Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain above sea level, with a surveyed elevation of 8,848.86 metres.
Everest stands in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Nepal commonly calls it Sagarmatha, while its Tibetan name is Chomolungma. The mountain was named in English after George Everest, a nineteenth-century Surveyor General of India.
A 2020 survey by Nepal and China established the 8,848.86-metre figure, which includes the snow and ice cap. Earlier measurements differed slightly because of surveying methods and questions about whether the summit’s snow should be included.
Everest is not the tallest mountain when measured from its base: Mauna Kea in Hawaii rises higher from its submarine base. Everest is, however, the highest point on Earth above mean sea level. The first confirmed ascent was made in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.