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The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
from the Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...
. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
. Over 100 peaks exceeding in elevation lie in the Himalayas. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia ( Aconcagua, in the Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
) is tall.
The Himalayas abut or cross five countries: Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, India, Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, China, and Pakistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...
. Some of the world's major river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
s, the Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
, the Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
and Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
; the summits of several— Kangchenjunga (from the Indian side), Gangkhar Puensum
Gangkhar Puensum ( dz, གངས་དཀར་སྤུན་གསུམ་, translit=Kangkar Punsum, alternatively, Gangkar Punsum or Gankar Punzum) is the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, with an ele ...
, Machapuchare, Nanda Devi and Kailas
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...
in the Tibetan Transhimalaya
The Transhimalaya (also spelled Trans-Himalaya), or "Gangdise – Nyenchen Tanglha range" ( zh, s=冈底斯-念青唐古拉山脉, p=Gāngdǐsī-Niànqīngtánggǔlā Shānmài), is a mountain range in China, India and Nepal, extending in a west ...
—are off-limits to climbers.
Lifted by the subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
, the Himalayan mountain range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa
Namcha Barwa or Namchabarwa (; Chinese: 南迦巴瓦峰, Pinyin: ''Nánjiābāwǎ Fēng'') is a mountain peak lying in Tibet in the region of Pemako. The traditional definition of the Himalaya extending from the Indus River to the Brahmaputra ...
, lies immediately west of the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Da ...
. The range varies in width from in the west to in the east.
Name
The name of the range hails from theSanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
( 'abode of the snow'), from ( 'snow') and ( 'home, dwelling'). They are now known as "", usually shortened to "the Himalayas".
The mountains are known as the in Nepali
Nepali or Nepalese may refer to :
Concerning Nepal
* Anything of, from, or related to Nepal
* Nepali people, citizens of Nepal
* Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...
and Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
(both written ), ''Himāl'' (हिमाल) in Kumaoni, the ''Himalaya'' () or 'The Land of Snow' () in Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
, also known as in Sinhala written as , the ''Himāliya'' Mountain Range () in Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu"
''
The Himalayas consist of parallel mountain ranges: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the
The Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted
Owing to the mountains' latitude near the Tropic of Cancer, the permanent snow line is among the highest in the world at typically around . In contrast, equatorial mountains in New Guinea, the Rwenzoris and Colombia have a snow line some lower. The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources of several large perennial stream, perennial rivers.
In recent years, scientists have monitored a notable increase in the rate of Retreat of glaciers since 1850, glacier retreat across the region as a result of climate change. For example, glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last few decades. Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, it potentially could mean disaster for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers during the dry seasons. The global climate change will affect the water resources and livelihoods of the Greater Himalayan region.
The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, at far western end of Tibet, is among the largest with surface areas of .
South of the main range, the lakes are smaller. Tilicho Lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world. Other notable lakes include
Resource Information Database of the Indian Himalaya
', Almora, GBPIHED, 2006. * Swami Sundaranand, ''Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sadhu''. Published by Tapovan Kuti Prakashan (2001). . * Swami Tapovan Maharaj, ''Wanderings in the Himalayas'', English Edition, Madras, Chinmaya Publication Trust, 1960. Translated by T.N. Kesava Pillai. * Bill Tilman, Tilman, H. W., ''Mount Everest, 1938'', Cambridge University Press, 1948. * Turner, Bethan, et al. ''Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010: Himalaya and Vicinity''. Denver, United States Geological Survey, 2013.
The Digital Himalaya research project at Cambridge and Yale
(archived)
South Asia's Troubled Waters
Journalistic project at the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting (archived)
Biological diversity in the Himalayas
Encyclopedia of Earth {{Uttarakhand Himalayas, Mountain ranges Mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Mountain ranges of China Geography of East Asia Geography of South Asia Landforms of East Asia Landforms of South Asia Physiographic divisions Tibetan Plateau
''
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
and the ''Ximalaya'' Mountain Range ( zh, s=喜马拉雅 山脉, p=Xǐmǎlāyǎ Shānmài, c=, t=喜馬拉雅 山脉) in Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
.
