Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Its peak is 8,848 metres above sea level and is the 5th furthest point from the center of the Earth. The international border between China and Nepal runs across the precise summit point. Its massif includes neighboring peaks Lhotse, 8,516 m; Nuptse, 7,855 m and Changtse, 7,580 m. In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft. The current official height of 8,848 m as recognized by Nepal and China was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest. Although Tibetans had called Everest "Chomolungma" for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because Tibet and Nepal were closed to foreigners at the time thus preventing any attempts to obtain local names. Source
