Antarctica

Antarctica is the coldest and driest place on Earth, and surrounds the . Tourist visits are costly, demand physical fitness, can only take place in summer, and are largely limited to the Peninsula, Islands and .
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Photo: Davepape, Public domain.
Photo: ravas51, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Livingston Island and Villa Las Estrellas.

Photo: SnowSwan, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is one of the , about 120 km north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Extending 73 km east-west and 20-30 km north-south, it's the focus of Bulgarian exploration of the Antarctic.

Photo: SnowSwan, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a civilian settlement on King George Island, the largest of the off the Antarctic Peninsula. It consists of some dozen prefabs but is a vital service hub for all the bases on the island.

Photo: Eli Duke, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Geographic is the point where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects the surface of the southern hemisphere, in the remote, bleak interior of Antarctica.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea.

Photo: Cascoly, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The is the long mountainous peninsula projecting north from Antarctica. A long way north - its tip is about three times further away from the South Pole than it is from the South American mainland, some 1600 km away.

Photo: Alan Light, CC BY 2.0.
The in Antarctica is the world's most southerly sea. It's ice-bound for much of the year, but at the height of summer ships can cautiously enter.

Photo: NASA, Public domain.
is the part of Antarctica that falls in the Western Hemisphere, west of the arbitrary line of 0° longitude on the South America-facing side down to the South Pole then 180° is the line on the Australia-facing side.

Photo: Matthieu.weber, Public domain.
is the part of Antarctica that falls in the Eastern Hemisphere, east of the arbitrary line of 0° longitude on the South Africa-facing side down to the South Pole then 180° on the Australia-facing side.
Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Antarctica

