ABSTRACT
In the first volume of The voyage of the Discovery, Captain Robert F.Scott commences by contrasting the vast body of literature that was available on Arctic regions in 1901 with the paucity of such material on Antarctic regions. He attributes this to the relative lengths of their histories of discovery, which for the former dated back to King Alfred’s friend Ohthere’s odyssey, and the Norse exploits in Greenland. Exploration of Antarctic regions commenced much later. Information, however, focused not so much on discoveries as on the idea of the conjectural and mythical southern continent, Terra australis incognita (Scott 1905, Vol. 1:1-2). Since our prime concern is perceptions of Antarctica, discussion of this influential fabrication is essential.
