A view from Darjeeling of the Himalayan mountain range including, to the right, Deodhunga. Following observations by James Nicolson, and subsequent calculations by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India, it was decided that this was probably the highest mountain in the world. In 1856 Waugh proposed that it be called Mount Everest, after his chief and predecessor in office, Colonel Geroge Everest. Although the naming was opposed in some quarters, including by George Everest himself, in 1865 it was adopted by the Royal Geographical Society.