It was over a century ago when a whaling ship called the 'Antarctic' found itself anchored along the arctic, volcanic coast in the Ross Sea. It sent a longboat to 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.

The result of this first mission was a blood bath of great measure.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.On Marquarie island alone, hundreds if not thousands of penguins were herded up into giant vats of boiling oil, until they became oil themselves.

It took 100 years, but mankind has thankfully become much wiser and finally set priorities in the right direction. Rather than exploiting the amazing Frozen Continent for money, Antarctica is now designated as a nature preserve and used only for scientific research.There's even talks of establishing a park where people from all over the world can visit.Scientists are discovering incredible new things in Antarctica, including pollutants and threats to our ozone, and new information about the greenhouse effect.When you consider mankind's rather brief presence on this continent, this turn around had happened rather quickly.It was not until the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year (also known as IGY) that more coastline, islands, and a handful of paths to the South Pole were even investigated.cruise to antarctica

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 heightened during World War I, as the glycerin extracted from the oil of whales was valuable for the making of artillery shells.After the end of World War II, it became the Soviet Union and the United States that hunted the sperm whales for the extra-fine oil they produced, which was needed as lubricant for jet engines.Prior to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, Antarctica was identified as the "Terra Australia Incognita," by medieval mapmakers.

Antarctica's first native birth has only recently reached adulthood, the birth itself having international repercussions.Emilio Marcus Palmer's mother was specifically flown to Argentina's Experanza Base in 1978 for the purpose of giving birth, and to emphasise the claim Argentina made to a large portion 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. The most unique and successful attempt at this type of patriotic feet was when Roald Amundsen raced to the South Pole in 1911 in honor of 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.

After discovering that despite all their hard work, Amundsen had beaten them to the Pole by an entire month, Scott's party perished in Antarctica due to a combination of bad luck, the pain of hauling massive amounts of rock, and poor diet. This made them the first team of martyrs for the cause of science in Antarctica.America staked their claim to the South Pole when Richard Byrd took a flight over it in 1929 using a Ford Trimotor.In 1821, the soviets utilized Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen's voyage passed Antarctica in 1821 to justify their interests in the continent.