Kangchenjunga

The third-highest peak in the world is called Kangchenjunga, sometimes written Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā, or Khangchendzonga. At 8,586 meters (28,169 feet), the summit of the Kangchenjunga Himal is located in a region of the Himalayas that is bordered to the west by the Tamur River, to the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and to the east by the Teesta River. Three of the five summits—the Main, Central, and South peaks—lie directly on the boundary between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, while the peaks West and Kangbachen are located in Nepal's Taplejung District.

Kangchenjunga was thought to be the highest mountain in the world until 1852, but Mount Everest, which was then known as Peak XV, was really higher, according to calculations and measurements made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1849. Following additional verification of all figures, Kangchenjunga's status as the third-highest mountain was formally declared in 1856.

The first ascent of the Kangchenjunga, a sacred peak in both Nepal and Sikkim, was accomplished on May 25, 1955, by Joe Brown and George Band, members of the British Kangchenjunga expedition. In keeping with a pledge made to Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal of Sikkim, that the top of the mountain would remain unaltered, they stopped short of the actual summit. There is no access for climbers to the Indian side of the peak. The neighboring Khangchendzonga National Park was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016.

The spelling that most closely resembles the Tibetan pronunciation is kangchenjunga, which was officially adopted by the Royal Geographical Society, Douglas Freshfield, and Alexander Mitchell Kellas. Freshfield was alluding to the spelling that has been employed by the Indian Government since the late 1800s. Kanchenjunga, Khangchendzonga, and Kangchendzönga are some alternate spellings.

Three separate ecoregions make up the Kangchenjunga landscape: the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands, the Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows, and the Eastern Himalayan broad-leaved and coniferous forests. Nepal, India, Bhutan, and China share the transboundary Kangchenjunga landscape, which consists of 14 protected areas covering 6,032 km2 (2,329 sq mi).