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Mount
Everest, a mountain peak
in the Himalayas
of southern Asia, considered the highest mountain in the world. Mount Everest is
situated at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan), on the border
of Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
The mountain was named for Sir
George Everest, a British military engineer who served as surveyor general
of India from 1829 to 1843, during which time the peak was surveyed. Everest was
the first person to record the location and height of the mountain, then known
as Peak XV. Most Nepali people refer to the mountain as Sagarmatha,
meaning “Forehead in the Sky.” Speakers of Tibetan languages, including the
Sherpa people of northern Nepal, refer to the mountain as Chomolungma,
Tibetan for “Goddess Mother of the World.”
The height of Mount Everest has
been determined to be 8,850 m (29,035 ft). The mountain's actual height, and the
claim that Everest is the highest mountain in the world, have long been
disputed. But scientific surveys completed in the early 1990s continued to
support evidence that Everest is the highest mountain in the world. In fact, the
mountain is rising a few millimeters each year due to geological forces. Global
Positioning Technology (GPS) has been installed on Mount Everest for the purpose
of detecting slight rates of geological uplift.
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