GEOGRAPHIC NAMES OF ANTARCTICA 



The Geographic Name Problem 



The Nature of the Problem 



The geographic nomenclature of Antarctica was 

 long in need of an overall systematic treatment, 

 objective in approach and based upon thorough 

 examination of all the evidence. The results of 

 such treatment over a period of about three years 

 were presented in Geographical Names of Ant- 

 arctica, Special Publication No. 86 of the Board on 

 Geographical Names, in May 1947, two supple- 

 ments to which were issued in 1949 and 1951. 

 The continuing program since that publication 

 has now covered most of the geographic naming in 

 Antarctica. As research has filled in many of the 

 previous gaps in knowledge, a number of names 

 have been modified and minor amendments have 

 been made in the policies. This revised publica- 

 tion brings together the greatly enlarged body of 

 names officially standardized for use by the United 

 States Government, together with new pertinent 

 background information. 



Questions of political sovereignty have not 

 entered into consideration of the name policy, or 

 of individual names. This statement of non- 

 political character of the geographic name policy 

 and decisions is also applicable to all statements 

 in this publication. The Board on Geographic 

 Names has therefore considered each name on its 

 merits in the light of historical studies of explora- 

 tion and of successive improvements in the 

 mapping of Antarctica. The names of "lands" 

 and "coasts" have been considered without politi- 

 cal connotation, and have been described and 

 delimited as physical entities as far as present 

 knowledge permits. 



The Antarctic continent presents many nomen- 

 clature problems for varied reasons. Modern spe- 

 cialized tools were not available to the early ex- 

 plorers primarily responsible for initial activity in 

 Antarctic naming, and the nature of Antarctica 

 put great obstacles in their way. The great size 

 of the continent and its relative inaccessibility 

 make it difficult to develop accurate concepts of 

 the whole and the relationship of its parts. Many 

 of the natural features in Antarctica are markedly 

 similar in appearance, and, conversely, the appear- 

 ance of a given feature varies with the angle of 

 view or from time to time. It has not been easy 

 for explorers to describe and locate features unmis- 

 takably or to identify a feature reported previously 



by someone else. The extraordinary hazards of 

 travel and frequent poor visibility have restricted 

 observation. Practically all of the interior that is 

 known, and much of the coast, are masked with a 

 cover of snow and ice through which protrude only 

 the upper parts of mountains or mountain ranges. 

 Although many glaciers are perfectly distinct, 

 except perhaps at their sources, the relationship 

 of ice masses to one another is commonly not 

 obvious. 



Another contributing difficulty in identification 

 of features has been that the available records of 

 exploration do not always permit exact fixing of 

 positions at the present. Chronometer errors in 

 the early days of Antarctic exploration resulted 

 sometimes in considerable errors in reported longi- 

 tude; looming and mirages may have caused wide 

 errors in latitude; flight positions have not always 

 been determined with the precision necessary to 

 permit full and accurate use of aerial photographs; 

 and many features have been named upon being 

 viewed either from such a great 'distance or from 

 such an angle that their relation to the local 

 topographic detail could not be seen. 



Superimposition of names on previously named 

 features in Antarctica has been largely the result 

 either of mistaken identity or location of features 

 arising from the foregoing causes, of simultaneous 

 exploration, or of lack of knowledge of previous 

 naming. The records of early sealers and some 

 other visitors to Antarctica have contributed little 

 to the literature on Antarctic nomenclature. 

 Explorers and cartographers of many nations and 

 languages have contributed to the nomenclature 

 of Antarctica, often without recording for posterity 

 an explanation of their naming actions and often 

 without full appreciation of everything that had 

 preceded. In some instances the preceding events 

 could not possibly have been known by explorers, 

 since priority of occurrence was a matter only of 

 weeks or even days. 



Prior to the study of Antarctic names resulting 

 in the first publication, resolution of problems 

 arising from these natural causes had been com- 

 plicated in the case of a few important features by 

 strongly expressed differences of opinion. Sub- 

 sequent resolution of these matters is being facil- 

 itated by the adoption of developed policy. 



