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The Alps are huge mountains located in some European countries such as France, Italy, and Austria, and some of their places are tourist attractions frequented by many tourists around the world. In this topic, we will learn about the height and location of the Alps, and some important information related to them.

How high are the Alps?

• The height of the Alps is 4,807 kilometers, or approximately 15,771 feet, and the highest peak of the Alps is called “Mont Blanc.”
• These mountains cover more than eighty thousand square miles; That is, approximately 207 thousand square kilometers with a distance of 750 miles, or an estimated 1,200 kilometers. Rainwater collects in these mountains in the Rhine, Rhone, Po, and Danube rivers.

Alpine location

• The Alps, known in Italy as Alpi, in French as Alpes, and in German as Alpen, are the mountain range located on the European continent and extending from the east to Austria and Slovenia, passing through Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Germany, and reaching the west in France.
• The Alps are home to humans and all kinds of living organisms. These mountains are characterized by diversity and multiple cultures, which helped in their rapid development.
• The Alpine region is characterized by its adjacent plains, as it is a major source of water resources and energy. One of its most important characteristics is that it produces large and abundant wood, and produces high-quality foodstuffs.
• Its natural areas are numerous and biologically diverse, as they constitute an important recreational factor for all European citizens, and the Alps are inhabited by approximately 14 million people.
• It is visited by approximately 125 million tourists every year, and there are main roads in these mountains estimated at 4,200 km, and approximately 6 million vehicles travel on their arched roads.
• The Alps are distinguished by their diverse animal and plant resources, as they contain nearly 13,000 plant species and more than 30,000 animal species.
• These mountains have 550 stations that produce electricity with a capacity exceeding ten megawatts every year, and more than 195 million tons of products and goods pass through these mountains every year via land roads.

See also: Alps on the world map

Alpine dwellers

• Humanity resided in the Alps approximately 60 thousand years ago, i.e. in the Paleolithic era, where they left some pieces of antiquities that indicate their presence in different regions of the French and Austrian territories.
• After the return of the glacial rivers in the Alps about four thousand years ago, the Neolithic peoples inhabited the valleys.
• They resided in caves and small settlements, which they built on the banks of lakes in the Alps.
• Some sites that had a high population density were discovered near Lake Annecy along the shores of Lake Geneva in Austria, the Aosta Valley, and the Camonica Valley in Italy, in which approximately 20,000 rock engravings were discovered, indicating that people resided in this place for more than two thousand years. .
• From 800 to 600 BC, the Celtic or Celts attacked the inhabitants of the Neolithic Ages, and forced them to leave the region and go to the remote areas of the mountain. As for the western region, the Celts occupied the place located near the French, Swiss, and Italian region.
• In addition to the Italian region of Aosta, the Swiss Martini, and the French Greenpool.
• The Celts worked to open high mountain passes to open roads designated for business, and during the rule of the Romans they performed some expansion works for the ancient Celtic villages, and worked on constructing new cities in the valleys leading to the Alps.
• They also built cities within the mountains themselves, which led to the emergence of some cities in a prosperous manner, such as Martigny and Aosta.

See also: The highest peak in the Swiss Alps

Climate in the Alps

• Because of their size, the Alps isolate the regions of European countries from each other. They also separate the regions of the western coastal sea in Europe from the regions of the Mediterranean Sea in the French, Italian, and Balkan territories.
• Which helps the Alps create a distinct climate that is affected by the different heights in them, and the distinctive locations that cross European countries from west to east.
• Without mentioning the general tropical situation, there are areas crossed by these mountains that contain some diverse climatic conditions, which differ greatly among themselves.
• These mountains are affected by four basic climatic conditions: from the western region comes relatively moderate, humid air from the Atlantic Ocean, followed by polar air coming from the northern European region.
• The continental air masses that control the eastern region are characterized by cold and dryness in the winter seasons, and are characterized by extreme heat in the winter seasons.
• In the southern region, dry medium air blows towards the northern region, and cyclonic storms blow daily in the Alps, and are greatly affected by the direction of the winds that pass through them.
• The air temperature and rainfall each year in these mountains are closely related to physiology, as the areas at the bottom of the valleys are warmer than the surrounding high places.
• Snow falls significantly in the winter seasons at all high places above 5,000 feet.
• Snow also covers places at heights of more than 6,600 feet from mid-November to the end of May, which prevents movement from these heights at this time.
• Temperatures in the valleys range from an average of -5 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius during the month of January, reaching eight degrees Celsius in the mountainous areas near the Mediterranean Sea, but temperatures in July range from an average of 15 to 24 degrees Celsius.
• Fog often spreads over the valleys for a few consecutive days during the fall and winter seasons.

Economy of the Alps

• The inhabitants of the Alps relied largely on agriculture and sheep herding during the mid-19th century.
• Although these areas largely abandoned farms after that, especially in the high valleys of the Italian and French regions and the western Austrian regions, the agricultural field still exists in some main and side valleys.
• The Rhone Valley, which is located in Switzerland, is famous for growing fruits and vegetables, in addition to the valleys and mountain slopes being famous for growing what is known as vines.
• Since Neolithic times, the economy of the Alps has depended mainly on industry and mining, as iron was extracted from the various mountainous regions.

See also: What is the highest peak in the Alps and very famous?