HISTORY OF

HIMALAYAS

The Himalayas are the greatest mountain range on Earth, forming a barrier between Tibet to the north and the Indian subcontinent to the south. They include some of the highest mountains in the world, with more than 110

peaks rising to elevations of 24,000 feet or more above sea level, including Mount Everest (more than 29,000 feet). In May 1953, New Zealand

explorer Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide, became the first people to successfully scale Everest, the world's highest peak.

A collision between two plates of the earth’s crust resulted in the creation of the earth’s highest mountain Himalayas. The

magnificent range of the Himalayas harbors breathtakingly beautiful scenery and dramatic environment. The high Himalayas

constituting a spectacular mountain scope are being able to attract the heart of any new comer who is in search of challenge

and grandeur.

Forty million years ago

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 theGreat Himalayan Range. 

During the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate was moving at about 15 cm per year. About 50 million years ago, this fast moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since both plates were composed of low density continental crust, they were thrust faulted and folded into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the mantle along an oceanic trench.[4] An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone from this ancient ocean.[9]

Today, the Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the plateau to continue to move upwards. 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. About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this regionseismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time.

The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km3 (3000 cubic miles) of fresh water. Its glaciers include the Gangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region), and Zemu (Sikkim).

The Greater Himalayas, or northern range, average approximately 6,000 meters in height and contain the three highest mountains on earth: Mount Everest (8,796 meters) on the China-Nepal border; K2 (8,611 meters, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen, and in China as Qogir Feng) in an area claimed by India, Pakistan, and China; and Kanchenjunga (8,598 meters) on the India-Nepal border. 

The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the size of the lakes diminishing with altitude. Tilicho lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world. Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, and Yamdrok Tso, located in central Tibet, are amongst the largest with surface areas of 700 km², and 638 km², respectively. Other notable lakes include Gurudogmar lake, in North Sikkim, and Tsongmo lake, near the Indo-China border in Sikkim.The mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 metres.

Many major mountains are located entirely within India, such as Nanda Devi (7,817 meters) in the state of Uttaranchal. The snow line averages 4,500 to 6,000 meters on the southern side of the Greater Himalayas and 5,500 to 6,000 on the northern side. Because of climatic conditions, Athe snow line in the eastern Himalayas averages 4,300 meters, while in the western Himalayas it averages 5,800 meters.The Lesser Himalayas, located in northwestern India in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, in north-central India in the state of Sikkim, and in northeastern India in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, range from 1,500 to 5,000 meters in height. Located in the Lesser Himalayas are the hill stations of Shimla and Darjiling .

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During the colonial period, these and other hill stations were used by the British as summer retreats to escape the intense heat of the plains. It is in this transitional vegetation zone that the contrasts between the bare southern slopes and the forested northern slopes become most noticeable. The Outer or Southern Himalayas, averaging 900 to 1,200 meters in elevation, lie between the Lesser Himalayas and the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, this southernmost range is often referred to as the Siwalik Hills. It is possible to identify a fourth, and northernmost range, known as the Trans-Himalaya.

The beauty, mystery and majesty of these mountains are due to the thick layers of ice and snow that perpetually cover them up. Since time immemorial, the Himalayas has captured the dream, desires and Imagination of human beings. Even the earlyAryans looked upon these mountains as the abode of gods and goddess and the extra ordinary objects of beauty, scenic grandeur, peace and tranquility. These towering mountains have aptly been called the “Top of the World” and “ The Third Pole” on the basis of the fact that they constitute the latitudinal extremity. 

Nepal, renowned all over the world for its scenic and panoramic peaks, is the land of supernatural virgin beauty and a real paradise for nature lovers. In 1852 the highest mountain in the world was determined by and later named after Sir George Everest. After determination of Mt. Everest, no climber had been a scaled mountain of Nepal till 1949. But, it is fact that the history of trekking in Nepal is started after climbing and expedition of many majestic peaks. 

The highest Peak Mt. Everest of the world and other numerous peaks have been climbed many times now. Tenzing Norge Sherpa and Edmund Hillary reached at top of the world Mt. Everest in 1953. Sir. Edmond Hillary stated “Nepal is the only country in the world which is also one of the world’s great trekking paradises and one of the nicest countries in the world for trekking.” 

In 1949 the Swiss who had been earlier refused permission to attempt Dhaulagiri, entered-east Nepal by way

of Darjeeling. The team who led by Sutter – Lohner and they explored Ramtang Glacier, Kang Bachen peak (7902m) and the

triangle of Drohmo (7008m) Jongsang peak (7473m) and Nupchu (7028) on the Nepal – Tibet – Sikkim border. They also climb Tang Kangma (6249m) on outlays of Drohmo as well as Dzange peak (6709m) before they returned to Darjeeling on

the nineteenth day of their expedition.

In 1949 Nepal opened its frontiers to the outside world and within eight years ten of the fourteen 8000m peaks had been

climbed, Annapurna (8091m) was the first to be climbed in 1950, this was followed in 1953 by Everest (8848m) and Nanga

Parbat (8125m). From then on the number of expeditions coming from many different countries of the world multiplied

and by 1964 all these Himalayan giants had been climbed, one being Shisa Pangma (8046m) scaled by the Chinese in 1964. 

MADE BY: AMIT KUMARCLASS: 10TH