Гималаи: Величественные горы Азии

Mountain range in Asia, separating Indo Gangetic plain from Tibetan Plateau
a mountain range

The Himalayas, or Himalaya (,/h//ɪ//m//ə/'/l//eɪ//.//ə//, //h//ɪ/'/m//ɑː//l//ə//j//ə/ HIMəLAYə, hihMAHləyə) is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of above sea level lie in the Himalayas. The Himalayas abut or cross five countries: Nepal, China, Pakistan, Bhutan and India. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia and Tibet. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. The summits of several—Kangchenjunga (from the Indian side), Gangkhar Puensum, Machapuchare, Nanda Devi, and Kailash in the Tibetan Transhimalaya—are off limits to climbers. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate, the Himalayan mountain range runs west northwest to east southeast in an arc long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, lies immediately west of the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The range varies in width from in the west to in the east.

The name of the range hails from the Sanskrit Himālaya (हिमालय 'abode of snow'), from hima (हिम 'frost/cold') and ālaya (आलय 'dwelling/house'). They are now known as "the Himalaya Mountains", usually shortened to "the Himalayas". The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi (both written हिमालय), Himāl (हिमाल) in Kumaoni, the Himalaya (ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡ་) or 'The Land of Snow' (གངས་ཅན་ལྗོངས་) in Tibetan, also known as Himālaya in Sinhala (written as හිමාලය), the Himāliya Mountain Range in Urdu, the Himaloy Parvatmala (হিমালয় পর্বতমালা) in Bengali, and the Ximalaya Mountain Range (s=喜马拉雅[[wikt:山脉) in Chinese. The name of the range is sometimes also given as Himavan in older writings, including the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. Himavat (Sanskrit: हिमवत्) or Himavan Himavān (Sanskrit: हिमवान्) is a Hindu deity who is the personification of the Himalayan Mountain Range. Other epithets include Himaraja (Sanskrit: हिमराज, ) or Parvateshwara (Sanskrit: पर्वतेश्वर, ). In western literature, some writers refer to it as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed as Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinson's poetry and Henry David Thoreau's essays.

The Himalayas consists of four parallel mountain ranges from south to north: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north. The Karakoram are generally considered separate from the Himalayas. In the middle of the great curve of the Himalayan mountains lie the peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in Nepal, separated by the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The gorge splits the Himalayas into Western and Eastern sections, both ecologically and orographically – the pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki, the Kora La, is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2 (the highest peak of the Karakoram range). To the east of Annapurna are the peaks of Manaslu and across the border in Tibet, Shishapangma. To the south of these lies Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and the largest city in the Himalayas. East of the Kathmandu Valley lies the valley of the Bhote/Sun Kosi river which rises in Tibet and provides the main overland route between Nepal and China – the Araniko Highway/China National Highway 318. Further east is the Mahalangur Himal with four of the world's six highest mountains, including the highest: Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu. The Khumbu region, popular for trekking, is found here on the south western approaches to Everest. The Arun river drains the northern slopes of these mountains, before turning south and flowing to the range to the east of Makalu. In the far east of Nepal, the Himalayas rise to the Kangchenjunga massif on the border with India, the third highest mountain in the world, the most easterly summit and the highest point of India. The eastern side of Kangchenjunga is in the Indian state of Sikkim. Formerly an independent Kingdom, it lies on the main route from India to Lhasa, Tibet, which passes over the Nathu La pass into Tibet. East of Sikkim lies the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan. The highest mountain in Bhutan is Gangkhar Puensum, which is also a strong candidate for the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The Himalayas here are becoming increasingly rugged, with heavily forested steep valleys. The Himalayas continue, turning slightly northeast, through the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh as well as Tibet, before reaching their easterly conclusion in the peak of Namche Barwa, situated in Tibet, inside the great bend of the Yarlang Tsangpo river. On the other side of the Tsangpo, to the east, are the Kangri Garpo mountains. The high mountains to the north of the Tsangpo, including Gyala Peri, however, are also sometimes included in the Himalayas. Going west from Dhaulagiri, Western Nepal is somewhat remote and lacks major high mountains, but is home to Rara Lake, the largest lake in Nepal. The Karnali River rises in Tibet but cuts through the centre of the region. Further west, the border with India follows the Sarda River and provides a trade route into China, where on the Tibetan plateau lies the high peak of Gurla Mandhata. Just across Lake Manasarovar from this lies the sacred Mount Kailash in the Kailash Ranges, which stands close to the source of the four main rivers of Himalayas and is revered in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sufism and Bonpo. In Uttarakhand, the Himalayas are regionally divided into the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas with the high peaks of Nanda Devi and Kamet. The state is also home to the important pilgrimage destinations of Chota Chaar Dhaam, with Gangotri, the source of the holy river Ganges, Yamunotri, the source of the river Yamuna, and the temples at Badrinath and Kedarnath. The next Himalayan Indian state, Himachal Pradesh, is noted for its hill stations, particularly Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj, and Dharamsala, the centre of the Tibetan community and government in exile in India. This area marks the start of the Punjab Himalaya and the Sutlej river, the most easterly of the five tributaries of the Indus, cuts through the range here. Further west, the Himalayas form much of the disputed Indian administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir where lie the mountainous Jammu region and the renowned Kashmir Valley with the town and lakes of Srinagar. The Himalayas form most of the south west portion of the disputed Indian administered union territory of Ladakh. The twin peaks of Nun Kun are the only mountains over in this part of the Himalayas. Finally, the Himalayas reach their western end in the dramatic 8000 m peak of Nanga Parbat, which rises over above the Indus valley and is the most westerly of the 8000 m summits. The western end terminates at a magnificent point near Nanga Parbat where the Himalayas intersect with the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, in the disputed Pakistani administered territory of Gilgit Baltistan. Some portion of the Himalayas, such as the Kaghan Valley, Margalla Hills, and Galyat tract, extend into the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

