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Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is usually reserved for ranges of low mountains. However, the two terms are sometimes interchangeable.

Highlands internationally

Probably the best-known area officially or unofficially referred to as ''highlands'' in the Anglosphere is the Scottish Highlands in northern Scotland, the mountainous region north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. The Highland council area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and Britain's largest local government area. Other highland or upland areas reaching 400-500 m or higher in the United Kingdom include the Southern Uplands in Scotland, the Pennines, North York Moors, Dartmoor and Exmoor in England, and the Cambrian Mountains in Wales.

Many countries and regions also have areas referred to as ''highlands''. These include parts of Afghanistan, Tibet, Ethiopia, Canada, Kenya, Eritrea, Yemen, Ghana, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Syria, Turkey and Cantabria.

Synonymous terms used in other countries include ''high country'', used in New Zealand, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Southern Queensland in Australia, and parts of the United States (notably Western North Carolina), highveld, used in South Africa and ''Roof of the World'', used for Tibet.
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The central Afghan highlands are in the center of Afghanistan, mostly located between 2,000 and 3,000 m above sea level. They have a very cold winter, and a short and cool summer. These highlands have mountain pastures during summer (''sardsīr''), watered by many small streams and rivers. There are also pastures available during winter in the neighboring warm lowlands (''garmsīr''), which makes the region ideal for seasonal transhumance.

The highlands in Australia are often above the elevation of 500 m. These areas often receive snowfall in winter. Most of the highlands lead up to large alpine or sub-alpine mountainous regions such as the Australian Alps, Snowy Mountains, Great Dividing Range, Northern Tablelands and Blue Mountains. The most mountainous region of Tasmania is the Central Highlands area, which covers most of the central-western parts of the state. Many of these areas are highly elevated alpine regions.

The Ozarks cover nearly 120,000 km² (47,000 sq. mi.), making it the most extensive highland region between the Appalachians and Rockies. This region contains some of the oldest rocks in North America.

The spine of the mountains stretches across the island of New Guinea, forming the densely populated highlands of Papua New Guinea, and the Highland Papua, Indonesia.
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The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka are rain forests, where the elevation reaches 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level. The Sri Lanka montane rain forests represent the montane and submontane moist forests above 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the central highlands and in the Knuckles mountain range. Half of Sri Lanka's endemic flowering plants and 51 percent of the endemic vertebrates are restricted to this ecoregion.

The highlands of Iceland cover about 40% of the country and are mostly inhospitable to humans. They are generally considered to be any land above 500 m.

The mountainous natural region of the Thai highlands is found in Northern Thailand.

The Cameron Highlands is a highland area and hill station in Northern Malaysia.

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Highland or the Tengger volcanic complex covers an area of 5,250 hectares at an altitude of about 2,100 meters (6,900 feet). This plateau contains the highest volcano on the Indonesia island of Java, namely Mount Semeru (3,676 meters (12,060 feet)), four lakes and 50 rivers. Its name is taken from the Tengger tribe. The Bromo volcano explosion created the caldera that occurred 45,000 years ago. Within the Tengger volcanic complex forms conditions where new volcanic calderas form between larger and older calderas. It has five volcanoes within the Tengger Caldera namely Mount Bromo (2,329 m), Mount Batok (2,470 m), Mount Kursi (2,581 m), Mount Watangan (2,661 m), and Mount Widodaren (2,650 m). Mount Batok is the only peak that is no longer active, and is covered with casuarina (Indonesian: cypress) trees. Mount Widodaren is located beside Mount Batok.
The five volcanoes within the caldera are surrounded by a vast area of sand called the Tengger Sand Sea, which in turn is surrounded by a steep crater wall of the larger Tengger Caldera with height differences of about 200–600 meters (660–1,970 ft). Other mountains around the Tengger caldera are: Mount Pananjakan (2,770 m), Mount Cemorolawang (2,227 m), Mount Lingker (2,278 m), Mount Pundak Lembu (2,635 m), Mount Jantur (2,705 m), Mount Ider-ider (2,527 m) and Mount Mungal (2,480 m). The peak of Mount Pananjakan is the most popular place to watch the entire volcanic complex of Tengger.
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Shillong in India in the state of Meghalaya is a hill station that is surrounded by highlands. Officers of the British Raj referred to Shillong as "The Scotland of the East".

Other planets

Highland continents—or terrae—are areas of topographically unstable terrain, with high peaks and valleys. They resemble highlands on Earth, but the term is applied to much larger areas on other planets. They can be found on Venus, Mercury, Mars and the Moon.

See also

* Planum
* Highlander (disambiguation)

References

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Landforms