what was the highest mountain before Everest was discovered?

Question

Think carefully before you answer

Answer 1

Everst was still the highest, even though it had not been discovered yet

Answer 2

As everyone cleverly pointed out, Everest was indeed the highest all along. However, if you mean what did they think was highest before the found it, it depends when you mean. From the time they were first seen by Europeans until the early 19th Century, the Andes were thought to be the highest range in the world, so probably Aconcagua or Chimborazo might have been considered to be biggest.

The Great Trigonometric Survey of India through the 19thC finally determiined that Everest was the highest, around 1880 I believe. They were compiling a huge load of data, and although they knew one of the Himalaya peaks was going to take the title, they probably didn't really fix on on any one in particular until they were sure.

Of course, if you want to be a real smartarse, Everest hasn't always been highest anyway; the Himalayas have been rising over the last few million years, as have the Andes, and 4 or 5 million years ago the latter might have held the title.

About 280 million years ago, the highest point on earth may well have been over present-day Devon!

That said, there are structural limits to how high a mountain range can rise, and the Himalayas are exceptionally high and probably close to that limit. Everest might not be the biggest mountain the world has ever had, but it can't be too far off!

Answer 3

Before the Survey of India, a number of other mountains ranked supreme in the eyes of the world. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Andean peak Chimboraso was considered the highest. At a relatively unremarkable 20,561 feet (6,267 m), it is in fact nowhere near the highest, surpassed by about thirty other Andean peaks and several dozen in the Himalayas. In 1809, the Himalayan peak Dhaulagiri (26,810 ft.; 8,172 m) was declared the ultimate, only to be shunted aside in 1840 by Kanchenjunga (28,208 ft.; 8,598 m), which today ranks third. Everest's status has been unrivaled for the last century-and-a-half, but not without a few threats.

The most recent challenge came from a 1986 American expedition climbing K2 (28,250 ft., 8,611 m) in the Karakoram range. According to their measurements, K2 was actually 29,284 feet, beating Everest by a cool 256 feet. Had this figure been accepted, mountaineering history would have required drastic revision: Everest would have taken a back seat to K2, no longer the ne plus ultra of geographical extremes.

As per Answerbag:-
Mount Kangchenjunga (1847) was the highest mountain known until the discovery of Everest.
It is located in Northeast Nepal. Its Tibetan name Gangchhendzonga, means "Five treasures of the snows,"

Everest was discovered in 1852. Mount Godwin-Austen in N Kasmnir on the China/Pakistan border was discovered in 1856.

Mountains are usually measured from sea level so Mt. Everest would have the highest peak.
The official height of Mount Everest is 29,035 feet or 8,850 meters.

Hawaii's Mauna Kea, though, rises an astonishing 33,476 feet (10,203 meters) from the depths of the Pacific Ocean floor. Measuring from base to peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on earth.

Answer 4

OK, everyone is making fun of the question and what your really looking for is what everyone thought was the highest mountain before Mt. Everest was discovered. The answer to that is K-2 in the same mountain range. Even though it is not as high by 300' or so as Mt.Everest, it was thought to be the highest due to it location. However, it was also found to be very difficult to climb and is still today considered harder then Everest to climb.

Answer 5

Everest was the highest mountain even before it was discovered.

Answer 6

Depends how far back you go. The land where Everest now sits wasn't always a mountain. Land was compressed and forced up due to the movements of the earths crust.

Answer 7

Mount Kangchenjunga (1847) was the highest mountain known until the discovery of Everest.
It is located in Northeast Nepal. Its Tibetan name Gangchhendzonga, means "Five treasures of the snows,"

Answer 8

Everest. Whether it was discovered or not, still the highest.

Answer 9

Everest, just because it hadn't been discovered didn't mean that it wasn't the highest.

Answer 10

k2 came 2 b known after discovery of Everest.

Answer 11

that would be Everest. but saying that there is a bigger one that exists but it is in the pacific ocean and thus doesn't count in most peoples opinions but technically it is still a mountain even tough it's under water.