Who is believed to name the continent Antarctica?

John George Bartholomew FRSE FRGS LLD (22 March 1860 - 14 April 1920) was a British cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the Prince of Cartography".

Bartholomew's longest lasting legacy is arguably naming the continent of Antarctica, which until his use of the term in 1890 had been largely ignored due to its lack of resources and harsh climate.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

Test your knowledge

What are your thoughts on this subject?

39 Comments

Raven Berlowitz

One has to wonder if he spoke and read ancient greek? Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c. 350 B.C. Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A.D. The Roman authors Hyginus and Apuleius (1–2 centuries A.D.) used for the South Pole the romanized Greek name polus antarcticus

Eric Leif Peters

This answer is wrong.

Sue Grayson

Question should be 'Who is believed to have named'...

dmarkc

The real question is who does the author of the question believe named Antarctica?

Jas Newman

Pascal Collins, That would have been for a speculative unknown land mass, not the actual continent.

Carole Vermillion Laffey

I had no idea that the place has such a recent name. It seems odd that it was not named until the 20th century.!

Bob Fowler

Had to be a Brit ! "I say Bartholomew old chap what shall we call this one"?

Ken Putnam

John Stover, Nope

Ken Putnam

John Robinson, As a Hypothetical

Ken Putnam

Pascal Collins, Since Marinus didn't know it existed, how could he name it?

Ken Putnam

Eric Leif Peters, Citation, please

Karin Johansson

Miguel Angel Alejandro Garcia, it was not discovered then.

Karin Johansson

yura berman, no it was James Clark Ross it seems.

Karin Johansson

Eric Leif Peters, yes it is.

Louella Wilson

yura berman, while Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see and officially discover the land of the continent of Antarctica, they did not name it. Which is what the question asks!