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A hundred years ago or so, a whaling ship known as the Antarctic came to a halt off the volcanic, wind-battered coast and sent one of their longboats through the through the rough ocean of the Ross Sea to reach the shore.On January 24, 1895, Captain Leonard Kristensen and the landing party of the “Antarctic” left the first trace of human kind on the frozen continent in their quest to slaughter whales in these, as yet, unclaimed waters.

Antarctica proceeded to be baptized with blood.While seals were being slaughtered for their fur, whales and penguins were being killed for their oil which was then used to grease the machinery developed during the Industrial Revolution.It was on Macquarie Island that countless penguins were rounded up and forced up planks that lead into large pots of boiling oil so that they would fall in and add their own oil to the mix.

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.There is even discussions about making a world park on this continent.For science, Antarctica serves as a base for studying pollutant threats that affect the whole world, including ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.The change to preservation was extraordinarily fast when you think about how short of a time people actually spent exploring Antarctica.Small areas of the coastline, some trails to the South Pole and a few islands were explored up until 1958.antarctic cruise

From the very first, the appearance of men on this continent has resulted in a convoluted story of nationalism, aggression, idealism, and unchecked slaughter, with sporadic, cavalier attempts toward scientific research.Whaling was stepped up in World War I, as refined oil was used to make glycerin for artillery shells.Jet engines required extra-fine oil as a lubricant, which led the Americans and Soviets to seek out sperm whales after World War II.Up until the IGY, the majority of Antarctica was still known as “Terra Australia Incognita,” which is the name given this theoretical southern continent by the medieval map makers.

Antarctica’s first native birth has only recently reached adulthood, the birth itself having international repercussions.As a matter of fact, Emilio Marcus Palmer was born at Argentina’s Esperanza Base in 1978, where his mother was brought for the sole purpose of emphasizing Argentina’s claim to this area of Antarctic territory.antarctic cruise reviews

This was similar to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon nine years earlier and placing the American flag on the moon as a symbol of its dominance. Norway’s Roald Amundsen 1911 race to the South Pole was done explicitly to honor King Haakon VII, and make a direct claim on the territory.For the honor of the British Empire, a similar trek was made by Robert F. Scott and a team of explorers, who themselves, collected and physically hauled rock and fossil samples employing the use of sledges.

It is believed that between the discouragement felt when they found out that Amundsen reached the Pole a month sooner, eating a poor diet, having to haul the rocks and fossils, and utter bad luck caused Scott and his team to perish on the return trip, making them the first people to die in Antarctica for the sake of science.America was able to claim interest in the South Pole when Richard Byrd flew over it in 1929 in a Ford Trimotor airplane.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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