Sleepy History - Antarctica: The Daring Race to the South Pole

Episode Date: September 13, 2026

✨Sleepy History is written and narrated by humans. ✨ Narrated By: Simon Mattacks Written By: Alexandra Turney Discover the history of this fascinating continent, and feats of endurance from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Includes mentions of: Travel, Exploration, Science, Nature, Crisis, Discrimination, Death, Climate Change, Mental Illness #History #Sleep #science #exploration #Antarctica About Sleepy History Explore history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep. Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠slumberstudios.com/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.slumberstudios.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Sleepy History. Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To listen, ad-free and support the show, check out our premium feed. It's the world's coldest, driest and windiest continent. And of course, it's also the iciest. 5.5 million square miles of land, almost entirely covered by,

ice. For most of its long history, Antarctica was untouched by humans. When they first began to arrive in the 19th century, it would change everything. Tonight, we'll explore the different phases in Antarctica's history, from the origins of the continent to the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, to more recent developments. We'll also find out why some of us are so drawn to this remote and mysterious place. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of Antarctica. Hundreds of millions of years ago,

Antarctica was part of a supercontinent known as Gondwana. This enormous landmass also included the regions that would later become Australia, Africa and South America. Around 180 million years ago, Gondwana slowly started to break apart. Australia and Antarctica remained connected until about 55 million years ago. After that, Antarctica was on its own, the world's southernmost continent. Back then, it looked very different. From scientific studies, we know that Antarctica was once a lush green landscape,

with beech tree forests and even palm trees. At times, the climate was relatively warm. It's thought that about 34 million years ago, the region began to cool significantly, For a variety of reasons, there were decreasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and this cooled the global climate. Gradually, vast ice sheets spread across Antarctica, while the region has since undergone various cycles of warming and cooling,

overall, it's remained frozen for millions of years. Fossils have revealed a tantalizing glimpse. of the plants and animals that once lived in Antarctica. One finding stands out as being particularly poignant. In the early 20th century, there was a fateful expedition to the South Pole, led by the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. He and some of his men sadly died in their tents. When their bodies were found, it was discovered that the men had kept some of their families.

findings, fossils of the now extinct, glossopteris. These trees had grown in Antarctica more than 250 million years ago. Scott's expedition had been going badly, and the men had been forced to get rid of many of their belongings. But despite this, they'd held on to 16 kilograms of rocks, recognizing their significance. Over the past century or so, a diverse range of fossils has been recovered from Antarctica. These include a variety of trees and plants and dinosaurs such as the Crohulophosaurus. There were also flightless terra birds which lived about 50 million years ago. And all kinds of prehistoric marine life, including ancient whales, dolphins,

and pleasosaurs. Today, of course, the best known animal in Antarctica is the penguin. Several species live on the mainland and the surrounding islands, including the Emperor penguin. Scientists believe that the common ancestor of the modern penguin lived off the coast of Australia and New Zealand about 22 million years ago. So how did penguins end up? up in Antarctica. It seems that they took advantage of ocean currents, hitching a ride to other continents, including Antarctica. Over millions of years, they evolved to adapt to Antarctica's icy climate and effectively colonize the region. As for humans, Antarctica remained untouched and unknown for a long, long time.

But people had an inkling that there was something there. In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle speculated about a landmass in the south, something that balanced out the continents of the northern hemisphere. Other classical thinkers, such as Ptolemy, had a similar belief. This hypothetical land came to be known as Terra Australis, Latin for Southern Land. The theory wasn't unique to Europe.

In the oral traditions of Polynesia, there have long been tales of a frozen region in the south. In Europe, by medieval times, Terra Australis had started to appear on maps. Although no one had been there, it seems that many believed in the continent's existence. There was speculation about where exactly it was, what it was like, and whether or not it was inhabited. During the age of discovery, in the 15th and early 16th centuries, some European explorers ventured further south. In 1520, the expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan went round the bottom of South America. Relatively speaking, they weren't that far from Antarctica. But over the years, belief in Terra Australis, at least as ancient thinkers had conceptualized it,

began to wane. The name Terra Australis later inspired the renaming of another part of the world, Australia. People began to realize that if another continent existed, it had to be even further south than they originally thought. In 1773, an expedition led by Captain James Cook, a British Royal Navy officer, crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time in history. Although Cook didn't catch a glimpse of Antarctica itself, the region's climate was telling. If there was any land further south, it must be covered in ice and uninhabitable. About 50 years later, another Englishman got a little bit closer. In 1819, William Smith's ship was blown off course while sailing around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. As a result, he discovered the South Shetland Islands.

