The Balkan Mountains — known regionally as Stara Planina ("Old Mountains") — extend about 350 miles through the eastern Balkan Peninsula in southeast Europe. The mountains begin in the Timok River valley, near the Bulgaria-Serbia border, and extend eastward to Cape Emine on the Black Sea. The range’s highest peak, Botev, is 7,795 feet tall.

Despite being named after a Greek god, the Atlas Mountains are not located in Europe. Rather, you can find the majestic mountain range in Africa. The range spans about 1,600 miles, cutting through Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The mountains are also what separate parts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts from the Sahara Desert. The highest peak — which is in Morocco — is Mount Toubkal, standing 13,671 feet tall.

Although there are many Japanese islands, there are five that are considered the main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. You’ll find Mount Fuji, the towering stratovolcano that boasts the highest peak in the country, on Honshu. While you can see the massive mountain from many locations throughout Japan, the closest city is Fujinomiya, which is about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto.

In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley, was visiting Colorado Springs to teach a summer course at a local college. When she and some coworkers took a carriage trip to the top of Pikes Peak, her 30-minute stay at the summit inspired her to put pen to paper, and when she got back to Colorado Springs, the poem “America the Beautiful” was born.

While Nepal might be home to mighty Mount Everest, Bhutan actually takes the top prize for most mountainous country. The average elevation of Bhutan is 10,760 feet above sea level, largely because of the Greater Himalayas that cover the northern part of the country. The highest point is Gangkhar Puensum, with a peak that rises 24,840 feet above sea level.

The Andes extend 4,500 miles along South America's entire western coast, through the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela — making it the longest above-water mountain range in the world. The Andes are also the second-tallest mountains in the world, with an average elevation of 13,000 feet, reaching a peak of 22,841 feet at Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.

Among Colorado’s peaks above 14,000 feet — which are nicknamed “fourteeners” — Mount Elbert stands the tallest at 14,433 feet above sea level. It’s just 12 feet taller than its neighbor, Mount Massive. Mount Elbert gets its name from Samuel Hitt Elbert, who was Colorado’s governor from 1873 to 1874 and a longtime Colorado State Supreme Court justice.

Commonly known as K2 — because it was the second mountain in the Karakoram Range to be surveyed — Earth’s second-tallest peak also goes by several other names. It is located in the Chinese and Pakistani regions of Kashmir, where the locals call it Dapsang or Chogori. Col. H.H. Godwin Austen was the English geographer who surveyed the mountain in the 19th century.

One of the world's most mysterious and least explored mountain ranges lies in Antarctica. The Gamburtsev Mountains were not discovered until 1958, when a Soviet exploratory group realized that the range was buried deep beneath the ice. The group named them after Russian seismologist Grigory Gamburtsev. Geologists believe the mountains are part of a rift formed 250 million years ago when the landmass Gondwana split to create our modern continents.

These gorgeous jagged peaks belong to the Dolomites, a smaller mountain range within the Alps of northeastern Italy, near the border with Austria. Also known as “the Pale Mountains,” the range gets its name from its rock, a calcium magnesium carbonate that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite. In 2009, the Dolomites was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

West Virginia is called the Mountain State for a reason. The state’s landscape is dominated by the Allegheny and Blue Ridge ranges of the Appalachian Mountains. It’s the only state to lie completely within the Appalachian region, which stretches from Alabama into eastern Canada. West Virginia’s average elevation (1,654 feet) is also higher than any other state east of the Mississippi.

Did you know the European Alps have an Australiasian cousin? The Southern Alps span 300 miles in New Zealand, extending along much of the length of the South Island, from Haast Pass to the northeastern Arthur's Pass. Sixteen of its peaks are higher than 10,000 feet, with the tallest, Mount Cook, reaching over 12,200 feet.

The Alps pass through seven European countries, but only one of them lies entirely within Alpine territory: Liechtenstein. Bordered by Switzerland and Austria, Liechtenstein encompasses just 62 square miles, so it’s easy to see why the country is located entirely within the Alps (which cover 77,000 square miles). With its lowest altitude at around 4,600 feet above sea level, Liechtenstein is home to only 39,000 people.

Not many cities can claim the world’s longest continental mountain range in their backyard. The Andes form a stunning backdrop to the east of the Chilean capital, while coastal ranges bookmark the opposite side. Not only are the Andes long — stretching 5,600 miles from South America’s southern tip to its northern Caribbean coast — they’re the highest mountain range in the world outside of Asia.

The Caucasus Mountains extend from the Black Sea approximately 750 miles to the Caspian Sea. The mountains are also a watershed point to create a rough geographical border dividing Europe and Asia. The Greater Caucasus range passes through Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Its highest peak is Mount Elbrus — which, at 18,510 feet, is the highest peak in both Russia and Europe.

The Himalayas are home to the tallest mountain peaks in the world, including the 29,029-foot Mount Everest, but the mountain range doesn’t rank among Earth's top five longest ranges. The longest occur on five different continents: the Andes in South America, the Southern Great Escarpment in Africa, the Rocky Mountains in North America, the Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica, and the Great Dividing Range in Australia.

Africa's tallest mountain, reaching 19,340 feet above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro also holds the distinction of being the world's largest freestanding mountain, meaning it's not part of an extended mountain range. Located in Tanzania, Kilimanjaro is actually a snow-capped stratovolcano, which explains why, unlike ranges that were likely formed from the shifting of tectonic plates, the peak stands alone.

The Sierra Nevada range of the United States extends for about 250 miles along the eastern edge of California, from the Mojave Desert north to the Cascade Range. It is home to a number of giant sequoias, the largest trees in the world. However, it isn't the only Sierra Nevada range — about 5,500 miles east lie Spain's own Sierra Nevada mountains, the highest division of the longer Baetic Cordillera range.

Considering that this is where you'd have to go to find Mount Everest, you might have guessed that the Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world. Located in Nepal and parts of the surrounding countries, the range has an average elevation of over 20,000 feet above sea level, with more than 100 peaks at over 24,000 feet.

With a summit that towers 20,310 feet above sea level, Denali is located in the Alaskan Mountain Range. The Koyukon people referred to the peak as Denali for centuries, but when the mountain was discovered by a gold prospector in 1896, it was re-named in honor of U.S. President William McKinley. In 2015, the government changed the official name of the mountain to Denali.