Īn "Alp" refers to a high elevation pasture frequented only in summer. At present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, Italian, Austrian and German Alps. The traditional culture of farming, cheesemaking, and woodworking still exists in Alpine villages, although the tourist industry began to grow early in the 20th century and expanded greatly after World War II to become the dominant industry by the end of the century. The Alpine region has a strong cultural identity. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, and artists, in particular, the Romantics, followed by the golden age of alpinism as mountaineers began to ascend the peaks. In 1800, Napoleon crossed one of the mountain passes with an army of 40,000. Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. A mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991.īy the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established. Wildlife such as ibex live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m (11,155 ft), and plants such as Edelweiss grow in rocky areas in lower elevations as well as in higher elevations.Įvidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era. The altitude and size of the range affect the climate in Europe in the mountains, precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. The Alpine region area contains 128 peaks higher than 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) is the highest mountain in the Alps. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided.
The Alpine arch generally extends from Nice on the western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian Basin. The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The Dolomites (Italy) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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