The Name of Mount Everest

Abstract

MOUNT EVEREST was first observed by the Survey of India in 1849, but it was not until three years later that its great height was realised. From the plains of India it is only one among many conspicuous peaks, and its distance from the Indian frontier across the whole width of Nepal often prevents its being seen at all. In these circumstances, it was not surprising to find that there was no Indian name for the peak. The first names proposed were the Nepalese names Devadhunga and Gaurisankar. The first, however, was found to be non-existent as a peak name in Nepal, and the second belongs to another peak. There was no entry of the surveyors into Tibet in those days, and, in the lack of Indian and Nepalese names, it was necessary to find a title for the peak. This was done in 1865 by naming it after Sir George Everest, of the Trigonometrical Survey of India.