Have you ever wondered how places got their names? I don’t just mean towns and villages such as St Albans, which was named after the first British Christian martyr who was beheaded in 303AD.
There is Mount Everest, for example.
This was named after Sir George Everest, a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843 and who died today, 1st December back in 1866.
However, he never even saw Mount Everest, let alone clamber up it! His name was proposed as that for the mountain by a later Surveyor General of India, Andrew Scott Waugh, who was the first European to see the mountain.
The original plan was to have the mountain given a native name but, due to the difficulty of choosing between multiple local names for the mountain, Sir George’s name was used as a compromise. Having had had nothing to do with its discovery, he did initially object, but in the end accepted the honour.
There is Mount Everest, for example.
This was named after Sir George Everest, a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843 and who died today, 1st December back in 1866.
However, he never even saw Mount Everest, let alone clamber up it! His name was proposed as that for the mountain by a later Surveyor General of India, Andrew Scott Waugh, who was the first European to see the mountain.
The original plan was to have the mountain given a native name but, due to the difficulty of choosing between multiple local names for the mountain, Sir George’s name was used as a compromise. Having had had nothing to do with its discovery, he did initially object, but in the end accepted the honour.