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Mount Chimborazo is an extinct volcano located in the Andes mountains of central Ecuador, 150 kilometers south southwest of Quito.
The mountain's claim to fame relies on a peculiarity of the Earth's diameter at the equator. Since the Earth bulges at the equator and Chimborazo is just one degree south, this means the summit of Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. However, since the elevations of mountains are given in relation to mean sea level, Everest (8,850 m; 29,035 feet) is given the glory of highest point on Earth.
Chimborazo is higher than any other mountain in the Americas north of it.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century it was thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain on Earth, and such reputation led to many attempts on its summit during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1802 during his expedition to South America, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, accompanied by Aimé Bonpland and the Ecuadorian Carlos Montufar attempted to reach the summit. From his description of the mountain it seems he reached a point at 5,875 meters, from where he and his companions returned suffering from altitude sickness. At that point they had reached the highest point attained by any human being in recorded history. Finally it was climbed by Edward Whymper and the brothers Louis and Jean-Antoine Carrel in 1880. As there were many critics who doubted that Whymper had reached the summit, later in the same year he climbed to the summit again with the Ecuadorians David Beltrán and Francisco Campaña.
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