Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era beginning at the end of the 19th century and closing with Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the survivors stepping ashore in Wellington, New Zealand February 9, 1917. Historian Aant Elzinga gives the much later date of 1945, considering World War II to be the turning point in Antarctic research. During this period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort that resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration and in which 17 major Antarctic expeditions were launched from ten countries. The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances in transport and communication technologies revolutionized the work of exploration. This me

Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era beginning at the end of the 19th century and closing with Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the survivors stepping ashore in Wellington, New Zealand February 9, 1917. Historian Aant Elzinga gives the much later date of 1945, considering World War II to be the turning point in Antarctic research. During this period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort that resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration and in which 17 major Antarctic expeditions were launched from ten countries. The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances in transport and communication technologies revolutionized the work of exploration. This me