Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean and divided in two by the Transantarctic Mountains. It is considered to be the coldest, dryest, windiest, and highest (on average) continent on Earth. Antarctica is 14 million km making it the fifth largest continent and the world's largest desert. Ice covers 98% of the continent. There are no permanent human residents and only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, fur seals, lichens, and hundreds of types of algae.

Belief in the existence of a Terra Australis, a vast continent located in the far south of the globe to ‘balance out’ the northern lands of Europe, Asia and north Africa, had existed since Ptolemy suggested it in order to preserve the symmetry of the landmass in the world. Even in the late 17th century, after explorers had found that South America and Australia were not part of ‘Antarctica’, geographers believed that the continent was much larger than its actual size. European maps continued to show this land until Captain James Cook and the crews of his expedition's ships, Resolution and Adventure, crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17th January 1773 and again in 1774.

The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica cannot be accurately attributed to one single person. It can, however, be narrowed down to three individuals. Three men all sighted Antarctica in 1820: Fabian von Bellingshausen (a captain in the Russian Imperial Navy), Edward Bransfield (a captain in the British Navy), and Nathaniel Palmer (an American sealer out of Stonington, Connecticut). Bellingshausen supposedly saw Antarctica on 27^th January 1820, three days before Bransfield sighted land, and ten months before Palmer did so in November 1820. It is certain that on that day the expedition led by Fabian von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev on two ships reached a point within 32 km (20 miles) of the Antarctic mainland and saw ice fields there.

In 1841, explorer James Clark Ross sailed through what is now known as the Ross Sea and discovered Ross Island. He sailed along a huge wall of ice that was later named the Ross Ice Shelf. Mount Erebus and Mount Terror are named after two ships from his expedition: HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

During an expedition by Ernest Shackleton, parties led by T. W. Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole.

On 14^th December 1911, a party led by Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship Fram became the first to reach the South Pole, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier. 34 days later on Wednesday 17^th January 1912 the party of Robert Falcon Scott reached the Pole only to suffer the disappointment of finding Amundsen’s flags and tent.  Tragically Scott and his men died on the return journey.

After Robert Falcon Scott's journey, Richard Evelyn Byrd led several voyages to the Antarctic by plane in the 1930s and 1940s. He is credited with implementing mechanized land transport and conducting extensive geological and biological research. However, it was not until October 31, 1956 that anyone set foot on the South Pole again; on that day a U.S. Navy group led by Rear Admiral George Dufek successfully landed in an aircraft.

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica, and almost the only part of that continent that extends outside the Antarctic Circle. It lies in the Western Hemisphere, facing South America.

The first sighting of the Antarctic Peninsula is contested, but it apparently occurred in the 1820s. Agreement on this name by the US-ACAN and UK-APC in 1964 resolved a long-standing difference over the use of the American name "Palmer Peninsula" or the British name "Graham Land" for this feature. Graham Land is now that part of the Antarctic Peninsula northward of a line between Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz, whilst Palmer Land is the part southward of that line. In Chile, it is officially referred to as O'Higgins Land, after the Chilean patriot and Antarctic visionary. The other Spanish countries call it "Península Antártica", among them is Argentina (who also calls it "Tierra de San Martín"), which has more bases and personnel there than any other nation.

The peninsula is highly mountainous, its highest peaks rising to approximately 2,800 metres (9,186 feet). These mountains are considered to be a continuation of the Andes of South America, with a submarine spine connecting the two. The peninsula has a sharp elevation gradient, with glaciers flowing into the Larsen Ice Shelf, which experienced significant breakup in 2002.

Since the peninsula has the mildest climate in Antarctica, the highest concentration of research stations on the continent can be found there, or on the many nearby islands.

Antarctica is not under the political sovereignty of any nation, although seven countries (Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Norway, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) maintain territorial claims. Most other countries do not recognize these claims, and the claims of Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom all overlap. Human activity on the continent is regulated by the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4000 scientists of many different nationalities and research interests.

The continent of Antarctica is located mostly south of the Antarctic Circle, surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Antarctica is the southernmost land mass on Earth comprising more than 14 million km making it the 5th largest continent. The coastline measures 17,968 km. Physically, Antarctica is divided in two by the Transantarctic Mountains close to the neck between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea. The portion of the continent west of the Weddell Sea and east of the Ross Sea is called Western Antarctica and the remainder Eastern Antarctica, because they correspond roughly to the Eastern and Western Hemispheres relative to the Greenwich meridian.

About 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet. The ice sheet is, on average, 2.5 kilometers thick. Despite its zero rainfall in some areas, the continent has approximately 90% of the world's fresh water - in the form of ice. Western Antarctica is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been of recent concern because of the slight possibility of its collapse. If it does break down, ocean levels would rise by a few meters in a relatively short period of time.

Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 meters, is located in the Ellsworth Mountains. Although Antarctica is home to many volcanoes, only Deception Island and Mt. Erebus are active. Mount Erebus, located in Ross Island, is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Minor eruptions are frequent and lava flow has been observed in recent years. Other dormant volcanoes may potentially be active. In 2004, an underwater volcano was found in the Antarctic Peninsula by American and Canadian researchers. Recent evidence shows this unnamed volcano may be active.

Antarctica is home to more than 70 lakes that lie thousands of metres under the surface of the continental ice sheet, including one under the South Pole itself. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station in 1996, is the largest of these subglacial lakes. It is believed that the lake has been sealed off for 35 million years. There is some evidence that Vostok's waters may contain microbial life. Due to the lake's similarity to Europa, a moon of Jupiter, confirming that life can survive in Lake Vostok might strengthen the argument for the presence of life on Europa

The climate of Antarctica does not allow for much vegetation to exist. A combination of freezing temperatures, soil quality, lack of moisture and sunlight limit the chances for plants to exist. As a result, plant life is limited to mostly mosses and liverworts. The autotrophic community is made up of mostly protists. The flora of the continent largely consists of lichens, bryophytes, algae, and fungi. Growth generally occurs in the summer and only for a few weeks, at most.

There are more than 200 species of lichens and approximately 50 species of bryophytes, such as mosses. Seven hundred species of algae exist, most of which are phytoplankton. Multicolored snow algae and diatoms are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. There are two species of flowering plants found in the Antarctic Peninsula: Antarctic Hair Grass and Antarctic Pearlwort.

Land fauna is completely invertebrate. Such invertebrate life includes microscopic mites, lice, and springtails. The midge, just 12 mm in size, is the largest land animal in Antarctica (other than humans). The snow petrel is one of only three birds that breed exclusively in Antarctica and have been seen at the South Pole.

A variety of marine animals exist, and they rely, directly or indirectly, on the phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, and fur seals. More specifically, the Emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica. The Adélie Penguin breeds further south than any penguin. The Rockhopper penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes; one could call them elaborate eyelashes. King penguins are also predominant in the Antarctic. The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by sealers from the United States and the United Kingdom. Antarctic krill, which congregate in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, and is an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, penguins, albatrosses and many other birds.

The approval of the Antarctic Conservation Act brought several restrictions to the continent. The introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty, as can the extraction of any indigenous species. The overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem, led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), a treaty enacted in 1980, requires that regulations managing all Southern Ocean fisheries consider potential effects on the entire Antarctic ecosystem. Despite these new acts, unregulated and illegal fishing, particularly of Patagonian toothfish, remains a serious problem. Particularly, the illegal fishing of toothfish has been increasing with estimates of 32,000 tonnes in 2000