Chapter 3 : Learning about Antarctica – Geo political importance

Thus began my search to plot the journey to Antarctica. My first discovery was, Antarctica belongs to no country and hence there is no Visa required to enter Antarctica. My second discovery was, though it was uninhabited and there were no wars in Antarctica, the continent has been hotly debated in the international arena. Ever since the advent of agriculture man has developed an insatiable urge to acquire more land. The advent of industries intensified the search for minerals and resources and there was no spot left on the earth by the end of 18th century where we had not hunted for resources.

The interest in Antarctica started since Greek philosophers’ theorized earth as spherical with north and south poles back in 600 BC. In pre 19th century many expeditions were undertaken ending in 1772 when James Cook led an expedition that crossed Antarctic Circle in January 1773. He reached within about 75 miles of the Antarctic Mainland without seeing it.

Multiple Sailors and explorers continued with attempts to circumnavigate the continent starting from New Zealand, South America and South African ports. There explorations and discoveries led to building the maps and naming of multiple ice shelfs and islands that we know today besides being incredible stories of endurance and bravery. Notable among them being Russian explorers Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev who became the first explorers to see and officially discover the land of Antarctica, British Sailor James Weddell who discovered the Weddell sea and James Clark Ross who discovered Ross ice shelf, Ross sea, Mount Erebus, Mount Terror and Victoria Land, Norweigian sailor Carl Anton Larsen who became the first person to ski in Antractica on Larsen ice shelf and Roald Amundsen who became the first person to reach South Pole on 14 December 1911.










What led to so many expeditions going to Antarctica and why were they being funded by the powerful countries? The answer leads to one of the saddest traits of mankind. The initial interest in Antarctica was for hunting whales and seals. The whaling stations were established in narrow passes so that whales could get trapped in the giant machines and crushed to extract oil from their bodies. Abandoned whale stations can be found today as well along with bones of whales which were driven to near extinction.

The next wave started after World War II and before the Cold war. America, Chile, Argentina, France, UK, Norway, New Zealand and USSR, all were involved in establishing military control on the continent. Multiple treaties were formed by USA and USSR to align powers. Eventually, the Antarctic Treaty system was formed in 1959 between the 12 countries that had significant interest in the region at that point of time. The treaty sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation, and bans military activity on the continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.

Every country worth its clout has its research station in Antarctica today where scientists study the environmental changes and predict sea level rises due to fast depleting ice cover. The Antarctica treaty gets over in 2048 and if history is to be believed, the first war in the continent, would be a war of political clout to lay claim on resources beneath the ice shelf which have not been touched since the evolution of Earth! Incidentally, India too has three research stations in Antractica, viz, Dakshin Gangotri, Maitri and Bharati

While undertaking this research on Antarctica I genuinely wished that the history chapter on Antractica was longer so I could read it back then instead of waiting for 40 years. But nevertheless, am glad that I did this research because while visiting the islands and sites that were discovered by the great sailors earlier, the stories played in my mind like movies, only that I was also a part of the movie with these sailors.