Antarctica

**Antarctica** is the Earth's  and the continent with the least people. It is on the South Pole. It is almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle. Around Antarctica is the Southern Ocean. It is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. About 99% of Antarctica is covered by ice. This ice averages at least 1.6 kilometers (1.0&nbsp;miles) thick.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent. It is also, on average, the highest of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert. It is the largest and coldest desert in the world. It has yearly precipitation of only 200&nbsp;mm (8&nbsp;inches) near the sea and far less inland. No humans live in Antarctica . However, about 1,000 to 5,000 people live through the year at the science stations in Antarctica. Only plants and animals that can live in cold live there. The animals include penguins, seals, nematodes, tardigrades and mites. Plant life includes some grass and shrubs, algae, lichen, fungi, and bacteria.

The first known polar sighting of the continent was in 1820. Antarctica was mostly forgotten for the rest of the 19th century. This was because of its  environment, few , and . The first official use of the name *Antarctica* as a continental name in the 1890s is said to have been used by Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by 21 countries. More countries have signed the treaty since then. So far, 46 countries have signed the treaty. The treaty declares that military activities and mineral mining are against the law. However, it supports scientific research. It also helps the continent's ozone. More than 4,000 scientists from different nations and different interests experiment together.

File: 061212-nordkapp.jpg
File:GletscherMM.jpg
File:Fryxellsee Opt.jpg
File:Mount Erebus Aerial 2.jpg
File:Aurore australe - Aurora australis.jpg

## Geography and geology 
  image of Antarctica]]
Antarctica is covered by an ice sheet about four kilometers thick. Under the ice it is mostly land, although the ice shelves are glossing over the ocean.  The Trans Antarctic Mountains divide the land between East Antarctica in the Eastern Hemisphere and West Antarcticain the Western Hemisphere.

Antarctica has some important features hidden by the ice. One is Lake Vostok, which has been covered by ice for at least 15 million years. The lake is 250&nbsp;km long and 50&nbsp;km wide. Another is the huge Gamburtsev mountain chain, which are the size of the Alps, yet entirely buried under the ice. The Gamburtsev range has a nearby massive rift valley similar to the East African Great Rift Valley. It is called the Lambert system.

## Ancient Antarctica
Antarctica was formed by the breaking of the Gondwana supercontinent. Scientists say Antarctica used to be much farther from north and much warmer, moving to where it is now through continental drift.  From 2010 to 2015, scientists collected fossils of frogs, water lilies, and shark and ray teeth, showing that these life forms used to live on Antarctica.  The frog fossils were about 40 million years old. Scientists say marsupials, animals that keep their babies in pouches, could have started in South America, went to a warm ancient Antarctica, and gone to Australia from there.

## Life in Antarctica 
 chicks in Antarctica, with MS *Explorer* and an iceberg in the background.]]

### Plants 
Few land plants grow in Antarctica. This is because Antarctica does not have much moisture (water), sunlight, good soil, or a warm temperature. Plants usually only grow for a few weeks in the summer when penguins produce the most feces. However, moss, lichen and algae do grow.  The most important organisms in Antarctica are the plankton which grow in the ocean.

## History of its discovery 
For a long time, people had believed that there was a great continent in the far south of Earth. They thought this *Terra Astral-is* would "balance" the lands in the north like Europe, Asia and North Africa. People have believed this from the times of Ptolemy (1st century AD). He suggested this idea to keep the balance of all known lands in the world. Pictures of a large land in the south were common in maps. In the late 17th century, people discovered that South America and Australia were not part of the mythical "Antarctica". However, geographers still believed that Antarctica was much bigger than it really was.

European maps continued to show this unknown land until Captain James Cook's ships, HMS *Resolution* and *Adventure*, first crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In fact, he did come within about  of the Antarctic . However, he was forced to go back because of ice. 

The first  sighting of Antarctica were by three different men. According to different organizations, three different ships saw Antarctica in 1820. The three ships were captained by Fabian von Bellingham (a captain in the Russian Imperial Navy), Edward Mansfield (a captain in the Royal Navy), and Nathaniel Palmer (an American seal hunter out of Stonington, Connecticut). The first recorded landing on mainland Antarctica was by the American sealer John Davis. He landed on West Antarctica on 7 February 1821. However, some historians are not sure about this claim.

People began discovering different parts of Antarctica and mapping them. This was slow work because they could only work in the summer.

### People 
No one lives in Antarctica all the time. People who go to Antarctica are there to learn about Antarctica, so most of the people who live there are scientists. Most live at national science stations on the coast. Some bases are far from the sea, for example at the South pole. They study the weather, animals, glaciers, and the Earth's atmosphere. Some scientists  ice cores to find out about the weather long ago. People who work in the Antarctic must be careful, because a blizzard can start any time and anywhere. When they go far away from their shelter, they must always take lots of food just in case.

Today, people explore Antarctica using snowmobiles, which are faster than dogs and can pull heavier loads. Many come to Antarctica just for a short visit. There are companies in South America that have vacations to Antarctica, so people pay to go there on a ship. Some people take their own boats.

## Related pages
* List of rivers of Antarctica
* List of uninhabited regions

## References 
## Other websites 
**Western Antarctica warming confirmed* December 23, 2012 USA Today
*