Other forms: cordilleras
A cordillera is an extensive system of mountain ranges. Large and small mountain ranges, plateaus, and valleys running parallel to each other are all part of a cordillera.
The word cordillera was first used around 1700 by Spanish colonizers and geographers to describe the Andes Mountains, a system of mountain ranges stretching thousands of miles through South America. Today, the word is used more generally to refer to any extensive mountain system. In North America, the mountain system that includes the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascades is often called a cordillera; it extends from Alaska and western Canada, through the western United States, and into Mexico. The word cordillera comes from a Spanish word meaning "rope."