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The Himalayas The Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world. The Himalayas means ‘The Land of Snow’. People often call it ‘The Roof of the World’. The Himalayas are in India, Pakistan, Nepal and China. The mountain range is 2400 kilometres long. It includes many smaller mountain ranges, including the Krakoram and the Hindu Kush. The Himalayas contain 100 mountains which are higher than 7200 metres. They contain the 15 highest mountains on earth and the highest unclimbed mountain, Gangkhar Puensum. It is also the only mountain range with mountains higher than 8000 metres.

Formation The Himalayas are one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world. It is being formed as the Indian Plate moves from the south into the Eurasian Plate. This creates fold mountains. This started about 70 million years ago. 70 million years ago, there was a sea between the Indian plate and Tibet. But slowly the sea disappeared and the bottom of the sea was lifted up. This means you can find the fossils of sea creatures in the Himalayas. The Indian plate is moving north about 67mm per year. This movement lifts the Himalayas by about 5mm per year. This can also cause earthquakes. People think that in 10 million years, the Indian Plate will have travelled another 1500km into Asia.

Rivers and Glaciers Many of the world’s major rivers start in the Himalayas. These include the Ganges, the Indus and the Irrawaddy. Together, these rivers supply fresh water to half the world’s population. The Himalayas contain about 15,000 glaciers, including the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram Range. The

Himalayan glaciers store about 12,000 km3 of fresh water. During the months of the year, water from these glaciers are an important source of fresh water for many Asian countries.

Effect on climate and culture The Himalayas have a big effect on the climate of Asia. They protect India from cold, dry winds from the north: this means India is warm and wet. They also stop the monsoon winds from reaching Central Asia and Tibet: this means Central Asia and Tibet are cold and dry. The Himalayas have stopped people from moving between India and Central Asia. This means languages and customs in China and India are very different. The mountains have also made trade between countries very difficult.