Position and name of the Alps

General position mountain ranges in europe

The continent of Europe is no more than a great peninsula extending westwards from the much vaster continent of Asia, while it is itself broken up by two inland seas into several smaller peninsulas -- the Mediterranean forming the Iberian, the Italian and the Greek peninsulas, while the Baltic forms that of Scandinavia and the much smaller one of Denmark. Save the last-named, all these peninsulas of Europe are essentially mountain ranges.

Specific position of the alps

In the passage of man, plants and animals, as well as of currents of air which mitigate the contrast that would otherwise be found between the climates of the opposite slopes.

Ethymology of the name alp

The derivation of the name Alps is still very uncertain, some writers connecting it with a Celtic root alb, said to mean height, while others suggest the Latin adjective albus (white), referring to the colour of the snowy peaks. But in all parts of the great chain itself, the term Alp (or Alm in the Eastern Alps) is exclusively applied to the high mountain pastures, and not to the peaks and ridges of the chain.