Planting the Flag

A Chronology

1773: Captain James Cook becomes first person to cross south of the Antarctic Circle.

1820-22: 320,000 fur seals are killed in South Shetlands. Hunt collapses soon afterward.

1904: First commercial whaling operation in the Antarctic kills its first whale.

1911: Roald Amundsen leads first expedition to reach South Pole.

1912-13: Antarctic whaling fleet kills and processes 10,760 whales.

1959: Antarctic Treaty signed; comes into effect two years later.

1962: “Nukey-Poo,” first and only nuclear power plant in Antarctica, begins providing power to U.S. McMurdo Station.

1965: Lindblad Travel begins tourist expeditions to Antarctica.

1972: After years of fires, leakages and shutdowns, “Nukey-Poo” deactivated.

1982: International Whaling Commission (IWC) votes for indefinite global moratorium on commercial whaling.

1985: Scientists from British Antarctic Survey announce discovery of “ozone hole” above Antarctica.

1985-86: IWC commercial whaling moratorium comes into effect.

1987: Greenpeace establishes first-ever permanent non-governmental base on Antarctica.

1991: Antarctic Treaty nations sign Environmental Protocol in Madrid, Spain.

1994: IWC adopts Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

1995: Section of Larsen Ice Shelf breaks away; James Ross Island becomes circumnavigable for the first time ever.

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