The history of survey in India is fascinating an culminates in the highest peak in the world: Everest.
This article is packed with interesting facts about that mountain.
I also highly recommend this book: The Great Arc by John Keay.
Dom’s Everest adventure has begun. The dream is about to become a reality and it’s both exciting and terrifying in equal measures. A lot of people think climbing Everest is like taking a walk in the park, let me dispel that myth and acquaint you with some of the facts.
The Mountain
- Mount Everest is 29,029ft (8,848m) high. This is based on a 1954 ground-based measurement. A disputed satellite-based measurement in 1999 suggested it was six feet taller.
- No one knew it was the tallest mountain until 1856, when the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established its height.
- In 1865 it was renamed in honour of the Surveyor General of India George Everest, from its original name of Peak 15.
- Geologically speaking, it is about 60 million years old.
- It started life as a sea bed and fossils of sea creatures can be found in the rocks at the summit.
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