The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named (Text Only)

Much the longest such measurement hitherto made, it posed horrendous technical difficulties, made impossible physical demands on the survey parties jungle, tigers, mountains etc. The Indian Mutiny of triggered a massive construction of roads, railways, telegraph lines and canals throughout India: Mountains Of The Mind. Trespassers on the Roof of the World. The Mammoth Book Of Everest. Last Hours on Everest: Raffles and the British Invasion of Java.

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The Unpredictability of the Past. The Life of Alimqul. State Failure in Sub-Saharan Africa. Heroic Failure and the British. Governance and Politics in Post-Military Nigeria. For the Love of the Country. Finished it cause i bought it. John Keay, who didn't seem to be getting anywhere with the book,.. The Great Arc presents an interesting account of how India was mapped with - for the most part - suitable explanations for the more confusing aspects of the physics and trigonometry behind it. Nothing phenomenal but well-worth a read.

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The various episodes are arranged somewhat weirdly chronologically starts with Everest and then jumps to Lambton and then back to Everest , with digressions, but it's a fun read and is sensitive to the material difficulties faced by the surveyors all along the way. It was built by Greenwich solicitor William Tristram Everest, and local lore claims that his eldest son George was born here: As it was not till several months later that he was baptised at St Alphage church, Greenwich — on 27th January — t At the edge of the Welsh town of Crickhowell in the Black Mountains of Wales lies the Georgian manor house of Gwernvale, now a hotel.

As it was not till several months later that he was baptised at St Alphage church, Greenwich — on 27th January — the legend appears plausible until one considers the likelihood that the present building was only constructed between and Lieutenant, later Colonel, George Everest — the name should be pronounced Eve -rest, by the way, not as three-syllabic Ever-est — succeeded William Lambton as principal surveyor of the Great Indian Arc of the Meridian, which in time became the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India.

The rate of attrition for the army of surveyors, their assistants and support was equivalent to the decimation of an army over its half-century of existence; malaria, fevers, animal attacks and sheer exhaustion exacted a heavy price for the inch-perfect survey. The epic story of Lambton, Everest, their assistants and successors as told by John Keay is one of slow but steady success despite hardship, ingenuity despite disaster and doggedness in the face of almost insurmountable odds.

Lambton and Everest are the star players in this account simply because there is a wealth of documentation concerning them. Two more contrasting figures it is hard to imagine: I would have liked to have known more about characters like Joseph Olliver, William Rossenrode and Radhanath Sickdhar, but Everest in particular strides like a colossus across these pages.

If you require a monument to him you need look no further than the pre-eminent summit in the world; but of Lambton and the rest their work seems to be largely ignored except by a handful of scholars. A pity, as they worked hard and suffered much for their cause.

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

In a corner of Wales, at least, George Everest the man remains celebrated, not least at his putative birthplace and by Everest Drive, a quiet Crickhowell street. This is a review of the book that I wrote 3 years ago on my blog. It has been edited for grammar and minor factual errors. It is [a] wonderful book written by John Keay, an Englishman, about one of the greatest scientific feats of the 19th century.

Before you start thinking about mile-long bridges or sky-high buildings, hey There are things in NOTE: There are things in life that people rarely know about and the science and art of Surveying is one of them. I am in fact gifted to have learned this subject as part of my curriculum, though I wonder how many of my classmates share my opinion. People have often asked me what Surveying is. I am no expert in it and therefore my explanation does not make any impact on them. I say, "It involves getting the measurements from ground about the features there and transferring it to a map.

You study only that for a year at college? The book is about a series of measurements made by two Englishmen, William Lambton and George Everest, of the entire Indian subcontinent spanning a period of fifty years. They made what are called triangulations across the entire subcontinent in times when there were no lights, no telegraph, no telephone, etc. It was no simple feat. For example, the beginning of the series of triangulations, called the Great Indian Arc of the Meridian, was at St.

Thomas Mount in Chennai. A baseline of 12 Km was measured for some 50 days. The presicion with which these measurements were made was phenomenal. In a distance of about 1 m, the error would not exceed 1 mm. In today's measurement the tolerances are 1 um in 1 m!!! This was a stupendous task for times when no modern equipment like GPS were [was] available. The author of the book goes so far to say that the amount of computations performed by the surveyors back then would take several days to complete in a supercomputer today.

The measurements were made in the field for years together in places where tigers roamed free and malaria wrecked havoc. There are more things I would like to mention but might end up writing an entire book! The second name is probably familiar to many, George Everest. You guessed it, Mt. Everest is named after him, but not because he measured its height but because of the services he rendered by looking after the Great Arc for 30 years.

This comes to show the respect these two commanded for their feats.

