Standing some four kilometers above sea level, the world's highest plateaus, the Andean altiplano and the Tibetan plateau, appear bleak, cold and uninviting. These are clearly tough places to make a living, yet large numbers of people reside there today—and not all are recent immigrants.
Figure 1. Panoramic view of Jharkot (above), an ancient Nepalese village situated nearly four kilometers above sea level, aptly illustrates that people long ago settled some of the highest places on Earth. Permanent enclaves at five kilometers’ elevation can be found in other parts of the Tibetan plateau. At even half that height, lowlanders start to experience a range of altitude-related ailments. Yet the natives of such high-elevation regions are able to deal with the low oxygen levels, as well as with the rigors of life in such challenging environments. By far the two largest high-altitude regions (excluding those in Greenland and Antarctica) are the Tibetan plateau in Asia and the Andean region of South America, which each contain vast areas higher than 2,500 meters in elevation (white areas on map). The author explores the issues of when human beings first moved into these extreme highlands, why they migrated there and what physiological adaptations were necessary.
Susal Stebbins; Map by Barbara Aulicino and David Schneider.
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