Challange: Colonize Antarctica
- Thread starter FinalWish
- Start date
What if global warming takes a much larger toll in the world in lets say 50 years from now and we haven't yet found a reliable alternate energy source? Then lets say oil is discovered in Anarctica. I could see the Treaty of Anarctica being broken and the nations that have land there engaging in a "Scramble for Anarctica"
Before 1900... hmmm.
A series of global conflicts in the 1800s leads to the atom bomb being developed by 1880, at which point it starts being used on everyone, until half the world is radiated and Antarctica is miraculously a cool, temperate paradise.
Oh right, you cannot change the climate yada yada.
Or, humans evolve the ability to breathe antarctic temperature air, grow enormous oily coats of fur, and at the same time, develop a hybrid of corn that grows optimally at -100 degrees F.
Oh yeah, no PODs before 1000BC.
So at 1000BC, King Solomon or whoever says, "Somebody please invent me a steam engine! These human workers are not cutting it!" So they do. By 1900, several Fusion reactors are up and running on the Antarctic continent, providing heat, light, and power to thousands of people each in nice climate controlled domes. They are connected by high speed underground trains to each other and to some offshore artificial islands that act as ports.
Or yeah, island hopping del Fuegans build a tiny colony there... thus Colonizing Antarctica!
A series of global conflicts in the 1800s leads to the atom bomb being developed by 1880, at which point it starts being used on everyone, until half the world is radiated and Antarctica is miraculously a cool, temperate paradise.
Oh right, you cannot change the climate yada yada.
Or, humans evolve the ability to breathe antarctic temperature air, grow enormous oily coats of fur, and at the same time, develop a hybrid of corn that grows optimally at -100 degrees F.
Oh yeah, no PODs before 1000BC.
So at 1000BC, King Solomon or whoever says, "Somebody please invent me a steam engine! These human workers are not cutting it!" So they do. By 1900, several Fusion reactors are up and running on the Antarctic continent, providing heat, light, and power to thousands of people each in nice climate controlled domes. They are connected by high speed underground trains to each other and to some offshore artificial islands that act as ports.
Or yeah, island hopping del Fuegans build a tiny colony there... thus Colonizing Antarctica!
Well, Fueguian Indians (Yamana) had canoes, and were used to survive in cold weather. They lived primarly in their canoes, fishing or hunting sea mamals.
A storm might get some to the Antartic peninsula (the closest and warmest spot in Antartica). Their cannoes are sank, but they survive. But, given the fact there's no wood, they cannot build any more cannoes, and they have to stay.
The problem is, with no cannoes, they cannot fish much, and thus, they probably won't survive the winter.
A storm might get some to the Antartic peninsula (the closest and warmest spot in Antartica). Their cannoes are sank, but they survive. But, given the fact there's no wood, they cannot build any more cannoes, and they have to stay.
The problem is, with no cannoes, they cannot fish much, and thus, they probably won't survive the winter.
Here's something. OTL discovery of Antarctica. Britain, some years after the ARW, gets in the mood for a land grab. Someone remembers Antarctica, and expeditions are sent there. After a while, the French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portugese show up. Much like the North American colonization, only in Antarctica.
Whether the colonies suceed or fail is a matter of chance and amount of coats, but maybe that peninsula by Tierra del Fuego is habitable to some extent.
Whether the colonies suceed or fail is a matter of chance and amount of coats, but maybe that peninsula by Tierra del Fuego is habitable to some extent.
Colonization like European colonization of the American continent in the 1600's and 1700's isn't going to happen for two reasons.
1. For colonization to even be considered, there has to be something there, that benefits the mother country that is doing the colonizing. Usually that something has economic value, or gives the colonizing country a strategic advantage. The value of the colony has to significantly outweigh what it costs or takes to colonize it. From that standpoint Antarctica has little or nothing to offer.
2. The climate of Antarctica is much too harsh to allow any kind of large scale colonization. The weather and climate and environment there is just too harsh and even dangerous to allow large numbers of people to settle there permanently.
1. For colonization to even be considered, there has to be something there, that benefits the mother country that is doing the colonizing. Usually that something has economic value, or gives the colonizing country a strategic advantage. The value of the colony has to significantly outweigh what it costs or takes to colonize it. From that standpoint Antarctica has little or nothing to offer.
2. The climate of Antarctica is much too harsh to allow any kind of large scale colonization. The weather and climate and environment there is just too harsh and even dangerous to allow large numbers of people to settle there permanently.
I think the primary reason humans never had a toehold there, is that there were no real area where the coping skills could be developed gradually by migrating populations.
Unlike for example Greenland, where we went some distance towards the north bit of the island.
The only area where you can actually move close to Antarctica while picking up some appropriate skills for it is Tierra del Fugo. And I am pretty sure the climate difference between Tierra del Fugo and Antarctica is large. In the north, geography let us ease into it, more or less.
As for the challenge, I would go with a POD in the 1700s or 1800s. Something that gets the Inuit involved in whaling. Even if a number gets forcibly relocated by the crown to do menial work.
Due to functioning better in the climate, they come to dominate the landwards industry in a few generations, and also move on to the whaling ships eventually.
A seed population of Inuit backed by the large whaling industry could grow on the antarctic peninsula, I think.
I think a good POD would be something that either gives Greenland to Britain, or gets Denmark more involved in whaling. And down the line require some kind of base in the Antarctic. (Perhaps to claim territory for whaling purposes).
Edit: It won't be a very sizable population, of course.
Unlike for example Greenland, where we went some distance towards the north bit of the island.
The only area where you can actually move close to Antarctica while picking up some appropriate skills for it is Tierra del Fugo. And I am pretty sure the climate difference between Tierra del Fugo and Antarctica is large. In the north, geography let us ease into it, more or less.
As for the challenge, I would go with a POD in the 1700s or 1800s. Something that gets the Inuit involved in whaling. Even if a number gets forcibly relocated by the crown to do menial work.
Due to functioning better in the climate, they come to dominate the landwards industry in a few generations, and also move on to the whaling ships eventually.
A seed population of Inuit backed by the large whaling industry could grow on the antarctic peninsula, I think.
I think a good POD would be something that either gives Greenland to Britain, or gets Denmark more involved in whaling. And down the line require some kind of base in the Antarctic. (Perhaps to claim territory for whaling purposes).
Edit: It won't be a very sizable population, of course.
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