Mount Everest

Mount Everest, Sanskrit and Nepali Sagarmatha, Tibetan Chomolungma, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhumulangma Feng or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng, also spelled Qomolangma Feng, mountain on the crest of the Great Himalayas of southern Asia that lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, at 27°59′ N 86°56′ E. Reaching an elevation of 29,032 feet (8,849 metres), Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

Like other high peaks in the region, Mount Everest has long been revered by local peoples. Its most common Tibetan name, Chomolungma, means “Goddess Mother of the World” or “Goddess of the Valley.” The Sanskrit name Sagarmatha means literally “Peak of Heaven.” Its identity as the highest point on the Earth’s surface was not recognized, however, until 1852, when the governmental Survey of India established that fact. In 1865 the mountain—previously referred to as Peak XV—was renamed for Sir George Everest, British surveyor general of India from 1830 to 1843.

Physical features

Geology and relief

The Himalayan ranges were thrust upward by tectonic action as the Indian-Australian Plate moved northward from the south and was subducted (forced downward) under the Eurasian Plate following the collision of the two plates between about 40 and 50 million years ago. The Himalayas themselves started rising about 25 to 30 million years ago, and the Great Himalayas began to take their present form during the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). Everest and its surrounding peaks are part of a large mountain massif that forms a focal point, or knot, of this tectonic action in the Great Himalayas. Information from global positioning instruments in place on Everest since the late 1990s indicates that the mountain continues to move a few inches to the northeast and rise a fraction of an inch each year.