Which countries overlap with the Andes mountain range?
Andean natural region
The Andes mountains form the most populated region of Colombia and contain the majority of the country's urban centers. They were also the location of the most significant pre-Columbian indigenous settlements. Beyond the Colombian Massif in the south-western departments of Cauca and Nariño, the Colombian Andes divide into three branches known as "cordilleras" (from the Spanish for "mountain range"): the West Andes run adjacent to the Pacific coast and is home to the city of Cali. The Central Andes run up the center of the country between the Cauca and Magdalena river valleys (to the west and east respectively) and includes the cities of Medellín, Manizales and Pereira. The East Andes extend northeast towards the Guajira Peninsula, and includes the cities of Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Cúcuta.
Cordillera Occidental (Central Andes)
The Cordillera Occidental of Bolivia is part of the Andes (that is also part of the American Cordillera), a mountain range characterized by volcanic activity, making up the natural border with Chile and starting in the north with Juqhuri and ending in the south at the Licancabur volcano, which is on the southern limit of Bolivia with Chile. The border goes through the innominated point located at two thirds of elevation of Licancabur's northeastern slope at the southwestermost point of Bolivia at 22° 49' 41" south and 67° 52' 35" west. The climate of the region is cold and inadequate for animal and plant life. Its main feature is its ground, in which are large quantities of metallic minerals including gold, silver, copper, and others. The range consists of three sections:
Andes
The rough terrain has historically put the costs of building highways and railroads that cross the Andes out of reach of most neighboring countries, even with modern civil engineering practices. For example, the main crossover of the Andes between Argentina and Chile is still accomplished through the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores. Only recently the ends of some highways that came rather close to one another from the east and the west have been connected. Much of the transportation of passengers is done via aircraft.
Andes virus
Andes virus (ANDV) is a species of hantavirus which is a major causative agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS or HPS) in South America. It is named for the Andes mountains of Chile and Argentina, where it was first discovered.
Geography of South America
South America became attached to North America only recently (geologically speaking) with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama some 3 million years ago, which resulted in the Great American Interchange. The Andes, likewise a comparatively young and seismically restless mountain range, runs down the western edge of the continent; the land to the east of the northern Andes is largely tropical rain forest, the vast Amazon River basin. The continent also contains drier regions such as eastern Patagonia and the extremely arid Atacama desert.
Andes
The Andean region cuts across several natural and floristic regions due to its extension from Caribbean Venezuela to cold, windy and wet Cape Horn passing through the hyperarid Atacama Desert. Rainforests and tropical dry forests used to encircle much of the northern Andes but are now greatly diminished, especially in the Chocó and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia. Opposite of the humid Andean slopes are the relatively dry Andean slopes in most of western Peru, Chile and Argentina. Along with several Interandean Valles, they are typically dominated by deciduous woodland, shrub and xeric vegetation, reaching the extreme in the slopes near the virtually lifeless Atacama Desert.
Llanos de Moxos
The Llanos de Moxos covers an area of in the lowlands of northern Bolivia, with small portions in neighboring Brazil and Peru. Most of the Llanos de Moxos lies within the departments of El Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando, and Santa Cruz. The Llanos de Moxos occupies the southwestern corner of the Amazon basin, and the region is crossed by numerous rivers that drain the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains. The low relief of the savannas, coupled with wet season rains and snowmelt from the Andes, cause up to half the land to flood seasonally.
Pacific Ocean
The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Andes Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand lie outside the andesite line.
Andes (disambiguation)
Andes may refer to:
Mountain range
The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, and ends in the Alps, Spain and Atlas Mountains. The belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, which is high and traverses the border between China and Nepal.
Mountain ranges outside these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Great Dividing Range, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains, then the Ocean Ridges form the longest continuous mountain system on Earth, with a length of .
Paso de Los Patos
The Paso de Los Patos "(Passage of the Ducks)" is an Andine mountain pass between Argentina and Chile, used by the main column of the Army of the Andes to cross the Andes in early 1817, in order to liberate Chile from Spain. It is located to the interior of the town of Putaendo, to the north of the city of San Felipe, Valparaíso Region, Chile, and framed by the imposing Valle de Los Patos Sur (Southern Valley of Ducks), SW of the Province of San Juan, Argentina. Other names are used for the same pass: the passages of Llaretas, Ortiz, the Honda and the Valle Hermoso.
Andean mountain cat
Andean mountain cats occur only at high elevations in the Andes. Records in Argentina indicate that they live at elevations from in the southern Andes to over in Chile, Bolivia and central Peru. This terrain is arid, sparsely vegetated, rocky and steep. The population in the Salar de Surire Natural Monument was estimated at five individuals in an area of . Results of a survey in the Jujuy Province of northwestern Argentina indicates a density of seven to 12 individuals per at an elevation of about .
Americas
The geography of the western Americas is dominated by the American cordillera, with the Andes running along the west coast of South America and the Rocky Mountains and other North American Cordillera ranges running along the western side of North America. The Appalachian Mountains run along the east coast of North America from Alabama to Newfoundland. North of the Appalachians, the Arctic Cordillera runs along the eastern coast of Canada.
Andes
Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, separated by intermediate depressions. The Andes are the location of several high plateaus – some of which host major cities such as Quito, Bogotá, Arequipa, Medellín, Sucre, Mérida and La Paz. The Altiplano plateau is the world's second-highest after the Tibetan plateau. These ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate: the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes.
