Himalayas, also Himalaya (Sanskrit for ?abode of snow?), mountain system in Asia, forming a broad continuous arc for nearly 2,600 km (1,600 mi) along the northern fringes of the Indian subcontinent, from the bend of the Indus River in the northwest to the Brahmaputra River in the east. The Himalayas range, averaging 320 to 400 km (200 to 250 mi) in width, rises sharply from the Gangetic Plain. North of this mountain belt lies the Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan). The Himalayas form the earth?s highest mountain region, containing 9 of the 10 highest peaks in the world. Among these peaks are the world?s highest mountain, Mount Everest (8,850 m/29,035 ft), which is on the Nepal-Tibet border; the second highest peak, K2 or Mount Godwin Austen (8,611 m/28,251 ft), located on the border between China and Jammu and Kashmir, a territory claimed by India and Pakistan; the third highest peak, Kanchenjunga (8,598 m/28,209 ft) on the Nepal-India border; Makalu (8,481 m/27,824 ft) on the Nepal-Tibet border; Dhaulagiri (8,172 m/26,811 ft) and Annapurna 1 (8,091 m/26,545 ft) in Nepal; Nanga Parbat (8,125 m/26,657 ft) in the Pakistani-controlled portion of Jammu and Kashmir; and Nanda Devi (7817 m/25,645 ft) in India.

The Himalayan mountain system developed in a series of stages 30 to 50 million years ago. The Himalayan range was created from powerful earth movements that occurred as the Indian plate pressed against the Eurasian continental plate (see Plate Tectonics). The earth movements raised the deposits laid down in the ancient, shallow Tethys Sea (on the present site of the mountains) to form the Himalayan ranges from Pakistan eastward across northern India, and from Nepal and Bhutan to the Myanmar (Burmese) border. Even today the mountains continue to develop and change, and earthquakes and tremors are frequent in the area.