WORLD'S GREATEST MOUNTAIN RANGE

Himalayas - meaning: Abode of the Snows, is the greatest mountain range of the world. Together, the Himalaya mountain system is the planet's highest and home to the world's highest peaks, including Mount Everest. The Himalayan system has over 100 separate mountains exceeding 7,200 meters. No where on Earth are the mountains as dominant part of the landscape as the mountain range of the The Himalayas. The great mountain barrier is like a natural wall between the Indian subcontinent and the great landmass of Central Asia, which covers a distance of about 2,400 km. The width of the wall varies from 400 km in Kashmir to 150 km in Arunachal Pradesh. It stretches across six nations: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It is the source of three of the world's major river systems, the Indus Basin, the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin and the Yangtze Basin. The Himalayas, being geologically very young, continue to rise at a relatively fast geologic rate. It is said to have risen out due to the collision of the tectonic plate of the Indian subcontinent with the Urasian plate.