Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Troops under Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov crossing the Alps in 1799, by Vasily Surikov Napoleon passing the Great St Bernard Pass, by Edouard Castres. The French historian Fernand Braudel, in his famous volume on Mediterranean civilisation, describes the Alps as "an exceptional range of mountains from the point of view of resources, collective disciplines, the quality of its human ...
The English word Alps comes from the Latin Alpes. The Latin word Alpes could possibly come from the adjective albus [7] ("white"), or could possibly come from the Greek goddess Alphito, whose name is related to alphita, the "white flour"; alphos, a dull white leprosy; and finally the Proto-Indo-European word *albĘ°ós.
The Alps were the first mountain system to be extensively studied by geologists, and many of the geologic terms associated with mountains and glaciers originated there. The term Alps has been applied to mountain systems around the world that exhibit similar traits.
While smaller groups within the Alps may be easily defined by the passes on either side, defining larger units can be problematic. A traditional divide exists between the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, which uses the Splügen Pass (Italian: Passo dello Spluga) on the Swiss-Italian border, together with the Rhine to the north and Lake Como in the south as the defining features.
This is due to their isolation, cold climate, and high elevation. Due to these factors the Alps had and continue to have a low population. But by 1000 AD the Medieval Warm period led to better climate conditions allowing for population growth. The region of Upper Valais where the Walser people originate from had been conquered by the Roman Empire.
Welcome to the Alps portal.The portal is designed to give an overview of articles associated with the Alps, predominantly with a focus on the mountains themselves, but also on the history of the Alps, Alpine climbing, hiking, culture, biodiversity and many other related topics.
Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps.
The Alpine orogeny is caused by the continents Africa, Arabia and India and the small Cimmerian Plate colliding (from the south) with Eurasia in the north. Convergent movements between the tectonic plates (the African Plate, the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate from the south, the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Sub-Plate from the north, and many smaller plates and microplates) had already ...