The name of the range is sometimes also given as Himavan in older writings, including the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
. Himavat
Himavat (Sanskrit: हिमवत्, lit. ''frosty'') is the personification of the Himalayan mountains in Hinduism. He is the guardian deity of the Himalayas, and finds mention in the epic ''Mahabharata'' and other Hindu scriptures.
Nomencla ...
(Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: हिमवत्'')'' or Himavan Himavān (Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: हिमवान्) is a Hindu deity who is the personification of the Himalayan Mountain Range. Other epithets include Himaraja (Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: हिमराज, ) or Parvateshwara (Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: पर्वतेश्वर, ).
In western literature, some writers refer to it as ''the Himalaya''. This was also previously transcribed as ''Himmaleh'', as in Emily Dickinson's poetry and Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
's essays.
Geography and key features
The Himalayas consist of parallel mountain ranges: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range
The Lower Himalayan Range ( ne, पर्वत शृङ्खला parbat shrinkhalā) – also called the Middle Himalayas or Lesser Himalayas or Himachal – is a major east–west mountain range with elevations 3,700 to 4,500 m (12,000 to ...
; the Great Himalayas
The Great Himalayas or Greater Himalayas or Himadri is the highest mountain range of the Himalayan Range.Hussain, MajidGeography of India/ref> The world's highest peak, Mount Everest, as well as other "near−highest" peaks, such as Kangchenjunga, ...
, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas
The geology of Nepal is dominated by the Himalaya, the highest, youngest and a very highly active mountain range. Himalaya is a type locality for the study of on-going continent-continent collision tectonics. The Himalayan arc extends about
fro ...
on the north. The Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
are generally considered separate from the Himalayas.
In the middle of the great curve of the Himalayan mountains lie the peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, separated by the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The gorge splits the Himalayas into Western and Eastern sections both ecologically and orographically – the pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki the Kora La
Korala or Kora La or Koro La ( Nepali: ; literally ''Kora Pass'') is a mountain pass between Tibet and Upper Mustang. At only in elevation, it has been considered the lowest drivable path between Tibetan Plateau and the Indian subcontinent. It is ...
is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2 (the highest peak of the Karakoram range). To the east of Annapurna are the peaks of Manaslu and across the border in Tibet, Shishapangma. To the south of these lies Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
, the capital of Nepal and the largest city in the Himalayas. East of the Kathmandu Valley
The Kathmandu Valley ( ne, काठमाडौं उपत्यका; also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley ( ne, नेपाः उपत्यका, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः)), ...
lies the valley of the Bhote/ Sun Kosi river which rises in Tibet and provides the main overland route between Nepal and China – the Araniko Highway/ China National Highway 318. Further east is the Mahalangur Himal with four of the world's six highest mountains, including the highest: Cho Oyu
__NOTOC__
Cho Oyu (Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the ''Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur ...
, Everest, Lhotse
Lhotse ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu ...
and Makalu. The Khumbu region, popular for trekking, is found here on the south-western approaches to Everest. The Arun river drains the northern slopes of these mountains, before turning south and flowing to the range to the east of Makalu.
In the far east of Nepal, the Himalayas rise to the Kangchenjunga massif on the border with India, the third highest mountain in the world, the most easterly summit and the highest point of India. The eastern side of Kangchenjunga is in the Indian state of Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
. Formerly an independent Kingdom, it lies on the main route from India to Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
, Tibet, which passes over the Nathu La pass into Tibet. East of Sikkim lies the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
. The highest mountain in Bhutan is Gangkhar Puensum
Gangkhar Puensum ( dz, གངས་དཀར་སྤུན་གསུམ་, translit=Kangkar Punsum, alternatively, Gangkar Punsum or Gankar Punzum) is the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, with an ele ...
