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Home , Landmass, Skelton Glacier

410 • REVIEWS

OF MAPS AND MEN: THE MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY map. The strait between South America and Terra Australis OF . By JOHN G. WEIHAUPT. Denver, is there labelled “Fretum antarcticum sive Magellanicum” Colorado: John G. Weihaupt, 2013. ISBN 978- [Antarctic or Magellanic Strait]. 1494375294. xx + 155 p., maps, b&w illus., bib., index. Very significant is the annotation “Recenter inventa US$9.95. Also available as an e-book. sed nondum plene cognita” (Recently discovered [i.e., by Magellan] but not yet fully known), printed right across In 1959 – 60, John G. Weihaupt, a and geophysi- Finaeus’s Terra Australis. There could scarcely be a clearer cist, was a member of the Victoria Traverse team, statement by Finaeus that this is his creative (if somewhat which traveled by Sno-Cat from Scott Base south across improbable) concept of what Terra Australis might look the Ross and up the Skelton through the like. An aspect Weihaupt has ignored completely is that his into (Weihaupt Terra Australis is roughly 2½ times as large as the actual et al., 2012). He became intrigued by evidence of glacial size of Antarctica. In two places—in the Indian to scouring up to 90 m higher than the present glacier sur- the east of Madagascar and off what Weihaupt would iden- face on the mountain slopes above the Skelton Glacier. tify as Cape Colbeck, the northern tip of King Edward VII This led him to wonder whether there might be evidence Land—it almost reaches the Tropic of Capricorn. And in on old maps that the Antarctic had been thicker in terms of size, it is grossly out of proportion with reference the past, and he visited a series of repositories in search of to the other . such evidence. In the Library of Congress, he “discovered” Although Finaeus is clearly depicting an ice-free conti- the world map produced by Oronteus Finaeus (Oronce Finé) nent, complete with a scatter of mountain ranges and rivers in 1531. Oronce Finé (1494–1555), a native of Briançon, flowing from them to the , Weihaupt maintains that it is France, was a mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer shown as being wholly or largely covered by an ice sheet who held the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royale in with, presumably, the mountains protruding as nunataks. Paris. Both he and his world map are very well known. A major problem in his interpretation is that the embay- Weihaupt’s attention became focused on the represen- ment that he argues is a depiction of the is vastly tation on Finaeus’s map of a large landmass more or less too large to be that waterbody. His solution is to argue centred on the , and he decided that this was that it was mapped during a period of warmer climate (the the product of unknown explorers or surveyors who had Hypsithermal Interval or the Medieval Warm Period) when traveled to (and presumably circumnavigated) Antarc- the had disappeared. The very distinctive tica and had produced a map or maps of their discover- feature of the is missing from Finaeus’s ies at some time prior to 1531. Finaeus, Weihaupt argues, map; Weihaupt explains its absence in two ways in two dif- had based his map on this map or maps (which have never ferent places. In one case, he argues that it is obscured by been located). He considers whether Sumerians, Vikings, part of the decorative border of the map (p. 78) although, Muslims, Polynesians, or Chinese are possible candidates if it were, it would be projecting north into the Amundsen (p. 111–112). In his words, Finaeus’s map is “remarkably Sea (i.e., the South Pacific) rather than towards Cape Horn. accurate, uncommonly detailed and startlingly complete in Alternatively he proposes that the hypothetical explor- its depiction” (p. 105). ers were coasting around the at a time of drastic In the opinion of this reviewer, the Antarctic landmass melting of the ice on the Peninsula, revealing just a chain depicted in Finaeus’s map bears only a vague resemblance of rather than a peninsula (p. 79). I will not try the to the actual map of Antarctica. It appears to be the result of reader’s patience by citing further cases of the convoluted the convergence of the long-established concept that there and extravagant arguments that Weihaupt proposes to sup- must be a large landmass in the high southern latitudes to port his argument. balance the large landmasses of the Northern Hemisphere, Remarkably, Weihaupt is not the only author who has with Ferdinand Magellan’s report of Tierra del Fuego proposed that the Finaeus map represents a depiction of (based on his passage through the strait named after him) Antarctica based on surveys by persons unknown prior to in 1520. In other words it depicts Tierra del Fuego continu- 1531. This hypothesis was put forward by Charles Hapgood ing south as a continental landmass—Terra Australis. This in the mid 1960s (Hapgood, 1979). Even more remarkable is precisely what is depicted on Abraham Ortelius’s map of is the fact that the copy of the Finaeus world map that first 1579 (shown as Fig. 3.4, p. 41) and on Judocus Hondius’s sparked Hapgood’s interest (in November 1959) was the map of 1608. Unfortunately, unlike them, Finaeus does not same copy that Weihaupt first saw, namely the one in the name Tierra del Fuego merging with Terra Australis far- Library of Congress! Hapgood goes, if possible, to even ther south. However, Finaeus’s map shows the southern tip more extraordinary lengths than Weihaupt to “prove” that of continental South America separated by only a narrow it represents an accurate depiction of the continent, which strait from Terra Australis. This is certainly not intended was explored and surveyed prior to 1531! He even maps and as a representation of the Drake Passage, some 1000 km lists 58 features around the of Finaeus’s Terra Aus- in width, but rather of the Strait of Magellan. This identi- tralis and identifies them with named features on the fication is confirmed by Gerardus Mercator’s map of 1538, of Antarctica (Hapgood 1979:76–77). Weihaupt makes which as Weihaupt (p. 80) concurs, was based on Finaeus’s no mention of Hapgood’s analysis. The most charitable REVIEWS • 411 assessment of this situation is that Weihaupt’s knowledge RUSSIA’S ARCTIC STRATEGIES AND THE FUTURE of the relevant literature on the history of is OF THE FAR NORTH. By MARLENE LARUELLE. inadequate. