Cordillera, << `kawr` duhl YAIR uh or kawr DIHL uhr uh, >> is a group of mountain ranges, usually the principal mountain group of a continent. The word cordillera comes from a Spanish word meaning cord or chain. Spaniards use the word to mean any mountain chain. The term cordillera once was used in America to mean only the Andes Mountains. American geographers now use the term to mean any group of mountain systems, such as the western cordillera of North America, which includes the Sierra Madre, the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Ranges, and the Great Basin ranges. South America, Asia, and Europe also have cordilleras.
