ALPS

The Alps mountain ranges. a small segment of a discontinuous mountain chain that stretches from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa across southern Europe and Asia to beyond the Himalayas. The Alps extend north from the subtropical Mediterranean coast near Nice, Fr., to Lake Geneva before trending eastnortheast to Vienna (at the Vienna Woods). There they touch the Danube River and meld with the adjacent plain. The Alps form part of nine nations: France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Yugoslavia. Only Switzerland and Austria can be considered true Alpine nations, however. Some 750 miles (1,200 kilometres) long and more than 125 miles wide at their broadest point between Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ger., and Verona, Italy, the Alps cover more than 80,000 square miles (207,000 square kilometres). They are the most prominent of western Europe's physiographic regions. Though they are not as high and extensive as other mountain systems uplifted during the Tertiary periodsuch as the Himalayas and the Andes and Rocky mountainsthey are responsible for major geographic phenomena. The Alpine crests isolate one European region from another and are the source of many of Europe's major rivers, such as the Rhne, Rhine, Po, and numerous tributaries of the Danube. Thus, waters from the Alps ultimately reach the North, Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black seas. Because of their arclike shape, the Alps separate the marine west-coast climates of Europe from the Mediterranean areas of France, Italy, and the Yugoslav region. Moreover, they create their own unique climate based on both the local differences in elevation and relief and the location of the mountains in relation to the frontal systems that cross Europe from west to east. Apart from tropical conditions, most of the other climates found on the Earth may be identified somewhere in the Alps, and contrasts are sharp. A distinctive Alpine pastoral economy that evolved through the centuries has been modified since the 19th century by industry based on indigenous raw materials, such as the industries in the Mur and Mrz valleys of southern Austria that used iron ore from deposits near Eisenerz. Hydroelectric power development at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, often involving many different watersheds, led to the establishment in the lower valleys of electricity-dependent industries, manufacturing such products as aluminum, chemicals, and specialty steels. Tourism, which began in the 19th century in a modest way, has become, since the end of World War II, a mass phenomenon. Thus, the Alps have become a summer and winter playground for millions of European urban dwellers and annually attract tourists from around the world. Because of this enormous human impact on a fragile physical and ecological environment, the Alps are the most threatened mountain system in the world. Latin Alpes, in the Roman Empire, small provinces in the western Alps, occupying parts of present France, Italy, and Switzerland. The Alpes Maritimae were made a province about 14 BC and included Pedo (Borgo San Dalmazzo in Piedmont) in the Italian foothills and Cemenelum (Cimiez, adjoining Nice). They were administered by a prefect, later a procurator, whose main duty was to protect the road called the Via Julia Augusta. Adjoining the Alpes Maritimae was the province of the Alpes Cottiae, with its capital at Segusio (Susa in Piedmont) and extending west to Eburodunum (Embrun). King Cottius and his son first ruled it early in the 1st century AD, but a procurator was later appointed. Farther north was a province in Savoy called variously Alpes Graiae, Atrectianae, or Centronicae, with its capital at Forum Claudii Ceutronum (Aime). The entire province was on the transalpine side of the Little St. Bernard (Alpes Graia). All these border areas contained cities that attained Latin rights, a status formally accorded to the whole of the Alpes Maritimae in AD 63. great mountain system of south-central Europe, extending about 750 miles (1,200 km) in an arc from the Gulf of Genoa of the Mediterranean Sea in the southwest to Vienna in the northeast and covering more than 80,000 square miles (207,000 square km). The Alps are divided into a western segment (southeastern France, northwestern Italy), a central segment (north-central Italy, southern Switzerland), and an eastern segment (parts of Germany, Austria, and Slovenia), each of which contains several separate ranges. Geologically belonging to