The Last Continent Trivia Quiz

Answer: To balance the weight of the northern continents.

Terra Australis - the Southern Land - was assumed to have existed because there were so many discovered lands in the Northern Hemisphere. Even as far back as the 15th century, maps placed a giant continent at the bottom of the Earth. Land balancing had been a working theory since the 5th century. Macrobius, a Roman commentator, wrote in "Commentarii in somnium Scipionis" that there needed to be a land mass in the south to balance the northern ones, especially the inhospitable northern polar lands that nobody ventured into back then.

Answer: Russia

Despite the Prussian name, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen was Russian, and, along with fellow countryman Mikhail Lazarev, their expedition to the southern latitudes was successful in sighting the Antarctic mainland. Aboard their ships they reached within 32 kilometers of the coast and sighted the Fimbul Ice Shelf. Later that year more sightings were made, and it is believed that in 1821, a year later, the first landfall was made.

Answer: Norway

Twelve nations were the original signatories of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Of those nations, Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom all retained land claims to the southern continent. Additionally, both the United States and the Soviet Union (which transferred over into present-day Russia) both retained the right to make a land claim but did not file claims. Belgium and South Africa had no claims to Antarctica while Japan had a claim, but never formally filed it.

Answer: Mawson Station

Mawson Station was established in 1954 for research purposes primarily, but also to solidify Australia's Antarctic claim. It was permanently inhabited, even during the austral winter. Researchers there conduct observations and experiments with cosmic rays, penguins, geomagnetism, and meteorology, amongst other endeavours. Thinking green, the Mawson Station is powered primarily by wind turbines.

It is the base of operations for expeditions into Amery Ice Shelf in the east and as far west into Enderby Land.

Answer: Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen led a team of Norwegians and managed to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. With him were Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, Olav Bjaaland, and Oscar Wisting. Originally, Amundsen was going to try for the North Pole, but, when he heard that Robert E. Peary and Frederick Cook had claimed to have reached it in 1909, his goal changed to the south. Nevertheless, he kept this a secret, even from his team, until they had set out on their journey. Upon reaching Antarctica and setting up a base, Amundsen realized he had a race on his hands with another expedition let by Robert Falcon Scott. Ultimately, Amundsen reached the pole five weeks before Scott did.

Answer: England

Robert Falcon Scott, born in Plymouth, England, had been an officer in the Royal Navy when he was suddenly thrust into the position where he had to provide for his entire family. Knowing that an expedition with the Royal Geographical Society would pay more, Scott volunteered for the position of leader.

Saddened when he discovered that Amundsen had beaten him to the goal, Scott turned around his team and headed back to shore. However, a team that was supposed to have met Scott to help him return did not set out as planned, and a man who was not suited to the task was sent out very late. Scott's team ran out of supplies and died, famously and, in the eyes of the British, heroically.

Answer: Edmund Hillary

British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs set out from Shackleton Base in November of 1957 to cross the continent. On the other side, New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary (of Mt. Everest fame) set out from newly established Scott Base to meet them and to set up supply depots to ease the second half of the trip. When Hillary saw that he was making good time, he decided to head for the South Pole, not as planned. He beat the British team there becoming only the third team to make it there over land. Sixteen days later, Fuchs' team made it to the pole.

Hillary's team was waiting at the newly established American Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station which had just been established through an airlift. Fuchs continued over land to Scott Base while Hillary flew there, and then set out again to meet the Fuchs team. They all finally returned to Scott Base on March 2, 1958, having been the first to successfully traverse the last continent.

Answer: Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration occurred between the years 1897 and 1922 and consisted of no less than seventeen major expeditions to the last continent. They were given the name "Heroic" due to the fact that they relied on human perseverance and endurance. Future expeditions were part of the Mechanical Age of Antarctic Exploration due to the use of vehicles.

Many countries wanted to explore Antarctica and perhaps claim a piece of the new land for themselves. People wanted to claim the title of 'first', and many did. First to reach the South Pole, the magnetic pole, chart new lands, find new resources, explore seas (especially for whaling), and settle island further south than any before them. It all ended with the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition where team leader Ernest Shackleton lost his life and the team returned prematurely. Really, from 1922 until 1947, no major Antarctic expedition was attempted.

Answer: Last continent where a baby was born.

The first documented birth on Antarctica happened on January 7, 1978. Emilio Marcus Palma was born to prove Argentine sovereignty over their land claim in Antarctica. His mother had been flown out to the Argentine Esperanza Base when she was seven months pregnant to deliberately have the baby on Antarctica. His father was a captain in the Argentine Army and was head of the Esperanza Base.

Preceding Palma, two other notable births happened on islands close to Antarctica. In 1913, Norwegian Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen was born on South Georgia, and, prior to that, in 1859, Australian James Kerguelen Robinson was born on the Kerguelen Islands.

Answer: Mount Vinson

Mount Vinson, the highest point on the Vinson Massif, stands tall at 4,892 meters above sea level. It was first climbed only in 1966 by Nicholas Clinch and a team of Americans. Probably, the location, extreme cold, and isolation of this mountain make it difficult to climb; until 2010 only 1,400 people had attempted to summit this mountain.

In fact, the Vinson Massif was only first seen in 1958 by a UN Navy pilot.