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Explore the World 138
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What If? Lab 11
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Natural wonder Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains run about 2,500 kilometers from north to south through Russia, and they form most of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia. They are very old mountains that have been worn down over a very long time; their highest peak, Mount Narodnaya, is 1,895 meters tall. The Urals stretch from icy Arctic tundra to dry steppe and are rich in metals and gems.
Natural wonder Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, or Rockies, stretch about 4,800 kilometers from northern Canada to New Mexico in the United States. They include more than 100 separate ranges, and their highest peak, Mount Elbert in Colorado, is 4,399 meters tall. Glaciers carved their peaks and valleys, and famous parks such as Banff, Jasper and Yellowstone protect their lakes, hot springs and wildlife.
Geography How mountains form Most mountains are built by moving tectonic plates. When continents collide, rock crumples and folds into ranges like the Himalayas. Where the crust stretches and cracks, blocks of rock tilt up along faults. Volcanoes build mountains from lava and ash. Then erosion slowly wears them all down.
Natural wonder K2 K2 is the world's second highest mountain, 8,611 meters tall, in the Karakoram Range of Asia. It got its short name in 1856, when a surveyor marked it as the second peak he measured in the Karakoram. It is one of the hardest mountains to climb, and its summit was first reached in 1954.
Natural wonder Alps The Alps are Europe's great mountain range, an arc about 1,200 kilometers long that runs from the Mediterranean coast near Nice, in France, to Vienna, in Austria. Their highest peak is Mont Blanc, which Britannica gives as 4,807 meters. The Alps rose when the plate carrying Africa pushed north into Europe, and Ice Age glaciers carved their sharp peaks and deep valleys.
Country Iran Iran is a country in southwestern Asia. A high, dry plateau fills its middle, with mountain ranges all around it, and about 92 million people (2025) live there. Long ago it was called Persia, and its capital today is Tehran.
Country Laos Laos is a landlocked country in mainland Southeast Asia, covered mostly by forested mountains. The Mekong River runs along its western side, and most people live in villages and grow rice. Its capital, Vientiane, stands on the Mekong.
Country Oman Oman is a country on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, with long coasts on the sea and the huge Empty Quarter desert inland. People have watered their farms with ancient channels called aflaj for more than 2,000 years, and Oman was famous for frankincense. About 5.4 million people lived there in 2026.
Country Peru Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America. It has a dry desert coast, the high Andes mountains and the Amazon rainforest, and about 34 million people lived there in 2025, many of them in the capital, Lima.
Country Togo Togo is a small, narrow country in West Africa. It has only 51 kilometers of coast on the Gulf of Guinea but stretches about 515 kilometers inland, from beaches and lagoons to the Togo Mountains and northern savanna. About 8.6 million people lived there in 2025, and Lomé is the capital and main port.
Natural wonder Andes The Andes run down the whole western side of South America, from the Caribbean coast to the continent's southern tip, through seven countries. Britannica measures them at about 8,900 kilometers, and their highest peak, Aconcagua, rises to 6,959 meters. They are still growing as one plate of Earth's crust slides under another, which is why the Andes have so many volcanoes and earthquakes.
Country Chile Chile stretches about 4,300 kilometers along the west coast of South America, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, but it averages only about 180 kilometers wide. Its north holds one of the driest deserts on Earth, and its south is cold, wet and full of fjords and ice.
Country China China is the largest country in Asia, almost as big as all of Europe. The land steps down from the high, cold Plateau of Tibet in the west to plains and coasts in the east, and about 1.4 billion people live there, along with giant pandas in the mountains of south-central China.
Country Haiti Haiti covers the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Its name comes from an old word meaning mountainous land. In 1804, after enslaved people freed themselves, Haiti became independent, and its people created their own language, art and music. About 11.9 million people lived there in 2024.
Country India India is a huge country in South Asia, shaped like a big triangle pointing into the Indian Ocean. The Himalayas rise along its north, heavy monsoon rains arrive every summer, and about 1.46 billion people (2025) live there, speaking hundreds of languages.
Country Italy Italy is a country in southern Europe on a long peninsula that reaches into the Mediterranean Sea, often described as shaped like a boot. The Alps rise in the north, the Apennine mountains run down its length, and about 58.9 million people (2026) live there. Its capital is Rome.
Country Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Most of its land is steep mountains and forest, Mount Fuji is its tallest peak, and about 124 million people live there, many of them in big cities such as Tokyo.
Country Kenya Kenya is a country in East Africa, crossed by the equator. It has the snow-capped Mount Kenya, the deep Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria and a long Indian Ocean coast, and about 54 million people live there, many of them speaking Swahili.
