Himalayas
mountain range in Asia
The Himalayas, or Himalaya, is a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the highest peaks on Earth, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of 7,200 metres (23,600 feet) above sea level lie in the Himalayas.
The Himalayas span five countries: Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, and Pakistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia and Tibet. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. The summits of several are off-limits to climbers.
The public source identifies “Himalayas” as mountain range in Asia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Himalayas, mountain and range.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Himalayas”, the useful work is to connect “mountain range in Asia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5451. VIAF identifies the subject as 140840481. The Library of Congress control number is sh85060851. Authority coordinates are 29.000, 84.000. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Himalayas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Himalayas primary sources, Himalayas archive and Himalayas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Himalayas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.