Antarctica is the remotest continent on the planet. It is sparsely populated with science research stations. There are no local communities due to the harsh conditions. What is important to note about Antarctica is that it is not the ice that makes it a continent. It is the ground beneath the ice that makes it so. Being so remote, and the fact that most of the time all you see is the ice, it is difficult to discover who was the first person to actually step onto Antarctica.
A large continent at the southern end of the planet was first suggested in the second century CE by the Marinus of Tyre that there was a land he coined as Antarctic. Captain Cook, amongst others, sailed around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope and probably came within 150 miles of Antarctica. On the 27th of January 1820, a Russian expedition became the first to officially recognise the land of Antarctica. Other expeditions followed but there was no evidence that any of them actually set foot on the continent itself. Many of these early landings were on islands or ice shelfs.
So, there have been a number of claims to have been the first. However, it is accepted that the first person to set foot in Antarctica was a sealer by the name of Captain John Davis. He was American but was born in Surrey, England in 1784. It is said he landed on the continent in search of seals on the 7th of February 1821, but only spent about an hour before returning to his ship, Cecilia.
The event was recorded in the ship’s log:
“Commences with open Cloudy Weather and Light winds a standing for a Large Body of Land in that Direction SE at 10 A.M. close in with it our Boat and Sent her on Shore to look for Seal at 11 A.M. the Boat returned but find no sign of Seal at noon our Latitude was 64°01′ South Stood up a Large Bay, the Land high and covered entirely [sic] with snow the wind coming Round to the North & Eastward with Thick weather Tacked ship and headed off Shore. At 4 P.M. fresh Gale and Thick weather with snow … Ends with Strong Gales at ENE Concluded to make the Best of our way for the Ship I think this Southern Land to be a Continent.”
However, if we wish to be absolutely sure of a landing in Antarctica, we have to go forward over 70 years to the 24th of January 1895 when a group of Norwegian scientists landed in order to do research. These days, you can sail to the edge of Antarctica as a tourist and set foot on the continent yourself.
John Pullen 