City Mecca Mecca is a city in western Saudi Arabia, in a dry valley ringed by mountains, about 70 kilometers from the Red Sea. About 2.4 million people lived there at the 2022 census. Its Great Mosque surrounds the Kaaba, and in 2026 more than 1.7 million pilgrims came to the city for the hajj.
Country Nepal Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia, between India and China. It climbs from flat, warm farmland in the south to the snowy Himalaya in the north, where Mount Everest stands, and about 29.6 million people lived there in 2025.
City Sofia Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, lies in a valley near the middle of the Balkans, at the foot of Vitosha Mountain. The Romans called it Serdica, and an old church of St. Sofia later gave the city its name. About 1.2 million people lived there in 2025.
Country Spain Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its middle is a high, flat plateau, the Pyrenees mountains stand between it and France, and almost 50 million people live there, with Madrid as the capital.
Country Syria Syria lies on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Asia. Behind a short coast rise mountains, and beyond them stretches a wide, dry steppe crossed by the Euphrates River. Damascus, its capital, is considered one of the oldest cities in the world.
Country Yemen Yemen sits at the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Its green, terraced highlands are unlike anywhere else in Arabia, its old towns have tall houses of stone and mud brick, and it was the first place where coffee was grown as a crop to sell.
Country Bhutan Bhutan is a small, landlocked kingdom on the eastern ridges of the Himalayas, between India and China. Its land climbs from steamy forests in the south to snowy peaks over 7,300 meters in the north. About 790,000 people live there, mostly in villages in its green valleys.
City Bogotá Bogotá is the capital and largest city of Colombia, built on a high plain in the Andes, 2,625 meters above sea level. Founded by the Spanish in 1538 on land of the Muisca people, it is home to about 8 million people (2024) and a famous museum of ancient gold.
Country Canada Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
Country Cyprus Cyprus is the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily and Sardinia. It has two mountain ranges with a flat plain between them, hot dry summers and rainy winters, and its first known village was built about 9,000 years ago.
Natural wonder Denali Denali is North America's highest mountain, 6,190 meters (20,310 feet) tall, in the Alaska Range. It rises about 5.6 kilometers from its base, more than Mount Everest does from its own high base. Huge glaciers spread from it in every direction, and the national park around it is home to grizzly bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep and wolves.
Country France France is a country in northwestern Europe, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has high mountains such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, long rivers such as the Loire and the Seine, and about 69.1 million people (2026). Its capital is Paris.
Country Greece Greece is a country in southern Europe, at the bottom of the Balkan Peninsula, with sea on three sides and more than 2,000 islands. Most of it is mountains. About 10.4 million people lived there at the start of 2025, and its capital is Athens, a city with ruins more than 2,400 years old.
Country Norway Norway stretches along the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, far into the Arctic. Deep, narrow inlets of the sea called fjords cut into its mountains, and about 5.6 million people live there, many of them near Oslo, the capital.
Country Poland Poland lies near the center of Europe, between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. Most of it is low, flat land shaped by Ice Age glaciers, and about 37 million people live there. Its capital, Warsaw, stands on the Vistula River.
Country Taiwan Taiwan is an island in the western Pacific Ocean, about 160 kilometers off the coast of southeastern China. Mountains cover about two-thirds of it, and most of its 23 million people live on the flatter west side. It has its own government, based in Taipei. The People's Republic of China, governed from Beijing, says Taiwan is part of China, and Taiwan's status is disputed.
City Tehran Tehran, the capital of Iran, spreads up the slopes of the Alborz Mountains, with snowy peaks to the north and desert to the south. Once a small village, and later a market town known for its pomegranates, it became the capital in 1786. Today it is a huge, modern city with an old roofed bazaar, a palace that is a World Heritage Site and the 435-meter Milad Tower.
City Tirana Tirana is the capital and largest city of Albania, on a plain about 27 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. Founded in the early 1600s, it became the capital in 1920. About 389,000 people lived in the city in 2023.
Country Uganda Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa, on the shores of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest freshwater lake. The Victoria Nile flows out of the lake here, snowy mountains rise in the west, and its forests are home to mountain gorillas and chimpanzees. About 51.4 million people lived there in 2025.
Country Albania Albania is a small, mountainous country on the Balkan Peninsula, facing Italy across the Adriatic Sea. About three-fourths of it is mountains and hills, the coastal plains are its most crowded part, and its language has no close relatives.
Country Algeria Algeria is a country in North Africa and the largest country on the whole continent. More than four-fifths of it is the Sahara Desert, so most of its 47 million people (2025) live in the greener north, along the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Algiers.
Country Andorra Andorra is a tiny country high in the Pyrenees mountains, between France and Spain. It is made of steep mountain valleys, its official language is Catalan, and about 89,750 people lived there in 2026.
