The
Alps (; ; ; ; ; ) are one of the great
mountain range systems of
Europe, stretching from
Austria and
Slovenia in the east; through
Italy,
Switzerland,
Liechtenstein and
Germany; to
France in the west.
The highest mountain in the Alps is
Mont Blanc, at , on the Italian–French border. All the main peaks of the Alps can be found in the
list of mountains of the Alps and
list of Alpine peaks by prominence.
The English name "Alps" was taken via
French from
Latin Alpes, which may be ultimately cognate with Latin
albus ("white"). The German
Albe,
Alpe or
Alp (f.,
Old High German alpâ, plural
alpûn), and the French
Alpage or
Alpe in the singular mean "
alpine pasture", and only in the plural may also refer to the mountain range as a whole.
Geography
Subdivisions
The Alps with international borders marked
The Alps are generally divided into the
Western Alps and the
Eastern Alps. The division is along the line between
Lake Constance and
Lake Como, following the rivers
Rhine,
Liro and
Mera. The Western Alps are higher, but their central chain is shorter and curved; they are located in
Italy,
France and
Switzerland. The Eastern Alps (main
ridge system elongated and broad) belong to
Italy,
Austria,
Switzerland,
Germany,
Liechtenstein and
Slovenia.
The highest peak of the Western Alps is
Mont Blanc, at . The highest peak of the Eastern Alps is
Piz Bernina, at . The
Dufourspitze, and
Ortler, , are the second-highest, respectively.
The
Eastern Alps are commonly subdivided according to the different
lithology (rock composition) of the more central parts of the Alps and the groups at its northern and southern fringes:
The border between the Central Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps is the
Periadriatic Seam. The Northern Limestone Alps are separated from the Central Eastern Alps by the
Greywacke zone.
The
Western Alps are commonly subdivided with respect to
geography:
Series of lower mountain ranges run parallel to the main chain of the Alps, including the
French Prealps. (See
Alpine geography.)
The geologic subdivision is different and makes no difference between the Western and Eastern Alps: the
Helveticum in the north, the
Penninicum and
Austroalpine system in the center and, south of the Periadriatic Seam, the
Southern Alpine system and parts of the
Dinarides (see
Alpine geology). Geographically, the
Jura Mountains do not belong to the Alps; geologically, however, they do.
Main chain
The Alps from space in 2002.
The main chain of the Alps follows the
watershed from the
Mediterranean Sea to the
Wienerwald, passing over many of the highest and most famous peaks in the Alps. From the Colle di Cadibona to
Col de Tende it runs westwards, before turning to the northwest and then, near the
Colle della Maddalena, to the north. Upon reaching the Swiss border, the line of the main chain heads approximately east-northeast, a heading it follows until its end near
Vienna.
Principal passes
The Alps do not form an impassable barrier; they have been traversed for war and
commerce, and later by
pilgrims, students and tourists. Crossing places by road, train or foot are called
passes. These are depressions in the mountains into which a valley leads from the plains and hilly pre-mountainous zones.
Four-thousanders
The
Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has defined a list of 82 "official" Alpine 4,000-metre (13,123 ft) summits. The list contains many subpeaks with little
prominence, but important for
mountaineering. Here are the twelve four-thousanders with at least 1 km prominence.
Karl Blodig was the first person to climb all the major four-thousand metre peaks, circa 1900.
Geology and orogeny
The Alps form a part of a
Tertiary orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the
Alpide belt, that stretches through southern Europe and Asia from the
Atlantic all the way to the
Himalayas. This belt of mountain chains was formed during the
Alpine orogeny. A gap in these mountain chains in central Europe separates the Alps from the
Carpathians off to the east. Orogeny took place continuously and
tectonic subsidence is to blame for the gaps in between.
The Alps arose as a result of the collision of the
African and
European tectonic plates, in which the western part of the
Tethys Ocean, which was formerly in between these continents, disappeared. Enormous
stress was exerted on
sediments of the
Tethys Ocean basin and its
Mesozoic and early
Cenozoic strata were pushed against the stable
Eurasian landmass by the northward-moving
African landmass. Most of this occurred during the
Oligocene and
Miocene epochs. The pressure formed great recumbent folds, or
nappes, that rose out of what had become the
Tethys Sea and pushed northward, often breaking and sliding one over the other to form gigantic
thrust faults.
