The Himalayas, “abode of snow بمعنى بيت الثلج,” is a mountain system in Asia that rises sharply from the Genetic Plain, in many parts over 8000 meters high. It forms a broad, continuous arc for nearly 2,600 kilometers along the northern fringes هامش of the Indian subcontinent شبة القارةand the south of the Tibetan Plateau .

The Himalayan range consists of three coextensiveيوازى sub-ranges, with the northernmost and highest known as the Great or Inner Himalayas. It forms the earth’s highest region that features nine of 10 highest peaks in the world. Those nine include Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain, on the Nepal-Tibet border. The second and third highest peaks are also located in the Himalayas—the K2 or Mt. Godwin Austen on the border between China and a territory claimed by India and Pakistan, and the Kanchenjunga on the Nepal-India border, respectively. Other peaks are Dhaulagiri and Annapurna 1 in Nepal, Nanga Parbat in the Pakistani-controlled portion of Jammu and Kashmir, and Nanda Devi or “bliss-giving goddess” in India.

A large land area occupying 18 countries that serves as home to some three billion people, or almost half of the Earth’s population, benefits from the Himalayas. This is because some of the world’s major river systems begins from the Himalayas and forms their combined drainage basin. In this way, the Himalayan range profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia. Three of the religions borne from this area—Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism—even believe that the mountains are sacred.

Geologically, the Himalayas is believed to be created from the impact of the tectonic plates of the Indian subcontinent traveling northward at a rate of about 15 centimeters per year toward the plates of the Eurasian continent about 40 to 50 million years ago. The collision of the two land masses created the Himalayan arc as the lighter rocks from the seabed were pushed and uplifted to become mountains.

Below are the notable peaks of the Himalayan system. They are ranked according to elevation.

Mount Everest

Mt. Everest is the most famous of the Himalayan mountains due to its title of being the highest mountain in the world. It is located on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau  on the border of Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Its massifكتلة صخرية  includes neighboring peaks Lhotse, Nuptse, and Changtse.

The mountain got its official English name in 1856 from the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. It was known as Peak XV until then, when it was named for Sir George Everest, the former surveyor general of and Waugh’s predecessor سلفة. Although Waugh believed in keeping local names for mountains when available and Tibetans had called Mt. Everest “Chomolungma” for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because both Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners. Thus, the name Everest was declared official.

Its naming coincided  تزامن with an official announcement of the mountain’s height, taken as the average of six separate measurements made by during the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India in 1850. Its height was determined to be 8,848 meters, although this is now being disputedمتنازع علية. In fact, experts believe that the mountain is still rising a few millimeters each year due to geological forces. Global Positioning System (GPS) has been installed on Mt. Everest to accurately detect rates of geological uplift, however small.

Mt. Everest attracts many well-experienced mountaineers as well as novice  مبتدئينclimbers. Some of them visit the mountain as a tourist, but some seriously want to reach the mountain’s peak. At the close of the year 2010, about 3,142 individuals had completed 5,104 ascents صعود to the summit.

Today, there is an established climbing route to the top of the mountain. These are not technically difficult to climb. However, the trip to Mt. Everest’s summit is not without dangers. It still poses dangers such as altitude علو sickness, rough weather, avalanche, and strong wind. As of the year 2010, 219 people have been recorded as having died during the climb to its peak.