World+Geo

Mount Everest

At an elevation of 29,035 feet, Mount Everest is the world's tallest peak when measured from sea level. Located in the Himalayas on the border of Nepal and Tibet (an autonomous region of China ), Mount Everest has long been considered sacred by the people who live in its shadow. The Tibetans' name for Mount Everest, Chomolungma, is translated as "Goddess Mother of the World" or "Goddess of the Valley." The Sanskrit name used by Nepalis is Sagarmatha, meaning "Ocean Mother."

Mount Everest is basically shaped like a trilateral pyramid; its three mostly flat sides are known as its faces, and the line that joins two faces together is called a ridge. Everest's North Face, which towers above Tibet, is bounded by the North Ridge and the West Ridge. The Southwest Face looms over Nepal and is bounded by the West Ridge and the Southeast Ridge. The East Face (Kangshun Face), like the North Face, rises over Tibet and is bounded by the Southeast Ridge and the Northeast Ridge. Mount Everest's summit is covered by hard, frozen snow topped by a layer of softer snow. The summit's snow levels are highest in September, following the region's monsoon season. The snow levels are lowest around May, after strong winter winds have roared across Everest. The mountain's upper slopes and summit are located extremely high in the Earth's atmosphere—at such a high elevation, in fact, that the amount of breathable oxygen in the air is only one-third of the oxygen total at sea level. These climatic conditions—little oxygen, howling winds, and frigidly cold temperatures—make Everest's upper levels inhospitable to plant or animal life.

It was not until 1852 that the Survey of India (the British Indian government agency responsible for surveying and mapping) determined the peak of Mount Everest to be the highest point from sea level on the planet. In 1865, the mountain (previously called by the generic name Peak XV) was named for Sir George Everest, surveyor general of India from 1830 to 1843, who surveyed the Himalayas for the first time in the early 1800s.

ABC-CLIO

MLA Citation "Mount Everest." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.