The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named

The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named
John Keay

A vivid description of one of the most ambitious scientific projects undertaken in the 19th century, and the men who undertook the measurement of the Himalayas and the mapping of the Indian subcontinent: William Lambton and George Everest.The graphic story of the measurement of a meridian, or longitudinal, arc extending from the tip of the Indian subcontinent to the mountains of the Himalayas.Much the longest such measurement hitherto made, it posed horrendous technical difficulties, made impossible physical demands on the survey parties (jungle, tigers, mountains etc.), and took over 50 years. But the scientific results were commensurate, including the discovery of the world’s highest peaks and a new calculation of the curvature of the earth’s surface.The Indian Mutiny of 1857 triggered a massive construction of roads, railways, telegraph lines and canals throughout India: all depended heavily on the accuracy of the maps which the Great Arc had made possible.

THE GREAT ARC

The Dramatic Taleof how India was Mappedand Everest was Named

JOHN KEAY

Dedication (#uab8691b9-dc85-5117-b930-9ff6f7191348)

For Julia

Epigraph (#uab8691b9-dc85-5117-b930-9ff6f7191348)

Know …

That on the summit whither thou art bound

A geographic Labourer pitched his tent,

With books supplied and instruments of art,

To measure height and distance; lonely task,

Week after week pursued!

From ‘Written with a slate pencil on a stone

on the side of the mountain of Black Comb’,

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, 1818

India

Contents

Cover (#uf8a39137-7bf7-5dcf-b9a0-752d542ed9dc)

Title Page (#u6b4baf4b-af78-5666-a2e3-a84c9a073beb)

Dedication (#uce40e5d8-7db3-5674-8971-a41cac807b47)

Epigraph (#u2f583880-1b72-5a31-aefc-0377019b3c1f)

List of Maps (#ucc9237d4-5e7c-5b34-b427-aa9e618dfdda)

A Note on Spellings (#ud4fa9e2e-66b5-57eb-9ec6-773f3bcbf2b3)

Foreword (#uef90bc3e-98ef-578f-befe-217cc1283d77)

1 A Baptism of Fever (#ua0c45584-2afa-554a-ab98-5e85f2b565be)

2 The Elusive Lambton (#ude8a4237-7c60-55a5-a663-8a9d065913de)

3 Tall Tales from the Hills (#u9556a6bd-4ab0-5e13-a9b1-38c01079a603)

4 Droog Dependent (#litres_trial_promo)

5 The Far-Famed Geodesist (#litres_trial_promo)

6 Everywhere in Chains (#litres_trial_promo)

7 Crossing the Rubicon (#litres_trial_promo)

8 So Far as Our Knowledge Extends (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Through the Haze of Hindustan (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Et in Arcadia (#litres_trial_promo)

11 A Stupendous Snowy Mass (#litres_trial_promo)

A Note on Sources (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Maps (#uab8691b9-dc85-5117-b930-9ff6f7191348)

The Great Arc and Associated Series (#litres_trial_promo)

General Map of India (#litres_trial_promo)

The Himalayas (#litres_trial_promo)

A Note on Spellings (#ulink_6ad8030c-592c-54a7-8b6f-242761c02275)

Some proper names in the text, especially place-names, will appear to be mis-spelled. This may be because a spelling acceptable to everyone has been hard to establish; or it may be because I have adopted some nineteenth-century spellings in order to be consistent with those used in the quoted extracts (e.g. ‘Kistna’ for ‘Krishna’, ‘Siwaliks’ for ‘Shivaliks’, ‘Ganges’ for ‘Ganga’, etc.). I trust that purists will show indulgence and that all the names are at least recognisable. In the case of the Bengali genius ‘Radhanath Sickdhar’, the spelling is that which he himself used, however improbable it now looks.