THE HIGHEST PEAKS IN THE WORLD

Today I would like to talk about ‘the highest peaks in the world’. When anyone mentions the word mountain, the first thing that appears in our mind is height. As we all know that in this planet, there are 7 continents and each of them has its own highest peak.

First, we go to the highest mountain on earth, the famous ‘Everest Mountain’. This mountain has a height of 8,848 meters and located in the Himalayas range, in between Nepal and China border. The mountain’s height was first unofficially determined in 1856 and later was validated by an Indian survey in 1955 and backed up by a Chinese measurement in 1975. The name of ‘Everest’ was taken from the name of a British Surveyor General of India, Sir George Everest.

The highest mountain in South America continent is ‘Aconcagua Mountain’ in Argentina. To be more precise, this mountain is situated on the Andes range with a height of 6,961 meters. Meanwhile, ‘Denali Mountain’ is the highest peak in North America continent. This mountain is sitting on ‘Alaska Range’ in the USA. In August 2015, the US Dept. of the Interior announced the change of the official name from ‘Mount McKinley’ to Denali. The name of ‘Mount McKinley’ had been used from 1917 to 2015.

What is the highest mountain in Africa continent? The highest mountain in Africa is ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ located in Tanzania. The Kilimanjaro is an active volcanic mountain which has 3 volcanic cones namely Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. The height of this mountain is 5,895 meters and the first ascent to the summit was done in 1889.

In East Europe continent, to be exact in Russia, ‘Mount Elbrus’ is the highest mountain which its peak is at 5,642 meters. Meanwhile, in West Europe, Mont Blanc is the highest peak which standing at 4,810 meters height.

What is the highest mountain in the UK? The highest mountain in UK is Ben Nevis, located in Scotland. This mountain has a height of 1,344 meters. One interesting fact that you may not know is that there are 56 highest mountains in the UK and they all can be found in Scotland alone.

Do you think Mount Everest is the highest mountain? In terms of distance to space from sea level, surely yes, but what a about the distance from base to peak? Or the distance from the centre of the earth?

Here is the answer, Mauna Kea in Hawaii, is the tallest mountain from base to peak with a height of 10,210 meters. Approximately, 2000 meters higher than Everest and Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, is the tallest mountain from center of the earth. Because earth is not in perfect round shape. This mountain sits on the equator line which approximately 1.2 miles farther from the Everest.

So, in terms of distance to space, Mount Chimborazo is the highest and closest.

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