These islands were located about 120 kilometers north of mainland Antarctica. The following year, in 1820, Antarctica itself was sighted for the first time. While there's some debate about who should get the credit, many believe that a Russian expedition got their first. It was led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the British Royal Navy officer, Edward Bransfield and the American seal hunter Nathaniel Palmer also laid eyes on Antarctica in 1820. The following year, a British sailor named John Davis took part in a sealing expedition in the region. He may have been the first person in history to set foot on the mainland. Early exploration of Antarctica in the 1820s and 30s was mainly carried out by sealers.

On the whole, these were commercial expeditions rather than scientific ones. Indeed, people didn't yet know that Antarctica was a continent. They had no idea how vast it was, and some assumed it was just a collection of small, icy islands. But gradually, some nations began to take more of an interest. There was a series of French, British and American expeditions. in the mid-19th century. There were attempts to map the coastline. The interior, however, remained a mystery.

Getting to Antarctica and exploring the coastline in extreme conditions was challenging enough. While some people were no doubt curious about what lay in land, we can understand why there was no great rush to explore. Given its climate, Antarctica was clearly was clearly uninhabited, and it seemed unlikely that there was anything of value, or at least anything of commercial value, waiting to be discovered in the ice. Nonetheless, further exploration of the area was inspired by the search for the South Magnetic Pole.

In 1839, the British Royal Navy officer James Clark Ross led an expedition to the Antarctic that lasted for four years. Although he didn't reach the South Magnetic Pole, he worked out where it was. Ross's expedition also helped to chart much of the coastline and to confirm that Antarctica was indeed a continent. Over the following decades, there was a lull in Antarctic exploration.

There seems to have been a sense that it wasn't worthwhile. Although some expeditions took place, it wasn't until the 1890s that there was a real renewal of interest. This was also the period that the name Antarctica came into widespread use. The continent had been more or less nameless since the name Terra Australis had gone to Australia. The word Antarctic had existed for centuries. It literally meant opposite the Arctic, referring to the far south in opposition to the north. In the 1890s, a Scottish cartographer named John George Bartholomew published maps with the name Antarctica. While he may not have coined it, he certainly helped to popularize the name.

Antarctica quickly caught on. In 1892, four whaling ships travelled from Dundee, Scotland to Antarctica. They didn't manage to catch any whales, as the blue whales they encountered in the region were far too large and quick. However, also taking part in the voyage were several naturalists and an artist. Their publications helped to reignite interest in the Antarctic. A few years earlier, the Royal Geographical Society in London had also established an Antarctic Committee, encouraging exploration in the area. And in 1893, an influential oceanographer, Dr John Murray, gave a lecture at the Society.

It was entitled The Renewal of Antarctic Exploration. These events helped to lay the foundation for what was to follow, an era that came to be known as the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. The heroic age began in 1897 and ended in 1920. During this time, there were 17 major expeditions to the Antarctic. They were mainly led by European countries, Belgium, France and the UK, as well as Germany, Sweden and Norway. Japan also launched a major expedition. When we can't explore all the expeditions in detail, we'll look at some of the most significant, starting with the first. In 1897, there was the Belgian Antarctic expedition, led to the Belgian Antarctic expedition, led to the most significant, starting with the first.

by Adrienne de Galash. The crew was multinational and included the Norwegian explorer Rauled Amundsen. What distinguished the Belgian expedition, compared to many earlier expeditions, is that the aims were primarily scientific. The plan was to explore unmapped regions of the Antarctic Peninsula and to gather data and specimens. As for the heroic element, that came about unintentionally. By late February of 1898, their ship had become trapped in the ice.

The men had no choice but to stay put for the Antarctic winter and months of darkness. Here are the words of an American member of the crew, Frederick Cook. We are imprisoned in an endless sea of ice. We have told all the tales, real and imaginative, to which we are equal. Time weighs heavily upon us, as the darkness slowly advances. Unfortunately, the men were ill-prepared for months on board. There was a shortage of warm clothes and food, and the situation soon began to take a toll on their mental health.