Flat slab subduction
The Pampean or Chilean flat slab segment is located between 27 degrees S and 33 degrees S, extending ~550 km along the strike of the subduction zone. The Pampean flat slab similarly extends ~700 km inboard from the trench axis. The segment is visually correlated with the Juan Fernandez Ridge, and the highest peak in the Andes, the non-volcanic Aconcagua (6961 m). This area has undergone the same "thick-skinned" deformation, leading to the high mountain peaks.
Geology of Chile
The three primary morphological features derived from the Andes are the Andes Mountains proper, the Chilean Coast Range and the Chilean Central Valley, also known as the Intermediate Depression and the Longitudinal Valley. The mountains run parallel in a north-south direction from Morro de Arica to Taitao Peninsula, making up most of Chile's land surface. South of Taitao, only the Andes Mountains are present.
Cordillera de Lípez
The Cordillera de Lípez is a mountain range in northern Potosí, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, part of the Andes. The range covers an area of 23,404 km² (9,036 sq mi) and runs in a northeast-southwest direction, between the parallels 22 degrees and 23 degrees, helping to form the boundary between Bolivia and Argentina. Thus the Cordillera de Lípez is a transverse range in the Andes, between the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Occidental, creating the southern boundary of the Bolivian Altiplano.
Andean foreland basins
The Andean foreland basins or Sub-Andean basins are a group of foreland basins located in the western half of South America immediately east of the Andes mountains. The Andean foreland basins in the Amazon River's catchment area are known as the Amazonian foreland basins.
Andes
The Andes Mountains are the world's highest mountain range outside Asia. The highest mountain outside Asia, Argentina's Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to the equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to .
Huaguruncho mountain range
The Huaguruncho mountain range (also spelled "Huagaruncho" or "Huagoruncho") is situated in the Andes of Peru. It extends in an easterly direction between 10°29' and 10°34'S and 75°50'W and 76°01'W for about . The range is located in the Huánuco Region, in the provinces of Ambo and Pachitea, and in the Pasco Region, in the provinces of Pasco and Oxapampa.
Pino Hachado Pass
Pino Hachado Pass () is a mountain pass through the Andes, joining Chile and Argentina. It is one of the principal passes of the southern Andes, connecting Argentina's route RN-22 and Chile's Route 181-CH.""
Los Ríos Region
The proper Andes extends from the eastern half of the Precordillean lakes to the border with Neuquén Province in Argentina. The Andes in this part of Chile, the Zona Sur, has almost escaped the Andean orogenesis. Here the Andes consist of old granitic plutons such as the Panguipulli Batholith and the North Patagonian Batholith together with volcanics and some minor areas of sediments and metasediments. As result of the minimal Andean mountainbuilding the mountains shows little rejuvenation and are mostly shaped by erosive agents, specially glaciers. An exception to this are the several volcanoes that rises east of the piedmont lakes, this volcanoes are among the most active in Chile and as result their form are influenced by the eruptions; either in constructive manner such as Villarrica Volcano or more destructive like Quetrupillán. The fact that these volcanoes have the ability to build up cones and rise again after erosion and explosive eruptions makes many of them the highest mountains in the region and Zona Sur. The volcanoes of Los Ríos Regions belong to the Southern Volcanic Zone of Andes, whose current activity front is located about 200 km west from the main Andean cordillera, this makes volcanoes stand out as isolated snow-covered cones of more than 2000 m, above the lower mountains that rarely pass the 1500 m. The main cordillera makes up the continental divide and are therefore according to the 1881 Argentina-Chile treaty the border between the two nations. Faults and glacier action have however made a gap at the site of Huahum Pass where waters from the eastern Argentine slopes drains westward to the Pacific Mountains at the cordillera may reach at most some 2000 m in height. Andean valleys of Los Ríos Region are deep and broad and either used for raising cattle or for wood lodging, as well as tourism and protection of biodiversity. These glacial valleys are placed above old Miocene rivers and faults. The chief fault is the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault that crosses the whole region from north to south allowing numerous valleys to develop above it. The Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault is tectonically active causing minor tremors and is also believed responsible by geologists for the alignment of the volcanoes of the southern section of the Southern Volcanic Zone. Along Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault there are several hotsprings such as Liquiñe, Chihuío, Termas Geométricas, Termas Vergara and Termas de Coñaripe.
Peru
Peru covers of western South America. It borders Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the southeast, Chile to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The Andes mountains run parallel to the Pacific Ocean; they define the three regions traditionally used to describe the country geographically.
Andes
About 30,000 species of vascular plants live in the Andes, with roughly half being endemic to the region, surpassing the diversity of any other hotspot. The small tree "Cinchona pubescens", a source of quinine which is used to treat malaria, is found widely in the Andes as far south as Bolivia. Other important crops that originated from the Andes are tobacco and potatoes. The high-altitude "Polylepis" forests and woodlands are found in the Andean areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. These trees, by locals referred to as Queñua, Yagual and other names, can be found at altitudes of above sea level. It remains unclear if the patchy distribution of these forests and woodlands is natural, or the result of clearing which began during the Incan period. Regardless, in modern times the clearance has accelerated, and the trees are now considered to be highly endangered, with some believing that as little as 10% of the original woodland remains.
25zero
While the 25zero mountains are spread around the world, more than half of them are located in the South American Andes mountain range, and chiefly in Ecuador.
