Alps facts for kids

The Alps are the biggest mountain range in Europe. They stretch from Austria and Slovenia in the east, all the way through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Germany, to France in the west. The name 'Alps' originally meant 'white'.

The tallest mountain in the Alps is Mont Blanc. It stands at 4,808 metres (15,774 ft) high, right on the border between Italy and France.

Where are the Alps?

A map showing the Alps and international borders.

The Alps are a huge mountain range that goes through eight different countries. These countries are France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia.

The Alps are split into two main parts: the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps. A line from Lake Constance to Lake Como, following the Rhine River, divides them.

• The Western Alps are found in France, Italy, and Switzerland. They have taller peaks but are a bit shorter and more curved.
• The Eastern Alps are in Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland. This part of the range is longer and wider.

The highest peaks in the Western Alps include Mont Blanc (4,808 metres (15,774 ft)), Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (4,748 metres (15,577 ft)), and the Dufourspitze (4,634 metres (15,203 ft)). The tallest peak in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina, which is 4,049 metres (13,284 ft) high. Many people especially love visiting the Swiss Alps.

The Main Mountain Chain

The watershed between Italy and Switzerland, seen from Tête Blanche.

The main chain of the Alps follows the watershed (the line where water flows in different directions). This line goes from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Wienerwald. It also marks the northern border of Italy.

This main chain includes many of the Alps' most famous and highest mountains. It starts by going west, then turns northwest, and finally north near the Colle della Maddalena. When it reaches the Swiss border, it heads northeast until it ends near Vienna.

Mountain Passes

The Alps are not a solid wall that stops people from crossing. For thousands of years, people have traveled through them for trade, wars, and later, as pilgrims, students, and tourists.

Mountain passes are like natural pathways through the mountains. They allow roads, trains, or walking trails to cross from one side to the other. Some of these passes are very famous because they have been used for a very long time.

The Tallest Peaks

The Jungfrau mountain seen from near Interlaken.

An organization called the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has listed 82 "official" Alpine peaks that are over 4,000 meters (about 13,123 feet) high. Many of these are smaller peaks, but they are important for mountaineering.

Here are twelve of the most important 4,000-meter peaks, each standing out significantly from its surroundings:

Around 1900, Karl Blodig was the first person to climb all the main 4,000-meter peaks.

How the Alps Formed

An illustration showing how the Alps were formed.

Mountains usually form when huge continental plates of the Earth's crust push against each other. The Alps were created by the slow but powerful pressure of the African plate moving north and crashing into the stable Eurasian landmass. Italy, which was once a separate island, was pushed into Europe during this process.

This mountain-building happened mostly during the Tertiary period, especially in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. This was about 35 to 5 million years ago.

The Alps are part of a much larger chain of mountains called the Alpide belt. This belt stretches across southern Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic Ocean almost all the way to the Himalayas. There is a gap in these mountain chains in central Europe that separates the Alps from the Carpathians to the east. This gap formed because the land sank in those areas.

Millions of years ago, a huge, ancient ocean called the Tethys Ocean existed between Africa and Europe. Today, the rocks and sediments from this ocean basin are found high up in the Alps. Even very old metamorphic rocks are found on peaks like Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and other high mountains in the Pennine Alps and Hohe Tauern.

The Mediterranean Sea as we know it today formed more recently.

Visitors and Activities

Königssee in Bavaria, a popular spot in the Alps.

The Alps are a very popular place to visit, both in summer and in winter. They are great for sightseeing and many different sports.

• Winter Sports: From December to April, you can enjoy activities like Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, and snowshoeing. Many places offer lessons for beginners.
• Summer Activities: In summer, the Alps are perfect for hikers, mountain bikers, paragliders, and mountaineers. There are also beautiful alpine lakes where people can go swimming, sailing, and surfing.

The larger towns and lower areas of the Alps are easy to reach by highways and main roads. However, higher mountain passes and smaller roads can be difficult to drive on, even in summer. Many passes are closed during winter because of snow.

Many airports around the Alps, and some within the mountains, make it easy for travelers to arrive from other countries. There are also good train connections. The Alps welcome over 100 million visitors every year!

Climate Zones

Pine trees growing above the Aletsch Glacier in Valais.

The Alps have five different climate zones, each with its own unique environment. The climate, plants, and animals change as you go higher up the mountain.

• Névé Zone: This is the area above 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet). It's the coldest zone and is always covered in thick, compressed snow. Very few plants can grow here.
• Alpine Zone: This zone is between 2,000 and 3,000 meters (about 6,500 to 9,800 feet) high. It's not as cold as the névé zone, and you can find wildflowers and grasses growing here.
• Subalpine Zone: Just below the alpine zone, this area is 1,500 to 2,000 meters (about 4,900 to 6,500 feet) high. The temperature starts to get warmer, and you'll see forests of fir and spruce trees.
• Arable Zone: This zone is about 1,000 to 1,500 meters (about 3,300 to 4,900 feet) high. Millions of oak trees grow here, and it's also where a lot of farming takes place.
• Lowlands: These are the areas below 1,000 meters (about 3,300 feet). A wider variety of plants grow here. Many villages and towns are also located in the lowlands because the temperature is more comfortable for people and farm animals.