the young folded mountains of the Tertiary Period (66.4 million to 1.6 million years ago), much of the Alps' crystalline regions (notably the Matterhorn at 14,692 feet above sea level) are characterized by high peaks and nearly vertical slopes, whereas the landscape in limestone regions (the Dolomites of Italy and Austria) is dominated by huge cliffs and canyons. Elevations average about 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 m), and many peaks rise above 10,000 feet (3,000 m); Mont Blanc (15,771 feet ) is the highest. The Alpine relief has been greatly influenced by glacial erosion, which has created great differences in height between mountain summits and adjacent valleys. The Alps form a divide between the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea and give rise to several major European rivers, such as the Rhne, the Rhine, and the tributaries of both the Danube and the Po. Annual precipitation decreases from 80 inches (2,000 mm) in the outer ranges to about 20 inches (500 mm) in the inner mountains. Glaciers, covering an area of about 1,500 square miles (3,900 square km), are generally found at elevations above 10,000 feet; the largest (more than 50 square miles [130 square km]) is the Aletsch Glacier in southwestern Switzerland. Deciduous trees (beech, birch) predominate at lower elevations up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m); coniferous (spruce, pine, larch) in the middle (6,000 feet) zone; and Alpine meadows (grasses, flowers, and shrubs) are found up to 8,000 feet. The higher Alpine zone (above 10,000 feet) is one of rock and permanent snow with no vegetation. Several national parks and reserves in the Alps ensure preservation of native fauna (ibex, chamois, marmot, mountain hare, and golden eagle). The new St. Gotthard Tunnel (1980), at St. Gotthard Pass in southern Switzerland, is the world's longest highway tunnel (10.1 miles ). Grenoble, Fr., Innsbruck, Austria, and Bolzano, Italy, are the major Alpine cities. Additional reading General descriptive studies of the Alps include Paul Veyret and Germaine Veyret, Au Coeur de l'Europe, les Alpes (1967); Paul Veyret, Les Alpes (1972); Gnter Glauert, Die Alpen, eine Einfhrung in die Landeskunde (1975); and The Alps (1984), an illustrated multilanguage work published under the auspices of the 25th International Geographical Congress. Works on physical geography include Lon W. Collet, The Structure of the Alps, 2nd ed. (1935, reprinted 1974), which sets forth the theory of the nappes; Ernst Kraus, Die Baugeschichte der Alpen, 2 vol. (1951), which provides a geologic synthesis; and Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brckner, Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter, 3 vol. (190109), which traces the history of glaciation. Works on human geography are Pierre Gabert, Les Alpes et les tats alpins (1965); Michel Cpde and E.S. Abensour, Rural Problems in the Alpine Region, an International Study (1961); and Pier Paolo Viazzo, Upland Communities: Environment, Population, and Social Structure in the Alps Since the Sixteenth Century (1989). Pierre George and Jean Tricart, L'Europe centrale (1954), includes information on economic development of the region in the first half of the 20th century; and Louis Chabert, Les Grandes Alpes industrielles de Savoie: volution conomique et humaine (1978), is a regional socioeconomic analysis. Other regional economic studies include Paul Veyret and Germaine Veyret, Atlas et gographie des Alpes franaises (1979); Aubrey Diem (ed.), The Mont Blanc-Pennine Region (1984); Ernst A. Brugger et al. (eds.), The Transformation of Swiss Mountain Regions (1984), a detailed survey; Aubrey Diem, Switzerland: Land, People, Economy (1986); Bernard Janin, Une Rgion alpine originale, la Val d'Aoste, 2nd rev. ed. (1976), a descriptive work with an economic focus; Elisabeth Lichtenberger, The Eastern Alps (1975), a brief description in the series Problem Regions of Europe; and Mary L. Barker, Traditional Landscape and Mass Tourism in the Alps, Geographical Review, 72(4):395415 (October 1982). Specific features of the Alpine economy, especially agriculture, are addressed in John Frdin, Zentraleuropas alpwirtschaft, 2 vol. (194041); and H. Aulitzky, Endangered Alpine Regions and Disaster Prevention Measures (1974). The historical character of the region is explored in Paul Guichonnet (ed.), Histoire et civilisations des Alpes, 2 vol. (1980); and Ludwig Pauli, The Alps: Archaeology and Early History (1984; originally published in German, 1980). Aubrey Diem