35 Amazing and Interesting Facts about the Himalayas | Amazing Facts 4U
- The name Himalaya is a compound word in Sanskrit. It is formed of the words Hima and Alaya. Hima means Snow and Alaya means Adobe. So, the name Himalaya literally translates into Adobe of Snow.
- The Himalayas refers to a mountain range and not a single mountain. The Himalayan mountain range is the youngest on this planet.
- Himalayan ranges were formed about 70 million years ago.
- The Himalayas were formed when the Eurasian tectonic plate collided with the Indo-Australian tectonic plate which has now broken down into the Australian plate and the Indian plate. The collision between these two massive tectonic plates gave birth to the majestic Himalayan ranges.
- The Himalayan range is geologically active. Within the next 10 million years, the Indian subcontinent will move nearly 1500 kilometers further into Asia because the Indian plate is moving at a speed of 20 millimeters a year.
- As India and Asia are converging, the southern front of the Himalayas is absorbing a portion of this convergence. As a result of this, the Himalayan ranges are still gaining height at a rate of 5 mm per year.
- After Antarctica and the Arctic, the Himalayan ranges are the home to the third-largest deposit of snow and ice on this planet.
- A total of 12000 cubic kilometers of freshwater is stored within the 15,000 glaciers that are found within the Himalayan range.
- The largest glacier not of polar origins is the Siachen glacier of the Himalayas which is 76 Km long.
- The Himalayan range forms an arc that runs over a length of 2,400 km from northwest to southeast. On the west, the maximum width of the arc is 400 km while on the eastern side, the width of the arc is 150 Km.
- Throughout this length , the Himalayan mountain system is made up of two almost parallel ranges with a wide valley in between.
- The Great Himalayas is the northernmost zone of the southern range system. This is where the Mount Everest sits. The Great Himalayas remain covered in snow perpetually. This means that the snow never melts there.
- Because of its sheer length, the Himalayan mountain system stretches across six countries in total, which are Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Tibet.
- The total area covered by the Himalayas is 612,021 sq. km.
- Himalayas served as a natural barrier for thousands of years, preventing early interactions between the people of India, China and Mongolia.
- Himalayas is the source of many large perennial rivers in the world, which are divided into two river systems , the Indus river system and the Ganges Brahmaputra river system.
- The Indus river system consists of the rivers on the western side of the Himalayas. Of all the rivers on that side, Indus is the largest of all. Indus, along with other western rivers like Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum etc. combine to form the Indus Basin. Indus originates in Tibet, flows southwest to enter India and then moves to Pakistan to finally drain into the Arabian Sea.
- The other river system, i.e. the Ganges-Brahmaputra system consists of three main rivers – the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Brahmaputra. Brahmaputra’s origin is also in Tibet. The Ganga and Brahmaputra merge together in Bangladesh to finally drain into the Bay of Bengal.
- The rivers originating from the Himalayas range are believed to be older than the Himalayan peaks itself.
- Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world, with 30 peaks towering over 24, 000 feet.
- Himalayas stretches over 75% of Nepal. Of the fourteen highest mountain peaks in the World, nine of them are contained within the Nepal Himalayas.
- Mount Everest of Himalayas is the highest peak in this world above sea level. It stands tall at 8,848 meters or 29,029 feet. It sits at the Nepal-Tibet border.
- The second highest peak is the K2 which has attained a height of 8,611 meters or 28,251 feet. The third spot is captured by Kanchenjunga which stands at 8,586 meters or 28,169 feet.
- Because the Himalayas are geologically active, the region is prone to natural phenomena such as tremors, earthquakes and landslides.
- Himalayas go by the name Giriraj in Hindu religion. This literally translates into ‘King of Mountains’. According to Hindu religion, Himalayas is the home of gods, most notable of them being Lord Shiva. Himalayas have been extensively mentioned in Hindu texts and epics.
- Nepalese people call the Mount Everest by the name ‘Sagarmatha’ which literally translates into ‘Goddess of the Universe’.
- The Mount Everest was named by Sir Andrew Waugh, a British Army Officer to give respect to his predecessor, Colonel Sir George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.
- The Himalayas is the home to world’s some of the most exotic wildlife. Most notable of them being snow leopard, musk deer, Tibetan sheep, wild goat, red panda etc.
- Some of the most notable exotic birds found in Himalayas are gray bushchat, brown rock chat, verditer flycatcher, Himalayan bulbul, hill patridge and black rumped flameback woodpecker.
- Himalayas uniquely houses multiple ecological systems. At low altitudes we can find tropic rainforests. At mid altitudes we can find sub-tropical forests with broadleaved trees. At higher altitudes there are coniferous forests and grasslands. Higher than that, there are no signs of vegetation.
- The first two people to ever reach Mount Everest were Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. They made it to the summit in 1953. Thereafter more than 5000 people are believed to have climbed the Mount Everest.
- Nearly 150 people have laid their lives in their expedition to the Everest.
- Himalayas remains the world’s second-most virgin places on earth. The first spot is taken by Antarctica.
- Himalayas is the home of many medical herbs of highest degree of purity. Many of these herbs have been extensively used in Ayurveda , one of the oldest know medical systems in world which originated in India.
- You can find people of various cultures and religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism in the Himalayas. There are plenty of beautiful Buddhist Monasteries in the Himalaya region. The prominent Hindu pilgrimage destinations such as the Amarnath, Gangotri , Kedarnath and Badrinath are in the Himalayas.
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