They lay months away from the nearest Earth star by jump drive, and no one knew what they were good for, although it was felt that they would probably be good for something if it could only be discovered -- much like the continent of Antarctica in ancient history.

West Antarctica is the smaller part of the continent, divided into:

East Antarctica is the larger part of the continent, both the South Magnetic Pole and geographic South Pole are situated here.

The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population.

The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and currently having 50 signatory nations, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent.

The current is circumpolar due to the lack of any landmass connecting with Antarctica and this keeps warm ocean waters away from Antarctica, enabling that continent to maintain its huge ice sheet.

The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters, and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence.

Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis (" Southern Land ") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent of Antarctica is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny.

Similar stories of wildmen are found on every continent except Antarctica.

They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.

There are at least two mirrors on every continent except Antarctica.

Wild canids are found on every continent except Antarctica, and inhabit a wide range of different habitats, including deserts, mountains, forests, and grassland.

The nations of the world have recently united in declaring the continent of Antarctica " off limits " to military preparations.

* 1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.

# Adélie Land (), the French claim on the Antarctica continent ;

With the addition of Sierra Leone, Africa's first floorball nation, the IFF has at least one national association on each continent of the world, with the exception of Antarctica.

Wild felids are native to every continent except Australasia and Antarctica.

* 1961 – Cold War: the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, comes into force after the opening date for signature set for the December 1, 1959.

The Kerguelen Islands, along with the islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul, and the Crozet archipelago were officially annexed by France in 1893, and were included as possessions in the French constitution in 1924 ( in addition to that portion of Antarctica claimed by France and known as Adélie Land ; as with all Antarctic territorial claims, France's possession on the continent is held in abeyance until a new international treaty is ratified that defines each claimant's rights and obligations ).

Koi have been accidentally or deliberately released into the wild in every continent except Antarctica.

New Caledonia is one of the northernmost parts of an almost entirely ( 93 %) submerged continent called Zealandia which rifted away from Antarctica between 130 and 85 million years ago ( mya ), and from Australia 85 – 60 mya.

IPMA maintains its federal structure today and now includes member associations on every continent except Antarctica.

In 1820 a Russian expedition discovered the continent of Antarctica.

Modern reptiles inhabit every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

Rockall forms part of the deeply eroded Rockall Igneous Centre that was formed as part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, approximately 55 million years ago, when the ancient continent of Laurasia was split apart by plate tectonics.

When the continent is far away, the amount of such sediment brought in may be small, and biochemical processes dominate the type of rock that forms.

At the end of World War II, the political climate favoured unity in Western Europe, seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism which had devastated the continent.

The English forms Derek, Derrick and Terry have been re-introduced from the continent, from Low German, Dutch and French sources.

For instance, the striking example of similar placental and marsupial forms is described by Richard Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker as a case of convergent evolution, because mammals on each continent had a long evolutionary history prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs under which to accumulate relevant differences.

Ophiolite assemblages in the Alps and some other collisional mountain belts are not formed during subduction, but rather represent the thinned margin of the continent that forms during rifting and continental drift.

Malawians have long been travelers and migrant workers, and as a result, their music has spread across the African continent and blended with other music forms.

At the end of World War II, the continental political climate favoured unity in democratic European countries, seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism which had devastated the continent.

The low pressure moves towards the continent of Asia ( this is the Monsoon, the wind blowing from the south-east ) and an anticyclone forms below the Comoros.

The traditional forms include many aspects of performance and musical instrumentation which are unique to particular regions or Indigenous Australian groups ; there are equally elements of musical tradition which are common or widespread through much of the Australian continent, and even beyond.

For instance, the striking example of similar placental and marsupial forms is described by Richard Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker as a case of convergent evolution, because mammals on each continent had a long evolutionary history prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs under which to accumulate relevant differences.

The species ' display of high individual variation, coupled with the scarcity of samples and the lack of physical barriers on the continent preventing gene flow, brings into question the validity of some of these West African forms.

After the late Mesozoic breakup of Gondwana, South America spent most of the Cenozoic era as an island continent whose " splendid isolation " allowed its fauna to evolve into many forms found nowhere else on earth, most of which are now extinct.

According to Okada, Japan forms the last surviving portion of this continent, once the home of a superb, sun-worshipping culture.

The insular continent Jambudvipa forms the innermost concentric island in the scheme of continents.

It was an extremely important post for American exploration of the continent and was influential in establishing American claims to the land.

As a consequence of his vision and audacity, there was now a land free from kings, a vast continent for new beginnings.

It is also sometimes referred to as Middle Asia, and, colloquially, " the ' stans " ( as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix "- stan ", meaning " land of ") and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent by surface area, covering about or 2 % of the Earth's surface and about 6. 8 % of its land area.

As reported in the journal Science, testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA by Warren Johnson and Stephen O ' Brien of the U. S. National Cancer Institute demonstrated that ancient cats evolved into eight main lineages that diverged in the course of at least 10 migrations ( in both directions ) from continent to continent via the Bering land bridge and Isthmus of Panama, with the Panthera genus being the oldest and the Felis genus being the youngest.

Continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent.

In his reworking of the Ptolemy atlas, the continent is labelled simply Terra Incognita ( unknown land ).

While a continent like Australia consists of a large body of land surrounded by a fringe of continental shelf, Zealandia consists almost entirely of continental shelf, with the vast majority, some 93 %, submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean.

in modern Libya, constricting the continent to the land from the central Sahara north.

In North America, the era began with deep sedimentary basins along the eastern, southeastern, and western sides of the continent, while the interior was dry land.

Opposite Europe in Diodorus is the promontory ( akrōtērion ) of Kantion ( Kent ), 100 stadia, approximately 11. 35 miles, from the land, but the text is ambiguous ; the land could be either Britain or the continent.

It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent ; with a total land area of, it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two mainland territories.

If the Americas are viewed as a single continent ( named America ), then it is composed of the subcontinents of North America and South America, the land bridge of Central America, and the islands of the Antillas.

Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and on most smaller land masses — exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland and New Zealand, and many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific.

* January 26 – Australia Day: Eleven ships of the First Fleet from Botany Bay, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, land at Sydney Cove ( which will become Sydney ), Australia, where he determines to establish the British prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

Many days later, they arrive in the promised land, on the American continent.

In 1805, the First French Empire, under Napoleon Bonaparte, was the dominant military land power on the European continent, while the British Royal Navy controlled the seas.

Many of the older colonies had land claims that extended arbitrarily far to the west, as the extent of the continent was unknown at the time their provincial charters were granted.

Terra Australis, Terra Australis Ignota or Terra Australis Incognita ( Latin for " the unknown land of the South ") was a hypothesized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century.

Other names for the continent include Magallanica or Magellanica (" the land of Magellan "), La Australia del Espíritu Santo ( Spanish: " the southern land of the Holy Spirit "), and La grande isle de Java ( French: " the great island of Java ").

Ptolemy's maps, which became well known in Europe during the Renaissance, did not actually depict such a continent, but they did show an Africa which had no southern oceanic boundary ( and which therefore might extend all the way to the South Pole ), and also raised the possibility that the Indian Ocean was entirely enclosed by land.

Mystara's outer surface consists of three principal land masses: the continent of Brun, the continent of Skothar, and the continent of Davania, plus the island continent of Alphatia ( up to AC 1010 ).