The map below of the Southern Hemisphere was originally drawn by Guillaume de L'Isle and updated in 1739 by Covens and Mortier. It extends from the South Pole northwards in all directions as far as the Equator, encompassing in the process most of South America, southern Africa, Australia, and parts of the East Indies including Borneo, New Guinea, Java and Sumatra. The map details the routes taken by numerous explorers including Magellan, Vespucci, Mendana, Dampier, L'Aigle, S. Louis, Halley, Quiros, Maire, Tasman, Davis and others.
(Click on map image for additional views and details.)
The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit and which approximates the extent of the Antarctic Convergence. As such, the Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).
March 28, 1916, New Castle News
New Castle, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
South Pole Lured Many Expeditions
Capt. Amundsen Found It in 1911, After Many Others Had Tried for Years.
Many previous expeditions have been directed to this inhospitable continent, says the London Times, the first of real importance being that of Capt. Cook in 1773-4. In 1819-21 the Russian Capt. Von Bellingshausen attained to 69 decrees 53 minutes south but his record was passed by Capt. Ross's expedition in 1840-1, which discovered the great volcanoes Erebus and Terror and reached 78 degrees south latitude.
The honor of being the first to spend the winter in the Antarctic fell to the Belgian Capt. de Gerlache in the Belgica, 1898. But Capt. Scott's expedition in the Discovery (above) passed two consecutive winters during the expedition of 1901-4 reaching to the latitude of 82 degrees 17 minutes south.
A number of explorers were devoting their attention to the south polar continent during these years. The German expedition. 1901-3 in the Gauss, discovered Kaiser Wilhelm II Land; the Swedish enterprise under Dr. Nordenskjold lost its ship the Antarctic in the ice in 1903, but her crew was saved; the Scottish expedition under Dr. Bruce in the Scotia (1902-4) wintered in the South Orkneys; Dr. Charcot conducted two French explorations— in the Francais 1904-5 and the Pourquoi Pas, 1908-10. A Japanese venture under Lieut Shirase had to be abandoned in 1911 and a German expedition under Lieut Filchner in the Deutschland began work the same year.
The Norwegian expedition under Capt. Amundsen was crowned with success as that explorer actually reached the coveted goal and hoisted the Norwegian flag on Dec. 14. 1911. He afterward stated that he very nearly made up his mind to leave some tins of oil in a depot at the pole. Had he done so it is more than likely that Capt. Scott who found the foreign flag flying there would have been able to return lo his ship as in his diary he complains of the mysterious shortage of fuel which so hampered him.
A large body of recent oceanographic research has shown that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica, plays a crucial role in global ocean circulation. The region where the cold waters of the ACC meet and mingle with the warmer waters of the north defines a distinct border - the Antarctic Convergence - which fluctuates with the seasons, but which encompasses a discrete body of water and a unique ecologic region. The Convergence concentrates nutrients, which promotes marine plant life, and which in turn allows for a greater abundance of animal life. In the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided to delimit the waters within the Convergence as a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - by combining the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.