Latitude of center
-75° or 75° south
Longitude of center
0°
Population
4,400
Area
14,000,000 km² (5,405,430 miles²)
Elevation
2,481 metres (8,140 feet)
Phone code
.aq
Open­Street­Map ID
node 36966060
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­continent
Geo­Names ID
6697173
Wiki­data ID
Q51
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Antarctica from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Abkhazian to Zulu—“Antarctica” goes by many names.
  • Abkhazian: “Антарктида”
  • Achinese: “Antartika”
  • Adyghe: “Антарктикэ”
  • Afrikaans: “Antarktika”
  • Albanian: “Antarktikë”
  • Albanian: “Antarktiku”
  • Amharic: “አንታርቲካ”
  • Amharic: “አንታርክቲካ”
  • Angika: “अंटार्कटिका”
  • Arabic: “أنتارتيكا”
  • Arabic: “أنتاركتيكا”
  • Arabic: “القارة القطبية الجنوبية”
  • Arabic: “القارة المتجمدة الجنوبية”
  • Arabic: “القطب الجنوبي”
  • Aragonese: “Antarctida”
  • Armenian: “Антарктида”
  • Armenian: “Անտարկտիդա”
  • Arpitan: “Antartica”
  • Assamese: “এণ্টাৰ্কটিকা”
  • Assamese: “এন্টাৰ্কটিকা”
  • Assamese: “এন্টাৰ্টিকা”
  • Asturian: “Antártida”
  • Asturian: “L’Antártida”
  • Awadhi: “अंटार्कटिका”
  • Azerbaijani: “Antarktida”
  • Azerbaijani: “Antarktika”
  • Balinese: “Antartika”
  • Bashkir: “Антарктида”
  • Bashkir: “Антарктика”
  • Basque: “Antartika”
  • Batak Mandailing: “Antartika”
  • Bavarian: “Antarktika”
  • Belarusian: “Антарктыда”
  • Belarusian: “Антарктыка”
  • Bengali: “অ্যান্টার্কটিকা”
  • Bengali: “আন্টারটিকা মহাদেশ”
  • Bengali: “আন্টারটিকা”
  • Bengali: “আন্টার্কটিকা”
  • Bengali: “এন্টার্কটিকা”
  • Betawi: “Benua Kutub Kidul”
  • Bhojpuri: “अंटार्कटिका”
  • Bhojpuri: “एंटार्कटिका”
  • Bishnupriya: “এন্টার্কটিকা”
  • Bislama: “Antarktik”
  • Bislama: “Antatik”
  • Bosnian: “Antarktik”
  • Bosnian: “Antarktika”
  • Brahui: “Anŧárkŧíká”
  • Breton: “Antarktika”
  • Bulgarian: “Антарктида”
  • Bulgarian: “Антарктика”
  • Burmese: “အန္တာတိက”
  • Burmese: “အန်တာတိက”
  • Catalan: “Antàrtic”
  • Catalan: “Antàrtida”
  • Catalan: “Continent antàrtic”
  • Cebuano: “Antarctica”
  • Cebuano: “Antartika”
  • Central Bikol: “Antartika”
  • Central Kanuri: “Antarctica”
  • Central Kurdish: “ئانتارکتیکا”
  • Central Kurdish: “ئەنتارکتیکا”
  • Chechen: “Антарктида”
  • Cherokee: “ᏧᏁᏍᏓᎸ”
  • Cheyenne: “Antarctica”
  • Chinese: “Lâm-ke̍k Tāi-lio̍k”
  • Chinese: “南极洲/南極洲”
  • Chinese: “南极洲”
  • Chinese: “南極洲”
  • Church Slavic: “Антарктїка”
  • Chuvash: “Антарктида”
  • Cornish: “Antarktika”
  • Corsican: “Antarticu”
  • Corsican: “Antartide”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Antarktida”
  • Croatian: “Antarktik”
  • Croatian: “Antarktika”
  • Croatian: “Antartik”
  • Croatian: “Antartika”
  • Czech: “Antarktida”
  • Danish: “Antarktis”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Antarktika”
  • Dotyali: “अन्टार्क्टिका”
  • Dutch: “Antarctica”
  • Dzongkha: “འཛམ་གླིང་ལྷོ་མཐའི་ཁྱགས་གླིང”
  • Dzongkha: “ཨེན་ཊཱག་ཊི་ཀ་”
  • Dzongkha: “ཨེན་ཊཱག་ཊི་ཀ”
  • Eastern Mari: “Антарктида”
  • Eastern Mari: “Антарктиде”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “انتاركتيكا”
  • Esperanto: “Antarktio”
  • Esperanto: “Antarkto”
  • Estonian: “Antarktika”
  • Estonian: “Antarktis”
  • Ewe: “Antartica nutome”
  • Extremaduran: “Antáltia”
  • Extremaduran: “Antártica”
  • Faroese: “Antarktis”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Antarctica”
  • Finnish: “Antarktis”
  • Finnish: “Etelämanner”
  • French: “Antarctique”
  • French: “continent austral”
  • French: “continent blanc”
  • Friulian: “Antartic”
  • Galician: “A Antártida”
  • Galician: “Antártida”
  • Gan Chinese: “南極洲”
  • Georgian: “ანტარქტიდა”
  • Georgian: “ანტარქტიკა”
  • German: “Antarktika”
  • German: “Antarktis”
  • German: “antarktischer Kontinent”
  • German: “Südkontinent”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Antarctic”
  • Gilaki: “نسا توک”
  • Gilaki: “نسا تۊک”
  • Goan Konkani: “अंटार्क्टिका”
  • Gothic: “𐌰𐌽𐍄𐌰𐍂𐌺𐍄𐌹𐌺𐌰”
  • Greek: “Ανταρκτική”
  • Guarani: “Antártida”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Antarktik”
  • Gujarati: “ઍન્ટાર્કટિકા”
  • Gujarati: “એન્ટાર્કટિકા”
  • Haitian: “Antatik”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Nàm-khi̍t-chû”
  • Hausa: “Antatika”
  • Hawaiian: “ʻAneʻālika”
  • Hebrew: “אנטארקטיקה”
  • Hindi: “अंटार्कटिका”
  • Hungarian: “Antarktika”
  • Hungarian: “Antarktisz”
  • Iban: “Antartika”
  • Icelandic: “Suðurskautslandið”
  • Ido: “Antarktika”
  • Igbo: “Antarctica”
  • Iloko: “Antartika”
  • Inari Sami: “Antarktis”
  • Indonesian: “Antarktika”
  • Ingush: “Антарктида”
  • Interlingua: “Antarctica”
  • Interlingue: “Antarctic”
  • Inuktitut: “ᐋᓐᑎᐅᕆᐅ”
