Antique map of Himalayan border, Everest, K2, Tibetan mountains, 1868

Augustus Herman Petermann was a German geographer and cartographer who lived from 1822 to 1878. He was known for his significant contributions to the field of geography during the 19th century. Petermann's work focused on mapping and exploring various regions, including the Himalayas.

In 1868, the British Survey of India conducted the Great Trigonometric Survey, an extensive surveying and mapping project to measure the heights of various peaks in the Himalayas. It was during this time that Mount Everest and K2, two of the world's highest peaks, gained considerable attention.

Mount Everest, known as Chomolungma in Tibetan and Sagarmatha in Nepali, is the tallest mountain on Earth, reaching an elevation of 8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 feet). Although known to the local people, it wasn't until 1852 that it was calculated as the highest peak in the world by the Survey of India and later named after Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India at the time.

K2, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, standing at an elevation of 8,611 meters (28,251 feet). It is located on the border between China and Pakistan, within the Karakoram mountain range.

During the mid-19th century, these high peaks and the entire Himalayan region were of great interest to geographers, explorers, and mountaineers from different countries. The fascination with conquering these challenging peaks, especially Mount Everest and K2, would eventually lead to numerous expeditions in the following decades, including the famous British Mount Everest Expedition of 1921 and 1922 and the successful ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Petermann was born in Bleckede, a town in the Kingdom of Hanover (now part of Germany). He developed a keen interest in geography and cartography from an early age, and his passion for exploration and mapping led him to pursue a career in the field.

In 1854, Augustus Petermann founded the "Geographische Mittheilungen," a geographical journal that became one of the most important geographical publications of its time. Through this journal, he facilitated the exchange of geographical information among explorers, scientists, and geographers from around the world. The journal played a crucial role in disseminating the findings of various explorations and surveys, contributing to the collective understanding of geography and the Earth's surface.