Carpathian Mountains
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The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
and
Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The highest peaks in the Carpathians are in the Tatra Mountains, exceeding , closely followed by those in the Southern Carpathians in Romania, exceeding . The range stretches from the Western Carpathians in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
and
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, clockwise through the
Eastern Carpathians Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
in
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
and
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, to the Southern Carpathians in Romania and Serbia.About the Carpathians – Carpathian Heritage Society

"The Carpathians" European Travel Commission, in The Official Travel Portal of Europe, Retrieved 15 November 2016

The Carpathian Project: Carpathian Mountains in Serbia, Institute for Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade (2008), Retrieved: 15 November 2016
The term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The Carpathians provide habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves,
chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...
, and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one-third of all European plant species. The mountains and their
foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...
also have many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania having one-third of the European total. Romania is likewise home to the second-largest area of virgin forests in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians, with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe's largest unfragmented forest area. Rates of forest loss due to clearcutting, and deforestation due to illegal logging in the Carpathians are high.


Name

In modern times, the range is called in Czech, Polish and Slovak and in Ukrainian, / in
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
, in Romanian, in Rusyn, in German and in Hungarian. Although the toponym was recorded by
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
in the second century AD, the modern form of the name is a
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
in most languages.


Historical names

In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as ''Montes Sarmatici'' (meaning
Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...
Mountains). The Western Carpathians were called ''Carpates'', a name that is first recorded in
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's '' Geographia'' (second century AD). In the Scandinavian '' Hervarar saga'', which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between
Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...
and
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
, the name ''Karpates'' appears in the predictable Germanic form as ''Harvaða fjöllum'' (see
Grimm's law Grimm's law, also known as the First Germanic Consonant Shift or First Germanic Sound Shift, is a set of sound laws describing the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the first millennium BC, first d ...
). "''Inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia''" ("Between the Hunic Alps and the ocean lies Poland") by Gervase of Tilbury, was described in his ''Otia Imperialia'' ("Recreation for an Emperor") in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains ''Thorchal'', ''Tarczal'', or less frequently ''Montes Nivium'' ("Snowy Mountains"). ''Havasok'' ("Snowy Mountains") was its medieval Hungarian name. Russian chronicles referred to it as "Hungarian Mountains". Later sources, such as Dimitrie Cantemir and the Italian chronicler Giovanandrea Gromo, referred to the range as "Transylvania's Mountains", while the 17th-century historian Constantin Cantacuzino translated the name of the mountains in an Italian-Romanian glossary to "Rumanian Mountains".


Etymology

The etymology of the Carpathians is not clearly established, but the name "Carpates" is highly associated with the old Dacian tribes called " Carpes" or " Carpi" who lived in an area to the east of the Carpathians, from the east, northeast of the Black Sea to the Transylvanian Plain in the present day Romania and Moldova.


Potential root words

''Karpates'' is considered a Paleo-Balkan name, with evidence provided by the Albanian ''kárpë / kárpa'', pl. ''kárpa / kárpat'' ('rock, stiff'), and the Messapic ''karpa'' ' tuff (rock),
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
' (preserved as ''càrpë'' 'tuff' in Bitonto dialect and ''càrparu'' 'limestone' in Salentino). This connection is further supported by the fact that also the oronym '' Beskydy'', a series of mountain ranges in the Carpathians, has a meaning in Albanian: ''bjeshkë / bjeshkët'' 'high mountains, mountain pastures' (cf. also the Albanian oronym ''Bjeshkët e Namuna'', the Accursed Mountains / Albanian Alps).Çabej, Eqrem. (1972). Studime Filologjike. universiteti shtetëror i Tiranës. p. 67. The name ''Carpates'' may ultimately be from the Proto Indo-European root ''*sker-''/''*ker-'', which meant mountain, rock, or rugged (cf. Albanian ''kárpë'', Germanic root ''*skerp-'', Old Norse "harrow", Gothic ''skarpo'', Middle Low German ''scharf'' "potsherd", and Modern High German ''Scherbe'' "shard", Lithuanian ''kar~pas'' "cut, hack, notch", Latvian ''cìrpt'' "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word ''karpa'' meant 'rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots, or trunks'. The more common word ''skarpa'' means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain, cf. Old English and English ''sharp''. The name may instead come from Indo-European * 'to turn', akin to Old English 'to turn, change' (English ''warp'') and Greek 'wrist', perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.


Geography

Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not form an uninterrupted chain of mountains, but consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups. The northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and
Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
near Orșova in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over . The mountain chain's width varies between . The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest, in the Transylvanian plateau and in the southern Tatra Mountains group. The highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia is the highest peak, is above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of . After the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
, they form the next-most extensive mountain system in Europe. Percentage of the range by country is:
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
 (3%) and
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
 (1%) in the northwest through
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
 (21%),
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
 (10%),
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
 (10%),
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
 (50%) to
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
 (5%) in the south. It was believed that no area of the Carpathian range was covered in snow all year round and there were no glaciers, but recent research by Polish scientists discovered one
permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
and glacial area in the Tatra Mountains.


