Baptism of ice: J. G. Bartholomew and the naming of Antarctica

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs a proper noun, Antarctica has a long pedigree but a short history. It was coined and popularised by the Edinburgh mapmaker J. G. Bartholomew in the 1890s as a label for the supposed south polar continent outlined by John Murray of the Challenger Commission. By 1902 it was ‘slowly coming into use’ and by 1928 had been ‘generally received’ by geographers.