The Imagined Geography of Mount Everest

Mount Everest, also called by the Tibetan name Qomolangma and Nepali name Sagarmatha among others, is located within the Himalayan mountain range on the border of China and Nepal, is the highest point on Earth, at 8,848.86 meters above sea level. On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Percival Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first confirmed climbers to summit Mount Everest, initiating a worldwide interest in Mount Everest expeditions and a formation of culture surrounding the accomplishment of climbing to the top of the world. Mt. Everest, as a landscape and symbol, illustrates the physical manifestations of shifting power and imagined geography through both the visible landscape of the mountain, and the physical pursuit of its summit. An analysis of Mt. Everest as both a place and culture reveals hidden labor within the landscape, and friction of power exertion between indigenous Himalayan people, companies capitalizing on the landscape, consumers of culture, and nature itself.