Had it not been for the Great Arc we would never have had maps of India and we would never have known the [sic. I found that it complemented my Survey course. I understood it better when I read it for the second time, since I knew a lot about the instruments like theodolites, levels, chains, etc.

But it did not go beyond what I read in that book. I hope that I have made a little effort in bringing some light to this mammoth event that took place years ago. Apr 15, Shashishekhar Kashyap rated it it was amazing Recommended to Shashishekhar by: In history, regimes can't be classified in binary. Their activities, actions and achievements have to be summed contextually. Even then, without accounting for multiple perspectives, judging a regime as good or bad should not ensue.

The British rule of India is one such regime which evoke extreme opinions. The Brits, from most accounts, did run their government in a typically high handed manner. However, one cannot but admire their steadfastness and rigor in the pursuit of scientific exploration. This is best highlighted in the book "The Great Arc" by John Keay which traces a century of work to measure the length and breadth of India.

This is a book that must be made compulsory reading in high schools across the world, for it lays bare, a story on how humans satiated their thirst for knowledge in a still primitive age, how they overcame all odds while achieving their goals and finally how they strove for perfection in the middle of very trying circumstances. Some notes from the book - The whole business of measuring India's "geodesy" started from Mysore after Tipu's fall. In the absence of any "droogs" durga near Tanjore, how they tried to use the Brihadeeswara Temple's arch to mount their theodolite and how it fell damaging the instrument.

There is however no mention of any possible damages to the temple arch. In complete contrast, they do not even attempt to make use of the Taj Mahal fearing that it might be harmed. George Everest looked condescendingly towards his boss William Lambton's assistants Joshua de penning, Joseph Olliver, William Rossenrode as they were "mestizoes" or half-caste Britons. Radhanath Sickdhar, who was the Chief Computer towards the later part of the Survey, did not necessarily discover the peaks as I'd widely believed in India. His was a relatively smaller, but significant role in measuring the peaks while based in Calcutta.

The humongous magnitude of the survey can be probably inferred from the fact, that the persons who took charge after Everest retired and completed the survey probably weren't even born when the survey was conceived by William Lambton. Another important fact to be noted is that this survey was entirely bankrolled by the East India Company as a precursor to their expansion activities in India.

This could be an indication to the amount of profits they may have been making from India. Overall, a very important story for totally different reasons and perspectives. Only hope somebody writes a similar book on the Great Indian Railway. Jan 30, Pramod Pant rated it it was ok. John Keay is an engaging writer of uncomplicated books. I have relished reading his works. His India Discovered and History of China were keenly informative, the later even carrying a heightened colour and relatively racy narration.

My hunch is that the presence of his wife Julia in that book creates that effect. And the frequent literary flourishes, which were absent in the more sedate, though still romantic, 'India Discovered' could also be happily dedicated to Julia. That makes the book qualify for the description of 'occasionally racy'. His frequent criticism of George Everest is not substantiated effectively in the book and seems borne out of some visceral dislike for the great surveyor.

George Everest was definitely not the exclusively egotistic and superficial man he is portrayed to be. Someone who devoted decades of his life following a grand pursuit deserves a more sympathetic treatment. Pursuits, such as his, should not be ascribed entirely to a manic and vulgar desire for power and recognition.

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And even it be so, why harp on that to the almost total exclusion of everything that may have been good in him. But we love heroes to fall, and this book apparently aims to satisfy that desire.

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Also, full of details, it somehow seems to miss something essential - a substantially stated and illustrated connection with the other events of the period. It is surprising that Sleeman is mentioned only once or twice in passing, Gorkha war is mentioned vaguely and Gorkha occupation to the west of Garhwal, upto Sutlej, has not been mentioned. The Great Trigonometrical Survey has been listed as one of the causes of the uprising of Was it really so?

Had it not been for the excessive mention of complexity of mathematics that the author seems to have taken a fancy to, apparently without fully comprehending the complexity, lack of enough historical backdrop and, most importantly, a lopsided portrayal of George Everest, this would have been an even more interesting book. Please go ahead and read it. The book is engrossing like all John Keay books and is actually full of humour. But do not get swayed by what the reviews on the cover of the book say.

They definitely lavish praise to a degree not merited. Dec 23, Ensiform rated it really liked it Shelves: A thin but inspiring history: This mapping required braving malaria- and dysentery-infested forests and plains; crunching the numbers in impossibly complex equations; lugging a vast instrument called The Great Theodo A thin but inspiring history: This mapping required braving malaria- and dysentery-infested forests and plains; crunching the numbers in impossibly complex equations; lugging a vast instrument called The Great Theodolite over rugged terrain; constructing towers and scaffolding for flagmen and flares, and huge amounts of patience.

