Blast From the Past: History of Antarctica Throughout the Years

Antarctica was discovered by an expedition led by Russian explorers Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev in 1820. Since then, Russian scientists have been involved in the exploration of the southern continent. According to the international Antarctic Treaty, only scientific activities are allowed on the continent.

For over 40 years, Russian specialists have conducted research on hydrocarbons and minerals, reserves of fresh water, as well as medical tests. They have also studied changes in climate and holes in the ozone layer.

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The first landing by the Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink (c.1895). In n illustration, he portrayed himself as the first to set foot on the Antarctic mainland.

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A view of the Antarctic ice sheet.

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Participants of the women's scientific and sports expedition "Metelitsa" during their nightly rest in Antarctica.

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Parking is free in Antarctica, but at New Zealand's Scott Base, on the shores of the McMurdo Sound, someone has gone to the trouble of planting a placing metre with one of the world's finest views -- looking over the ice sheet at the Transantarctic Mountain Range.

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Winterers pull sleds with supplies from a pier at the first Soviet scientific station "Mirni" in Antarctica.

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The Wohlthat Mountains in Antarctica, the region where the Russian scientific station Novolazarevskaya is located.

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Aerologist Boris Dyukov, a member of the 25th Soviet Antarctic expedition working at Molodezhnaya station in Antarctica, launches a radiosonde.

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A shot from the documentary The Tale of Penguins (1958) directed by Maria Slavinskaya. Alexander Kochetkov was the film's cameraman. The film is about the life of penguins in Antarctica.

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Participants of the women's scientific and sports expedition "Metelitsa" in Antarctica.

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Holy Trinity Church is a small Russian Orthodox church on King George Island near Bellingshausen Station, a Russian research station in Antarctica.

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A photo dated 5 January 1990 of members of Jean-Louis Etienne's International Transantarctic expedition at the US Amundsen-Scott Base at the South Pole where they arrived on 11 December 1989. Etienne is a world-renowned explorer and adventurer. He embarked on his first expeditions in 1975 when he went to the Fitz Roy Mountains in Patagonia. Since then, he has mounted numerous expeditions both by boat and on foot, including rowing across the Atlantic with Alain Colas in 1976, and in 1977/78 sailing around the world with Eric Tarbarly. He led an ascent of Mt Everest via the North Face in 1983 and was the first man to walk solo to the North Pole in 1986.

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A seal lying on the ice in Antarctica with a research vessel visible in the background.

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A summer snowstorm covered bicycles in fresh snow in the parking lot near house No. 155 at the McMurdo polar station.

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A Moscow journalist "interviews" a penguin in Antarctica.

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Soviet airliners in Antarctica, 1962

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