Who discovered Eurasia? Who and when discovered the continents of Australia and Antarctica? Continents and who discovered them.

Antarctica is a continent located at the South Pole of the Earth. Its area, including all nearby islands, is more than 14 million square kilometers. The discovery of the ice continent still causes controversy among scientists. Some believe that it was known back in the 16th century. Others consider the version about Russian discoverers to be true.

Since the beginning of the history of geographical discoveries sailors went further and further to the south of our planet. It seemed that the land there was rich and inhabited. But the land that they encountered over and over again on their way turned out to be just another island.

The first assumptions about the existence of Antarctica were made at the beginning of the 16th century. A Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci was assembled to explore the southern seas. She reached South Georgia Island safely and returned back. The severe cold, which the team could not endure, prevented them from moving forward.

The Dutch consider him the discoverer of this continent. Captain Dirk Geeritz. In 1559, his ship was caught in a storm in the Strait of Magellan. When the weather improved, the sailors realized that they had been carried far south. They determined the coordinates of their location and noticed “high ground.” What exactly Geeritz meant by these words, no one knows. Perhaps he meant one of the islands that are numerous in the South Sea.

James Cook's ship traveled a long way in Atlantic waters in the 17th century. Ice and cold prevented him from advancing further.

Russian discoverers

In 1819, the Russian Maritime Ministry received a letter from Admiral Krusenstern about the need to organize expeditions to the South Polar Sea.

The stages of Russian exploration of the South Pole briefly:

1. The sloops "Mirny" and "Vostok", under the leadership of Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen, set out on their voyage from Kronstadt on July 15.
2. In November, the ships reached the shores of Rio de Janeiro, and in December - the island of South Georgia.
3. At the beginning of January 1820, two islands were discovered: Leskov and Zavadsky.
4. On January 16, 1820, Russian sailors saw the shores of Antarctica - the white continent.
5. On January 28, 1820, the ships reached the Antarctic Circle and encountered high ice cliffs that blocked their path.
6. In February, the expedition leaves for the Indian Ocean.
7. In April, anchor was dropped in an Australian port.
8. The explorers continued their journey south in November 1820.
9. In January 1821, the island was discovered, named after Peter I.
10. The mountainous coast, seen from sloops on January 28, 1821, was called the Land of Alexander I.
11. In August 1821, the travelers returned home.

The voyage lasted 751 days. The expedition covered a distance of more than one hundred thousand kilometers and mapped 29 new islands.

Bellingshausen and Lazarev considered the official discoverers of the ice continent. They circled Antarctica and proved that it is surrounded on all sides by seas. Russian sailors approached its shores nine times.

During the long voyage, the expedition team suffered greatly from a lack of fresh water. People figured out how to get water by melting the ice of oncoming icebergs.

Events after the discovery of the mainland

In 1840 An expedition led by the Englishman Ross discovered Victoria Land, the sea and the Ross Ice Shelf.

The first steamship sailed along the coast of Antarctica in 1873. It was the German fishing vessel "Greyland".

The first explorers who managed to descend to the continental part of Antarctica were the Norwegians. Science teacher Borchgrevink persuaded the captain of the Antarctic fishing ship to launch a boat to moor to the shore. The scientist collected the found rock samples and examined Antarctic lichen. This happened on January 23, 1885.

Norwegian traveler Borchgrevink Karsten in 1898 - 1899 he organized the first wintering on the icy continent. The place for it was chosen poorly, and the expedition returned incomplete.

The first Antarctic research station was established in 1899 at Cape Adare.

In 1911, the Norwegian Amundsen reached the South Pole. His follower Robert Scott, who made a similar attempt, died on the way back.

Who came up with the name of the continent

The name "Antarctica" comes from the Greek word, meaning "opposite north".

Aristotle mentioned the Antarctic region in his book Meteorology. The ancient Greek mathematician and geographer Marinus of Tire used this name on the world map.

Russian discoverers Bellingshausen and Lazarev described the land they found as an “ice continent.” The American Charles Wilkes dubbed it the “Antarctic Continent” in the mid-19th century. The English oceanographer John Murray first depicted it on a map in its entirety in 1886.

