Wilkes Land and Adélie Land (Antarctica as a continent)
Tierra de Wilkes y Tierra Adelia (la Antártida como continente)
- Date
- enero de 1840 · confidence high
- Place
- Adélie Land, Antarctica
- Credited to
- Charles Wilkes and Jules Dumont d'Urville
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In 1840 two expeditions, Wilkes's American one and Dumont d'Urville's French one, charted about 2,400 km of Antarctic coast and concluded that it was a continent. Dumont d'Urville landed and named Adélie Land after his wife.
Priority between Wilkes (who sighted land on 16 January) and Dumont d'Urville (20-21 January) is controversial, and some of Wilkes's observations were questioned by his own officers.
What it led to
- recognition of Antarctica as a continental landmass
- later territorial claims over East Antarctica