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Major mountain belts of the worldSelected world mountainsReferences & Edit HistoryRelated TopicsImages & VideosAt a Glancemountain summaryQuizzesNatural WondersLargest, Tallest, and Smallest Around the Globe QuizAll About Mountains QuizRelated QuestionsWhat is a continent?Do continents move?What is the Pangea supercontinent?What is a forest?What is a glacier?Ask AnythingQuick SummaryGeography & TravelPhysical Geography of LandCITEMount Sir Donald Mount Sir Donald in the Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia, looms above a segment of the Trans-Canada Highway.mountainlandformPeter H. MolnarBritannica EditorsAug. 7, 2026 •HistoryBritannica AIAsk AnythingQuick SummaryTop QuestionsWhat is a mountain?How is a mountain different from a hill?How are mountains formed?What are some different types of mountains?mountain, landform that rises prominently above its surroundings, generally exhibiting steep slopes, a relatively confined summit area, and considerable local relief. Mountains generally are understood to be larger than hills, but the term has no standardized geological meaning. Very rarely do mountains occur individually. In most cases, they are found in elongated ranges or chains. When an array of such ranges is linked together, it constitutes a mountain belt. For a list of selected mountains of the world, see below.Mount Triumph, WashingtonMount Triumph rises to a height of 2,208 metres (7,244 feet) in North Cascades National Park, Washington, U.S. The Cascades are a segment of the Pacific mountain system of western North America.A mountain belt is many tens to hundreds of kilometres wide and hundreds to thousands of kilometres long. It stands above the surrounding surface, which may be a coastal plain, as along the western Andes in northern Chile, or a high plateau, as within and along the Plateau of Tibet in southwest China. Mountain ranges or chains extend tens to hundreds of kilometres in length. Individual mountains are connected by ridges and separated by valleys. Within many mountain belts are plateaus, which stand high but contain little relief. Thus, for example, the Andes constitute a mountain belt that