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Antarctic Exploration
Exploring the Southern Ocean
People imagined that this land stretched from the Equator
to the South Pole. Maps from the 15th century show it
linked to Africa, Asia, and South America. Africa was the
first to be separated. Vasco da Gama sailed around the
south coast of Africa in 1497 looking for a way to India. In
1519 Magellan found a way round South America into the
Pacific. Magellan had seen land to the south of his route.
The map makers then drew
Terra Australis
covering
much of the Pacific Ocean and only separated from South
America by a strait.
In 1577 Captain Francis Drake left England officially
to discover
Terra Australis
, but also to attack Spanish ships
and lands. He sailed south of Magellan’s route round Cape
Horn. He showed that South America is separated from the
southern lands by Drake Passage. He then sailed across the
Pacific Ocean where land was marked on the maps. Drake
had proved the map makers wrong again.
H
ow map-makers saw Antarctica in 1570.
A Frozen Sea
None of these explorers saw Antarctica.
The only hint of a frozen land near the
South Pole came from an early Pacific
Ocean legend. The people of Polynesia
who live on islands in the Pacific
Ocean tell a story of a great leader. This
leader, Ui-te-Rangiora, sailed his canoe
as far south as a frozen ocean in 650.
A
modern Polynesian sailing canoe.