Mountains are an elevated portion of the crust of the earth that rises abruptly from the surrounding level and attains a high altitude. 26.5% of mountains occupy the global land surface, and it supports more than 50% of the population of the world. Whenever we come across the word highest mountain in the world, people already know that it is Mount Everest in Nepal suiting at 8,848m but how many of you know that most of the highest mountains are actually situated on the edges of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates in the countries like India, Nepal, China and Pakistan. They are also the part of Mountain ranges of Himalaya and Karakoram. 1/3rd of the terrestrial biodiversity and most of the freshwater of the earth are stored in the mountain glaciers.
1. Mount Everest – 8,848.86m
It is the highest and the famous mountain in the world that rises to an elevation of 8,848.86m. Mount Everest is situated in the Mahalangur Himal subrange of the Himalayas on the boundary between Tibet, the Autonomous Region of China and Nepal. The native people of Tibet refer to this mountain as Chomolungma, and the Chinese people refer to it as Zhumulangma Feng. The Government of Nepal and its local people refer to this mountain as Sagarmatha. There are many glaciers located on the slopes of this mountain, like the Khumbu Glacier, the Kangshung Glacier, the Rongbuk Glacier and the Pumori Glacier. There are also many rivers that originate from Mount Everest, including the Rong River, Lobujya River, and Kama River.
2. Mount K2 – 8,611m
Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori is most popularly known as Mount K2, which rises to an elevation of 8,611m, and it is the second-highest mountain in the world. The name of the mountain was taken from the notation used by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India. Mount K2 also has the nickname ‘Savage Mountain’ and the mountaineers regard it as the world’s most dangerous mountain for climbing. It is situated in the Tashkurgan Tajik, an autonomous country in western Xinjiang, China and partly in the Baltistan region of Gilgit Baltistan in Pakistan administered Kashmir.
3. Mount Kanchenjunga – 8,598m
Mount Kangchenjunga is the highest mountain in India which rises to an elevation of 8,598m, and it is also the third highest mountain in the world. It is situated in the Himal section of the Himalayan Mountain Range along the boundary of Nepal and India state of Sikkim. There are five principal peaks of Kangchenjunga, out of which three of the peaks are located on the border of the eastern part of Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, and the remaining two peaks of the mountain are located in Nepal’s district of Taplejung.