Antarctandes
Some geologists consider the Antarctandes a southernmost continuation of the Andes Range System on Antarctica. According to this theory the Andes start at the border between Colombia and Venezuela; run along western South America; submerge into the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Tierra del Fuego to form the underwater Scotia Arc mountain range; resurface periodically in the Shag Rocs, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands; and finally resurfacing on the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Chile calls the peninsula "Tierra de O'Higgins", and Argentina "Tierra de San Martín".
Chile
The Chilean relief consists of the central depression, which crosses the country longitudinally, flanked by two mountain ranges that make up about 80% of the territory: the Andes mountains to the east-natural border with Bolivia and Argentina in the region of Atacama and the Coastal Range west-minor height from the Andes. Chile's highest peak is the Nevado Ojos del Salado, at 6891.3 m, which is also the highest volcano in the world. The highest point of the Coastal Range is Vicuña Mackenna, at 3114 meters, located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna, the south of Antofagasta. Among the coastal mountains and the Pacific is a series of coastal plains, of variable length, which allow the settlement of coastal towns and big ports. Some areas of the plains territories encompass territory east of the Andes, and the Patagonian steppes and Magellan, or are high plateaus surrounded by high mountain ranges, such as the Altiplano or Puna de Atacama.
Environmental issues in Chile
This page covers environmental issues in Chile. 
The country of Chile is a virtual continental island bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Andes Mountains on the east, and the Atacama Desert in the north; it is home to several important ecoregions, such as the Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests, a biodiversity hotspot that harbors richly endemic flora and fauna, and the Tropical Andes, which stretches into northern Chile.
Central Andean puna
The Central Andean puna is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion in the Andes of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina.
Andes
In modern times, the largest cities in the Andes are Bogotá, Colombia, with a population of about eight million, Santiago, Chile, and Medellin, Colombia. Lima is a coastal city adjacent to the Andes and is the largest city of all Andean countries. It is the seat of the Andean Community of Nations.
Geography of Chile
About 80 percent of the land in Chile is made up of mountains of some form or other. Most Chileans live near or on these mountains. The majestically snowcapped Andes and their precordillera elevations provide an ever-present backdrop to much of the scenery, but there are other, albeit less formidable, mountains as well. Although they seemingly can appear anywhere, the non-Andean mountains usually form part of transverse and coastal ranges. The former, located most characteristically in the near north and the far north natural regions, extend with various shapes from the Andes to the ocean, creating valleys with an east-west direction. The latter are evident mainly in the center of the country and create what is commonly called the Central Valley (Valle Central) between them and the Andes. In the far south, the Central Valley runs into the ocean's waters. At this location, the higher elevations of the coastal range facing the Andes become a multiplicity of islands, forming an intricate labyrinth of channels and fjords that have been an enduring challenge to maritime navigators.
Flag of the Andes
The flag of the Andes was a flag used by Argentine patriot José de San Martín and his Army of the Andes during their famous Crossing of the Andes and their subsequent military campaigns to Chile and Peru. The flag of the Andes was personally designed by San Martín and sewn by ladies from the Cuyo region and wives of San Martín's officers. It includes a proto-coat of arms of Argentina placed horizontally over a sky-blue and white bicolor background.
Argentine Northwest
West of these valleys the peaks of the Andes reach heights of over and the Altiplano, an extensive 3,500-meter high plateau, dominates the landscape and continues far north into Bolivia and Southern Peru.
American Cordillera
From north to south, this sequence of overlapping and parallel ranges begins with the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range in Alaska and runs through the Yukon into British Columbia. The main belt of the Rocky Mountains along with the parallel Columbia Mountains and Coast Ranges of mountains and islands continue through British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In the United States, the Cordillera branches include the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and various small Pacific coastal ranges. In Mexico, the Cordillera continues through the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental, as well as the backbone mountains of the Baja California peninsula.
Geography of Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad is traversed by three distinct mountain ranges that are a continuation of the Venezuelan coastal cordillera. The Northern Range, an outlier of the Andes Mountains of Venezuela, consists of rugged hills that parallel the coast. This range rises into two peaks. The highest, El Cerro del Aripo, is high; the other, El Tucuche, reaches . The Central Range extends diagonally across the island and is a low-lying range with swampy areas rising to rolling hills; its maximum elevation is . The Caroni Plain, composed of alluvial sediment, extends southward, separating the Northern Range and Central Range. The Southern Range consists of a broken line of hills with a maximum elevation of .
Chilean Antarctic Territory
The Chilean claim is mainly constituted by a sector of the Lesser Antarctica or West Antarctica, which includes the Antarctic Peninsula, known in Chile as Land of O'Higgins, it is crossed longitudinally by the mountains of the Antartandes. This mountain range is the continuation of the Andes. The Antartandes in turn, clearly differentiate three geographic areas in the Land of O'Higgins: the western slope, the central plateau and the eastern slope.
Cordillera del Cóndor
The Cordillera del Cóndor (Condor mountain range) is a mountain range in the eastern Andes that is shared by and part of the international border between Ecuador and Peru.
The range extends approximately 150 km north to south and its maximum elevation reaches approximately 2,900m. The Río Santiago and Cenepa River flow along its eastern slopes on the Peruvian side. For over 160 years, the area of the border was in dispute, and sparked armed conflicts between the two countries in 1941, 1981 and 1995. After the border conflict of 1995, the two countries began diplomatic negotiations, resulting in the 1998 peace treaty that established the exact location of the international border.
