GEOGRAPHIC NAMES OF ANTARCTICA 



part of the remaining names were worked out, but 

 not all. In two instances, Totten Coast and Norths 

 Coast, the information gathered by Wilkes in 1840 

 on the occasion of the original application of the 

 names Totten and North and the subsequent ob- 

 servations by Mawson in the periods 1911-14 and 

 1930-31, though justifying the retention of these 

 names, did not suffice for continuous delineation 

 of the coast line. These "coasts" could not be 

 delimited until the shore line was drawn on maps, 

 and they were therefore defined as extending for 

 an undetermined distance east and west of the 

 respective landfalls that occasioned the original 

 naming. 



The coast of Wilkes Land also presented a 

 series of other name problems that could not be 

 solved until the coast line was delineated. Aerial 

 photographs of much of this coast were obtained 

 by Operations Highjump and Windmill. A sec- 

 ond contract was therefore made with the Office of 

 Naval Research in December 1952 to produce a 

 delineation of the coast between longitudes 98°E. 

 and 160°E. (subsequently amended to 86°E. and 

 144°E.), using techniques described by Saunders 

 in the April 1933 Geographical Review, and fur- 

 ther, on the basis of this delineation to assign 

 limits to "coasts"; to determine the proper appli- 

 cation of names from the Wilkes expedition, and 

 Operations Highjump and Windmill; to suggest 

 locations where ground control should be obtained 

 by future expeditions; and to correlate the findings 

 of Wilkes, Mawson and others with those of Oper- 

 ation Highjump. This project was brought to vir- 

 tual completion early in the summer of 1955, in 

 time for the new information to be incorporated 

 in maps and charts, and used in planning, for 

 United States participation in the International 

 Geophysical Year. The delineation and newly 

 fixed nomenclature was also made available to 

 several other countries participating in the Inter- 

 national Geophysical Year. 



The formulation of a statement of guiding policy 

 was a prerequisite to an objective approach not 

 only to overall problems of nomenclature but also 

 to specific problems of individual names. Board 

 policy, in making decisions on domestic geographic 

 names, has long been not to use the names of living 

 persons, but the application of this policy to Ant- 

 arctica appeared neither desirable nor possible. 

 In the absence of specific positive policy to the 

 contrary, however, this question has been one of 

 the most serious obstacles to the resolution of the 

 problem of Antarctic place names. 



A statement of policy for Antarctic names was 

 drafted by the then Director of the Board Meredith 

 F. Burrill, and Bertrand and reviewed by the Special 

 Committee in the spring of 1946. It was further 

 refined after discussion with several Antarctic 



explorers and particularly with Admiral English. 

 The resulting policy statement was approved by 

 the then Advisory Committee on Geographical 

 Names on July 9, 1946, and by the Secretary of the 

 Interior on July 13, 1946. Two minor amend- 

 ments, covering commemoration of universities 

 and university people that have helped train polar 

 explorers, were approved on April 4, 1947. A fur- 

 ther draft with minor changes that did not alter 

 the provisions was approved on May 9, 1947. Since 

 that time the policy has been tested through appli- 

 cation to the choice of names in the many contro- 

 versial cases considered. 



Special Publication No. 86 was especially con- 

 cerned with the area covered by United States 

 Navy Hydrographic Office publication No. 138, 

 Sailing Directions for Antarctica. Thus the extent 

 of Antarctica was not in question, and no decision 

 on the name Antarctica was included. This pub- 

 lication covers the names in a wider physical area 

 and therefore includes a decision on "Antarctica," 

 defined as the continent, together with the islands 

 rising from the continental block. 



Since the terms "the Antarctic" and the "Ant- 

 arctic region" have both been widely employed in 

 reference to the area physically associated with 

 Antarctica, it did not seem advisable to the Com- 

 mittee to decide upon one to the exclusion of the 

 other. It did seem advisable, however, to state 

 precisely to what the terms referred. The Com- 

 mittee therefore uses the terms "the Antarctic" 

 or "Antarctic region" as denoting the area south 

 of the Antarctic Convergence, the line encircling 

 the globe roughly between 50° and 60°S., where 

 the colder, fresher Antarctic waters sink beneath 

 the warmer, saltier sub-Antarctic waters. This 

 revision includes the names of features in the Ant- 

 arctic region with exception of those in the Ker- 

 guelen Islands, which lie on the line of conver- 

 gence and which are not as closely associated with 

 this history of Antarctic exploration. 



In Special Publication No. 86, a small group of 

 non-personal Scandinavian and German names 

 were processed into English forms. Experience 

 proved that confusion resulted when comparing 

 charts carrying these revised forms with charts 

 carrying the original foreign names. Correlation 

 of the English and foreign forms in gazetteers was 

 hindered by the fact that their alphabetical list- 

 ings were far removed from one another. 



The Statement of Policy was therefore amended 

 in 1952, and the section on translation and treat- 

 ment of the generic term in non-personal foreign 

 names has been revised to provide for retention of 

 the specific term in most cases as originally given; 

 retention of the original name if it is well estab- 

 lished in international usage; substitution of an 

 English generic for an included foreign generic, or 



