Early Explorers

It was not until the fifteenth century AD that the world began to gain accurate knowledge of the area beyond the Arctic Circle—and the Antarctic remained virtually unexplored until early in the twentieth century. Explorers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries sailed in frail wooden vessels into the harshest environment on earth, and gradually a true picture of the southern polar region emerged. National interests moved in and through heroic effort most of Antarctica was charted—though by no means conquered.

author: David McGonigal