The first person to officially name the continent "Antarctica" was Scotsman John George Bartholomew in 1890.

Some facts about the cold continent

Antarctica is the coldest and highest continent. Its average height is more than two thousand meters. And in the center of the mainland the figure reaches four thousand.

The highest point is 5140 meters above sea level and is called the Vinson Massif. The lowest is located in the Bentley depression - 2555 meters below sea level.

The Transantarctic Mountains run across Antarctica and divide it into two parts:

• Eastern - here in 1983 the lowest air temperature on Earth was recorded.
• The western part, consisting mainly of a group of islands.

The significance of the discovery of the sixth continent

History of the discovery of Antarctica and her subsequent research shows man's desire to constantly expand his knowledge of the world. Travelers from different countries tried to explore the sixth continent for scientific purposes. But its harsh conditions require human work to the limit and the use of the most modern equipment.

Antarctica is gradually revealing its secrets to people. In 1996, a subglacial lake was discovered on its territory. It has been isolated from contact with the earth for millions of years. Its fresh waters contain large amounts of oxygen and are suitable for the life of organisms. The depth of the lake is more than a kilometer, and the water temperature is up to +10° at the bottom.

The depths of Antarctica contain many minerals:

• coal;
• iron ore;
• nickel;
• lead;
• zinc;
• graphite;
• copper;
• mica;
• rhinestone.

Glaciers of Antarctica - the world's vast supply of fresh water.

There is growing interest around the world in deeper exploration of this continent. This is due to the process of active melting of ice and the annual appearance of an ozone hole over Antarctica.

Video

From our video you will learn a lot of interesting things about Antarctica.

Knowledge about the Earth, continents, oceans and seas did not come to people right away. They accumulated little by little over many centuries and were systematized by many geographers and navigators.

Nowadays, with the help of satellites, you can easily photograph and explore any corner of our vast planet. However, this was not always the case. People have spent a lot of effort and time in order to open the world.

The first explorers

In the ancient world, the first discoveries of new lands were associated with the construction of trade routes by sailors - merchants. In 600 BC, the ancient Phoenicians were able to travel around Africa for the first time in human history, which enabled people to draw the first geographical maps of the continent.

During this sea voyage, islands such as Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands were discovered. Another heroic discoverer of the world was the ancient Greeks, who managed not only to discover such lands as India, the south of France, the southwestern lands of Britain, Greenland, but also to draw correct conclusions regarding natural phenomena and the structure of the planet.

It was the ancient Greek navigators who first proposed the theory that the earth was round in shape. The ancient Greeks, who traveled through the northern lands, spoke in their state about the northern lights, about the breath of the sea (high and low tides), but their compatriots took them for madmen, their stories sounded so implausible.

Great geographical discoveries

Thanks to the development of trade and the improvement of shipbuilding, in the 15-17th century the period of Great Geographical Discoveries began in Europe, during which people managed to discover continents and islands that until then had remained under a veil of secrecy.

In 1492, the famous Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus, in search of new trade routes with India, discovered the New World, which later received the name America. A significant contribution to the discovery of new territories was made by the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gamma, who in 1948 discovered several islands in Asia and Oceania.

In 1512, the first trip around the world was made by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan. During this voyage the first maps of the Indian Ocean were made.

In the 17th century, Europeans discovered New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands and Australia. During the same period, Russian pioneers conquered the entire territory of Siberia and entered the Far East.

The last continent that people discovered in 1820 was distant Antarctica.

The importance of geographical discoveries

As a result of the fact that people discovered new lands, humanity was able to accumulate knowledge about the world order: the movement of the sun, moon, the change of seasons in different territories, the presence of poles.

The benefits and natural resources that abounded in the new lands became available to people. Thanks to geographical discoveries during Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, we have the opportunity to fully study the geography of our planet.

