The Alps are a mountain range located in Europe.
Alps is a term that can be used with reference to a high mountain, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). The concept, in any case, usually appears written with a capital letter to refer specifically to a range of mountains located on the European continent.
The Alps , in this framework, are a mountain range that extends for about 1,200 kilometers and crosses eight countries : Germany , Austria , Slovenia , France , Italy , Liechtenstein , Monaco and Switzerland . About fourteen million people live in this area.
Limits of the Alps
Drawing the line that limits the Alps is not an easy task, at least not in all its areas. Although it does not entail any complications in the part where it borders the Po River basin (which extends considerably along northern Italy towards the east and to the Adriatic Sea ), the situation is very different in those points where which meet hills or other mountainous regions.
Some of the mountain ranges that border the Alps are the Massif Central , the Apennines , the Black Forest , the Jura , the Carpathians , the peaks of the Balkan Peninsula and the Böhmerwald . To trace the border between the Alps and the Apennines, the port called Brocchetta di Altare in the province of Savona , in the Italian region of Liguria , is usually used, which is also known by the names Colle di Cadibona and Brocchetta di Cadibona .
The Alps that were formed from the Central Massif due to the movement of tectonic plates and volcanic activity are easy to delimit, thanks to the presence of the Rhône River . When traveling upstream, the river turns east when it is close to the French city of Lyon , and then serves to clearly divide the Jura and the Alps until it flows into Lake Geneva .
From that point and up to Lake Neuchâtel , the largest in the western region of Switzerland , you can see a large plain that extends, leaving the Alps to the southeast and the Jura to the northwest. Beyond the lake and until it meets the Rhine , the limit is formed by the Aar River , which runs in northern Switzerland, from the center and in a northerly direction.
While the Rhine and Lake Constance (surrounded by Switzerland , Austria and Germany ) make it easy to draw the boundary between the Alps and the Black Forest , the task becomes less simple in southern Germany, as the land there begins to rise fluidly. to the beginning of the mountains , in what is known as the Swabian-Bavarian Prealps .
Mountain sports are often practiced in the Alps.
Peaks and glaciers
The highest peak in the Alps is Mont Blanc , located on the border between France and Italy : this mountain reaches 4,810 meters high . In this mountain chain there are more than a hundred peaks that exceed 4,000 meters above sea level and which constitute a great challenge for mountaineers.
There are also multiple glaciers in the Alps, most of which are distributed in Austrian, French, Italian and Swiss territories. The Aletsch glacier, located in the Swiss canton of Valais , is the largest , with more than 120 square kilometers .
The Alps as a tourist attraction
Goats, wild boars, roe deer, hares, deer and golden eagles coexist in the Alps, surrounded by pines, oaks and beech trees. It should be noted that the natural beauties make the Alps a great tourist attraction .
Mountaineering is one of the most attractive activities in the Alps. This is the name given to the mountaineering that is carried out in these mountains and that involves the challenge of trying to reach a summit of the mountain range.