Mountains are not generally favored for human habitation; the weather is harsher, less food is available, and there is little level ground suitable for farming.
Most mountains of the world have been left in their natural state, and are today primarily used for recreation.
A mountain is usually produced by the movement of lithospheric plates, either orogenic movement or epeirogenic movement.
Mountain belts, as described earlier, typically are grouped according to formation process and types of plates: island arcs, continental arcs (formed with the subduction of an oceanic plate by a continental plate), and collisional mountain belts.
Mountains are formed by the folding, faulting, or upwarping of the Earth's surface due to the movement of plates (see plate tectonics) or by the emplacement of volcanic rock onto the surface.
Mountains are in general thinly populated, not only because the cold climate and rarefied atmosphere of high regions are unfavorable to human life, but also because the higher reaches of mountains are unfit for agriculture.
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