Inacaliri
Inacaliri is a mountain in the Andes Mountains, situated on the border of Bolivia and Chile in the Potosí Department and in the Antofagasta Region. It has a height of .
Venezuelan Coastal Range
The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System () is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the central and eastern portions of Venezuela's northern coast. The range is a northeastern extension of the Andes, and is also known as the Maritime Andes. It covers around 48,866 km, being the 4th largest natural region in Venezuela.
Argentine Monte
The Argentine Monte is in north-central Argentina, and has an area of .
It is to the east of the Andes and extends from Salta Province in the north to Chubut Province in the south.
It covers the eastern foothills of the Andes.
The ecoregion merges into the Patagonian steppe in the south, where it extends east to the Atlantic Ocean. 
In the north it lies between areas of Dry Chaco and Southern Andean Yungas to the east, and Central Andean puna and Southern Andean steppe to the west. 
In south it lies between Espinal to the east and Patagonian steppe to the west.
Geography of South America
The Andes are a Cenozoic mountain range formed (and still forming) Altiplano and a number of major valleys such as the Rio Magdalena. These contain three of the world's highest capitals: Bogotá, Quito and highest of all, La Paz, Bolivia. The southern Andes have been eroded by the Patagonian Ice Sheet and are much lower and narrower. There are a number of large glaciers in the northern part, but from latitude 19°S to 28°S the climate is so arid that no permanent ice can form even on the highest peaks. Permafrost, however, is widespread in this section of the Altiplano and continuous above .
Aconcagua Provincial Park
This range plays an important place in the history of Latin America. In 1818 General Don Jose de San Martin crossed these mountains during war with the Spanish Empire eventually securing independence for Chile by his daring raid. The summit of the mountain Aconcagua, the tallest mount in the Andes range, was considered unattainable for many years until January 14, 1897, then Matthias Zurbriggen, a member of the FitzGerald expedition finally reached it. Since then many climbers made the same ascent to the top. Needless to say it is a dangerous endeavor that requires stamina and experience.
Cordillera Carabaya
The Cordillera Carabaya (Spanish for "Carabaya mountain range") lies in the Andes of Peru. It extends between 14°00' and 14°22'S and 69°38' and 70°19'W for about 75 km. It is located in the Puno Region, Carabaya Province, between the Vilcanota mountain range in the north-west and the Apolobamba mountain range in the south-east, north and north-east of Macusani.
Vertical archipelago
Absent the use of trade to access resources, economic transactions were essentially intra-lineage obligations of labor. These lineages required a base level of self-sufficiency to achieve autarky. In the Andes, a long mountain range with a great variety of ecozones and resources, the need to access the proper lands for specific crops or animals meant lineages created miniature colonies or sent seasonal migration (such as transhumance) in different ecoregions. As the Andes are a relatively young mountain range, there is an especially great variation in rainfall and temperature, which has great importance for agriculture. This is all the more important as only about 2% of the land in the Andes is arable.
List of Pyrenean three-thousanders
All the peaks in this list are in Spain (59 peaks) or France (26 peaks), or delimit the border between the two countries (45). The two highest major mountains and their subsidiary summits (Aneto and Posets - Zone 7 and 9) are entirely in Spain, together with the Besiberri peaks (zone 10) while Pic Long and surrounding mountains (zone 5) are entirely in France. Most of the other mountains lie on or close to the border. The small country of Andorra is located in the eastern portion of the Pyrenees and is surrounded by Spain and France; its highest mountain – Coma Pedrosa at – falls below the 3,000-metre threshold. The mountains are listed by height within each of the 11 zones.
Andean states
The Andean states () are a group of nations in South America connected by the Andes mountain range. "Andean States" is sometimes used to refer to all seven countries that the Andes runs through, regions with a shared culture primarily spread during the times of the Inca Empire (such as the Quechua language and Andean cuisine), or it can be used in a geopolitical sense to designate countries in the region that are members of the Andean Community trade group and have a local (as opposed to European) cultural orientation.
Climate of Argentina
Although the centre and the eastern parts of the country are mostly flat, the west is mountainous. Both the Andes and Sierras Pampeanas affect the climate of Argentina, leading to differences in temperature, pressure, and spatial distribution of precipitation depending on the topography and altitude. Here, the Andes exert an important influence on the climate. Owing to the higher altitudes of the Andes north of 40S, they completely block the normal westerly flow, preventing low pressure systems containing moisture from the Pacific Ocean from coming in. Thus, much of Argentina north of 40S is dominated by wind circulation patterns from the South Atlantic High. South of 40S, the Andes are lower in altitude, allowing much of Patagonia to be dominated by westerly winds and air masses from the Pacific Ocean. However, the north–south orientation of the Andes creates a barrier for humid air masses originating from the Pacific Ocean. This is because they force these air masses upwards, cooling adiabactically. Most of the moisture is dropped on the Chilean side, causing abundant precipitation and cloudiness while on the Argentine side, the air warms adiabatically, causing it to become drier as it descends. Thus, an extensive rain–shadow is present in much of Patagonia, causing it to receive very little precipitation. The Sierras Pampeanas influences the climate on a much smaller scale than the Andes.
Frontal Cordillera
Frontal Cordillera () is a mountain range in western Argentina that forms part of the Andes. It extends in a north-south direction in the provinces of La Rioja, San Juan and Mendoza. To the west of the Frontal Cordillera lies the Principal Cordillera that makes up the Argentina–Chile border and the continental divide.
