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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. The leader of this party was Captain Leonard Kristensen and they were the first people to set foot on Antarctica. This historic event happened on January 24, 1895 while on a mission to kill whales in waters that remained unclaimed. As a person looking for antarctic cruise you should visit that site.

Blood was soon spilled across Antarctica. 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. Many thousands of the shy penguins on Macquarie Island were gathered and driven up  planks into large kettles of boiling oil, where they were cooked and melted down for the oil in their bodies.

Now, 100 years later, this Frozen Continent is going to be used as a natural preserve of nature and science forevermore. This means that humans can no longer voyage to Antarctica in search of a quick way to make money through killing. Recently, there have even been discussions about starting a world park in this region. For science, Antarctica serves as a base for studying pollutant threats that affect the whole world, including ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. Our perspectives on Antarctica have changed rapidly, when you consider our minimal, but violent, presence in the area. Up until the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, only several routes to the South Pole and small areas of coastline had been explored.

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. It was during World War I, when oil was being refined into glycerin for artillery shells, that whaling operations increased. Then, after World War II, America and the Soviet Union began slaughtering sperm whales in this area in order to use their extra-fine oil as a lubricant for jet engines. Until the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, much of this continent was considered ‘Terra Incognita’ – a theoretical continent delineated by medieval mapmakers. You will find that further information on antarctica trip is on that site.

Even though the very first person born in Antarctica is still a child, their birth was still the subject of great nationalistic pretense. Because Argentina has a  claim on a large part of Antarctica, they decided to fly Emilio Marcus Palmer’s mother to to their Esperanza Base in 1978 for the purpose of giving birth to him there and further cement their claim.

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. This same journey was made by Robert F. Scott of England, though his team took the time to amass fossil and rock samples along the way, carrying these things all on sleds.

Because of poor diet, and the toll that was placed on their bodies by having to haul heavy loads for many miles, these men became the first to succumb to the harsh Antarctic environment, thus making them martyrs for Antarctic science.  Their efforts to become the first to arrive at the South Pole were in vain, as these men where beaten to the punch.  Amundsen and his group had successfully made it to the Pole a month earlier. Traveling in a Ford Trimotor, Richard Byrd claimed the South Pole for America by flying over it in 1929. The Soviets made a similar claim in 1821, as Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen’s voyage brought him past the Antarctic Peninsula, which they determined was enough to give them rights to the continent.

When the whaling ship Antarctic set anchor down on the coast of this wind-battered volcanic coast and sent the first longboat through the dangerous Ross Sea, it was 100 years ago. The party with their Captain, Leonard Kristensen, leading them landed and left the very first set of human footprints on the shores of Antarctica. January 24,1895 was the date of their historic landing, and was only one part of their endeavor to hunt whales in unexplored waters.

Antarctica proceeded to be baptized with blood. Countless animals were killed for the money that could be made off of them. For example, seals were murdered for their fur, whales and penguin were slaughtered for the oil they produce which was used to grease the machinery during the Industrial Revolution. Submissive penguins by the hundreds of thousands, were paraded up planks only to plunge off the edge of cauldrons filled with boiling oil, so that their own oil could be relinquished. As a person looking for antarctic cruise you should visit that site.

Now, after having explored this incredible frozen continent, mankind is starting to ignore these quick-kill, quick-buck methods of making money, and instead deciding to recreate this winter wonderland as a nature and science reserve. Recently, there have been discussions of establishing a park there. Within Antarctica, scientists are more able to explore certain environmental factors such as the Greenhouse Effect and the depletion of our ozone layer. In the grand scheme of things, this change is remarkably fast. It was only a short time since humans discovered this continent and used it for a quick buck. There is so little of Antarctica that has actually been explored – just a few parts of the coast, some islands, and routes that scientists took to the South Pole. That is, until the 1957-1958 Internation Geophysical Year.

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. The artillery shells of World War One required oil from whales to operate, so whaling increased during this period. Jet engines required extra-fine oil as a lubricant, which led the Americans and Soviets to seek out sperm whales after World War II. Prior to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, Antarctica was identified as the “Terra Australia Incognita,” by medieval mapmakers. As a person looking for antarctic cruise ship you should visit that site.

The first birth in Antarctic was witness to great controversy and nationalistic pretension and was entirely purposeful. It was at Argentina’s Esperanza Base that Emilio Marcus Palmer was born in 1978. His mother was flown in solely for the purpose of giving birth to him, so Argentina could lay claim to a large area of Antarctic territory.

This occurred nine years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon and placed America’s flag on it as a symbol of America’s dominance over other nations. In 1911, Roald Amundsen’s trek to the South Pole, honoring King Haakon VII of Norway, was the most productive, determined venture of this sort. The British Empire gained honor through the works of Robert F Scott and his group who undertook a similar journey, with the addition of rock and fossil sample collection which they carried with them in their homemade sleds.

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. A rather unique attempt to stake America’s claim on the territory took place when a Ford Trimotor was flown over the South Pole by Richard Bryd in 1929. The Soviets utilized Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen’s voyage, which took him past the Antarctic Peninsula back in 1821, to justify their claims on the continent.