It is characteristic of the inhabitants of our latitudes that the word "southern" is associated with something hot or at least warm. But, as it turned out, the southernmost mainland has nothing to do with hot sunny beaches and girls dressed up in bikinis. In the south of the planet, as in its north, there is a monastery of ice, snow and cold. Have you already guessed which is the southernmost mainland?
For some reason, humanity has always been convinced that there is land somewhere in the south
At that time, when the sphericity of the planet was already recognized and it was no longer burned at the stake, even ancient scholars had the idea (and many of them were absolutely convinced of this) that there was a certain Southern continent somewhere below the planet. Since the 16th century, there have been multiple attempts to find this same mainland. In pursuit of the championship, a large number of other islands and places were discovered, which were immediately mapped and began to be colonized or privatized. So, let's say, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea were discovered .
When did Antarctica allow the human foot to set foot on it?
But the southernmost continent was discovered only three hundred years after the start of the search - in 1820. The reception of the expedition was very cold. Instead of mountains of gold, which for some reason they hoped to find in the south of the planet, people were faced with a huge amount of silent desert ice, in some places diluted with penguins.
And again, people in their repertoire
Since then, conflicts have arisen on the basis of the division of new lands, several of them even with the use of weapons; there were races to study and conquer cold lands. Many people died or survived during the expeditions very terrible trials associated with frostbite and hunger.
All this led to the fact that the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959: all actions to divide the territories were stopped, Antarctica became the mainland of science. It does not produce any resources - only scientific research and study related to the climate of the planet and space.
What weather meets its researchers every year
What is the southernmost mainland by the nature of its weather? Beyond the southern polar circle, the conditions are such that day and night last for six months, the angle of reflection of sunlight is such that heat does not linger on the surface, the temperature characteristic of the mainland lies in the range from minus 70 degrees Celsius in winter to minus 25 in summer.
South America is not the southernmost, but the wettest
Before the discovery of Antarctica, the title "Most Southern Continent" rightfully belonged to South America. The distance between its extreme point and the nearest point of Antarctica is only 1000 km. This title was taken away from America, but awarded another: South America is the wettest continent of the Earth. This is due not only to the amount of precipitation that is characteristic of the climate of the mainland, but also to the waters of the rivers, which cut almost the entire territory of South America. The basin of the largest rivers (Orinoco, Parana and Amazon) is approximately 10 million square kilometers, while the area of all of South America is 17 million.
And who is there at the other extreme?
Sadly, the southernmost continent does not have its brother, the northern mainland. Everyone knows that at the North Pole there is only the Arctic Ocean - endless desert ices that periodically plow the icebreakers of expeditions.
What is considered the extreme northern land if there is no mainland at the second pole?
The extreme northern point, which refers to any continent, is Cape Morris-Jessep, which is located on the island of Greenland, North America.
Its coordinates are 83 degrees 39 minutes north latitude. It is only 708 kilometers to the point of the North Pole. So, when answering the question about which is the most northern and southernmost continent, you can say that these are Antarctica and North America. Only with a little clarification - regarding the fact that Antarctica is the mainland, which is entirely located behind the southern polar circle, and its center almost coincides with the point of the South Pole. And North America only has the northernmost point of land. It itself is located from the equator to the northern latitudes.