Will Explorations To Antarctica Continue?
It was only a hundred years ago that the first wailing ship, called the Antarctic, landed off the coast of this wind-battered, volcanic coast and sent a part on a longboat through the rough Ross Sea to explore the shore and surrounding area.The party with their Captain, Leonard Kristensen, leading them landed and left the very first set of human footprints on the shores of Antarctica. January 24,1895 was the date of their historic landing, and was only one part of their endeavor to hunt whales in unexplored waters.
It was in blood that Antarctica was christened.Millions of seals were slaughtered for their fur and the whales and penguins in the area were killed for their oil which was used to grease machinery during the Industrial Revolution.Many more hundreds of thousands of confused penguins form Macquarie Island were shepherded into large, boiling vats of oil and were subsequently reduced to oils themselves.
Finally, after exploiting the Frozen Continent more than 100 years, it seems humans are willing to let go of the easy money and fast kill opportunities to allow Antarctica to be a place of preserving both science and nature for the future.There may even be a world park established on this great land.Antarctica serves as a window for scientists to understanding the potential danger of several global threats such as our ozone depletion as well as greenhouse effect.Thankfully, humanity’s presence in Antarctica was short-lived, and the reversal of the travesties committed on this great continent are now a thing of the past.There is so little of Antarctica that has actually been explored – just a few parts of the coast, some islands, and routes that scientists took to the South Pole. That is, until the 1957-1958 Internation Geophysical Year.antarctic cruise
It is shocking to look at the hundred years of ferocity, nationalism, idealism, and constant killing that fills Antarctica’s history since people first landed on this continent. There have only been occasional attempts to perform scientific research here.Whaling in this region increased during World War I because the oil was refined into glycerin which was used for artillery shells.America and the Soviet Union began killing sperm whales for their extra-fine oil after World War II. This oil was used as jet engine lubricant.Mapmakers of the Middle Ages labeled the abstract southern continent “Terra Australia Incognita”, and it remained so until the International Geophysical Year.
As a matter of fact, the first person to be born in Antarctica is still too young to be considered an adult. It is important to understand that even this birth has a patriotic pretense.In 1978, Emilio Marcus Palmer was born at Esperanza Base, owned by Argentina in order to reinforce claims by Argentina to large portions of the territory.antarctic cruise ship
This occurred nine years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon and placed America’s flag on it as a symbol of America’s dominance over other nations.Before that, the most amazing exploit that man had known was when Roald Amundsen made his dash to the South Pole in 1911 in honor of his king – King Haakon VII of Norway.The same sort of trip was done for the glory of Great Britain’s empire by Robert F. Scott and team, however they also gathered up fossils and rock samples and hauled them back on their sledges.
Unfortunately, Scott arrived at the South Pole only to find that Amundsen had already been there the month before, and thanks to the depression over this realization, their poor diet, the effort of dragging those rocks, and some bad luck, Scott’s party never made it back, and became the first to give their lives for the sake of Antarctic science.America’s claim to the South Pole was entrenched when Richard Byrd flew a Ford Trimotor over the Pole in 1929.In 1821, the soviets utilized Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen’s voyage passed Antarctica in 1821 to justify their interests in the continent.
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