Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The last place on Earth
ANTARCTICA, 1953-1957
Many old maps of the world show a vast, hypothetical southern continent labelled Terra Aus-
tralis Incognita, a Latin name meaning 'unknown southern land'. By the end of the 18th cen-
tury, European geographers realised that speculation about this land had not been accurate:
the voyages of Abel Tasman, James Cook and others had demonstrated that Australia and