Scurvy was also a serious problem. At the time, people didn't know that vitamin C was essential for preventing the disease. On a previous voyage to Greenland, Frederick Cook had noticed that the indigenous people didn't suffer from scurvy despite their limited diet. So, in Antarctica, Cook urged the crew to eat penguin and seal meat, which, unbeknownst to them, contained vitamin C. In doing so, he likely saved their lives. The men gradually recovered, and by March of 1899, they finally managed to free their ship from the ice, having been stuck for an entire year. When they returned to Belgium, the men were celebrated as heroes.

Most of them had survived the ordeal, and against the odds, they had also managed to collect. some of the data they had set out for. From this voyage, we can see how the era later came to be known as the heroic age. These men were traveling to the far side of the world, venturing into the unknown, and often enduring extreme conditions for months at a time. During winter, the temperature in Antarctica is often around minus 34 degrees Celsius, and it can get much more. colder. Winds frequently reach 100 miles per hour and have been known to exceed 200. And there are sometimes whiteouts where the horizon disappears. The land becomes a disorienting white mass impossible to navigate. Such conditions are hard to endure, even with the right equipment and

preparation. The people who embarked on early Antarctic expeditions often had limited resources and ran into disaster. Not everybody made it home. This brings us to one of the most famous events of the heroic age, the Race to the South Pole. In 1911, there were a few major expeditions taking place in Antarctica. Two of these expeditions turned to the turned into a race. One team was led by the Norwegian explorer Raulamundsen, who had also taken part in the Belgian expedition of 1897. The other expedition was known as the Terra Nova. The British crew were led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Both teams shared an objective to be the first people in history to reach the South Pole. The British had other goals.

too, including scientific research. Lessons had been learned from previous journeys. In addition to essentials like warm clothes and strong sledge dogs for transportation, Amundsen was mindful of diet and resources like books, records and alcohol to keep up morale. Scott had also taken part in a previous expedition to the Antarctic and he and his team were well prepared. But, according to some historians, Amundsen had the advantage from the beginning. He was arguably the more skilled and prepared of the two leaders. Additionally, his strategic use of sledge dogs would help to give him the upper hand. Amundsen's team arrived in Antarctica in January 1911, while Scots arrived a few weeks later.

The race had begun. Over the following months, both teams faced numerous challenges. Before the expeditions could properly begin, they had to wait out the long, dark months of Antarctic winter at their base camps. On the way to the South Pole, the men dealt with struggling sledge dogs, frostbites, illness, accidents, and brutal weather conditions that made progress. near impossible at times. At one point, the temperature plunged to minus 60 degrees Celsius.

On the 14th of December 1911, nearly a year after arriving in Antarctica, Amundsen's team reached the South Pole and planted the Norwegian flag. Scott's team arrived just over a month later on the 17th of January 1912. They had lost the race, and the journey to the South Pole had taken its toll. Tragically, on the return journey, five members of the Terra Nova crew lost their lives. One man, Lawrence Oates, is believed to have sacrificed himself rather than be a burden to his struggling team. Knowing that he didn't have the strength to make it back, Oates took his fate into his own. hands. He told his companions, I'm just going outside, and maybe some time. He then walked out of

their tent and into the blizzard. His body was never found. Scott himself also lost his life on the return journey, along with some of his companions. With dwindling supplies, they found themselves trapped in their tent, the storms raged outside. The men wrote their letters of farewell and passed away in March 1912. When their bodies were found by a search party several months later, it was discovered that the men had managed to keep some of their findings. Scott's team had retrieved some important fossils, including those of the glossopteris. As you may remember from earlier, this was the tree that had grown hundreds of millions of years ago, when Antarctica was warm. Amundsen and the Norwegian team were celebrated as heroes for their extraordinary achievement,

the first men to reach the South Pole. In Britain, Scott and his men were also widely viewed as heroes. and certainly there's no doubting their courage or the importance of their scientific work. That being said, in the years since, Scott's actions have come under scrutiny. Some have suggested that he may have been partially to blame for what happened. He's been accused of poor leadership and organisation. Others, however, have pointed out the terrible weather conditions and the many other challenges that Scott's team endured. Perhaps the tragedy was more down to bad luck than anything else. In January 1913, before the surviving members of the Teranova team left Antarctica, they

