major rivers systems - the Indus, Ganga-Brahmaputra and Yangtze originate from the Himalayas mountain system.
•    The climatic conditions changes as you move to higher altitudes on the Himalayas. Tropical conditions are experienced at the base of the mountains. The higher elevations are covered by ice and snow.
•    This diversity in the climatic conditions, rainfall and altitude of the Himalayas gives way to a wide variety of plant and animal communities that flourish in the region.
•    There is a constant change and development of the Himalayan Mountains, as a result of earth quakes and tremors.
•    The width of the Himalayan ranges various, from 400 km in the western Kashmir-Xinjiang region to 150 km in the eastern Tibet-Arunachal Pradesh region.
•    The topography of the Himalayas comprises of Lowland forests, The Terai belt, Bhabhar belt, Shiwalik Hills, Inner Terai or Dun Valleys, Lesser Himalaya, Midlands and Alpine shrub and grasslands.