Andes: Encyclopedia - Andes

Andes

The Andes is a vast mountain system forming a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. It is roughly 7000 km (4400 mi) long, 500 km (300 mi) wide in some parts (widest between 18° to 20° S latitude), and of an average height of about 4000 m (13,000 ft).

The Andean range is composed of two great principal chains with a deep intermediate depression, in which arise other chains of minor importance, the chief of which is Chile's Cordillera de la Costa. Other small chains arise on the sides of the great chains. The Cordillera de la Costa starts from the southern extremity of the continent and runs in a northerly direction, parallel with the coast, being broken up at its beginning into a number of islands and afterwards forming the western boundary of the great central valley of Chile. To the north this coastal chain continues in small ridges or isolated hills along the Pacific Ocean as far as Venezuela, always leaving the same valley more or less visible to the west of the western great chain.

The Andes is the highest mountain range outside Asia, with its highest peak, Aconcagua, rising to 6,962m above sea level. The summit of Mount Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is the point on the Earth's surface most distant from its centre, due to the equatorial bulge.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Andes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki