The Mapping of Antarctica

The Age

of The

“TerrA AusTrAlIs IncognITA”

The­belief­in­the­existence­of­a­“Great­Southern­Continent”­dates­back­to­the­very­beginning­of­classical geography­where­it­derived­from­the­concept­of­the­symmetry­of­nature.­The­scientists­of­ancient­Greece and­Rome­thought­that­the­large­known­landmasses­of­the­Northern­Hemisphere­had­to­be­balanced­in­ the­south.­ The­size­of­the­theoretical­continent­on­maps­reached­its­greatest­extent­in­the­16th century,­regularly making­up­a­quarter­of­the­world’s­landmass.­It­shrunk­throughout­the­17th century­as­explorers­ventured ever­further­into­the­Southern­Seas­without­encountering­land.­A­century­later­it­began­to­inflate­again, driven­now­by­wishful­thinking,­particularly­by­the­French­and­English­geographers,­and­fuelled­by­their desire­for­a­great­fertile­southern­continent­rich­in­resources­to­rival­those­of­the­New­World.­ It­was­James­Cook’s­voyage­of­1772-75­which­finally­destroyed­the­dream­of­a­vast,­inhabited­and prosperous­“Terra­Australis­Incognita”­and­ushered­in­the­new­age­of­South­Polar­exploration.

2. Buache (Philippe): Chart of the Antarctic Polar Circle,­copper-engraved­map,­9­x­8­in.­(22­x­20­cm.), Gentlemen’s­Magazine,­1763.

Elegant­hemisphere­map­that­shows­two­large­landmasses,­the­“Antarctic­Pole”,­consisting­of­“Land­yet Undiscovered”­and­“The­Great­Reservoir­from­the­Frozen­Northern­Sea­or­Siberia”.­The­belief­in­a­fertile southern­continent­is­evident,­but­with­the­assumption­of­a­great­frozen­sea­at­the­South­Pole,­thereby­mirroring the­North­Pole,­is­noted­on­the­map­as­well.­It­includes­references­to­earlier­cartographers,­such­as­Abraham Ortelius­and­Pieter­van­den­Keere,­and­their­ideas­about­the­southern­continent,­and­the­discoveries­by­Dr. Edmund­Halley.­The­tracks­of­the­ships­St. Louis in­1708,­the­Eagle and­Marie in­1738,­as­well­as­the­Spanish ship­Lion in­1756­into­the­South­Seas­are­marked.­Based­on­the­most­recent­discoveries­Buache­mapped­a conjectural­“coast according to the New Plan”,­a­coast-line­that­was­to­move­significantly­during­the­next 150­years.­This­reduced­English­version­of­Buache’s­map,­itself­originally­derived­from­Guillaume­de­l’Isle3 was­published­in­the­Gentleman’s­Magazine.­

3

Tooley,­1985,­p.­xxxvi.

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