, which is also a strong candidate for the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The Himalayas here are becoming increasingly rugged with heavily forested steep valleys. The Himalayas continue, turning slightly northeast, through the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
as well as Tibet, before reaching their easterly conclusion in the peak of Namche Barwa, situated in Tibet inside the great bend of the Yarlang Tsangpo river. On the other side of the Tsangpo, to the east, are the Kangri Garpo
Kangri Karpo (), also spelt Gangri Garbo (), is a mountain range in eastern Tibet, located primarily in Nyingchi Prefecture as well as a portion of Qamdo Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The mountain range lies to the east of the ...
mountains. The high mountains to the north of the Tsangpo including Gyala Peri, however, are also sometimes included in the Himalayas.
Going west from Dhaulagiri, Western Nepal is somewhat remote and lacks major high mountains, but is home to Rara Lake
Rara Lake also known as Mahendra Lake is the largest fresh water lake in the Nepalese Himalayas. It is the main feature of Rara National Park, located in Jumla District, Jumla and Mugu Districts of Karnali Province. Rara National Park stretches ov ...
, the largest lake in Nepal. The Karnali River rises in Tibet but cuts through the centre of the region. Further west, the border with India follows the Sarda River and provides a trade route into China, where on the Tibetan plateau lies the high peak of Gurla Mandhata
Gurla Mandhata, also Naimona'nyi or Nemo Nani (), is the highest peak of the Nalakankar Himal, a small subrange of the Himalaya. It is named after king Mandhata of suryavansha of Ikshvaku dynasty. It lies in Burang County of the Ngari Prefectur ...
. Just across Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...
from this lies the sacred Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It h ...
in the Kailash Ranges
The Kailash Range, Kailas Range, Gangdisi Mountains, Gangdese Range, Gangdisê Range or Gangdise Shan, is a mountain range on the Tibetan Plateau in Tibet and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Geography
It is the western subrange of the Transhimalaya ...
, which stands close to the source of the four main rivers of Himalayas and is revered in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufism, Jainism, and Bonpo. In Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
, the Himalayas rise again as the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas with the high peaks of Nanda Devi and Kamet. The state is also home to the important pilgrimage destinations of Chaar Dhaam, with Gangotri
Gangotri is a town and a ''Nagar Panchayat'' (municipality) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirathi ...
, the source of the holy river Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, Yamunotri
Yamunotri, also Jamnotri, is the source of the Yamuna River and the seat of the Goddess Yamuna in Hinduism. It is situated at an altitude of in the Garhwal Himalayas and located approximately North of Uttarkashi, the headquarters of the Uttark ...
, the source of the river Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
, and the temples at Badrinath and Kedarnath. Uttarakhand Himalayas are regionally divided into two, namely, Kumaon hills in Kumaon division
Kumaon (; Kumaoni: ''Kumāū''; ; historically romanized as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is bounded ...
and Garhwal hills in Garhwal division.
The next Himalayan Indian state, Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
, is noted for its hill stations, particularly Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...
, the summer capital of the British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, and Dharamsala
Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855.
The ...
, the centre of the Tibetan community and government in exile
A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...
in India. This area marks the start of the Punjab Himalaya
The Western Himalayas refers to the western half of the Himalayas, in northern Pakistan and northwestern India. It is also known as the Punjab Himalayas. Four of the five tributaries of the Indus River in Punjab (Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, and Ravi) ...
and the Sutlej river
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...
, the most easterly of the five tributaries of the Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
, cuts through the range here. Further west, the Himalayas form much of the disputed Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
where lies the renowned Kashmir Valley
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...
and the town and lakes of Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
. The Himalayas form most of the south-west portion of the disputed Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
. The twin peaks of Nun Kun
Nun Kun is a mountain massif of the greater Himalayan range, located on the border of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in northern India. It consists of two main peaks: Nun () and Kun (),Figures for Kun's elevation vary between 7,035 m and 7,086 ...
are the only mountains over in this part of the Himalayas. Finally, the Himalayas reach their western end in the dramatic 8000 m peak of Nanga Parbat, which rises over above the Indus valley and is the most westerly of the 8000 m summits. The western end terminates at a magnificent point near Nanga Parbat where the Himalayas intersect with the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, in the disputed Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...