Plateau
The parallel Sierra of Andes delimit one of the world highest plateaux: the Altiplano, (Spanish for "high plain"), Andean Plateau or Bolivian Plateau. It lies in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. The bulk of the Altiplano lies within Bolivian and Peruvian territory while its southern parts lie in Chile. The Altiplano plateau hosts several cities like Puno, Oruro, El Alto and La Paz the administrative seat of Bolivia. Northeastern Altiplano is more humid than the Southwestern, the latter of which hosts several salares, or salt flats, due to its aridity. At the Bolivia-Peru border lies Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America.
International law
The Andean Community of Nations is the first attempt to integrate the countries of the Andes Mountains in South America. It started with the Cartagena Agreement of 26 May 1969, and consists of four countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Andean Community follows supranational laws, called Agreements, which are mandatory for these countries.
Ed Darack
Wild Winds: Adventures in the Highest Andes, an adventure travel narrative, chronicles Darack's ascents of and travels throughout the highest peaks of the Andes of South America through narrative, photographs, and maps. Ascents include those of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, Argentina, the Western Hemisphere, and the Southern Hemisphere (and one of the Seven Summits), Ojos del Salado, the world's highest volcano and highest mountain in Chile, Nevado Sajama, the highest mountain in Bolivia, and also Monte Pissis and Llullaillaco. Published by AlpenBooks on November 1, 2001, "Wild Winds" was cited by "The New York Times" on the subject of the "Death Zone."
Eastern Frontal Fault System
The long Afiladores Fault runs through a geographic area of the Andes where the Central and Eastern Ranges merge into a single range known as the "Cordillera Centro-Oriental de Colombia". The fault offsets Precambrian gneisses and schists, metamorphic Paleozoic rocks, Mesozoic granitic rocks, and Tertiary sedimentary deposits. The fault extends south into the Republic of Ecuador and probably connects with the Chingual Fault.
Cordillera Central, Andes
There are several Cordillera Central mountain ranges in the Andes mountains of South America:
Montane grasslands and shrublands
The paramos of the northern Andes are the most extensive examples of this habitat type. Although ecoregion biotas are most diverse in the Andes, these ecosystems are distinctive wherever they occur in the tropics. The heathlands and moorlands of East Africa (e.g., Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Rwenzori Mountains), Mount Kinabalu of Borneo, and the Central Range of New Guinea are all limited in extent, isolated, and support endemic plants and animals.
Zona Austral
An important transverse mountain range of the Andes separates the valleys of the rivers Simpson and Ibañez. This section is dominated by the active Hudson volcano and the jagged Cerro Castillo.
Amazonas Region
The area of the Chachapoyas corresponds to a region that was part of a mountain range and covered by dense tropical woods. It was named as the Amazonian Andes, to replace the former "mountain region".
Alaska Range
The range is the highest in the world outside Asia and the Andes.
Andean states
When grouped as "the Andean states", the emphasis is on the mountainous regions of these countries. For example, the Argentine "pampas" are not part of the Andean region, but western Argentina along with Chile is part of the Andean region. Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia are part of the Andean Community (a trade grouping), and each contains Amazon Rainforest and Amazonian indigenous people as well as Andean mountains.
Mountaineering
There has been a long tradition of climbers going on expeditions to the Greater Ranges, a term generally used for the Andes (e.g. the Cordillera Blanca in Peru) and the high peaks of Asia including the Himalayas (e.g. the Mount Everest of Nepal/Tibet/ India), Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Pamir Mountains, Tien Shan and Kunlun Mountains. In the past this was often on exploratory trips or to make first ascents. With the advent of cheaper, long-haul air travel, mountaineering holidays in the Greater Ranges are now undertaken much more frequently and ascents of even Everest and Vinson Massif (the highest mountain in Antarctica) are offered as a "package holiday".
Cordillera Negra
The Cordillera Negra (Spanish for "black range") is part of the "Cordillera Occidental", one of three mountain ranges in the Andes of west central Peru. It is almost entirely located within the Ancash Region.
Andes
The Andes rose to fame for their mineral wealth during the Spanish conquest of South America. Although Andean Amerindian peoples crafted ceremonial jewelry of gold and other metals, the mineralizations of the Andes were first mined in large scale after the Spanish arrival. Potosí in present-day Bolivia and Cerro de Pasco in Peru were one of the principal mines of the Spanish Empire in the New World. Río de la Plata and Argentina derive their names from the silver of Potosí.
Geological history of the Precordillera terrane
The Precordillera terrane of western Argentina is a large mountain range located southeast of the main Andes mountain range. The evolution of the Precordillera is noted for its unique formation history compared to the region nearby. The Cambrian-Ordovian sedimentology in the Precordillera terrane has its source neither from old Andes nor nearby country rock, but shares similar characteristics with the Grenville orogeny of eastern North America. This indicates a rift-drift history of the Precordillera in the early Paleozoic. The Precordillera is a moving micro-continent which started from the southeast part of the ancient continent Laurentia (current location: North American plate). The separation of the Precordillera (also named Cuyania) started around the early Cambrian. The mass collided with Gondwana (the ancient supercontinent in the southern hemisphere) around Late Ordovician period. Different models and thinking of rift-drift process and the time of occurrence have been proposed. This page focuses on the evidence of drifting found in the stratigraphical record of the Precordillera, as well as exhibiting models of how the Precordillera drifted to Gondwana. 
