It was one hundred years ago when the whaling ship called Antarctic lowered its anchor of the volcanic coast of this wind-battered landmass. Soon it sent a longboat to the landmass through the rough waters of the Ross Sea. The group aboard the longboat was lead by Captain Leonard Kristensen. They were the first people to set foot on the continent of Antarctica on January 24, 1895. This was all part of the voyage as they began to kill whales in waters that remained unclaimed.
In other words, Antarctica was first christened in the search of whales and the discovery of numerous other money producing animals. Millions of seals were slaughtered and their fur was collected. Penguins and whales were killed for their precious oils, which were used in the machinery used by the Industrial Revolution. On Marquarie island alone, hundreds if not thousands of penguins were herded up into giant vats of boiling oil, until they became oil themselves.
However, after 100 years of journeys to this Frozen Continent, humans have decided to stop using it to make a quick buck by killing the animals and have chosen to make Antarctica into a preserve of nature and science. Recently, there have even been discussions about starting a world park in this region. 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. Considering how brief a time we have inhabited our planet, the discoveries that we have made in Antarctica since its discover are truly remarkable. Small areas of the coastline, some trails to the South Pole and a few islands were explored up until 1958.
The history of man's presence in Antarctica has been an indistinct collection of stories that portray nationalism, idealism, and unabated slaughter with far too little scientific undertaking involved. One remarkable event in the history of this continent was the increase of whaling during World War I so that the oil could be refined into glycerin and 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. It was not until the IGY that Antarctica was listed as anything other than "Terra Incongita." This was the term used by medieval mapmakers to describe the continent.
It is important to note that even the first person to be born in Antarctica, who is still not an adult, was born here for the sake of patriotic affectation. 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.
This took place just nine years after Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took their steps on the moon and planted the American flag there for the whole world to marvel at. A similar exploit took place in 1911 when Roald Amundsen raced to be the first to the South Pole to show nobility to Norway's King Haakon VII. This journey was also made by Robert F. Scott and his team for the British Empire. However, on their journey they stopped to collect rock and fossil samples which had to be transported using man-pulled sleighs.
Scott's team perished as they returned home, having lost the race to the South Pole to Amundsen by one month. They were possibly demoralized by simply not getting there first, but were also likely malnourished and exhausted. These were the first men to martyr themselves for science in Antarctica. Traveling in a Ford Trimotor, Richard Byrd claimed the South Pole for America by flying over it in 1929. The battle to claim the continent continued when the Soviets attempted to justify their interests when the Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen passed the Antarctic Peninsula during his voyage in 1821.
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