Charting the Arctic and Antarctic tells the illustrated story of the exploration of the two seingly-immeasurable polar continents, using the sea charts and maps composed over the centuries, often under extre and unique weather conditions. These maps record how extraordinary men tried to find two apparently vital routes, firstly for the Arctic as early as the 9th century and secondly for the Antarctic, initially to prove (or disprove) the existence of some vast southern continent to counterbalance the land masses north of the Equator ' an idea which goes back to the beginning of classical geography.
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  Split into two sections, the book focuses first on Arctic exploration and the expeditions by, among others, Viking Eric the Red, Cabot, Barents, Hudson, Bering and Franklin and finally through to Amundsen's successful expedition of 1903-1906 through the Northwest Passage and early steam propulsion ships up to the 1st World War. We then see how the myth of a huge southern polar continent became the driving force for Antarctic exploration, with expeditions by Drake, Cook, Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton, to name a few. These men are fascinating because of their determination and fortitude to find answers in the most dangerous and difficult conditions, and the charts they made of their explorations give a unique and lasting insight into their achievents, these extraordinary and still rote continents, and the history of human exploration and mapping from the 800s onwards.