. Some portion of the Himalayas, such as the Kaghan Valley, Margalla Hills and Galyat
Galyat ( ur, گلیات ) region, or hill tract, (also written Galliat and Galiyat) is a narrow strip or area roughly 50–80 km north-east of Islamabad, Pakistan, extending on both sides of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Punjab border, between Abb ...
tract, extend into the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
and Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
.
Geology
The Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...
and metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...
. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
, its formation is a result of a continental collision
In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains prod ...
or orogeny
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...
along the convergent boundary
A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more Plate tectonics, lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can ...
( Main Himalayan Thrust) between the Indo-Australian Plate
The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and the surrounding ocean and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of the Indian an ...
and the Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
. The Arakan Yoma
The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is th ...
highlands in Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
in the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
were also formed as a result of this collision.
During the Upper Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
, about 70 million years ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate (which has subsequently broken into the Indian Plate
The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began mov ...
and the Australian Plate
The Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately when India broke ...
) was moving at about per year. About 50 million years ago this fast-moving Indo-Australian Plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s settled on the ocean floor and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since both plates were composed of low density continental crust, they were thrust fault
A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks.
Thrust geometry and nomenclature
Reverse faults
A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less.
If ...
ed and folded into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
along an oceanic trench. An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
from this ancient ocean.
Today, the Indian plate continues to be driven horizontally at the Tibetan Plateau, which forces the plateau to continue to move upwards. The Indian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about into Asia. About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that sys ...
along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time.
During the last ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, there was a connected ice stream of glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s between Kangchenjunga in the east and Nanga Parbat in the west. In the west, the glaciers joined with the ice stream network in the Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
, and in the north, they joined with the former Tibetan inland ice. To the south, outflow glaciers came to an end below an elevation of . While the current valley glaciers of the Himalaya reach at most in length, several of the main valley glaciers were long during the ice age. The glacier snowline (the altitude where accumulation and ablation
Ablation ( la, ablatio – removal) is removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosion, erosive processes or by other means. Examples of ablative materials are described below, and include spacecraft materi ...
of a glacier are balanced) was about lower than it is today. Thus, the climate was at least colder than it is today.
Hydrology
Despite their scale, the Himalayas do not form a major watershed, and a number of rivers cut through the range, particularly in the eastern part of the range. As a result, the main ridge of the Himalayas is not clearly defined, and mountain passes are not as significant for traversing the range as with other mountain ranges. The rivers of the Himalayas drain into two large river systems: * The western rivers combine into the ''Indus Basin''. TheIndus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
itself forms the northern and western boundaries of the Himalayas. It begins in Tibet at the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers and flows north-west through India into Pakistan before turning south-west to the Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
. It is fed by several major tributaries draining the southern slopes of the Himalayas, including the Jhelum
Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...
, Chenab, Ravi Ravi may refer to:
People
* Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director
* Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist
* Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...
, Beas and Sutlej
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...
rivers, the five rivers of the Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
.
* The other Himalayan rivers drain the ''Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin''. Its main rivers are the Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, the Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
and the Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
, as well as other tributaries. The Brahmaputra originates as the Yarlung Tsangpo River
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Da ...
in western Tibet, and flows east through Tibet and west through the plains of Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra meet in Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and drain into the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
through the world's largest river delta, the Sunderbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in Ganges Delta, the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma River, Padma, Brahmaputra River, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bang ...
.
The northern slopes of Gyala Peri and the peaks beyond the Tsangpo, sometimes included in the Himalayas, drain into the Irrawaddy River, which originates in eastern Tibet and flows south through Myanmar to drain into the Andaman Sea. The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze River, Yangtze and Yellow River all originate from parts of the Tibetan Plateau that are geologically distinct from the Himalaya mountains and are therefore not considered true Himalayan rivers. Some geologists refer to all the rivers collectively as the ''circum-Himalayan rivers''.
