POLAR REGIONS

Antarctic Exploration

H ow map-makers saw Antarctica in 1570.

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.

A modern Polynesian sailing canoe.

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.

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