Antarctic Treaty System An Assessment: Proceedings of a Workshop Held at Beardmore South Field Camp, Antarctica, January 7-13, 1985 (1986) / Chapter Skim
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2. Antarctica Prior to the Antarctic Treaty - A Historical Perspective
2. Antarctica Prior to the Antarctic Treaty - A Historical Perspective
Pages 15-32
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From page 15... ...
The knowledge of the shape and size of the Earth completely changed the problems of geography; not only was the existence of an antarctic region confirmed but the possibility of reaching it could be speculated on. Considerations of symmetry suggested that the Earth could be divided into five zones -- the southern temperate and polar regions mirroring the similar known regions to the north, and the equatorial torrid zone as in the map of Macrobius (ca A.D.
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From page 16... ...
the globe as described by Crates, a stoic Philosopher of ca 150 B.C., which satisfied symmetry by inventing, in addition to the known inhabited world (the Oecumene) , three other populated continents: Perioeci (peoples around the globe from the Oecumene)
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From page 17... ...
An era of exploration of the west African coast, passing through the dreaded "perusta," or torrid zone, initiated by Prince Henry of Portugal 1600 years after Eudoxus, culminated in 1488 with the rounding of the southern tip of the African continent by Bar tholemeu Diaz de Novaes. A decade later Vasco de Gama's voyage by that route to Mombassa and India demolished Ptolemy' S earlier notion of the Indian Ocean as an inland sea bounded in the south by terra incognita.
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From page 18... ...
However, portions of this map stretch north of 30°S latitude and it would be curious if navigators capable of surveying the boundaries of the continent could not make more accurate measurements of latitude, that most easily determined parameter of position (from Hatherton, 1965) (Reprinted with permission)
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From page 19... ...
The most important voyage in the seventeenth century was that of Abel Tasman, who swept south of Australia, thus separating that continent from the antarctic landmass. Major trading interests now began to display an interest in the hypothetical riches of the great south land, for the Dutch East India Company (Jacob Roggeveen, 1721)
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From page 20... ...
The shaded background indicates the unknown area at the time Cook commenced his antarctic voyages.
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From page 21... ...
This slaughter, which led not surprisingly to the islands being "almost entirely abandoned by the animals," was typical of what was to come. Contemporaneously and farther south, at South Georgia, sealing peaked in 1800-1801 and by 1822 Weddell calculated that at least 1.2 million fur seals (Figure 2-4)
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From page 22... ...
5 (:R() 7.t:1 ~ AFRICA I ~ 1 ~ 1 INDIAN OCEAN FIGURE 2-4 Distribution of ArctocePhalus fur seals in the Southern Hemisphere.
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From page 23... ...
In 1833 another Enderby captain, Peter Kemp, discovered Heard Island, and in 1839 Enderby Brothers made their last contribution when John Balleny discovered the islands named after him. Throughout all this period and almost to the present day, the pack ice served to protect the four true antarctic seals -- the Weddell, crabeater, leopard, and Ross seals -- from exploitation.
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From page 25... ...
and French expeditions it was a subsidiary one. Dispatched by the French Ministry of Marine in the southern summer of 1837-1838, Dumont d'Urville, while trying unsuccessfully to penetrate the Weddell Sea, carried out a season's work near Graham Land before returning to the Antarctic south of Australia in the 1839-1840 season to find his way blocked by ice and land, which he named Terre Adelie.
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From page 26... ...
The astonishing ease with which Amundsen reached the pole only 12 years after Borchgrevink's men first set foot on the continent reflects, in Paul Siple's words, "a model of technical performance. n But there are reasons for giving pride of place to the exploits of Ernest Shackleton, who among other things pioneered the route up the glacier near the head of which we now meet and which is named after one of his sponsors, William Beardmoree One of Shackleton's geologists, Douglas Mawson, shortly afterward established Australia as an antarctic nation, exhibiting incredible power of individual endurance during one of his journeys from Cape Denison.
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From page 27... ...
27 1897 _ _ _ __ _ 1 Gerlache 1111111 Borchgrevink .11111111111 . 1898 t899 1900 ~ L 1901 Scott C 1 111 i Bruce · 904 T Dryna~ki 11111111 Nordensk told C Am.
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From page 28... ...
Even then, antarctic whale stocks did not become important until the discovery of big packs of the giant Blue Whales by the expeditions at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1904 the first antarctic land station was opened in South Georgia, and whaling rapidly spread to other shore stations and factory ships moored in suitable harbors throughout the Falkland Islands Dependencies.
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From page 29... ...
Revenues from whaling licenses assisted the initiation in 1925 of a new era of Southern Ocean studies when the United Kingdom launched the Discovery Investigations to carry out research in the Southern Ocean in support of the whaling industry. At first confined to whales and whaling in the Falkland Islands quadrangle, the program was later expanded to include much broader studies of the Southern Ocean.
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From page 30... ...
30 5 25 20 t0 5 o o 25 o x 20 _ <, 10 Ul J 15 20 15 10 15 10 _ ~ HUMPBACK _~ catching banned _ _/ ~ catching banned FIN : _ SKI QUOTA ale units I I I I I I t I GLOBA in blue w I I I 1 111 1 use of ended ,,,,, II t, ,ll , ,l , , , 11 , , ,l , , , B! ll I'~ ~ I ,lll ,l ,l I _ 1910/11 1920/21 1930/31 1940/41 1950/51 11130/61 1970/71 ~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l l l l l l l ll ll WHALING SEASON FIGURE 2-7 Baleen whale catches in the Southern Ocean, 1904-1971.
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From page 31... ...
, including what was to be its principal showpiece, Antarctica. Technology developed for northern polar regions, including snow and ice runways, ski equipped aircraft, and tracked vehicles, allowed bases to be built and supplied in the interior of the continent.
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From page 32... ...
The scientists happily capitalized on this dilemma, and the scene was set for the formation of the Special Committee for Antarctic Research in 1958-formalizing for the longer term the spirit of cooperation exemplified by the scientists of all 12 nations during the IGY -- and for the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. Easement of potential "international discord" had been quietly sought in diplomatic circles for more than a decade before 1959.
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