EVEREST, MOUNT,
the highest mountain in the world. It
is a peak of the Himalayas situated in Nepal almost precisely
on the intersection of the meridian 87 E. long. with the parallel
28 N. lat. Its elevation as at present determined by trigonometrical
observation is 29,002 ft., but it is possible that further
investigation into the value of refraction at such altitudes will
result in placing the summit even higher. It has been confused
with a peak to the west of it called Gaurisankar (by Schlagintweit),
which is more than 5000 ft. lower; but the observations
of Captain Wood from peaks near Khatmandu, in Nepal, and
those of the same officer, and of Major Ryder, from the route
between Lhasa and the sources of the Brahmaputra in 1904,
have definitely fixed the relative position of the two mountain
masses, and conclusively proved that there is no higher peak
than Everest in the Himalayan system. The peak possesses
no distinctive native name and has been called Everest after
Sir George Everest
(
q.v.
), who completed the trigonometrical
survey of the Himalayas in 1841 and first fixed its position and
altitude.
(
T. H. H.*
)