Hooker Island - History

History

Hooker Island was named after British naturalist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who went with James Clark Ross' expedition on ships Erebus and Terror to Antarctica in 1839.

Remains of a plesiosaur (Peloneustes philarchus) have been found in Hooker Island. Caribou antlers have been found as well, suggesting that herds reached here up to about 1,300 years ago during a period where the earth had a warmer climate.

Tikhaya Bay was the site of a major base for polar expeditions, and the location of a meteorological station from 1929 to 1963. There is another bay in the south of the island called Zaliv Makarova and another in the east known as Ledn. Eleniy.

The island was visited by the Graf Zeppelin airship in July 1931 during a landmark aerial survey. German staff were marooned here from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. A graveyard and two modern buildings exist.

Read more about this topic:  Hooker Island

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “Systematic philosophical and practical anti-intellectualism such as we are witnessing appears to be something truly novel in the history of human culture.”
    —Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)

    “Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.”
    —Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    “Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.”
    —Norman Mailer (b. 1923)