Before It Was Famous

Mt. Everest was known by several names before it became Everest. Some or the local names were Sagarmatha,Chomolungma,and Qomalangma (Holy Mother). When the British set out to survey and establish the heights they referred to it as peak b,which later became Peak XV. They faced suspicions and the surveyors were turned down for entry into Nepal,making the survey more difficult. After years of working around the various difficulties the height of 29,002 was publicly announced in 1856. Normally the local names are used,but in this case there was not one name that was commonly used. Andrew Waugh,the British Surveyor General of India,decided with so many local names for the peak rather than favor one of them,it should be named for his predecessor,George Everest. Everest opposed the name,but the Royal Geographical Society adopted it in 1865 for the highest mountain in the world.


Aerial View