The vast size, huge altitude range, and complex topography of the Himalayas mean they experience a wide range of climates, from humid subtropical in the foothills, to cold and dry desert conditions on the Tibetan side of the range. For much of the Himalayas—in the areas to the south of the high mountains, the monsoon is the most characteristic feature of the climate and causes most of the precipitation, while the western disturbance brings winter precipitation, especially in the west. Heavy rain arrives on the southwest monsoon in June and persists until September. The monsoon can seriously impact transport and cause major landslides. It restricts tourism – the trekking and mountaineering season is limited to either before the monsoon in April/May or after the monsoon in October/November (autumn). In Nepal and Sikkim, there are often considered to be five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, (or post monsoon), winter, and spring. Using the Köppen climate classification, the lower elevations of the Himalayas, reaching in mid elevations in central Nepal (including the Kathmandu valley), are classified as Cwa, Humid subtropical climate with dry winters. Higher up, most of the Himalayas have a subtropical highland climate (Cwb). The intensity of the southwest monsoon diminishes as it moves westward along the range, with as much as of rainfall in the monsoon season in Darjeeling in the east, compared to only during the same period in Shimla in the west. The northern side of the Himalayas, also known as the Tibetan Himalaya, is dry, cold, and generally windswept, particularly in the west where it has a cold desert climate. The vegetation is sparse and stunted and the winters are severely cold. Most of the precipitation in the region is in the form of snow during the late winter and spring months. Local impacts on climate are significant throughout the Himalayas. Temperatures fall by 0.2 to 1.2 °C for every rise in altitude. This gives rise to a variety of climates, from a nearly tropical climate in the foothills, to tundra and permanent snow and ice at higher elevations. Local climate is also affected by the topography: The leeward side of the mountains receive less rain while the well exposed slopes get heavy rainfall and the rain shadow of large mountains can be significant, for example, leading to near desert conditions in the Upper Mustang, which is sheltered from the monsoon rains by the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs and has annual precipitation of around , while Pokhara on the southern side of the massifs has substantial rainfall ( a year). Thus, although annual precipitation is generally higher in the east than in the west, local variations are often more important. The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan Plateau. They prevent frigid, dry winds from blowing south into the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan and Gobi.

Similar to the mountains, the communities living near the Himalayas are experiencing climate change and its negative impacts significantly more than other parts of the world. Some of the impacts that the communities are facing include erratic rainfall, flooding, rising temperatures, and landslides. According to NAPA (National Adaptation Program of Action) of Nepal, many threats including floods, droughts, and landslides are an imminent threat to the glacial lake area. With this in consideration, climate change policy and framework for LAPA (Local Adaptation Plans of Action) were prepared in 2011 primarily focusing on addressing climatic hazards. There is also an increasing risk of water borne illnesses accompanied by an increasing lack of safe drinking water. Marginalized groups including children and women are experiencing more severe impacts from climate change and are often more exposed to disease and injury. 54,784 reported cases were recorded from all 77 districts in seven provinces. The heat can lead to issues such as a strain on respiratory illnesses, heat stroke, and fever. Snow leopards have killed about 2.6% of the local livestock per year in response to their decreasing habitat. According to the Climate Action Tracker, Nepal is "almost sufficient" on its track to reach the goals set by the Paris Agreement. They have noticed a decrease in precipitation especially in lowland districts, fluctuating temperatures during months of the year that are typically cooler, and changes in weather patterns even compared to early 2000s weather. According to Dhungana, 91.94% of the respondents experienced drought as major climatic hazards then floods at 83.87%, landslides at 70.97%, and forest fires at 67.74%. The main reason for these adaptations is to decrease the risk that climate change poses over these marginalized communities while taking advantage of the moment and allowing for a positive change towards a more sustainable or adaptable future. For the Hindus, the Himalayas are personified as Himavat, the king of all mountains and the father of the goddess Parvati. Two of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for the Hindus are the temple complex in Pashupatinath and Muktinath, also known as Shaligrama because of the presence of the sacred black rocks called shaligrams. The Muktinath is also a place of pilgrimage for the Tibetan Buddhists. They believe that the trees in the poplar grove came from the walking sticks of eighty four ancient Indian Buddhist magicians or mahasiddhas. They consider the saligrams to be representatives of the Tibetan serpent deity known as Gawo Jagpa. The Himalayan people's diversity shows in many different ways. It shows through their architecture, their languages, and dialects, their beliefs and rituals, as well as their clothing. A number of Vajrayana Buddhist sites are situated in the Himalayas, in Tibet, Bhutan, and in the Indian regions of Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Spiti, and Darjeeling. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet, including the residence of the Dalai Lama. Bhutan, Sikkim, and Ladakh are also dotted with numerous monasteries.

The Himalayas are home to a diversity of medicinal resources. Plants from the forests have been used for millennia to treat conditions ranging from simple coughs to snake bites. Different parts of the plants – root, flower, stem, leaves, and bark – are used as remedies for different ailments. For example, a bark extract from an Abies pindrow tree is used to treat coughs and bronchitis. Leaf and stem paste from an Andrachne cordifolia is used for wounds and as an antidote for snake bites. The bark of a Callicarpa arborea is used for skin ailments. Since so many people use medicinal plants as their only source of healing in the Himalayas, the plants are an important source of income. This contributes to economic and modern industrial development both inside and outside the region.