The Great Arc
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 172
“The Great Arc – The dramatic tale of how India was mapped and Everest was named” is a good book based on a wonderful engineering feat in the 19th century. The book gives details and anecdotes of the survey team which set about mapping India and calculating the heights of lofty Himalayan peaks. The Great Trigonometrical Survey started in the year 1800 from Madras, went south to Kanyakumari and then off they went up to Dehradun in Uttaranchal under the leadership of William Lambton and after his demise, under George Everest (pronounced ‘eve-rest’) who later became the surveyor general of India. The survey ended in 1843, and by the time the costs in terms of man power and material far exceeded that of any war made by the East India company till then. The survey corrected the maps extant at that time and several errors were brought to public notice for the first time. The width of the south Indian peninsula was lesser than previously thought. Hence, it is also said that this survey caused the East India Company the loss of more land than conceded in any war.
The survey proceeded by triangulation in which three observation points are chosen suitably, the distance (base line) between two points are measured as accurately as possible and the angle between these points obtained using great precision theodolite. It is said that the error in distance was very minute (3 inches along 7.19 miles). Such inch-perfect calculations was further complicated by the fact that the angles of such a triangle described on the curvy earth surface don’t add up to 180 degrees. Corrections for all these factors were also taken into account. The first base line was taken from Marina Beach in Madras to the grand stand in the Madras Race Course. Thus Madras (now Chennai) is called the Greenwich of India. No wonder the Indian Standard Time is actually the local time in Madras.
Till the heights of Himalayan peaks were ascertained, the tallest mountain in the world was considered to be Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador (20,565 ft, which does not include it even in the first 100). This was firmly refuted by Indian surveyors and several peaks were found to be taller than this. George Everest had never seen nor measured the height of the famous mountain which would bear his name. But he was strict on naming any peak with its local appellation and hence the names Kanchenjunga, Nandadevi, Nanga Parbat, Dhaulagiri etc. But the greatest mountain didn’t have a local name and the Nepali government, which had the jurisdiction over the site refused to cooperate with the survey. This prompted Andrew Scott Waugh, who became the Surveyor General after the retirement of Everest, to name the peak in honour of his worthy superior. Waugh’s proposal makes interesting reading.
“We have for some years known that this mountain is higher than any hitherto measured in India and most probably, it is the highest in the whole world. I was taught by my respected chief and predecessor Colonel Sir George Everest to assign to every geographical object its true local or native appellation. I have always scrupulously adhrered to this rule as I have in fact to all other principles laid down by that eminent geodesist. But, here is a mountain, most probably the highest in the world, without any local name that we can discover, whose native appellation, if it has any, will not very likely be ascertained before we are allowed to penetrate into Nepal and to approach close to this stupendous snowy mass. In the meantime, the privilege as well as the duty devolves on me to assign to this lofty pinnacle of our globe a name whereby it may be known among geographers and become a household word among civilized nations. In virtue of this privilege, in testimony of my affectionate respect for a revered chief, in conformity with what I believe to be the wish of all the members of the scientific department over which I have the honour to preside, and to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of accurate geographical research, I have determined to name this noble peak of the Himalayas, Mount Everest.
No comments:
Post a Comment