When did they discover Antarctica?

Answer 1

Legends about a southern continent existed for centuries, but it was in 1820 that a Russian Expedition documented seeing it. It was quite a while before it was even named.

Legend continues to say that Captain James Cook found them in 17th of January, 1773, but the tracking shows they were more than 75 miles away from the most northern points.
Antarctica was discovered on November 18, 1820.

Answer 2

Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on the 17th of January, 1773, and reached a latitude of 67 degrees 15 minutes S. It is not clear whether or not he actually set eyes on Antarctica since the ice pack prevented any further southward progress. In January, 1820, as a result of an earlier expedition where he was blown off course, the British Royal Navy sent William Smith as pilot with Edward Bransfield to search the waters south of the newly claimed South Shetland Islands. It is subsequently claimed that they are the first to see the Antarctic Peninsula. On the 27th of January, 1820, Russian, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen, becomes the first person to see the Antarctic continent. In January,1821, Bellingshausen returns to the Antarctic and completes a circumnavigation of Antarctica being only the second explorer, after Cook, to do so. In February, American sealer John Davis arguably becomes the first person to land on the Antarctic continent. A Norwegian scientist immigrant to Australia, Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1864-1934), became the first man to set foot on the Antarctic when he stepped on to Cape Adare on the 24th of January, 1895. From 1894-95 he devoted his time to exploration of Antarctica. He attempted to reach the South Pole in 1897. During this expedition, he was the first to discover lichen in the Antarctic, and reached a latitude of 78 degrees 5 minutes S.

Answer 3

Pangaea was the original super-continent which broke up into Gondwanaland and Laurasia. Gondwanaland consisted of present day Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India and South America and began to break up about 250 million years ago. Antarctica was completely free of the other land masses by 30 million years ago. The continents in order of size are as follows - 1. Asia - 44,700,000 sq km

2. Africa - 30,300,000 sq km

3. North America - 24,360,000 sq km

4. South America - 17,770,000 sq km

5. Antarctica - 14,000,000 sq km (island continent)

6. Europe - 9,940,000 sq km

7. Australia - 7,686,850 sq km (island continent)

Answer 4

Captain Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen from Russia discovered Antarctica on 27th January 1820.
Antarctica is one of the most cold and desolate places in the world. Explorers had been traveling through that area, and they believed they had seen a land formation made of ice. It was not until 1821 that an American was the first person to set foot on Antarctica.

Answer 5

In 1773 Captain James Cook got within 150 miles of the coast, but was held back by the pack ice. In 1819 Nathaniel Palmer circumnavigated Antarctica. It wasn't until 1841 that James Clark Ross discovered Mount Erebus, a mildly active volcano. However, it took them until 1900 to return on foot, headed by Sir Scott and Sir Ernest Shackelton.

there was a greek scholar who discovered it first before anyonelse

There's a polynesian legend about a south pacific islander that's regarded as a hero, who traveled via the widely used trade winds to a land of "'bare white rocks that towered over a monstrous sea'... a land of 'uninterrupted ice'."

I read this in my World History book at college.

Answer 6

The first Antarctic land discovered was the island of South Georgia, visited by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675.

Answer 7

1773