What is the highest point on Earth?

The highest point on Earth is Mount Everest, whose summit stands 8,848.86 metres above sea level. It lies on the border between Nepal and China in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas.

Everest was identified as the world’s highest mountain in the 1850s, when it was known as Peak XV. Indian mathematician and surveyor Radhanath Sikdar helped calculate its height using triangulation. The mountain was later named for George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed successful ascent on 29 May 1953. Everest is also called Sagarmāthā in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet. A common mix-up is Mauna Kea: it is taller from its underwater base to its summit, but Everest is highest when elevation is measured from sea level. Chimborazo, meanwhile, reaches farther from Earth’s centre because Earth bulges at the equator.