The Alps are a great example of how temperature changes with height. As you go higher up a mountain, the temperature drops. Mountain ranges also affect winds, causing warm air from lower areas to rise, cool down, and release snow or rain.

Plants of the Alps

The common trees in the Alps, like oak, beech, ash, and sycamore maple, have a natural height limit called the 'tree line'. This limit shows where the climate becomes too cold for these trees to grow.

• On the north side of the Alps, the tree line is usually around 1,200 metres (3,940 ft) above sea level.
• On the southern slopes, it can reach 1,500 metres (4,920 ft), and sometimes even 1,700 metres (5,580 ft).

However, people have cut down many of the original forests in the Alps. Except for some beech forests in the Austrian Alps, you won't find many of the typical deciduous tree forests. Instead, you'll often see Scots pine and Norway spruce trees. These trees are tougher and less affected by goats eating their young saplings.

Above the tree line, there's often a band of dwarf pine trees (Pinus mugo). These are often replaced by dwarf shrubs like Rhododendron ferrugineum (on acid soils) or Rhododendron hirsutum (on non-acid soils).

Even higher up is the alpine meadow, where plants become less common. At these very high altitudes, plants tend to grow in separate groups. Many different kinds of flowering plants have been found above 4,000 metres (13,120 ft) in the Alps. Some examples include Ranunculus glacialis, Androsace alpina, and Saxifraga biflora.

Animals of the Alps

Many interesting Species of animals live in the Alps.

Images for kids

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  A satellite view of the Alps.

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  The Lunar Lake in the Austrian Alps was created by a dam.

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  The Dolomites (Italy) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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  An "Alp" refers to a high elevation pasture frequented only in summer. It often includes several huts and small places of worship (here the Alpe Bardughè in Ticino).

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  The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.

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  Aerial view of the Pennine Alps, the second-highest range of the Alps.

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  A typical alpine village in the Tuxertal valley of Tyrol, Austria.

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  Teufelsbrücke (Devil's Bridge) on the route to the Gotthard Pass; the currently used bridge from 1958 over the first drivable bridge from 1830.

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  The Eiger (shown along with the Mönch and the Jungfrau) has the tallest north face in the Alps.

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  The geologic folding seen at the Arpanaz waterfall, shown here in a mid-18th-century drawing, was noted by 18th-century geologists.

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  The dolomitic peaks of Triglav National Park in the Julian Alps.

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  Compressed metamorphosed Tethyan sediments and their oceanic basement are sandwiched between the tip of the Matterhorn (Italian-Swiss border), which consists of gneisses originally part of the African plate, and the base of the peak, which is part of the Eurasian plate.

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  This illustration of the glacier systems of the Mont Blanc massif by Alexander Keith Johnston was first published 1848 in The Physical Atlas.

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  Louis Agassiz's studies of the Unteraar Glacier in the 1840s showed that it moved at 100 m (328 ft) per year.

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  The Sphinx Tunnel connecting Jungfraujoch railway station to the Sphinx Observatory, through a glacier at the Jungfraujoch.

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  Southern pre-alpine lakes like Lake Garda are characterised by warmer microclimates than the surrounding areas.

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  Stemless gentian (Gentiana acaulis).

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  Preserved internal alpine forest and meadow, Vanoise National Park.

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  Young alpine ibex. When fully grown the horns of this male will be about one metre wide.

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  The alpine Apollo butterfly has adapted to alpine conditions.

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  Pre-historic petroglyphs from Valcamonica, Italy.

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  Château de Chillon, an early medieval castle on the north shore of Lake Geneva, is shown here against the backdrop of the Dents du Midi.

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  Russian troops under Suvorov crossing the Alps in 1799.

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  Built from 1300 to 1500 metres high on a rock of quartzite and surrounded by deep cliffs, the Forts de l'Esseillon prevented any invasion.

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  The first ascent of the Matterhorn (1865), lithograph by Gustave Doré.

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  Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich (1818).

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  The Nazis hid looted art in salt mines at Altaussee, such as the Early Netherlandish Ghent Altarpiece which sustained significant damage.

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  Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times.

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  In the summers the cows are brought up to the high mountain meadows for grazing. Small summer villages such as the one shown in this photograph taken in Savoy are used.

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  Herding sheep in Austria.

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  Alpine chalet being built in Haute-Maurienne (Savoy), the use of thick pieces of orthogneiss (4–7 cm) is by the strict architectural regulations in the region bordering the national parks of Vanoise-Grand Paradis.

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  The ski resort in Speikboden, South Tyrol, Italy.

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  Karl Schranz running the Lauberhorn in 1966.

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  Zentralbahn Interregio train following the Lake Brienz shoreline, near Niederried in Switzerland.

See also

In Spanish: Alpes para niños