The History of Everest

The discovery of Everest, the highest mountain in the world, was the crowning achievement of labors by geographers, surveyors, and explorers. It was as demanding and complicated an achievement as the mountaineering and logistical skills of those who eventually climbed it. Both endeavors faced formidable obstacles – physical, psychological, political, and technical – that often appeared insurmountable.

The early exploration of Everest involved the development of measuring, mapping, and surveying techniques, which were employed by many of the great 19th-century explorers to map the earth's lesser-known regions, the terrae incognitae.

The culmination of these skills occurred in William Lambton's Great Trigonometrical Survey of the Indian sub-continent. In the 1830s, this was under the control of the Surveyor-General of India, Sir George Everest, after whom the mountain was named. This scientific endeavor provided an accurate geographical framework for a map of India, which in turn unraveled the mysteries of the Himalayas and established Mount Everest as the highest mountain in the world.

The History of Everest

The Himalayan range from Sandakphu on the Singalela Ridge in Sikkim. Makalu dominates on the right, with the Kangshung Face of Everest rising behind. Left is the massive South Face of Lhotse and Nuptse.

Photo: Unknown, 1890–1900

 

Early map representing the southern flanks of the Everest range. The Royal Geographical Society's Map Room has a copy on fragile tracing paper, which was received October 24, 1898.

The pundit Sarat Chandra Das, traveling incognito on a yak, crosses the Donkhya Pass at 18,000 feet (5490 m) in 1879. The information that Chandra Das and the pundit codenamed “M H” recorded was all that was known about the approaches to Everest in the early years of the twentieth century.

Indian survey porters carry the equipment needed for the massive task of mapping India. Clearly to be seen in this nineteenth-century lithograph are a level, its tripod, measuring chain, and leveling staff, which measures 10 feet (3 m) high.

Above, left: The first printed map naming Peak XV as Mount Everest. It appeared with Col. A. S. Waugh’s paper on “Mounts Everest and Deodanga” in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Volume 2, 1857–58.

 

Above, right: The 1870 Index Chart to the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India showing the extension of William Lambton’s triangulation network in southern India. For the first time, this scientific endeavor allowed an accurate framework for a map of India. This in turn unraveled the heights of the Himalayan mountains and established Mount Everest as the highest mountain in the world.

Above: As the Great Trigonometrical Survey continued to extend east and west, pundits were used to obtain vital information in forbidden territories. Nain Singh used this compass and prayer wheel to record survey information for a map of the Yarlung Zangbo region in Tibet, published in 1874 in the Journal of the RGS.

 

Right: Lambton’s Great Theodolite, used by both William Lambton and George Everest during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, was capable of measuring both the vertical and the horizontal axes. It weighed approximately half a ton and needed 12 men to carry it.

Photo: Unknown, 1870–74

Above, left: Sir George Everest (1790–1866), Surveyor General of India, 1830–43. His successor, Col. A. S. Waugh, proposed that Peak XV be named after him. Controversial because mountains were usually given their local name, the proposal was opposed by many; Everest himself kept silent, although as Surveyor General he had always insisted that local names be used.

Photo: Maull and Polyblank

 

Above, right: William Lambton (1753/6–1823), Surveyor General of India. In 1802 Lambton began to measure the curvature of the earth from Madras. His life’s work brought hardships of malaria and other fevers that eliminated entire survey parties, but resulted in “one of the most stupendous works in the whole history of science.” It was not completed until many years after Lambton’s death.

Sir Francis Younghusband (seated, center) wears a thick fur coat against the cold winds of the Tibetan plateau at Phari Dzong, Tibet, January 1904. His mission to Lhasa, a major military expedition during which many Tibetans were killed, led to the signing of the Treaty of Lhasa with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama.

Photo: Unknown, 1904

This prayer wheel, sketched by Sarat Chandra Das in 1879, was formerly in the possession of the mother of the late Tashi Lama. The prayer wheel is silver and is studded with corals and turquoise. Prayer wheels helped to disguise pundits as pilgrims, but were also used by them to record measurements and hide survey notes.