Everest, Mount

Mount, the highest known mountain in the world. It is situated in the central Himalayas. Height 29,002 feet. The mountain is five and one-half miles high. No one has yet reached the summit. The air is so rare that it is believed no one could survive many minutes. It was named for the English engineer, Sir George Everest, who conducted the great trigonometrical survey of India. Among other achievements are his measurement of a meridian through eleven and one-half degrees. Of late geographers are of opinion that a neighboring crest is higher than Everest, but the question may be regarded as an open one. See Tibet; Himalayas