Country Armenia Armenia is a small, landlocked country just south of the Caucasus mountains. Most of it is high mountains and plateaus, its tallest peak is Mount Aragats, and about 3.1 million people lived there in 2025.
Country Austria Austria is a landlocked country in central Europe. The Alps cover much of it, the Danube River flows across the north, and about 9.2 million people live there. Its capital, Vienna, is famous for its music and palaces.
Country Georgia Georgia is a country at the eastern end of the Black Sea, below the high, icy Greater Caucasus mountains. It has warm, wet coasts, dry eastern plains and old monasteries, and about 3.9 million people lived there at the start of 2026.
Country Lebanon Lebanon is a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Snowcapped mountains rise steeply behind its narrow coast, and its coast holds some of the oldest settlements in the world, such as Byblos. Arabic is the official language, and the capital is Beirut.
Country Morocco Morocco is a country in the northwest corner of Africa, with coasts on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Atlas Mountains cross its center, and its 2024 census counted about 36.8 million people, in cities such as Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Marrakesh and in mountain villages.
Country Myanmar Myanmar, also called Burma, is the northernmost country of Southeast Asia. Snowy mountains rise in the far north, and the long Irrawaddy River flows south through its heartland to a huge delta of rice fields. About 55 million people live there.
Country Romania Romania is a country in southeastern Europe. The Carpathian Mountains curve around its middle, the Danube River runs along its southern edge to a huge delta on the Black Sea, and about 19 million people lived there at the start of 2026.
Country Bulgaria Bulgaria is a country on the eastern side of the Balkan Peninsula, with the Danube River to the north and the Black Sea to the east. Mountains cross it from west to east, and about 6.4 million people lived there at the end of 2025.
Country Colombia Colombia is in the northwest of South America, with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Three ranges of the Andes run through it, and most people live in the cool mountains, where the capital, Bogotá, sits on a high plateau. About 53.4 million people lived there in 2026, according to DANE, the national statistics office.
Country Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country on the Horn of Africa with no coast. Much of it is high, rugged land cut by the Great Rift Valley, it is one of the world's oldest countries, and more than 110 million people live there.
Country Honduras Honduras is a mountainous country in Central America, with the Caribbean Sea to the north and a short Pacific coast to the south. Its forests are home to jaguars and macaws, the Maya city of Copán stands in the west, and about 10.2 million people live there (official 2026 estimate).
Country Pakistan Pakistan is a country in South Asia that stretches from icy mountain peaks in the north down the fertile valley of the Indus River to the Arabian Sea. It has busy cities such as Karachi and Lahore, its capital is Islamabad, and its 2023 census counted 241.49 million people.
City Santiago Santiago, the capital and largest city of Chile, lies in a basin in central Chile with the high Andes to the east. Founded by the Spanish in 1541, it mixes colonial churches with the tallest skyscraper in the city, the 300-meter Gran Torre Costanera. About 5.25 million people lived in the city in 2017.
Country Slovakia Slovakia is a landlocked country in central Europe. The Carpathian Mountains cover much of it, with the High Tatras in the north, and about 5.4 million people lived there at the end of 2025. Its capital, Bratislava, sits on the Danube River.
Country Slovenia Slovenia is a small country in central Europe where the Alps meet the Mediterranean. Forests cover much of the land, the Karst region is full of caves and underground rivers, and about 2.1 million people lived there in 2026.
Country Tanzania Tanzania is a country in East Africa, just south of the Equator, on the Indian Ocean. It has Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, deep lakes in the East African Rift, and the Serengeti, where huge herds of wildebeest travel each year.
Natural wonder Aconcagua Aconcagua, in the Andes of Argentina near the border with Chile, is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. Its height has been measured several ways: a 2012 expedition backed by Argentina's National Geographic Institute found 6,960.8 meters. Aconcagua formed from an old volcano, but it is not an active volcano today, and climbers first reached its top in 1897.
Country Argentina Argentina covers most of the southern part of South America. The Andes mountains run down its western side, grassy plains called the Pampas spread across the middle, and windy Patagonia stretches to the far south. INDEC, the national statistics office, estimates that about 46.5 million people lived there in 2026, many of them in and around Buenos Aires.
Natural wonder Himalayas The Himalayas are a giant wall of mountains in Asia, between the high Plateau of Tibet and the plains of India. They hold the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest. They rose when the land carrying India crashed into Asia, and their snow and ice feed great rivers such as the Ganges and the Indus.
Country Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is an island country in the Indian Ocean, just south of India. Green highlands rise in the middle, surrounded by plains and sandy beaches. About 22 million people live there, and the island is famous for its tea, its ancient cities and its wild elephants.