000			01819 a2200193 4500
008			240607b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781526660527 (PB)
041			_aeng
080			_a910 _bKEAY
100			_aKeay, John
245			_aHimalaya _b: Exploring the Roof of the World
260			_bBloomsbury Publishing _c2022 _aLondon
300			_axliv, 377p. _bcol. ill.
504			_aIncludes Index
520			_aHistory has not been kind to Himalaya. Empires have collided here, cultures have clashed. Buddhist India claimed it from the south, Islam put down roots in its western approaches, Mongols and Manchus rode in from the north, and, from the east, China continues to absorb what it prefers not to call Tibet. Hunters have decimated its wildlife and mountaineers have bagged its peaks. Today, machinery gouges minerals out of its rock. Roughly the size of Europe, the region is one of the most seismically active on the planet. Summers bring avalanches, rainfall triggers landslides and winters obliterate trails. Glaciers retreat, rivers change course and whole lakes quietly evaporate. To some, Himalaya is an otherworldly realm, profoundly life-changing, yet forbidding and forbidden. It has mesmerised scholars and mystics, sportsmen and spies, pilgrims and mapmakers who have mingled with the farmers and traders on the 'Roof of the World'. Himalaya is the story of one of the last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and improbable achievements of its pioneers. Ranging from botany to trade, from the Great Game to today's geopolitics, John Keay draws on a lifetime of exploration and study to enlighten and delight with this lively biography of a region in crisis.
650			_aHimalaya Mountains -- Description and travel
690			_aGeneral
942			_cBK
999			_c60386 _d60386