A Brief History of Antarctic Exploration and Discovery
1841 - 43
James Clark Ross was appointed to lead an official British expedition to Antarctica. Ross followed the coastline of South Victoria Land (which he named after his Queen) for 600 miles and found the Ross Ice Shelf and Mount Erebus, the most active volcano in Antarctica.
Although penguins had been used for food by early mariners, they were not exploited for their oil until the late 19th century. In 1867 one company is reported to have collected the blubber from 405,600 birds. It was this kind of slaughter which roused people to press for legislation to protect penguins.
1882 – 83
The first International Polar Year was held, when 12 nations established 14 bases in polar regions to observe and study the earth’s climate and magnetism.
1898 - 90
Carston Borchgrevink and his party became the first men to winter over on the Antarctic Continent. He pioneered husky-drawn sledge travel in Antarctica.
1901 – 04
The British naval captain Robert Falcon Scott led the Discovery expedition to Victoria Land. With companions, Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton, he made a trek towards the South Pole, reaching 82šS before having to turn back.
Otto Nordenskjold led a Swedish expedition to the Weddell Sea, but his ship, the Antarctic, was crushed in the ice and sank.
Whaling in the Antarctic starts in 1904 and by 1908, whales are processed at Grytviken in South Georgia.
Legal protection for penguins was non-existent until the early 1900s. South Georgia penguins were protected from 1909 and all penguins were protected by 1914.
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Exploration and Discovery Navigation
650 AD
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1994 - 2007 AD
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