Unknown territories has long fueled man's insatiable nature for exploration throughout the ages. Being the first to discover such areas has always coincided with the need for exploration. Some explore for fame, scientific knowledge, or colonization. Some explore for king and country, some explore for themselves. While some small areas remain unexplored even today, much of the Earth's surface had been discovered to some extent and explored by the late 1800's. One large exception to this, was the continent of Antarctica. For a long period of time, there was believed to be a large continent that occupied the majority of the southern hemisphere. This theoretical landmass was commonly referred to as Terra Australis. The belief in Terra Australis…show more content… Between 1819 and 1843, various explorers were attempting to penetrate the ice walls discovered by Cook, in search of a continent that may lay behind. In January of 1820, Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen became the first of these explorers in this time period to identify the main land mass of Antarctica. Bellingshausen circumnavigated the Antarctic twice following his initial discovery. Although Bellingshausen did not penetrate the ice walls and dock on the mainland, he was able to assert that it was in fact possible to find land in the ice fields, contrary to Cook's earlier hypothesis. Following Bellingshausen's discovery of a new continent, other explorers sailed around Antarctica in the same time period. Explorers such as John Biscoe, Dumont D'Urville, James Clark Ross, Charles Wilkes, and John Balleny attempted to find out more about this new…show more content… Soon Ross ran into a large expanse of land, obstructing his course towards the pole. Ross observed mountain peaks in the distance, speculated then to be around 9,000 to 12,000 feet tall. He was blocked from reaching projecting ice from the land. Ross believed the sighted land, which he named Victoria Land, to be a large island. From here, he decided to sail south along it's coast, hoping to still reach the pole. Ross continued south, passing far beyond the previous farthest south point sailed by any other expedition. Ross regularly record magnetic needle dips over 88 degrees, which according to Ross' estimates, put the expedition within 160 nautical miles of the Magnetic South Pole. He continued southward still, eventually discovering the 12,000 foot active volcano, accompanied by another large but inactive volcano. Ross named these Erebus and Terror, after the two ships used during the expedition. These mountains were blocked by a large wall of ice over 150 feet high. This large obstacle would later bear his name and become known as the Ross Ice Shelf. As the expedition moved along the coast, the compasses began to show the expedition heading north rather than south. It was at this time that Ross had concluded from his calculations, that they had sailed past the magnetic pole, and that it was located on the other side of the massive mountain