Precordillera is a Spanish geographical term for hills and mountains lying before a greater range. The term is derived from "cordillera" (mountain range)—literally "pre-mountain range"—and applied usually to the Andes.
Pampas cat
The Pampas cat ranges throughout most of Argentina and Uruguay into the Gran Chaco and Cerrado of Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil, and north through the Andes mountain chain through Ecuador and possibly marginally into southwestern Colombia. It occurs in a wide range of habitats and inhabits elevations between in "páramo", marginally also in puna grassland and locally in dry forest. Where its range overlaps with the Andean mountain cat in northwestern Argentina, it occurs at lower altitudes on average. In central to northwestern Argentina, the Pampas cat is found at elevations below in grassland, mesophytic and dry forest, and shrubland. In southern Argentina and far southern Chile, it is found in Patagonian steppes and shrubland at altitudes below .
Puna grassland
The Puna grassland ecoregion, of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome, is found in the central Andes Mountains of South America. It is considered one of the eight Natural Regions in Peru, but extends south, across Bolivia, as far as northern Argentina and Chile. The term puna encompasses diverse ecosystems of the high Central Andes above 3200–3400 m.
Andes
The Andes Mountains host large ore and salt deposits and some of their eastern fold and thrust belt acts as traps for commercially exploitable amounts of hydrocarbons. In the forelands of the Atacama desert some of the largest porphyry copper mineralizations occurs making Chile and Peru the first and second largest exporters of copper in the world. Porphyry copper in the western slopes of the Andes has been generated by hydrothermal fluids (mostly water) during the cooling of plutons or volcanic systems. The porphyry mineralization further benefited from the dry climate that let them largely out of the disturbing actions of meteoric water. The dry climate in the central western Andes has also led to the creation of extensive saltpeter deposits which were extensively mined until the invention of synthetic nitrates. Yet another result of the dry climate are the salars of Atacama and Uyuni, the first one being the largest source of lithium today and the second the world's largest reserve of the element. Early Mesozoic and Neogene plutonism in Bolivia's Cordillera Central created the Bolivian tin belt as well as the famous, now depleted, deposits of Cerro Rico de Potosí.
Wet Andes
The Wet Andes () is a climatic and glaciological subregion of the Andes. Together with the Dry Andes it is one of the two subregions of the Argentine and Chilean Andes. The Wet Andes runs from a latitude of 35°S to Cape Horn at 56°S. According to Luis Lliboutry the Wet Andes can be classified after the absence of penitentes. In Argentina well developed penitentes are found as south as on Lanín Volcano (40°S). The glaciers of the Wet Andes have a far more stable line of equilibrium than those of the Dry Andes due to summer precipitations, low thermal oscillations and an overall high moisture.
Cordillera Central (Peru)
The Cordillera Central (Spanish for central mountain range) is part of the Andes in Peru. It extends in a northerly direction approximately between 11º 39’ and 12º 37’S and 75º 30’ and 76º 20’W (or between 11°37' and 12°26'S and 75°30' and 76°18'W) for about 60 km to 100 km. It contains the Paryaqaqa (P), Yauyos (Y) and Pichqa Waqra (PW) mountain ranges. It is located in the Junín Region and in the Lima Region.
Montane ecosystems
The most extensive montane grasslands and shrublands occur in the Neotropic páramo of the Andes Mountains. This biome also occurs in the mountains of east and central Africa, Mount Kinabalu of Borneo, highest elevations of the Western Ghats in South India and the Central Highlands of New Guinea. A unique feature of many wet tropical montane regions is the presence of giant rosette plants from a variety of plant families, such as "Lobelia" (Afrotropic), "Puya" (Neotropic), "Cyathea" (New Guinea), and "Argyroxiphium" (Hawaii).
Pircas Negras Pass
The Pircas Negras Pass (Spanish: Paso Pircas Negras) is a pass over the Andes mountains which connects Argentina and Chile. The border crossing between Argentina and Chile is at AMSL.
Altiplano
The Altiplano is an area of inland drainage (endorheism) lying in the central Andes, occupying parts of northern Chile and Argentina, western Bolivia and southern Peru. Its height averages about 3,750 meters (12,300 feet), slightly less than that of the Tibetan Plateau. Unlike conditions in Tibet, the Altiplano is dominated by massive active volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone to the west, such as Ampato (6288 m), Tutupaca (5,816 m), Parinacota (6348 m), Guallatiri (6071 m), Paruma (5,728 m), Uturunku (6,008 m) and Licancabur (5,916 m), and the Cordillera Real in the north east with Illampu (6,368 m), Huayna Potosí (6,088 m), Janq'u Uma (6,427 m) and Illimani (6,438 m). The Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas on the planet, lies to the southwest of the Altiplano; to the east lies the humid Amazon rainforest.
Cultural landscape
Qhapaq Ñan is an extensive Inca communication, trade and defense network of roads covering 30,000  km. Constructed by the Incas over several centuries and partly based on pre-Inca infrastructure, this extraordinary network through one of the world’s most extreme geographical terrains linked the snow-capped peaks of the Andes – at an altitude of more than 6,000 m – to the coast, running through hot rainforests, fertile valleys, and absolute deserts. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century when it spread across the length and breadth of the Andes. The Qhapac Ñan, Andean Road System includes 273 component sites spread over more than 6,000  km that were selected to highlight the social, political, architectural and engineering achievements of the network, along with its associated infrastructure for trade, accommodation, and storage, as well as sites of religious significance. [16]
Caminandes
The title "Caminandes" is a portmanteau of the Spanish word "caminar" ("to walk") and Andes, the longest continental mountain range in the world. The subtitles of the episodes are also portmanteaus of various Spanish words.