1One of the most striking and exciting is the discovery of a new world - America. The navigator Christopher Columbus set out in search of a sea route from the European part of Eurasia to the Indian shores. In 1492, the ship landed on the shore of a picturesque island. Columbus believed that the crew had arrived on the Indian coast. Because of the confidence of the navigator, the natives of America - the Indians - got their name. Columbus and his crew were terribly disappointed in their discovery. Trade with the locals was not promising. And only at the beginning of the 16th century, the navigator Amerigo Vespucci discovered a new world for the inhabitants of Europe. He guessed that Columbus, on his expedition, mistakenly mistook America for the coast of India.2 Acquaintance with the African continent was less intriguing. Residents of Eurasia have known about the existence of Africa from time immemorial. Vasco da Gama is considered the first European pioneer in Africa. In 1497, the navigator's ship left Lisbon towards India. The navigator was the first European to sail across the sea to India, circumnavigating the African continent. Along the way, Vasco da Gama explored the coast of Africa and made a lot of discoveries.3 In November 1605, the navigator Willem Janszoon set off on his ship towards the island of New Guinea. Approaching the coast, the traveler did not notice anything strange. At first he thought he had reached the right island. But, having stepped onto the damp, swampy shore, the navigator suspected that these lands were not at all what he was looking for. The indigenous population of the island greeted the uninvited guests, to put it mildly, unfriendly. Then the sailors realized that they had landed on the shores of a completely foreign land. The island that received travelers hostilely turned out to be New Zealand. Willem Janszoon is recognized as the first European to visit the Australian shores.4 Having made an incredible number of significant discoveries during the Age of Discovery, humanity did not even think that unknown continents remained on the planet. However, in January 1820, an expedition of Russian explorers under the command of Thaddeus Bellingshausen sailed towards the south pole of the earth. Unexpectedly for themselves, the members of the expedition discovered a hitherto unknown continent. The continent, covered with a thick crust of ice, seemed dead to the sailors. The last discovered continent of our planet was named Antarctica.5 The Magnificent Era undoubtedly became one of the most significant in human exploration of the Earth's expanses. Talented sailors and researchers have made an invaluable contribution to the development of science and the worldview of all mankind.

Antarctica is the most distant and little-explored continent. I associate it with constant cold and huge glaciers. I would like to see the aurora. But it is only dreams. I'd rather watch a video of this beauty. Many explorers wanted to get to these unknown lands. But only a few visited it.

Who and when discovered the continent of Antarctica

More than two hundred years have passed since the discovery of Australia (1606). People guessed that there was a cold Southern continent. It is located beyond the Arctic Circle, so it is very difficult to find. The Russians decided to be the first to find the seventh continent:

• at the beginning of 1819, Admiral Ivan Krusenstein wrote a letter of appeal to the Russian Maritime Ministry . The main goal is to send expeditions to the North and South Poles;
• July 15, 1819 Captain Bellingshausen set off on the road with his team;
• in November 1819, the ships sailed to the shores;
• were open in December new territories (islands). They were named after the lieutenants who were part of the expedition: Annenkov Island, Leskova and others;
• On January 27, 1820, the ships crossed the Arctic Circle. The next day, the polar expedition saw the icy expanses of Antarctica.

We are proud of the fact that the discoverers of Antarctica are our compatriots. Only 197 years ago, a Russian expedition on the ships “Mirny” and “Vostok” was able to reach the shores of an uncharted land. Admirals Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev January 16 (28 according to the new style) January 1820 discovered Antarctica.

Scientists are finding interesting facts about this “ice land” in our time. Now I will give examples of some of them:

• discovered on the mainland "space debris". Scientists have found approximately 16 thousand meteorite rocks in Antarctica;
• tourist Antarctica. Everyone is interested tourists in summer can swim to the Arctic Circle;
• Antarctica is a territory that does not belong to anyone;
• Antarctica is the polar Sahara. Her territory is called polar desert. Due to permafrost and constant cold, permanent life on the mainland is not possible. There are polar expeditions on the mainland that operate only in the summer;
• on the mainland there is unusual waterfall. The water in it is red. Unusually, very salty water never freezes. The water contains a lot of iron, which is why it is red.

We must say “Thank you!” Russian polar explorers who, risking their lives, were able to open a new territory.