Himalayas are a great mountain system of Asia forming a barrier between the Plateau of Tibet to the north and the alluvial plains of the Indian subcontinent to the south. The Himalayas include the highest peaks in the world, most notably Mount Everest. Learn more about the mountain system.
Today mountaineers come from all over the world to scale Mount Everest. The Himalayas stretch 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 consists of four parallel mountain ranges from south to north: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north. [17]
These mountains are categorized into three regions—Western, Central, and Eastern Himalayas—from west to east. Often referred to as the “Third Pole,” the Himalayas hold the third-largest ice and snow deposit on Earth, following the Arctic and Antarctic.
The Himalayan system, about 2,400 kilometers in length and varying in width from 240 to 330 kilometers, is made up of three parallel ranges — the Greater Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Outer Himalayas — sometimes collectively called the Great Himalayan Range.
Seated between the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the high Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas constitute one of the most majestic mountain ranges in the world. Much more than just a geographical entity, the Himalayan mountains gain significance for their environmental, cultural, and geopolitical implications.
Greater Himalayas (Himadri): Contains the highest peaks and core crystalline rocks. Tethys Himalayas (Trans-Himalayas): Contains remnants of the Tethys Sea and lies in the Tibetan region.
Thus, Himalaya means ‘abode of snow’. The term was coined by the ancient pilgrims of India who were the first to explore this region. Sometimes the Himalayas are also called Himachal, Himadri, or Himavat, all of which mean ‘eternal snow’.