The story is awe-inspiring, if only for the bravery of these pioneers, who often faced greater casualty rates than soldiers in the name of science; but I was most impressed by the precision of the survey under the given conditions. This book is a fine work of scholarship and very pleasant to read. However, it is a pity that there is so little on the reactions of Indians to the survey: Otherwise, this is a stirring tale of human achievement.

Aug 22, Rajiv Chopra rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Anyone interested in Indian history. This is one more of John Keay's little gems, and like his other book "Into India", this does the name of specific Britons a great favour. When I read the book, I doffed my imaginary hat at the two gentlemen several times. What they achieved, is something outstanding. Given the nature of the instruments that they had, and the difficulties of traveling in India, only passion an This is one more of John Keay's little gems, and like his other book "Into India", this does the name of specific Britons a great favour.

Given the nature of the instruments that they had, and the difficulties of traveling in India, only passion and scientific rigor could have helped them achieve the almost impossible. John Keay's book does great service to these forgotten heroes. He brings out the enormity of their task with clarity, and without sounding bombastic in the least. He brings their contrasting characters to life, and I am left with the feeling that we, in India, are in debt to these gents, and it is a shame that they have been so totally forgotten.

Everest, at least, has a mountain named after him, whereas it was difficult for John Keay to even find Lambdon's grave in the central part of India. This is a brilliant book, written in a manner that is revealing and pithy. I am glad I bought it, even though I chanced upon it by accident, and bought it out of a whimsy. I am glad I did. The project was started by a British surveyor William Lambton and after his death the chief surveyor position was taken over by George Everest. However, surprisingly, people do not remember Lambton at all and Everest was only remembered because Mount Everest was na http: However, surprisingly, people do not remember Lambton at all and Everest was only remembered because Mount Everest was named after him.

The book covers the hardship faced by the surveyors in the then prevailing geographic conditions.

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

A good amount of surveyors died due to various diseases, more specifically malaria and attacks by tigers and scorpios. The survey team also faced mobility problems as the survey instrument of those times weighed in tons and were difficult to transport. If you are instructed in history and most specifically geographical history, then this book is a worth read. This is the mildly interesting tale of the British survey of India. Not knowing anything of the history of India or the British rule there I learned some of what happened, though that seemed mainly peripheral.

In order to rule India, they needed accurate maps, and the key to accurate maps was good surveys. The surveys were led by William Lambton and George Everest of the namesake mountain. The surveys were very difficult.

The Great ARC: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named

They required building countless towers from which the surveyors could s This is the mildly interesting tale of the British survey of India. They required building countless towers from which the surveyors could sight long distances. They were carried out in tiger-infested jungles, searing hot plains and steep mountains. The local populace often resisted the efforts, possibly knowing that this surveying was a precursor to colonial rule. The surveyors used old instruments that, while accurate, were very awkward to tote around a roadless jungled countryside.

The theodolite weighted half a ton and had to be read by microscope. Despite all of this, the survey was a triumph of accurate measurement and painstaking calculation. Aug 31, Cade rated it really liked it. This book is a quick and easy read. It tells two mostly separate tales in parallel: The emphasis is on the Trigonometric Survey. The book does describe some of the process of the surveying like how they had to clear trees and climb temples and light flares to take measurements, and this, along with some numbers to show the extravagant accuracy sought and achieved , was the This book is a quick and easy read.

The book does describe some of the process of the surveying like how they had to clear trees and climb temples and light flares to take measurements, and this, along with some numbers to show the extravagant accuracy sought and achieved , was the most interesting part of the book to me. However, the author shies away from some more technical details of actually taking the measurements and doing the calculations. It is the narrative of the undertaking that is the focus, and the anti- hero is Everest who is ambitious, short-tempered, and fickle but also capable. The lack of technical detail left me feeling a little short-changed; however, this book redeemed itself to a 4 star rating by keeping it short.

It may not have focused on the parts I was most interested in, but it did not waste time with parts I was uninterested in. Jan 13, Tim Poston rated it it was amazing. So much is fine about this book like anything Keay writes , it would take longer to describe well than to read it. But I want to remark on a fragment about one minor character in the story: Then it struck me that Mackenzie's own literature search involved a year's travel. May 01, Louisa rated it really liked it Shelves: The Great Arc is a fascinating account of how an arc of longitude was measured starting from Cape Comorin at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent northwards to Hyderabad, and continuing to Dehra Dun in the Himalayas; how this helped to deduce what sort of spheroid the Earth is, and how one of the surveyors who took part in this Great Trigonometrical Survey got to place his name just a little nearer to the stars than that of any other mapmaker.