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Give an small description about "Himalayas"?

The word Himalaya is Sanskrit for “abode of snow” – fitting for a stretch of land that houses the world’s largest non-polar ice masses. Extensive glacial networks feed Asia’s major rivers including the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra. More than a billion people rely on these glacier-fed water sources for drinking water and agriculture. The Himalayas are not only a remarkable expanse of natural beauty. They’re also crucial for our survival.
The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayan range is far-reaching, spanning thousands of miles, and holds within it an exceptionally diverse ecology. Coniferous and subtropical forests, wetlands, and montane grasslands are as much a part of this world as the inhospitable, frozen mountaintops that tower above.

The Himalayas were formed around 70 million years ago, when the Indo-Australian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate at a convergent/destructive plate boundary. This has caused fold mountains to form as there are no subductions of the plates that can be seen from the absence of volcanoes in the Himalayas.
The Himalaya is the world's mightiest mountain range. No other chain can boast of peaks of 8,000 metres (26,000 feet). In the Himalaya there are 14 such peaks and hundreds of summits over 7,000 metres (23,000 feet) high. The range of mountains stretches 2,700-kms (1,700 miles) across an area between Assam and Kashmir. In the east, Namche Barwa stands sentinel; the western extremity is guarded by the awesome Nanga Parbat.For centuries, the Himalaya acted as the bulwark of Indian security, serving as the great divide between India and Tibet. The rugged terrain deterred all but the most dauntless from risking their lives on perilous journeys in the icy heights. But, difficult though many of the passes and valleys were, they did not prevent a slow penetration by determined and hardy souls for the purposes of trade and pilgrimage. It must be remembered that the Himalayan region has also served through history as a melting pot of races, religions and cultures.




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