Glaciers
The great ranges of central Asia, including the Himalayas, contain the third-largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic. The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about of fresh water. Its glaciers include the Gangotri Glacier, Gangotri andYamunotri
Yamunotri, also Jamnotri, is the source of the Yamuna River and the seat of the Goddess Yamuna in Hinduism. It is situated at an altitude of in the Garhwal Himalayas and located approximately North of Uttarkashi, the headquarters of the Uttark ...
(Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
) and Khumbu Glacier, Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
region), Langtang glacier (Langtang region) and Zemu Glacier, Zemu (Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
).
Owing to the mountains' latitude near the Tropic of Cancer, the permanent snow line is among the highest in the world at typically around . In contrast, equatorial mountains in New Guinea, the Rwenzoris and Colombia have a snow line some lower. The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources of several large perennial stream, perennial rivers.
In recent years, scientists have monitored a notable increase in the rate of Retreat of glaciers since 1850, glacier retreat across the region as a result of climate change. For example, glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last few decades. Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, it potentially could mean disaster for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers during the dry seasons. The global climate change will affect the water resources and livelihoods of the Greater Himalayan region.
Lakes
The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, at far western end of Tibet, is among the largest with surface areas of .
South of the main range, the lakes are smaller. Tilicho Lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world. Other notable lakes include Rara Lake
Rara Lake also known as Mahendra Lake is the largest fresh water lake in the Nepalese Himalayas. It is the main feature of Rara National Park, located in Jumla District, Jumla and Mugu Districts of Karnali Province. Rara National Park stretches ov ...
in western Nepal, Phoksundo Lake, She-Phoksundo Lake in the Shey Phoksundo National Park of Nepal, Gurudongmar Lake, in North Sikkim, Gokyo Lakes in Solukhumbu district of Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
and Lake Tsongmo, near the Indo-China border in Sikkim.
Some of the lakes present a danger of a glacial lake outburst flood. The Tsho Rolpa glacier lake in the Rolwaling Himal, Rowaling Valley, in the Dolakha District of Nepal, is rated as the most dangerous. The lake, which is located at an altitude of has grown considerably over the last 50 years due to glacial melting. The mountain lakes are known to geographers as ''tarn (lake), tarns'' if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above .
Temperate Himalayan wetlands provide important habitat and layover sites for migratory birds. Many mid and low altitude lakes remain poorly studied in terms of their hydrology and biodiversity, like Khecheopalri in the Sikkim Eastern Himalayas.
Climate
Temperature
The physical factors determining the climate in any location in the Himalayas include latitude, altitude, and the relative motion of the Southwest monsoon. From south to north, the mountains cover more than eight degrees of latitude, spanning temperate to subtropical zones. The colder air of Central Asia is prevented from blowing down into South Asia by the physical configuration of the Himalayas. This causes the tropical zone to extend farther north in South Asia than anywhere else in the world. The evidence is unmistakable in the Brahmaputra valley as the warm air from theBay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
bottlenecks and rushes up past Namcha Barwa
Namcha Barwa or Namchabarwa (; Chinese: 南迦巴瓦峰, Pinyin: ''Nánjiābāwǎ Fēng'') is a mountain peak lying in Tibet in the region of Pemako. The traditional definition of the Himalaya extending from the Indus River to the Brahmaputra ...
, the eastern anchor of the Himalayas, and into southeastern Tibet. Temperatures in the Himalayas cool by 2.0 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) for every increase of altitude.