Comparison with the Alps

The Carpathians, which attain an altitude over in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large
glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s, high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. The Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and
flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...
. The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
, only meeting at the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates the Carpathians from the
Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...
at Orșova in Romania. The valley of the
March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
and Oder separates the Carpathians from the
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
n and
Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...
n chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe. Unlike the other wings of the system, the Carpathians, which form the watershed between the northern seas and the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
, are surrounded on all sides by plains. The Pannonian plain is to the southwest, the Lower Danubian Plain to the south, with the southern part being in
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, and the northern – in (Romania), and the Galician plain to the northeast.


Mountain passes

In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians,
mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
es include Prislop Pass, Tihuța Pass, Bicaz Canyon, Ghimeș Pass, Buzău Pass, Predeal Pass (crossed by the railway from Brașov to
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
),
Turnu Roșu Pass Turnu Roșu Pass (, , , , all of these names meaning ''Red Tower Pass'' in the respective languages) is a mountain pass in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians, connecting Vâlcea County (Wallachia) and Sibiu County (Transylvania). It i ...
(1,115 ft., running through the narrow gorge of the Olt River and crossed by the railway from Sibiu to Bucharest), Vulcan Pass, and the Iron Gate (both crossed by the railway from
Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
to
Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...
).


Geology

The area now occupied by the Carpathians was once occupied by smaller ocean basins. The Carpathian mountains were formed during the Alpine orogeny in the
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...
and Cenozoic by moving the ALCAPA (Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian), Tisza and
Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...
plates over subducting
oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramaf ...
. The mountains take the form of a fold and thrust belt with generally north
vergence A vergence is the simultaneous movement of both eyes in opposite directions to obtain or maintain single binocular vision. When a creature with binocular vision looks at an object, the eyes must rotate around a vertical axis so that the proj ...
in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion. Currently, the area is the most seismically active in Central Europe. The external, generally northern, portion of the orogenic belt is a Tertiary accretionary wedge of a so-called Flysch belt (the Carpathian Flysch Belt) created by rocks scraped off the sea bottom and thrust over the North-European plate. The Carpathian accretionary wedge is made of several thin skinned nappes composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene
turbidite A turbidite is the geologic Deposition (geology), deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean. Sequencing ...
s. Thrusting of the Flysch nappes over the Carpathian foreland caused the formation of the Carpathian foreland basin. The boundary between the Flysch belt and internal zones of the orogenic belt in the western segment of the mountain range is marked by the Pieniny Klippen Belt, a narrow complicated zone of polyphase compressional deformation, later involved in a supposed strike-slip zone. Internal zones in western and eastern segments contain older Variscan igneous massifs reworked in Mesozoic thick and thin-skinned nappes. During the Middle
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
this zone was affected by intensive calc-alkaline arc volcanism that developed over the subduction zone of the flysch basins. At the same time, the internal zones of the orogenic belt were affected by large extensional structure of the
back-arc The back-arc region is the area behind a volcanic arc. In island arc, island volcanic arcs, it consists of back-arc basins of oceanic crust with abyssal zone, abyssal depths, which may be separated by remnant arcs, similar to island arcs. In conti ...
Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...
. The last volcanic activity occurred at Ciomadul about 30,000 years ago. The mountains started to gain their current shape from the latest
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
onward. The slopes of the Carphartian contain at some locations solifluction deposits. Iron, gold and silver were found in great quantities in the Western Carpathians. After the Roman emperor
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
's conquest of Dacia, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver.


Ecology

The ecology of the Carpathians varies with altitude, ranging from lowland forests to alpine meadows. Foothill forests are primarily of broadleaf deciduous trees, including oak, hornbeam, and linden. European beech is characteristic of the montane forest zone. Higher-elevation subalpine forests are characterized by Norway spruce (''Picea abies''). Krummholz and alpine meadows occur above the treeline. Wildlife in the Carpathians includes brown bear (''Ursus arctos''),
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...
(''Canis lupus''),
Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...
(''Lynx lynx''), European wildcat (''Felis silvestris''), Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''), European bison (''Bison bonasus''), and
golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...
(''Aquila chrysaetos'').


