Mount Everest is of course the highest summit in the world, majestically rising 8,848 metres above sea level. When first officially surveyed in 1856 it lay within the British Empire and was known rather uninspiringly as Peak XV. The task of giving the mountain a more distinctive name fell to the British Surveyor General of India, Andrew Waugh, and he chose to name it after his predecessor, Sir George Everest. Everest was a Welshman who dedicated almost 40 years of his life to mapping India. Perhaps surprisingly he objected to the honour, protesting that local people would be unable to pronounce the name Mount Everest and that it was not possible to write it in the Hindi language. His objections were ignored and the name was formally adopted in 1865.
It was only in the 1920s that any attempt was made to scale the mountain. The first efforts were made by a British team. But it was many years before someone climbed the mountain and lived to tell the tale. The first people to conquer Mount Everest were Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in May 1953. In the years since, ever more sophisticated equipment and organization has helped some 3,500 people to follow in their footsteps. Mount Everest has now become so accessible that last year 234 climbers completed the ascent on the same day.
