Mount Everest is one of the tallest mountains in the world. It is part
of the Himalayan Mountains. They were formed in the last few million
years. After the supercontinent of Laurasia broke up millions of years
ago, India moved slowly north towards Asia and then crashed into it. The
seabed between the two plates (the earth’s crust is divided into large
areas of land called plates) was crumbled and pushed up on the northern
rim of India to form mountains. These two plates of the earth’s crust
are still moving, so the Himalayas are being pushed up higher.
The highest mountain on the planet, Mount Everest is growing two inches
taller each year. Satellite technology says the mountain is currently
29,107 feet tall. First recognized as the highest peek in 1852, it got
its western name ten years later in 1862. Mount Everest was named for
Sir George Everest (1790-1866), a British surveyor. Surveyors don’t
agree on the height of Mount Everest. The British government in the
1800′s thought the height was 29,002 feet. In 1954 the Indian government
said it’s 29,028 feet, but a widely used unofficial figure says it is
29,141 feet!
Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and Tibet.
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