Files show Chinese 1st to survey Mt Everest
Print Edition
Historical records and surveying instruments show that Chinese researchers were the first to conduct surveys at the world鈥檚 highest mountain Qomolangma, or Mount Everest.
鈥淓thnic Tibetans living in the southern part of Tibet were the first to discover and name the mountain. From 1715 to 1717, Chinese surveyors used scientific methods for surveying and marked the mountain on the map,鈥 the late Lin Chao, an expert on geographic history and topography, said in a paper published in 1958.
According to Lin鈥檚 research, the name Qomolangma first appeared in Huang Yu Quan Lan Tu, or Atlas of the Whole Imperial Territory, in 1721. The map was made during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
鈥淓mperor Kangxi realized the importance of maps during warfare, but he also found that maps at the time did not correspond to reality, so he ordered that a new map be made,鈥 said Zhou Qian, a senior researcher at the Palace Museum in Beijing. In 1715, the emperor sent surveyors to Tibet, and they carried what were the latest measuring instruments, said Zhou.
Imperial atlas
The instruments included a semi-circle protractor with four movable pointers, the leading measuring technology at the time. The protractor is kept in the museum. Other museum exhibits, including a bronze quadrant, indicate that the surveyors who went to Tibet tried measuring heights, he said.
The 1715 survey was documented in several files including Qing Shi Gao (translated as Qing Dynasty Files), and Qing Shi Lu (translated as Factual Records of Qing Dynasty), though the imperial atlas is the most direct evidence, Zhou revealed.
In Lin鈥檚 paper, he said the longitude and latitude information of Mount Qomolangma as shown on the atlas were different from modern results, but the relevant position is clear. The three branches of mountains shown on the map are the central, eastern and western Rongpo Glaciers today.
Lin and Zhou鈥檚 research countered narratives that Westerners were the first to survey the mountain straddling the border of China鈥檚 Tibet and Nepal. In an 1850s survey, the mountain was named after George Everest, a British surveyor general of India who led a team in surveying the Himalayan ranges.
In the Tibetan language, Qomolangma embodies the mother goddess. The mountain is called Sagarmatha in Nepalese.
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