Divisions of the Carpathians

In geopolitical terms, Carpathian Mountains are often grouped and labeled according to national or regional borders, but such division has turned out to be relative, since it was, and still is dependent on frequent historical, political and administrative changes of national or regional borders. According to modern geopolitical division, Carpathians can be grouped as: Serbian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovakian, Czech and Austrian. Within each nation, specific classifications of the Carpathians have been developing, often reflecting local traditions, and thus creating terminological diversity, that produces various challenges in the fields of comparative classification and international systematization. A major part of the western and northeastern Outer Eastern Carpathians in Poland, Ukraine, and Slovakia is traditionally called the Eastern Beskids.The border between the eastern and southern Carpathians is formed by the Predeal Pass, south of Brașov and the Prahova Valley. The geological border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians runs approximately along the line (south to north) between the towns of
Michalovce Michalovce (; , , Romani language, Romani: ''Mihalya'', Yiddish language, Yiddish: מיכאלאָווצע ''Mikhaylovets'' or ''Mykhaylovyts''; ) is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia. Originally named after the Archangel St Michael ...
,
Bardejov Bardejov (; , , , , ) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskids, Beskyd Mountains. It exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely i ...
, Nowy Sącz and
Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...
. In older systems the border runs more in the east, along the line (north to south) along the rivers San and Osława (Poland), the town of Snina (Slovakia) and river Tur'ia (Ukraine). Biologists shift the border even further to the east. The section of the Carpathians within the borders of
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
is commonly known as the Romanian Carpathians. In local use, Romanians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the Romanian part of the Eastern Carpathians, which lies on their territory (i.e., from the Ukrainian border or from the Prislop Pass to the south), which they subdivide into three simplified geographical groups (northern, central, southern), instead of Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. These groups are: * Maramureș-Bukovinian Carpathians (Romanian: ''Carpații Maramureșului și ai Bucovinei'') * Moldavian-Transylvanian Carpathians (Romanian: ''Carpații Moldo-Transilvani'') * Curvature Carpathians (Romanian: ''Carpații Curburii, Carpații de Curbură'') The section of the Carpathians within the borders of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
is commonly known as the Ukrainian Carpathians. Classification of eastern sections of the Carpathians is particularly complex, since it was influenced by several overlapping traditions. Terms like Wooded Carpathians, Poloniny Mountains or Eastern Beskids are often used in varying scopes by authors belonging to different traditions. File:Veliki buk02.JPG,
Beljanica Beljanica () is a mountains of Serbia, mountain in the Homolje region in eastern Serbia, near the town of Žagubica. Its highest peak has an elevation of 1,339 meters above sea level. References

Mountains of Serbia Serbian Carpathians ...
region waterfall File:Slovakia Vratna 11.jpg, Vrátna dolina,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
File:Marmarosch.jpg, Maramureș. Mountains in the north of
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and the west of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
File:«Ловачка». Погляд із мукачівського замку P1380061.jpg, Mukachevo, Western
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
File:0.2014 Sanok, von Kościuszkistrasse aus gesehen.JPG, View from Sanok in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
File:Kežmarok z Kamennej bane.jpg, Kežmarok in Slovakia File:Aleksander Kotsis Pogrzeb górala 1860.jpg,
Gorals The Gorals (; Goral ethnolect: ''Górole''; ; Cieszyn Silesian dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also anglicized as the Highlanders, are an ethnographic group with historical ties to the Vlachs. The Goral people are primarily found in thei ...
in the Polish Carpathians File:Szczawnica in Poland 1939.jpg, Szczawnica in Poland, Pieniny, 1939 File:"Grojcowianie" folklore group in Żywiec Beskids clothing.jpg, The Feast of the
Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...
in the Polish Carpathians


Highest peaks

This is an (incomplete) list of the peaks of the Carpathians having summits over , with their heights, geologic divisions, and locations.


Highest peaks by country

This is a list of the highest national peaks of the Carpathians, their heights, geologic divisions, and locations.


Cities and towns

Important cities and towns in or near the Carpathians are, in approximate descending order of population: *
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
(Poland) *
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(Romania) * Cugir (Romania) * Târgu Neamț (Romania) * Câmpulung Moldovenesc (Romania) * Gheorgheni (Romania) * Rakhiv (Ukraine) * Vatra Dornei (Romania) * Rabka-Zdrój (Poland) * Bor (Serbia)


See also

* Karpatka—A Polish dessert named after the Carpathians * ''The Living Fire''—A Ukrainian documentary film about the life of Carpathian shepherds * Sudetes—A neighbouring mountain system whose uplift is related to that of the Carpathians * Tourism in Poland * Tourism in Romania * Tourism in Serbia * Tourism in Slovakia * Tourism in Ukraine


References


Sources

* * *


External links


''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'', vol. 1 "Carpathian Mountains"
by Volodymyr Kubijovyč (1984).
Carpathianconvention.org: The Framework Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians



Alpinet.org: Romanian mountain guide

Carpati.org: Romanian mountain guide

Pgi.gov.pl: Oil and Gas Fields in the Carpathians

Video: Beautiful mountains Carpathians, Ukraine

Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains: Protecting some of Europe's last intact forests – Frankfurt Zoological Society

Video: Zacharovanyi Krai National Park , Ukrainian Carpathians – Frankfurt Zoological Society

Video: Looking for Lynx , Ukrainian Carpathians
{{Authority control Geography of Europe Mountain ranges of Europe Mountain ranges of Hungary Mountain ranges of Poland Mountain ranges of Romania Mountain ranges of Slovakia Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic Mountain ranges of Ukraine Physiographic provinces Saga locations