The mountain system known as the Alps is perhaps the world’s most famous mountain system. The Alps are located in Europe, and the name generally refers to the curved line of ridges and valleys which extends from the Gulf of Genoa on the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Vienna in Austria. The name Alps comes from Alpes, the Latin name for the mountains, but the Latin name may have derived from the Celtic word Alb, which has been thought to mean either “white” or “height.”
There are several lesser known mountain ranges which connect to the Alps, such as the Apennines which run the north-south length of Italy, the Dinaric Alps which run along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, the Balkans, and the Carpathians. Through the mountains of Greece they may be seen as continuing through Asia Minor to Iran and central Asia.
The Pennine Alps contain the most massive and highest Alpine peaks, Mont Blanc (15,781 feet), Monte Rosa (15,203 feet), and the Matterhorn (14,691 feet).
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe, outside the Caucusus, and it is located on the France-Italy border on the western end of the Pennine Alps range. On the eastern end of the Pennine Alps is Monte Rosa, and the Matterhorn is on the Switzerland-Italy border.
The main ridge of the Central Alps is called the Bernese Alps. They are separated from the Pennine Alps by the Rhone River Valley. There are famous mountains in this area as well, one of which is the Jungfrau (13,642 feet), which has been much admired in literature and much painted and photographed (as has the Matterhorn). The Eiger (13,036 feet; 3,973 meters) is also much beloved and a favorite of climbers.
The Bernese Alps are located in Switzerland and have perhaps the most spectacular scenery of all the Alpine mountain system.
The formation of the Alps began in the Mesozoic era, and continued in the Cenozoic era, when the Himalayas, the Andes, and the largest peaks of the Alaska coast were formed.
They continue to be shaped by erosion and are still slowly gaining height.
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