erected a memorial cross. It was inscribed with the names of the lost men and a line from Tennyson's poem Ulysses. It's a line that sums up the spirit of Antarctic exploration. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Back in 1910, while preparing for the Terra Nova expedition, Scott had invited an Australian geologist named Douglas Mawson. Mawson had already taken part in an expedition to Antarctica, one led by the British explorer Ernest Chackleton. Ultimately, Mawson turned down Scott's invitation to join Terra Nova. Instead, in 1911, he set off on his own expedition. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition

It stands out as one of the most scientifically significant expeditions to take place in Antarctica. The men mapped huge areas and carried out important studies of Antarctica's weather, plants and wildlife. They acquired so much scientific data that it would take multiple reports and 30 years for their findings to be published. However, as we've seen from other expeditions, such achievements often come at a cost. During the three years, Mawson and his team spent in Antarctica, many things went wrong. Two men died, another had a psychotic break, and while Mawson himself survived, he also suffered. At one point, after the tragic deaths of two of his companions, Morson had to return to base camp. It was a grueling, 30-day trek across treacherous terrain.

Then, when Mawson finally arrived at the camp, he discovered that he just missed the ship that was heading back to Australia. He would have to wait out the long Antarctic winter, along with six men who had stayed behind as a relief party. Still, while Mawson was no doubt dismayed to have missed the ship, he later reflected that this may have saved his life. He was in such a weakened state after his ordeal that he may not have survived the journey home. When Mawson finally returned to Australia in 1914, it was to a hero's welcome.

That same year, another major expedition began. The Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition was led by the British explorer Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton had already taken part in other expeditions to the Antarctic, but this would be his most ambitious yet. The South Pole had already been reached. The next milestone was to cross Antarctica by land for the first time in history. Shackleton's plan was to sail to the north of Antarctica, near the Weddell Sea, and to travel by land to the Ross Sea in the south.

Things went wrong almost immediately. Chackleton's ship, the endurance, never reached mainland Antarctica, as it became trapped in ice in the Weddell Sea. For months, the men were stranded on the ship, drifting slowly through the ice. They waited out the long, dark days of the Antarctic winter. Then, in October of 1915, pressure from the ice caused the endurance to break apart. Shackleton gave orders to abandon ship.

Over the following months, the men camped on the sea ice. When the ice disintegrated, they used lifeboats to reach elephant island. But this island was remote and uninhabited. In order to be rescued, they would need to keep going. So, while most of the crew waited on Elephant Island, Shackleton and a few other men set off on a lifeboat. They travelled 800 miles across the stormy southern ocean until they reached South Georgia, two weeks later.

But their ordeal wasn't over yet. They needed to reach the populated part of South Georgia, which was on the northern coast. This meant another journey by land or sea. Judging a sea voyage to be too dangerous, Shackleton and two other men began an arduous 36-hour trek over mountains and glaciers, and at long last they reached civilization, the community at a whaling station,

who were astonished to see them. Incredibly, Shackleton and every member of the main party survived. While they had failed in their original goal to cross Antarctica, everyone was amazed by this feat of endurance. Sadly, Shackleton died of a heart attack on another Antarctic expedition a few years later in 1920. Shackleson's death marked the end of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. While many other expeditions have taken place since then, on the whole, they've gone more smoothly.

Developments in technology have enabled people to explore Antarctica in relative safety, and of course, subsequent generations of explorers and researchers owe a debt to the pioneers. The men who risked their lives as they ventured into the great unknown. Something worth remembering is that these early explorers weren't just doing it for personal glory or for the spirit of adventure. In many cases, they were also doing it for their country, for patriotism and national honor. While Amundsen's team was the first in history to reach the South Pole, it was also considered an achievement for Norway, and Scott's team was exploring on behalf of Britain. In his diary, Scott wrote that the men must do their best for the honor of the

country. Over the years, a difficult question arose. Who did Antarctica belong to? Several nations have made territorial claims. The backgrounds for these claims are complex, and vary from country to country. Some countries have cited geographical proximity or a historic connection. For instance, an argument once made by Chile and Argentina is that through the Spanish crown and a treaty signed in 1494, they have a claim on Antarctic territory.

