Exploring and Exploiting Antarctica: The First Human Interactions

Abstract

The early human interaction with Antarctica can be seen as having characteristics that evolved over the first one hundred years from the first human presence: from coastal "discoveries", through sealing and whaling exploitation, to scientific and geographic exploration. Each of these phases gave rise to different levels of interaction between humans and the Antarctic environment, driven variously by the desire to further commercial gain, national interest, imperial ambition, or the expansion of scientific knowledge: and usually a mix of more than one of these. Through history and archaeology it is possible to track that history, and more importantly to start to understand the human experience of the most challenging continent.