Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Discovering the
unknown continent
DAVID W. H. WALTON
We had discovered a land of so extensive a coastline and attaining
such an altitude as to justify the appellation of a Great New Southern
Continent.
James Clark Ross, 1847
Finding the poles
There have always been those who have wanted to see over the horizon, to
cross the lakes and seas, and climb the mountains. Explorers led the great
migrations as humans spread across the globe, successively colonising all the
continents except Antarctica, and slowly but steadily taming the wild places for
their own uses. The lure of the unknown has persisted for millennia and continues to
drive those today who search for new knowledge and new frontiers. Their stories
have fascinated the public for centuries and no more so than those from the
exploration of the polar regions.
As long ago as 1531 geographers had concluded that for the Earth to exist
the two hemispheres of the globe must be balanced. If there was signi
cant
land in the north towards the pole there must be a similar mass in the south.
It was but a small step then to imagine a large and populous southern continent,
probably extending into temperate latitudes. Spain and Portugal had already found
riches to plunder and native people to convert and subjugate in South America
so perhaps, thought the geographers, Antarctica would yield a similar prize. The
maps they produced in the late sixteenth century contained much cartographic
speculation, which provided a stimulus for sailors from many European
countries to set out across the world in search of fame and fortune. Finding
Antarctica and beginning its scienti
c investigation would prove a lengthy
business and one that would turn out to be truly international.