France, Norway, and the United Kingdom also made claims based on their pioneering expeditions in the region. In the late 1940s, there were fears that territorial claims might escalate into open conflict. In terms of geopolitics, it was a particularly tense time. The Second World War had just ended, and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union had just begun. To prevent conflict and to keep Antarctica safe, some kind of agreement had to be made. After years of of negotiations and political squabbles, the Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., in 1959. The Treaty established rules on how Antarctica should be managed. For instance,

it prohibits military activity and states that Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only. It also emphasizes freedom of scientific investigation. As of today, seven states have made territorial claims in the continent, including Norway, the United Kingdom and Australia. But according to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, there's no one country that owns Antarctica. The continent is managed collectively by many different nations. This agreement has helped to preserve Antarctica as a peaceful part of the world, where the main activity is scientific research. Since the 1950s, many research bases have been established across Antarctica.

Scientists from around the world have carried out groundbreaking work on ice cores and glaciers in order to gain a better understanding of the continent. Today, many of these researchers are women, but that wasn't always the case. As you may have noticed, all the Antarctic explorers we've mentioned so far have been men. Historically, women have been discouraged from visiting Antarctica or even banned. In 1914, Ernest Chattleton received a letter from three women. Introducing themselves as three sporty girls, they asked to take part in his upcoming Antarctic expedition.

In their words, they did not see why men, should have all the glory and women none. But the application was refused. The general view was that women would not be able to cope with the extreme conditions in Antarctica. Some men may have also liked having the place to themselves, so to speak. Interestingly, Antarctica itself was often seen as female and described with gendered language. Early visitors, all men of course, refers, referred to the continent as a she. For them, Antarctica was virginal, or a pale, sleeping princess. It was almost as if the presence of real women might spoil the fantasy. The first woman to reach Antarctica was the Danish-Norwegian explorer Caroline Mickelson, who traveled there

with her husband in 1935. However, it would be a while before women became regular visitors. For many years, the United States Navy would not allow women to travel to Antarctica. One justification was that the sanitation facilities were too primitive. It wasn't until 1955 that female scientists were finally able to get to work. The first was Maria Klonova, a marine geologist from the Soviet Union. Today, there are still concerns about sexism and inequality in Antarctica. But there's no doubt that progress has been made, and that women play an important part in research and conservation efforts.

Now, more than ever, these efforts are necessary. Many are concerned about the impact of tourism on Antarctica. The first tourists arrived in the late 1950s, The numbers have been steadily increasing. These days, more than 100,000 tourists visit each year. While tourism is regulated with strict protocols, there are still risks. The mere presence of humans in Antarctica

can potentially disturb wildlife and disrupt delicate ecosystems. Cruise ship emissions also have a significant impact on the environment. According to one study, the average tourist to Antarctica effectively melts 83 tons of snow. Indeed, while some believe it can be done responsibly, others have questioned whether tourism in Antarctica can ever be truly ethical. Perhaps it's the one place on earth we should try to leave alone. Then, of course, there's the problem of climate change. Antarctica has undergone many changes in its hundreds of millions of years of existence.

And yet, as remote as it is, the impact of human-influenced climate change is undeniable. Temperatures are rising rapidly in the Antarctic Peninsula. In fact, it's one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. And aside from the impact on Antarctica itself, it's worth remembering that when the the ice melts, sea levels rise, affecting many other parts of the world. Everything is connected. Our journey has taken us throughout Antarctica's long history, a history where humans have played a relatively recent, yet impactful part. For so long this continent was a mystery. People could only speculate about its existence, and for the first generations of explorers,

and researchers, it remained tantalizingly enigmatic, a vast white wilderness. In a way, Antarctica was once a blank slate, something that had yet to be fully discovered. It was somewhere that people could project their hopes, dreams, and fears. Over the past 150 years, we've acquired a huge amount of knowledge about Antarctica, from its wildlife to its ancient history. Now we're facing the reality, rather than a fantasy. And with that reality comes an awareness of our own responsibility. The future of Antarctica depends on humans. Let's hope we look after it.