Alps
The Alps (; ; ; ; ; ) are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, separating Southern from Central and Western Europe and stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than .
Los Andes, Chile
Los Andes, founded in July 31, 1791 as Santa Rosa de Los Andes, is a Chilean city and commune located in the province of the same name, in Valparaíso Region ("Fifth Region" of Chile). It lies on the route between Santiago and Chile's primary border crossing with Argentina by way of the summit of the Uspallata Pass in the Andes mountain range.
Nevado Tres Cruces
Nevado Tres Cruces is a massif of volcanic origin in the Andes Mountains on the border of Argentina and Chile. It has two main summits, Tres Cruces Sur at and Tres Cruces Centro at and a third more minor summit, Tres Cruces Norte . Tres Cruces Sur is the sixth highest mountain in the Andes. The area was first surveyed in 1883 by Francisco San Román and the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park was established in 1994.
Ecuador
The Andes is the "watershed divisor" between the Amazon watershed, which runs to the east, and the Pacific, including the north–south rivers Mataje, Santiago, Esmeraldas, Chone, Guayas, Jubones, and Puyango-Tumbes.
Northwestern Andean montane forests
The Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) is an ecoregion on the Andes mountains in the west of Colombia and Ecuador.
Both flora and fauna are highly diverse due to effect of ice ages when the warmer climate zones were separated and the cooler ones combined, and interglacial periods when the reverse occurred. Because the environment is hospitable to humans, the habitat has been drastically modified by farming and grazing since the Pre-Columbian era.
Chilean Coast Range
The Chilean Coastal Range () is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, where it ends at the Chile Triple Junction, in the south. The range has a strong influence on the climate of Chile since it produces a rain shadow to the east. Because of this the vegetation growing on the seaward slopes is much more exuberant than in the interior. Compared to the coastal lowlands and the Intermediate Depression it is sparsely populated with land use varying from protected areas to grazing and silviculture. The range is present in all Chilean regions except for Coquimbo Region and Magallanes Region.
Crossing of the Andes
The idea of crossing the Andes was already developed by secret lodges seeking the independence of South America, and was part of the Maitland Plan designed by Thomas Maitland. San Martín learned of it during his brief time in Britain, before sailing to South America. After becoming aware of the difficulty of attacking the royalist stronghold of Lima across Upper Peru, he decided to proceed with such a plan.
Andes
Tectonic forces above the subduction zone along the entire west coast of South America where the Nazca Plate and a part of the Antarctic Plate are sliding beneath the South American Plate continue to produce an ongoing orogenic event resulting in minor to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to this day. In the extreme south, a major transform fault separates Tierra del Fuego from the small Scotia Plate. Across the wide Drake Passage lie the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula south of the Scotia Plate which appear to be a continuation of the Andes chain.
Sierras Pampeanas
The Sierras Pampeanas are a chain of mountains that rise sharply from the surrounding pampa region of Northwest Argentina. They run parallel to the Andes Mountains and their crest line is some east of the Andes crest line (running from 29° to 35° S latitude at about 65° W longitude). They cross into seven Argentina provinces: San Luis, San Juan, Córdoba, La Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán.
Andean condor
The Andean condor is a popular figure on stamps in many countries, appearing on one for Ecuador in 1958, Argentina in 1960, Peru in 1973, Bolivia in 1985, Colombia in 1992, Chile in 2001, and Venezuela in 2004. It has also appeared on the coins and banknotes of Colombia and Chile. The condor is featured in several coats of arms of Andean countries as a symbol of Andes mountains.
Mountain range
Most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earth's land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Pacific Ring of Fire includes the Andes of South America, extends through the North American Cordillera along the Pacific Coast, the Aleutian Range, on through Kamchatka, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, to New Zealand. The Andes is long and is often considered the world's longest mountain system.
Geology of the Pacific Ocean
As a result of the collision of the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate, the Andes Mountains emerged in western South America, close to the Peru–Chile Trench. Many large fracture zones aligned in an east-west direction, occur in the floor of the northeastern Pacific.
Eddie Bauer
Cerro Aconcagua, one of the Seven Summits, is the highest mountain in the Americas and the highest outside Asia. It is located in Argentina and is part of the Andes Mountain Range. The climb took place on the 4–24 January 2009. The expedition team was made up of the six Team First Ascent guides from RMI: Ed Viesturs, Peter Whittaker, Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot, Chad Peele, and Seth Waterfall as well as Eddie Bauer Director of Outerwear Merchandising, Andrew Turner and videographer Gerry Moffat and still photographer Jake Norton who had accompanied the team on Cotopaxi. The purpose of the climb was to put the First Ascent gear through its final round of field trials. Whittaker, the team leader coordinated the efforts of the Guide team and monitored the performance of the clients who were participating in the climb. After a storm high on the mountain not all the clients were able to make the summit and guide Melissa Arnot led them down to the lower camps.
Andean states
The Andes extend through the western part of South America in following countries:
Annamite Range
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (; ; ) is a mountain range of eastern Indochina. It extends approximately through Laos, Vietnam, and a small area in northeast Cambodia. The mountain range is also referred to variously as Annamese Range, Annamese Mountains, Annamese Cordillera, Annamite Mountains and Annamite Cordillera.
