The masters who were powerful in history, the owners as they are called in some countries, became egocentric, they both set the rules and gave their names to people and countries. How did the summit of the world, called Sagarmatha by Nepalis and Chomolungma by Tibetans, become Everest?
There are some unwritten and unspoken rules in the world. For example, “The strong is always right”, and “The people of the rich and weak countries are bad, it is fair to take away their wealth”. Such immoral considerations are unfortunately valid in practice. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov sees the weak and wealthy old woman as the representative of evil, although he does not express it openly. This way of thinking has been the support of tyrants throughout history.
THE MASTER'S EMERGENCY
The masters who were powerful in history, the owners as they are called in some countries, became egocentric, they both set the rules and gave their names to people and countries. Once upon a time, the right to the first night in Europe belonged to the overlords, and the downtrodden people accepted it. The black slave's name was Kunta Kinte, which his master forcibly changed to Toby. The Beijing of the Chinese was made by the occupying West Beijing. A large group of Turks called themselves Saha from the very beginning, while the Russians called them Yakuts. In short, the master gave the name he wanted.
Sir George Everest, (4 July 1790 – 1 December 1866) was a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. After receiving a military education in Marlow, Everest joined the East India Company and arrived in India at the age of 16. He was eventually made an assistant to William Lambton on the Great Trigonometric Survey and replaced Lambton as superintendent of the survey in 1823.
I think the most interesting indicator of the egocentrism of the powerful is the world map. The Europeans, who traveled the world for the first time and made the world map, put their continents up and out on this map. If the Aborigines did this, Australia would be above and in the middle, and Europe would be in reverse at the bottom. For the world map made by the Europeans, you might say, "That's it", but is it natural and simple for the British to name horizontal geography? Isn't the naming of the Near East, Middle East, and Far East that emerged in the last century considered egocentric and arbitrary? Many countries have adopted these adjectives, which are considered appropriate for them. We say that we are from the Middle East, while those who live in the east of Asia think that they are from the Far East, that is, they live far away. Far from whom? Probably far from the British. If the Chinese had not withdrawn their once-strong navy and colonized Europe, they would probably say now, "Near West, Midwest, Far West."
Everest was largely responsible for surveying the meridian arc from the southernmost point of India north to Nepal, a distance of about 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi), a task that took from 1806 to 1841 to complete. He was made Surveyor General of India in 1830, retiring in 1843 and returning to England.
The hour and minute hands of world clocks rotate from left to right. Even this situation alone is the product of the egocentrism of the Northern Hemisphere. Because in the Northern Hemisphere, the shadow of a stick you plant on the ground will shift from left to right during the day. That's why the Northern Hemispheres who made the first clocks moved the hour and minute hands from left to right. In the Southern Hemisphere, however, the shadow of the stick moves from right to left during the day. If Southerners had made the clock for the first time, our clocks today would turn left and right.
WHO IS EVEREST?
Let's come to the name of the highest peak of the Himalayas. For hundreds of years, Nepalis called this hill Sagarmatha in their own language, and Tibetans called it Chomolungma. However, Westerners who did not like these names gave the hill the name of an Englishman and called it Everest.
Who is Everest? According to some sources, the name of the first person to discover this hill is Everest. However, this information is a distortion. Norgay, a Nepali sherpa (guide), and Hillary from New Zealand ascended the hill for the first time. Long before this event, Nepalis, Tibetans, and the British had already noticed this hill. The explorer of the hill was not Everest.
So what does Everest have to do with the event?
George Everest was the land registry and cadastral director of England when India was a colony. The British Royal Academy named the highest peak in the world after him. Does it make any special sense that this hill is named after the director of land registry and cadastre, not one of the colonial governors of India?
The British, perhaps consciously, perhaps unconsciously, subconsciously named the highest hill in the world after their cadastral directors. The members of the empire, who believed that the title deed of the world belonged to them, as soon as the sun set, probably placed the name of their cadastral director on the top of the world like a fingerprint. It could be. Someone may want to enslave you. But as Gandhi said, no one can take your honor unless you give it away.