xploring India

While gaps in the map of the American West were being filled in and Livingstone was walking across the African continent,rift gold the Great Trigonometrical Survey was taking place in India. Beginning in the 1830s, British surveyors started mapping the Indian subcontinent. By using the method of triangulation surveyors could accurately determine the heights of points above sea level. In 1844, the highest mountain in the world was determined to be 29,002 feet. This mountain was named Everest in 1865 to honor Sir George Everest, the man in charge of the Trigonometical Survey. Today the official height, set by the Indian government, is 29,028 feet. It is known as Chomolungma, or “Goddess Mother of the Snows,” or “Mother Goddess of the Universe” to the Tibetan people. In Nepal it is called Sagarmath or “Goddess of the Sky.” The Himalayas—which means “house of snow” in ancient Sanskrit—stretch in a 1,500-mile curve across Southern Asia and consist of several parallel mountain ranges. Mt. Everest lies on the border between Tibet and Nepal. K2, the next highest peak at 28,250 feet, is also in the Himalayas and lies on the border between China and Pakistan. From the early 1800s until 1949, Nepal was officially closed to foreigners. The Trigonometrical Survey employed local, or “pundit,rift gold” explorers to do the surveying work in the Himalayas. These very brave men carried out their task in secrecy because they weren’t supposed to be working for the British.

When word of the fantastically high peaks got back to England, there were people who wanted to climb them. This was a new breed of mountain climber, people interested in adventure and conquest rather than furthering science. They climbed with traditional equipment—crampons, ice axes, ropes, and woolen clothing—and were anxious to take on the Himalayas.