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 2014. ISBN 978- Weihaupt’s knowledge of the history of Antarctic explo- 0-7656-3501-3 (pbk.). xxvi + 251 p., maps, bib., index. ration also leaves much to be desired. He identifies Captain Softbound. US$34.95. Nathaniel Palmer (who must have sighted the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in 1820, but gave no indication that he This book sets out to offer a comprehensive assessment of realized the significance of what he was seeing) as a whaler. Russia’s strategy in the Arctic. But it is aptly titled “Arc- On numerous occasions thereafter, Weihaupt states that the tic strategies” in the plural, and the author makes it clear earliest recorded explorations of the Antarctic coast were that Russia does not have a comprehensive strategy in the by whalers. All of them—Palmer, Davis, Weddell, Powell, form of an integrated and coordinated policy. Even though and the rest—were sealers, intent on killing fur and ele- a document entitled “Strategy for development of Russia’s phant seals, not whales. The first whaler to pursue whales Arctic zone” was adopted in 2013—after the book had been in Antarctic waters, although with no great success, was completed—this observation still stands. That being said, Eduard Dallmann on board Groenland in 1873–74 (Barr et there is no lack of official statements stressing the Arctic’s al., 2004). On p. 29, one reads that on Mawson’s 1911–14 significance for Russia and Russia’s importance for the expedition, all his men survived. Later (p. 91, 92), Weihaupt Arctic. The North has for a long time played an important correctly reports that Xavier Mertz and B.E.S. Ninnis died, role in Russia’s statehood and identity. Nevertheless, the but errs in saying that they both fell down . Only exact delineation of the Russian North, High North, or— Ninnis fell down a ; Mertz died of exposure and increasingly—Arctic, is ambiguous and contested. This on the desperate trek back to base camp that only uncertainty is reflected in the vacillations in administra- Mawson survived (Mawson, 1915: Vol. 1:260). On p. 55, tive borders and responsibilities, all well analyzed in the we are informed that the western part of the Ross Ice Shelf book. Although the Russian Arctic is populated by many had not been explored prior to 1910; in fact, it had been tra- small indigenous groups, indigenous policy plays a much versed in both directions by both in less central role than in, say, Canada. Title to land is not an 1902–03 and in 1908–09. issue. I cannot recommend this book, especially to anyone Even though the North and the Arctic are presented as expecting to find a useful contribution to the history of something special in Russian political discourse, in real- cartography. ity developments there are very much a consequence of broader policies or are connected to what is happening else- where. In line with this understanding, a substantial part REFERENCES of the book is devoted to broader issues, but with Arctic implications. Russia’s negative demographic development Barr, W., Krause, R., and Pawlik, P.-M. 2004. Chukchi Sea, is well known, but it has particular implications for the , Kara Sea: The polar voyages of Captain High North, which is already sparsely populated, contrast- Eduard Dallmann, whaler, trader, explorer, 1830–96. Polar ing with the expansive vision of the country in the Arctic, Record 40(212):1–18. heard in official statements and seen in some development http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0032247403003139 programs. There the emphasis is on “economic conquest by Hapgood, C.H. 1979. Maps of the ancient sea kings: Evidence of osvoenie, massive population settlement” (p. 51), whereas advanced civilization in the Ice Age, rev. ed. New York: E.P. many economic actors prefer a fly in–fly out system. Dutton. Climate change is of course a global issue, but it has Mawson, D. 1915. The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the particular repercussions in the Russian North, notably Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914. 2 vols. London: degradation of infrastructure due to melting permafrost. Heinemann. Even if such observations are now commonplace, the cost Weihaupt, J.G., Stuart, A.W., Van der Hoeven, F.G., Lorius, C., of adaptation does not seem to be taken into account in and Smith, W.M. 2012. Impossible journey: The story of the projections of social and economic development (p. 88). Victoria Land Traverse 1959–1960, Antarctica. Special Paper The discussion of legal disputes in the Arctic is definitely 488. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. non-alarmist. “The patterns of cooperation are therefore clearly prevalent, even among competitors” (p. 109). This William Barr statement is supported by a case-by-case review of salient Senior Research Associate legal disputes. Also the military development in the Arctic Arctic Institute of North America is put into a broader perspective: the Russian build-up tak- University of Calgary ing place is seen as part of a global dilemma the Russian 2500 University Drive NW military is facing, in which means correspond neither with Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada goals, nor with real needs. [email protected] “Interpreting the Arctic as a key economic resource is the main driver of Russia’s interest in the , even trumping