As the physical features of mountains are irregular, with broken jagged contours, there can be wide variations in temperature over short distances. Temperature at a location on a mountain depends on the season of the year, the bearing of the sun with respect to the face on which the location lies, and the mass versus weight, mass of the mountain, i.e. the amount of matter in the mountain. As the temperature is directly proportional to received radiation from the sun, the faces that receive more direct sunlight also have a greater heat buildup. In narrow valleys—lying between steep mountain faces—there can be dramatically different weather along their two margins. The side to the north with a mountain above facing south can have an extra month of the growing season. The mass of the mountain also influences the temperature, as it acts as a heat island, in which more heat is absorbed and retained than the surroundings, and therefore influences the heat budget or the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature from the winter minimum winter to the summer maximum.
The immense scale of the Himalayas means that many summits can create their own weather, the temperature fluctuating from one summit to another, from one face to another, and all may be quite different from the weather in nearby plateaus or valleys.
Precipitation
A critical influence on the Himalayan climate is the Southwest Monsoon. This is not so much the rain of the summer months as the wind that carries the rain. Different rates of heating and cooling between the Central Asian continent and the South Asian ocean create large differences in the atmospheric pressure prevailing above each. In the winter, a high-pressure system forms and remains suspended above Central Asia, forcing air to flow in the southerly direction over the Himalayas. But in Central Asia as there is no substantial source for water to be diffused as vapour, the winter winds blowing across South Asia are dry. In the summer months the Central Asian plateau heats up more than the ocean waters to its south. As a result, the air above it rises higher and higher, creating a zone of low pressure. Off-shore high-pressure systems in the Indian Ocean push the moist summer air inland toward the low-pressure system. When the moist air meets mountains, it rises and upon subsequent cooling, its moisture condenses and is released as rain, typically heavy rain. The wet summer monsoon winds cause precipitation in India and all along the layered southern slopes of the Himalayas. This forced lifting of air is called the orographic effect.Winds
The vast size, huge altitude range, and complex topography of the Himalayas mean they experience a wide range of climates, from humid subtropical in the foothills to cold and dry desert conditions on the Tibetan side of the range. For much of the Himalayas—in the areas to the south of the high mountains, the monsoon is the most characteristic feature of the climate and causes most of the precipitation, while the western disturbance brings winter precipitation, especially in the west. Heavy rain arrives on the southwest monsoon in June and persists until September. The monsoon can seriously impact transport and cause major landslides. It restricts tourism – the trekking and mountaineering season is limited to either before the monsoon in April/May or after the monsoon in October/November (autumn). In Nepal and Sikkim, there are often considered to be five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, (or post-monsoon), winter, and spring. Using the Köppen climate classification, the lower elevations of the Himalayas, reaching in mid-elevations in central Nepal (including the Kathmandu valley), are classified as ''Cwa'', humid subtropical climate#South Asia, Humid subtropical climate with dry winters. Higher up, most of the Himalayas have a Oceanic climate#Subtropical highland variety (Cwb), subtropical highland climate (''Cwb''). The intensity of the southwest monsoon diminishes as it moves westward along the range, with as much as of rainfall in the monsoon season in Darjeeling in the east, compared to only during the same period in Shimla in the west. The northern side of the Himalayas, also known as the Tibetan Himalaya, is dry, cold and, generally, windswept particularly in the west where it has a Desert climate#Cold desert climates, cold desert climate. The vegetation is sparse and stunted and the winters are severely cold. Most of the precipitation in the region is in the form of snow during the late winter and spring months. Local impacts on climate are significant throughout the Himalayas. Temperatures fall by 0.2 to 1.2 °C for every rise in altitude. This gives rise to a variety of climates from a nearly tropical climate in the foothills, to tundra and permanent snow and ice at higher elevations. Local climate is also affected by the topography: The leeward side of the mountains receive less rain while the well exposed slopes get heavy rainfall and the rain shadow of large mountains can be significant, for example leading to near desert conditions in the Upper Mustang which is sheltered from the monsoon rains by the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs and has annual precipitation of around , while Pokhara on the southern side of the massifs has substantial rainfall ( a year). Thus although annual precipitation is generally higher in east than the west, local variations are often more important. The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of theIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and the Tibetan Plateau. They prevent frigid, dry winds from blowing south into the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the Monsoon of Indian subcontinent, monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan and Gobi.
