123 A Brief History of the Discovery of Antarctica
Channel: Chris Marquardt
Date: 09/02/2021

Buy us a coffee: [Chris](https://ko-fi.com/chrismarquardt) / [Henry](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/aguycalledpaul)

**Polar Newsreel:** A wallet lost by US navy meteorologist on Antarctica in the 1960s [turned up](https://bit.ly/2OcJH5E) during demolition work])https://future.usap.gov/demolition-new-aims-construction/= at McMurdo base 53 years later. [Nornickel must pay €1.62 billion](https://www.arctictoday.com/nornickel-must-pay-e1-62-billion-for-a-huge-arctic-oil-spill/) for the huge Arctic oil spill.

**Main Topic:**
Since the times of the [father of geography, Ptolemy](https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-history/ptolemys-maps-the-father-of-modern-geography/), people believed that the massive landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere would be balanced out by massive, yet undiscovered, lands in the south. This idea of the hypothetical "[Great Southern Continent](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Terra_Australis)" together with the desire for a great fertile southern continent rich in resources to rival those of the New World nurtured expeditions to the Far South.

It was James Cook’s [second voyage of 1772-75](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Second_voyage_of_James_Cook) which finally destroyed the dream of a vast, inhabited and prosperous “[Terra Australis Incognita](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803103151680)” and ushered in the new age of [South Polar exploration](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/History_of_Antarctica).

Who actually discovered the southern continent has been [heatedly disputed](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/reference/exploration/who-discovered-antarctica-depends-who-ask/), chiefly on nationalistic grounds, primarily between the British support of [Bransfield](https://britishantarcticterritory.org.uk/edward-bransfield-200-years-on/) and Smith, and the Americans for [Palmer](https://connecticuthistory.org/nathaniel-palmer-discovers-antarctica-today-in-history/). The [controversy](https://theconversation.com/200-years-of-exploring-antarctica-the-worlds-coldest-most-forbidding-and-most-peaceful-continent-129607) raged for over a century with accusations of wilful misinterpretation of the accounts and logs right up to claims and counter-claims for forgery. 

In fact, the first person to actually see the continent was neither British nor American but was almost certainly the Russian Admiral [von Bellingshausen](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fabian_Gottlieb_von_Bellingshausen). However, this wasn’t realised until his records became available in the West, almost a century later. Today it’s believed that the Russian expedition reached on 28 January 1820 a point within 32 km (20 mi) from [Princess Martha Coast](https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=9774) and recorded the sight of an ice shelf at 69°21′28″S 2°14′50″W that became known as the [Fimbul Ice Shelf](https://www.npolar.no/en/fact/fimbul/). 

Further reading (affiliate links): 
Jakob Sondergard Pedersen & Philip Curtis (2012) [The Mapping of Antarctica](https://amzn.to/3a44TUc), The Map House of London
Robert Clancy, John Manning & Henk Brolsma (2013) [Mapping Antarctica: A Five Hundred Year Record of Discovery](https://amzn.to/3rG44a3), Springer Praxis Books
Peter Fretwell (2020) [Antarctic Atlas: New Maps and Graphics That Tell the Story of A Continent](https://amzn.to/2OhnZxr), Particular Books