Geography of Ecuador
The central belt of Ecuador that includes the Andes Mountains, inland from the coast; with volcanoes and mountain peaks that sport year-round snow on the equator; many areas long since deforested by agriculture; a number of cut-flower growing operations; at a certain altitude zone may be found cloud forests.
Andes
Though precipitation increases with the height, there are semiarid conditions in the nearly highest mountains of the Andes. This dry steppe climate is considered to be typical of the subtropical position at 32–34° S. The valley bottoms have no woods, just dwarf scrub. The largest glaciers, as e.g. the Plomo glacier and the Horcones glaciers, do not even reach in length and have an only insignificant ice thickness. At glacial times, however, c. 20,000 years ago, the glaciers were over ten times longer. On the east side of this section of the Mendozina Andes, they flowed down to and on the west side to about above sea level. The massifs of Cerro Aconcagua (), Cerro Tupungato () and Nevado Juncal () are tens of kilometres away from each other and were connected by a joint ice stream network. The Andes' dendritic glacier arms, i.e. components of valley glaciers, were up to long, over thick and overspanned a vertical distance of . The climatic glacier snowline (ELA) was lowered from to at glacial times.
Yungas
The Yungas (Aymara "yunka" warm or temperate Andes or earth, Quechua "yunka" warm area on the slopes of the Andes) is a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. It is a transitional zone between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests. Like the surrounding areas, the Yungas belong to the Neotropic ecozone; the climate is rainy, humid, and warm.
Continental Divide of the Americas
The Divide continues into South America, where it follows the peaks of the Andes Mountains, traversing western Colombia, central Ecuador, western and southwestern Peru, and eastern Chile (essentially conforming to the Chile-Bolivia and Chile-Argentina boundaries), southward to the southern end of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
Huanzo mountain range
The Huanzo mountain range (possibly from in the Quechua spelling "Wansu") lies in the Andes of Peru. It extends between 14°30 and 15°01'S and 72°10 and 73°15W for about 57 km. It is situated in the Apurímac Region, Antabamba Province, in the Arequipa Region, Castilla Province, La Unión Province, in the Ayacucho Region, Parinacochas Province, and in the Chumbivilcas Province of the Cusco Region.
Andean Volcanic Belt
The Austral Volcanic Zone (AVZ) is a volcanic arc in the Andes of southwestern South America. It is one of the four volcanic zones of the Andes. The AVZ extends south of the Patagonian Volcanic Gap to Tierra del Fuego archipelago, a distance of well over 600 mi (1,000 km). The arc has formed due to subduction of the Antarctic Plate under the South American Plate. Eruption products consist chiefly of alkaline basalt and basanite. Volcanism in the Austral Volcanic Zone is less vigorous than in the Southern Volcanic Zone. Recorded eruptions are rare due to the area being unexplored well into the 19th century; the cloudy weather of its western coast might also have prevented sightings of eruptions. The Austral Volcanic Zone hosts both glaciated stratovolcanoes as well as subglacial volcanoes under the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
The Sierra Nevada is a compact group, relatively small in area, and completely surrounded by lands with elevations below . Although it is associated with the Tropical Andes, the main backbone of the Andes cannot be reached from the Sierra Nevada without dropping below this level. This makes its highest point the world's fifth most prominent summit.
Venezuelan Andes
The Venezuelan Andes (Spanish: "Andes Venezolanos") also simply known as the Andes (Spanish: "Los Andes") in Venezuela, are a mountain system that form the northernmost extension of the Andes. They are fully identified, both by their geological origin as by the components of the relief, the constituent rocks and the geological structure.
Antarctandes
The Antarctandes ("Antartandes" in Spanish), also known as the Antarctic Peninsula cordillera, is the mountain range that is located on the northern Antarctic Peninsula, in the Graham Land and Palmer Land regions of Antarctica and may also be considered to extend across the continent.
Antofalla
Antofalla is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, which runs along the border between Argentina and Chile and whose main expression occurs in the Western Cordillera. The volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone lie at high altitudes, and the volcanic zone spans the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Present-day activity in the Central Volcanic Zone occurs at Lascar and Lastarria, and about 44 centres have been active in the Holocene. Aside from stratovolcanoes, calderas with large ignimbrites are also part of the Central Volcanic Zone; the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex is a complex of such large calderas.
Andes
However, there is one railroad that connects Chile with Peru via the Andes, and there are others that make the same connection via southern Bolivia. See railroad maps of that region.
List of Pyrenean three-thousanders
This list contains all of the Pyrenean three-thousanders, namely the 129 mountain summits of  or more above sea level in the Pyrenees, a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. The Pyrenees separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about from the Bay of Biscay (Cap Higuer) to the Mediterranean Sea (Cap de Creus). The highest mountain in the Pyrenees is Aneto in Spain at .
Andes
The Andes of Chile and Argentina can be divided in two climatic and glaciological zones: the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes. Since the Dry Andes extend from the latitudes of Atacama Desert to the area of Maule River, precipitation is more sporadic and there are strong temperature oscillations. The line of equilibrium may shift drastically over short periods of time, leaving a whole glacier in the ablation area or in the accumulation area.
Northwestern Andean montane forests
The Northwestern Andean montane forests ecoregion extends along the Cordillera Occidental (Western Range) of the Andes in Colombia and the Cordillera Occidental of Ecuador. 
It covers an area of .