Climate change
Ecology
The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions combined with the very high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure) combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms. At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator. Its prey includes members of the goat family grazing on the alpine pastures and living on the rocky terrain, notably the endemic bharal or Himalayan blue sheep. The Himalayan musk deer is also found at high altitudes. Hunted for its musk, it is now rare and endangered. Other endemic or near-endemic herbivores include the Himalayan tahr, the takin, the Himalayan serow, and the Himalayan goral. The critically endangered Himalayan brown bear, Himalayan subspecies of the brown bear is found sporadically across the range as is the Asian black bear. In the mountainous mixed deciduous and conifer forests of the eastern Himalayas, Red panda feed in the dense understories of bamboo. Lower down the forests of the foothills are inhabited by several different primates, including the endangered Gee's golden langur and the Kashmir gray langur, with highly restricted ranges in the east and west of the Himalayas respectively. The unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. ''Hydrangea hirta'' is an example of floral species that can be found in this area. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations. The oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some tree species, especially rhododendron, apple and ''Myrica esculenta, box myrtle''. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is ''Juniperus tibetica'' located at in Southeastern Tibet.Religions
There are many cultural and mythological aspects associated with the Himalayas. In Jainism, Mount Ashtapad of the Himalayan mountain range, is a sacred place where the first Jain Tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, Rishabhdeva attained moksha. It is believed that after Rishabhanatha, Rishabhdeva attained ''nirvana'', his son, Emperor Bharata Chakravartin, had constructed three stupas and twenty four shrines of the 24 Tirthankaras with their idols studded with precious stones over there and named it ''Sinhnishdha''. For the Hindus, the Himalayas are personified asHimavat
Himavat (Sanskrit: हिमवत्, lit. ''frosty'') is the personification of the Himalayan mountains in Hinduism. He is the guardian deity of the Himalayas, and finds mention in the epic ''Mahabharata'' and other Hindu scriptures.
Nomencla ...
, king of all mountains and the father of the goddess Parvati. The Himalayas are also considered to be the father of Ganga (the personification of river Ganges). Two of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for the Hindus are the temple complex in Pashupatinath Temple, Pashupatinath and Muktinath, also known as Saligrama because of the presence of the sacred black rocks called saligrams.
The Buddhists also lay a great deal of importance on the Himalayas. Paro Taktsang is the holy place where Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
started in Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
. The Muktinath is also a place of pilgrimage for the Tibetan Buddhists. They believe that the trees in the poplar grove came from the walking sticks of eighty-four ancient Indian Buddhist magicians or ''mahasiddhas''. They consider the saligrams to be representatives of the Tibetan serpent deity known as Gawo Jagpa.
The Himalayan people's diversity shows in many different ways. It shows through their architecture, their languages, and dialects, their beliefs and rituals, as well as their clothing. The shapes and materials of the people's homes reflect their practical needs and beliefs. Another example of the diversity amongst the Himalayan peoples is that handwoven textiles display colors and patterns unique to their ethnic backgrounds. Finally, some people place great importance on jewelry. The Rai and Limbu women wear big gold earrings and nose rings to show their wealth through their jewelry.
Several places in the Himalayas are of religious significance in Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, Jainism and Sikhism. A notable example of a religious site is Paro Taktsang, where Padmasambhava is said to have founded Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
in Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
.
A number of Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhist sites are situated in the Himalayas, in Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
and in the Indian regions of Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
, Spiti Valley, Spiti and Darjeeling. There were over 6,000 List of Tibetan monasteries, monasteries in Tibet, including the residence of the Dalai Lama. Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
and Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
are also dotted with numerous monasteries.