Crystalline basement rocks, which are exposed in the higher central regions, are the rocks forming
Mont Blanc, the
Matterhorn, and high peaks in the
Pennine Alps and
Hohe Tauern.
The formation of the
Mediterranean Sea is a more recent development, and does not mark the northern shore of the African landmass.
Climate
The Alps are a classic example of what happens when a temperate area at lower altitude gives way to higher-elevation terrain. Elevations around the world which have cold climates similar to those found in
polar areas have been called
Alpine. A rise from
sea level into the upper regions of the
atmosphere causes the
temperature to decrease (see
adiabatic lapse rate). The effect of mountain chains on prevailing winds is to carry warm air belonging to the lower region into an upper zone, where it expands in volume at the cost of a proportionate loss of heat, often accompanied by the
precipitation in the form of
snow or
rain.
Political and cultural history
Little is known of the early dwellers of the Alps, save from scanty accounts preserved by
Roman and
Greek historians and geographers. A few details have come down to us of the conquest of many of the Alpine tribes by
Augustus. Also, recent research into
Mitochondrial DNA indicates that MtDNA
Haplogroup K very likely originated in or near the southeastern Alps approximately 12–15,000 years ago.
During the
Second Punic War in 218 BC, the
Carthaginian general
Hannibal successfully crossed the Alps along with an army numbering 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 37 war elephants.
[Lancel, Serge, Hannibal, p. ] This was one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in
ancient warfare.
Much of the Alpine region was gradually settled by
Germanic tribes (
Langobards,
Alemanni,
Bavarii) from the 6th to the 13th centuries, the latest expansion corresponding to the
Walser migrations.
Not until after the final breakup of the
Carolingian Empire in the 10th and 11th century can the local history of the Alps be traced out.
Exploration
The higher regions of the Alps were long left to the exclusive attention of the people of the adjoining valleys even when Alpine travellers (as distinguished from Alpine climbers) began to visit these valleys. The two men who first explored the regions of ice and snow were H.B. de Saussure (1740–1799) in the
Pennine Alps and the Benedictine monk of
Disentis Placidus a Spescha (1752–1833), most of whose ascents were made before 1806 in the valleys at the sources of the
Rhine.
Travel and tourism
The Alps are popular both in summer and in winter as a destination for sightseeing and sports.
Winter sports (Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, snowshoeing, ski tours) can be practised in most regions from December to April. In summer, the Alps are popular with hikers, mountain bikers, paragliders, mountaineers, while many alpine lakes attract swimmers, sailors and surfers. The lower regions and larger towns of the Alps are well served by
motorways and
main roads, but higher
passes and by-roads can be treacherous even in summer. Many passes are closed in winter. A multitude of airports around the Alps (and some within), as well as long-distance rail links from all neighbouring countries, afford large numbers of travellers easy access from abroad. The Alps typically see more than 100 million visitors a year.
Flora
A natural vegetation limit with altitude is given by the presence of the chief
deciduous trees—
oak,
beech,
ash and
sycamore maple. These do not reach exactly to the same elevation, nor are they often found growing together; but their upper limit corresponds accurately enough to the change from a temperate to a colder climate that is further proved by a change in the presence of wild herbaceous vegetation. This limit usually lies about above the sea on the north side of the Alps, but on the southern slopes it often rises to , sometimes even to .
This region is not always marked by the presence of the characteristic trees. Human interference has nearly exterminated them in many areas, and, except for the beech forests of the Austrian Alps, forests of deciduous trees are rarely found. In many districts where such woods once existed, they have been replaced by the
Scots pine and
Norway spruce, which are less sensitive to the ravages of goats who are the worst enemies of such trees.
Above the forestry, there is often a band of short pine trees (
Pinus mugo), which is in turn superseded by dwarf
shrubs, typically
Rhododendron ferrugineum (on acid soils) or
Rhododendron hirsutum (on alkaline soils). Above this is the
alpine meadow, and even higher, the vegetation becomes more and more sparse. At these higher altitudes, the plants tend to form isolated cushions. In the Alps, several species of flowering plants have been recorded above , including
Ranunculus glacialis,
Androsace alpina and
Saxifraga biflora.
Fauna
Species common to the Alps.
See also
