The longest mountain range on the surface of a continent is the Andes. This immense mountain system follows the western edge of South America for roughly 7,000 to 8,900 kilometres, depending on how its connected sections are measured.
The Andes extend through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. They are not one perfectly uniform wall of mountains: the system contains parallel cordilleras, high plateaus, deep valleys and regional divisions commonly called the Northern, Central and Southern Andes.
The range formed through the continuing convergence of the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, with oceanic crust pushed beneath the continent. That geological activity explains the Andes’ volcanoes, earthquakes and extraordinary elevation. Argentina’s Aconcagua, at about 6,961 metres, is the highest peak in both the Andes and the Western Hemisphere.
The Himalayas are higher in individual peaks, including Mount Everest, but they are not the world’s longest continental range. The Rocky Mountains and Australia’s Great Dividing Range are also major systems, yet neither stretches as far as the Andes.