History of Antarctica

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The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic, referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle, was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD. The rounding of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn in the 15th and 16th centuries proved that Terra Australis Incognita ("Unknown Southern Land"), if it existed, was a continent in its own right. In 1773, James Cook and his crew crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time. Although he discovered new islands, he did not sight the continent itself. It is believed that he came as close as 240 km (150 mi) from the mainland. Exploration of the region began after William Smith accidentally discovered the South Shetland Islands on 19 February 1819. The following summer, at the turn of 1819 and 1820, the far south was visited by several ships, mainly sealers, but also by Edward Bransfield, a representative of the British...

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