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Mount Everest is one of the tallest mountains in the world. It is part of the Himalayan Mountains. They were formed in the last few million years. After the supercontinent of Laurasia broke up millions of years ago, India moved slowly north towards Asia and then crashed into it. The seabed between the two plates (the earth's crust is divided into large areas of land called plates) was crumbled and pushed up on the northern rim of India to form mountains. These two plates of the earth's crust are still moving, so the Himalayas are being pushed up higher. The highest mountain on the planet, Mount Everest is growing two inches taller each year. Satellite technology says the mountain is currently 29,107 feet tall. First recognized as the highest peek in 1852, it got its western name ten years later in 1862. Mount Everest was named for Sir George Everest (1790-1866), a British surveyor. Surveyors don't agree on the height of Mount Everest. The British government in the 1800's thought the height was 29,002 feet. In 1954 the Indian government said it's 29,028 feet, but a widely used unofficial figure says it is 29,141 feet! Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and Tibet. People from the western hemisphere weren't allowed to climb Mount Everest until the early 1920's. The first known climb that made it to the top was made by a New Zealander named Edmund Hillary and a Napalese named Tenzing Norgay. They climbed the mountain in 1953..