Internet, and before the Internet the books world almanac or Guinness records , are witness to our curiosity to know which are the most notable landforms: the most important rivers long or mighty, the deepest sea trenches, the largest lakes or the driest deserts.As for the highest mountain, the list is usually headed by Everest, and it seems logical that this is always the case because geographical accidents do not usually change Overnight, do you?
Mount EverestBecause in recent times this peak of the Himalayas has ceased to be considered by some geographers as the highest mountain in the world , and you will see why.
Did you know that Chimborazo is the highest mountain in the world?
The first blow to the pride of this mole that China and Nepal share gave it a Hawaiian volcano, the Mauna Kea .You see, Everest, with its 8,848 meters , is the highest mountain in the world above sea level (This is why heights are usually accompanied by the abbreviations “msnm”), but if measured from the base of the mountain , the highest mountain would be the Mauna Kea volcano (in the Hawaiian Islands), with 10,200 m, followed by Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania (Africa), with 5,600 m, and then Everest would come, which from its base measures 5,200 m.
Mauna Kea volcano in HawaiiThis is not all: although the 100 mountains The highest in the world are in Asia, distributed mostly in the Himalayan and Karakorum mountain ranges, and that in this continent there are also all the mountains that exceed 7,000 meters high, none of them is the mountain more high of the world if the center of the Earth is taken as a reference , on the one hand, and the proximity to the sun , on the other.In that case the first place corresponds to another volcano, belonging also to the Pacific fire belt, but located in South America: Chimborazo .
El Chimborazo, in EcuadorAnd it is curious, because this Ecuadorian volcano, with its 6,268 masl , is not even among the 20 highest mountains in South America, but, when measuring the distance from the top to the center of the Earth, becomes a peak of 6,384 m and the point of the Earth more close to the sun , comfortably surpassing Everest and for about 40 meters to the second highest mountain, which would become the snowy Huascaran , in Peru.
The explanation for this is ba It is simple and has to do with the shape of the Earth.The Chimborazo is the highest mountain in the Andes near the geographical equator, where the diameter of the Earth is larger, while the Himalayan and Karokorum peaks are more to the north.
KilimanjaroThe Chimborazo is the geographical proof that size does not really matter, but location.
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Images: Raul Jose, Tash Shabajee, Prayitno/Thank you for (10 million +) views, Maureen Barlin, Gary Craig
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