15 Facts about Mighty Himalayas that will Mesmerize you
15 Facts about Mighty Himalayas that will Mesmerise you
Himalaya is one of the tallest mountain ranges of the world. It is famous about it’s magnificent beauty and of course, the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. Himalaya has also high religious value in India. Himalaya stood tall and has helped and protected Indian subcontinent from many dangers.
Let us see some of these facts about mighty Himalayas that will simply amaze you!
Click next to see the Himalaya’s Age
Age of Himalaya
The Himalayan Mountain Range was formed roughly about 70 million years ago as a result of a collision between Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates. The collision must have been ear deafening because it resulted in the formation of the world’s tallest mountain range!
Click next to see the highest peaks in the world!
Highest Peaks in the World
Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world, with 30 peaks towering over 24, 000 feet. They are about 1,490 miles (2,400 km) in length, averaging about 200 to 250 miles (320 to 400 km) in width. This is a huge area to cover and the height can only be measured by rockets!
Click next to see why it is called Himalaya!
The meaning of Himalaya
Himalaya is a Sanskrit word. It is taken from two words, Hima and alaya. Hima refers to snow and Alaya refers to adobe. Hence, Himalaya means the adobe of snow. It is no surprise because you wouldn’t find a fireball at a height of 6,000 meters! 😉
Click next to see the interesting thing to know about its history!
Himalaya came from Sea!
Noel Odell, an explorer discovered the first sea fossil embedded in the Everest Rock which dated back to 450 million years. Himalayas are believed to be formed seveny million years ago. This implied the fact that Himalays were once underwater!
This is one amazing fact since Himalayas are the tallest mountains but emerged from the sea!
Click next to see the Complan effect on Himalayas
Still Growing!
Himalayas are still growing! despite being the tallest mountains in the world, Himalayas are still growing at the rate of approximately 2 cm per year. In addition to that, The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia.
They are already the tallest, Mummy ko bolo ab complan pilana band kare!
Click next to see why it is unconquerable!
Most Unapproachable Area
The Great Himalayas, the highest zone, include a huge line of snow peaks have an average height which exceeds 6,100 m. They have extreme cold temperatures and have zero vegetation. In this region, survival is very difficult and is considered one of the most unapproachable areas in the world.
Click next to see the level of snow on Himalaya
Mighty Glaciers
Himalayas have glaciers of up to 43 miles (70 kilometres) in length. They are the abode of third largest deposit of ice and snow, after Antarctica and the Arctic. Due to this fact, the Himalaya is the most unexplored areas of the world after Antarctic.
Click next to see the weird thing of Himalayas
The extraordinary Climate
The climate of the Himalayas tends to differ according to height and shows weird properties. It gets cooler as the height increases and gets wetter as the altitude decreases! In addition to that, this range is highly sensitive to earthquakes, Avalanches, landslides etc.
Click next to see the naming of Everest Nomenclature of Everest!
Mount Everest was given its name by Sir Andrew Waugh in 1865, the Surveyor General of India to honour of his predecessor Sir George Everest. There were a lot of objections and there were already two local names for Everest — Sagarmatha and Chomolungma. Adamant on his decision, he still named it ‘Mount Everest’.
Click next to see the rich vegetation of Himalaya
Himalayan Bio-Hotspot
Himalaya is one of the bio-hotspots of the world. It means that Himalaya hosts some of the wide variety of species of animals and plants of the world. Himalaya have very rich wildlife like Tibetan sheep, musk deer and the majestic snow leopard to name a few. It also hosts birds like he brown rock chat, grey bushchat, black rumped flameback woodpecker.
Click next to see the Religious value of Himalayas
Religious Values
Himalayas is of great religious values in various cultures and religions. They include religions like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity etc. The beautiful Buddhist Monasteries in the Himalaya region have captivate the attention of the visitors for years. The prominent Hindu pilgrimage destinations such as the Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath are also situated in the Himalayas.
Himalayas is also mentioned in sacred texts like Ramanaya, Vedas, Puran etc.
Click next to see the fact about rivers of Himalayas!
Rivers from Himalayas
Some of the greatest rivers like the Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers originate from Himalayas or from the Tibetan Plateau.
The amazing fact about is that these Himalayan Rivers are older than the peaks itself! This is one astonishing fact about Himalayas to know.
Click next to see how Himalaya saved India!
Himalaya- The saviour
Himalaya has been a great standing barrier for India. When Monsoon starts in India, the moisture rich winds come from Kerala but Himalaya does not let it pass to China. It means India gets enough rain for the season!
Historically, due to its high peaks and unconquerable terrain, Himalaya saved India from Mongols, Chinese and other conquerors. The mighty Genghis Khan too didn’t attempt to invade India because of Himalayas!
Click next to see the unconquerable mountain of Himalaya!
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is considered one of the most sacered placed in Hindu Mythology. Despite being only 6000 ft high, no one, and it really means that not a single soul has ever made up a full climb to Mount Kailash. A Spanish team with the help of Chinese Government could not make it to the top. One Mountaineer even said, “Only a man entirely free of sin could climb Kailash. And he wouldn’t have to actually scale the sheer walls of ice to do it – he’d just turn himself into a bird and fly to the summit.”
Click next to see the conquerors of Mount Everest!
The Super Climbers
Mount Everest was first climbed by Sir Edward Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953 but most climbs to Mount Everest is a joint record held by two Sherpas, Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tash. The pair have each managed to reach the summit an amazingly impressive 21 times. There have been around 5,000 climbs to Mount Everest and around 150 deaths. That makes these two men one of the amazing climbers of the world!