Himalaya India

The Himalayas (Sanskrit: हिमालय), also Himalaya (Sanskrit: हिमालय), (IPA pronunciation: [hɪ'mɑlijə], [ˌhɪmə'leɪjə]) are a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of the massive mountain system which includes the Himalaya proper, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and a host of minor ranges extending from the Pamir Knot. The name is from Sanskrit himālaya, a tatpurusa compound meaning "the abode of snow" (from hima "snow", and ālaya "abode"; see also Himavat).

Together, the Himalaya mountain system is the planet's highest and home to the world's highest peaks: the Eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest. To comprehend the enormous scale of Himalayan peaks, consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 m, is the highest peak outside the Himalaya, while the Himalayan system has over 100 separate mountains exceeding 7,200 meters.
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. An estimated 750 million people live in the watershed area of the Himalayan rivers, which also includes Bangladesh.

GeographyThe Himalaya range runs for about 2,400 km, from Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) in the west to Namche Barwa in the east. The width varies between 250-300 km. The Himalayan range comprises three parallel ranges, arranged by elevation and geological age.The youngest of the three is called the Sub-Himalayan Range (Shivalik Hills) and has an elevation of about 1,200 m. This range is made up of erosion material from the rising Himalaya. Running parallel to this is the Lower Himalayan Range, which has an elevation between 2,000-5,000 m. The northernmost range is called the Great Himalayas and is also the oldest of the three. It has an elevation of more than 6,000 m and contains a large number of the world's highest peaks including the three highest, Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga. Much of Nepal and Bhutan lies in the Himalaya. The Pakistani state of Baltistan, and the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh lie mostly in the Himalaya. A very small portion of southeastern Tibet also lies in the Himalaya. (However, the Tibetan Plateau is by definition beyond the Himalaya, and thereby not part of it). It is in fact just north of India and Bangladesh.

Ecology The flora and fauna of the Himalayas varies with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the front of the range. This diversity of climate, altitude, rainfall and soil conditions generates a variety of distinct plant and animal communities, or ecoregions.
( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )