How Mount Everest Became A Symbol Of Colonial Authority

Words by Zahra Mulla

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Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar was a noted Indian painter and postcard artist. He was a popular painter during British rule in India. (Available in print)

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How Mount Everest Became A Symbol Of Colonial Authority

A group of Sherpas helped lead the first successful climb of Everest.

Lately, I’ve been consumed by an overwhelming urge to climb a mountain. This is either from the influx of Instagram travel reels showcasing the divine grandeur of the Himalayas, or maybe it’s from an innate need to be connected to the natural world festering under a suffocating existence in an urban city. It’s probably both.

With this newfound obsession, I can’t help but notice the glaring colonial imprint still woven through many of mountaineering’s most celebrated achievements. A tale as old as time: white Western climbers bask in glory, yet their triumphs are only possible because of the often-overlooked, backbreaking labor of Indigenous communities. This is just one of the many ways in which imperialist structures persist today. To understand how we got here, we must first look back—to the moment when colonialism set its sights on Mount Everest.