Antarctica is one of the mysterious continents of our planet. It lies in the southern part of the globe, around the pole. Antarctica is larger than Europe in area, but its lands are uninhabited.
1. Long road to discovery
In the era of the great geographical discoveries, Europeans were looking for a huge southern continent, the confidence in the existence of which they inherited from the travelers of antiquity. Ideas about the mysterious continent were far from reality, and its location was assumed to be much north of the real one. In 1501, Amerigo Vespucci moved towards the South Pole, but the cold was so strong that his ships did not go beyond the island of St. George.
In 1773, James Cook sailed further and even crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time in the world. However, due to floating ice masses, his crew then failed to approach the continent.
This happened only half a century later. In 1820, an expedition led by the Russian discoverers Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev saw the outlines of Antarctica, but could not land on it. People first entered the ice-covered continent only in 1895.
2. The coldest
On Antarctica, only 0.3% of the land is not frozen. Its thickness reaches 4500 m. Because of the ice, Antarctica looks like an ice dome. It presses on the soil so much that the mainland sank by 500 m.
3. Highest
Thanks to its powerful ice cover, Antarctica is considered the highest continent on Earth. It is almost three times higher than the rest of the continents. Under its thick ice are hidden plateaus and ridges with a height of more than 4 thousand km. The highest point of Antarctica is Vinson Massif (4893 m).
4. The coldest
Antarctica belongs to the title of the coldest continent. In the middle of the ice dome is the world pole of cold. In winter, frosts can reach -90 ° C, and in summer - only up to -20 ° C.
5. The driest
Antarctica is the driest continent, but not all, but only the Dry Valleys. This is the name given to ice-free areas where there has been no rain for the last 2 million years. Powerful winds evaporate all moisture. Surprisingly, in the driest place on the planet, ice-covered ponds still contain life - bacteria and algae.
6. The cleanest
The vastness of Antarctica is pristine and untouched by man. There is no infrastructure there, except for polar stations. Thanks to this, it is considered the cleanest continent. In addition, Antarctica has been declared a nuclear-free zone. Nuclear power units are not built on it, and nuclear-powered ships are prohibited from entering coastal waters.
7. Two opposites
Many people often confuse Antarctica and the Arctic, and some even consider them to be the same geographic object. It is really easy to confuse them. This is facilitated by similar names, snow-covered ice expanses, cold climate. However, they are complete opposites, and not only from a geographical point of view. If the Arctic is just eternal ice that fetters the ocean, then Antarctica is a real continent, occupying 14 million km².