Resources
The Himalayas are home to a diversity of medicinal resources. Plants from the forests have been used for millennia to treat conditions ranging from simple coughs to snake bites. Different parts of the plants – root, flower, stem, leaves, and bark – are used as remedies for different ailments. For example, a bark extract from an ''Abies pindrow'' tree is used to treat coughs and bronchitis. Leaf and stem paste from an ''Andrachne, Andrachne cordifolia'' is used for wounds and as an antidote for snake bites. The bark of a ''Callicarpa, Callicarpa arborea'' is used for skin ailments. Nearly a fifth of the gymnosperms, Flowering plant, angiosperms and pteridophytes in the Himalayas are found to have medicinal properties, and more are likely to be discovered. Most of the population in some Asian and African countries depends on medicinal plants rather than prescriptions and such. Since so many people use medicinal plants as their only source of healing in the Himalayas, the plants are an important source of income. This contributes to economic and modern industrial development both inside and outside the region. The only problem is that locals are rapidly clearing the forests on the Himalayas for wood, often illegally.See also
* Eastern Himalaya, Eastern and Western Himalaya * Indian Himalayan Region * List of Himalayan peaks and passes * List of Himalayan topics * List of mountains in India, List of mountains in Pakistan, Pakistan, Mountains of Bhutan, Bhutan, List of mountains in Nepal, Nepal and List of mountains in China, China * List of Ultras of the Himalayas * Trekking peakReferences
Sources
General
* *Geology
* * *Climate
* *Ecology
Society
Pilgrimage and Tourism
* * * * * * * *Mountaineering and Trekking
Further reading
* William McKay Aitken, Aitken, Bill, ''Footloose in the Himalaya'', Delhi, Permanent Black, 2003. . * Berreman, Gerald Duane, ''Hindus of the Himalayas: Ethnography and Change'', 2nd rev. ed., Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1997. * Edmundson, Henry, ''Tales from the Himalaya'', Vajra Books, Kathmandu, 2019. . * ''Everest'', the IMAX movie (1998). . * Fisher, James F., ''Sherpas: Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal'', 1990. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990. . * Augusto Gansser-Biaggi, Gansser, Augusto, Andreas Gruschke, Gruschke, Andreas, Olschak, Blanche C., ''Himalayas. Growing Mountains, Living Myths, Migrating Peoples'', New York, Oxford: Facts On File, 1987. and New Delhi: Bookwise, 1987. * Gupta, Raj Kumar, ''Bibliography of the Himalayas'', Gurgaon, Indian Documentation Service, 1981. * John Hunt, Baron Hunt, Hunt, John, ''Ascent of Everest'', London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1956. . * Maurice Isserman, Isserman, Maurice and Weaver, Stewart, ''Fallen Giants: The History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes''. Yale University Press, 2008. . * Ives, Jack D. and Messerli, Bruno, ''The Himalayan Dilemma: Reconciling Development and Conservation''. London / New York, Routledge, 1989. . * Lall, J.S. (ed.) in association with Moddie, A.D., ''The Himalaya, Aspects of Change''. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1981. . * Nandy, S.N., Dhyani, P.P. and Samal, P.K.,Resource Information Database of the Indian Himalaya
', Almora, GBPIHED, 2006. * Swami Sundaranand, ''Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sadhu''. Published by Tapovan Kuti Prakashan (2001). . * Swami Tapovan Maharaj, ''Wanderings in the Himalayas'', English Edition, Madras, Chinmaya Publication Trust, 1960. Translated by T.N. Kesava Pillai. * Bill Tilman, Tilman, H. W., ''Mount Everest, 1938'', Cambridge University Press, 1948. * Turner, Bethan, et al. ''Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010: Himalaya and Vicinity''. Denver, United States Geological Survey, 2013.
External links
The Digital Himalaya research project at Cambridge and Yale
(archived)
South Asia's Troubled Waters
Journalistic project at the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting (archived)
Biological diversity in the Himalayas
Encyclopedia of Earth {{Uttarakhand Himalayas, Mountain ranges Mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Mountain ranges of China Geography of East Asia Geography of South Asia Landforms of East Asia Landforms of South Asia Physiographic divisions Tibetan Plateau