  • Inupiaq: “Antartikaq”
  • Irish: “an Antartaice”
  • Irish: “An Antartaice”
  • Irish: “Antartach”
  • Irish: “Antartaice”
  • Italian: “Antartide”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Antaatika”
  • Japanese: “南極”
  • Japanese: “南極大陸”
  • Javanese: “Antarktika”
  • Javanese: “Antartika”
  • Kabiyè: “Antarɩtiki tɛtʋ wandamm”
  • Kabyle: “Antraktika”
  • Kabyle: “Tantarktit”
  • Kalaallisut: “Qalasersuaq Kujalleq”
  • Kalmyk: “Антарктик”
  • Kannada: “ಅಂಟಾರ್ಕ್ಟಿಕ”
  • Kannada: “ಅಂಟಾರ್ಟಿಕಾ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Antarktida”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Antarktika”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “Антарктида”
  • Kashmiri: “اینٹارٹِکا”
  • Kashubian: “Antarktida”
  • Kazakh: “Антарктида”
  • Kazakh: “Антарктика”
  • Khmer: “អង់តាកទិក”
  • Khmer: “អង់តាក់ទិក”
  • Kinaray-A: “Antartida”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Antarigitika”
  • Kirghiz: “Aнтapктидa”
  • Kirghiz: “Антарктида”
  • Kölsch: “Süüdpool”
  • Komering: “Antartika”
  • Komi-Permyak: “Антарктида”
  • Korean: “남극 대륙”
  • Korean: “남극”
  • Kotava: “Antarktika”
  • Kurdish: “Antarktîka”
  • Kurdish: “ئانتارکتیکا”
  • Ladin: “Antartida”
  • Ladino: “Antartika”
  • Lao: “ທະວີບອັງຕາກຕິກ”
  • Lao: “ແອນຕາດຕິກາ”
  • Latin: “Antarctica”
  • Latvian: “Antarktīda”
  • Latvian: “Antarktika”
  • Lezghian: “Антарктида”
  • Ligurian: “Antartego”
  • Ligurian: “Antartigo”
  • Limburgan: “Antarctica”
  • Lingala: “Antarctique”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Antartica”
  • Literary Chinese: “南極洲”
  • Lithuanian: “Antarktida”
  • Lithuanian: “Antarktis”
  • Livvi: “Antarktidu”
  • Lojban: “ziptu’a”
  • Lombard: “Antartid”
  • Low German: “Antarktika”
  • Low German: “Antarktis”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Antarktika”
  • Luxembourgish: “Antarktika”
  • Luxembourgish: “Antarktis”
  • Macedo-Romanian: “Antarctica”
  • Macedonian: “Антарктик”
  • Madurese: “Antarktika”
  • Maithili: “अंटार्कटिका”
  • Maithili: “अन्टार्क्टिका”
  • Malagasy: “Antarktika”
  • Malagasy: “Antartika”
  • Malay: “Antarctica”
  • Malay: “Antartika”
  • Malayalam: “അന്‍റാര്‍ട്ടിക്ക”
  • Malayalam: “അന്റാർട്ടിക്ക”
  • Maltese: “Antarktika”
  • Maltese: “Antartika”
  • Maltese: “l-Antartika”
  • Manx: “Yn Antarctagh”
  • Maori: “Te Kōpakatanga ki te Tonga”
  • Maori: “Te Tiri o Te Moana”
  • Maori: “Tiri o te Moana”
  • Marathi: “अंटार्क्टिका”
  • Mazanderani: “جنوبگان”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Nàng-gĭk-ciŭ”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Lâm-ke̍k Tāi-lio̍k”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Lâm-ke̍k-chiu”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Lâm-ke̍k-tāi-lio̍k”
  • Minangkabau: “Antarktika”
  • Minangkabau: “Antartika”
  • Mingrelian: “ანტარქტიდა”
  • Mirandese: “Antártica”
  • Moksha: “Антарктидась”
  • Mon: “အန္တာတိက”
  • Mongolian: “Антарктид”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “أنطاركتيكا”
  • Narom: “Antarctique”
  • Navajo: “Shádiʼááhjí kéyah yistinígíí”
  • Neapolitan: “Antartide”
  • Nepali: “अन्टारटिका”
  • Nepali: “अन्टारतिका”
  • Nepali: “अन्टार्क्टिका”
  • Newari: “एन्टार्टिका”
  • Northern Frisian: “Antarktikaa”
  • Northern Sami: “Antárktis”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Antarktika”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Antarktis”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Antarktis”
  • Norwegian: “Antarktika”
  • Norwegian: “Antarktis”
  • Novial: “Antarktika”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Antartica”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Antartida”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܐܢܛܐܪܩܛܝܩܐ”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Antarctica”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Sūðarcticland”
  • Oriya: “ଆଣ୍ଟର୍କଟିକା”
  • Oriya: “ଆଣ୍ଟାର୍କାଟିକା”
  • Oriya: “ଆର୍ଣ୍ଟକଟିକା”
  • Oromo: “Antaarkitikaa”
  • Ossetian: “Антарктидæ”
  • Pa'o Karen: “အန်တာတိက”
  • Pa'o Karen: “အာတန်တိက”
  • Pampanga: “Antartida”
  • Pampanga: “Antartika”
  • Panjabi: “ਅੰਟਾਰਕਟਿਕਾ”
  • Papiamento: “Antártika”
  • Pedi: “Antarctica”
  • Persian: “جنوبگان”
  • Persian: “قاره جنوبگان”
  • Picard: “Intarctike”
  • Picard: “Intarktike”
  • Piemontese: “Antàrtide”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Antartica”
  • Polish: “Antarktyda”
  • Polish: “Antarktyka”
  • Pontic: “Ανταρκτικήν”
  • Portuguese: “Antártica”
  • Portuguese: “Antártida”
  • Portuguese: “continente austral”
  • Pushto: “انتارکتيکا”
  • Pushto: “انتارکتیکا”
  • Pushto: “انټارټيکا”
  • Pushto: “انټارکټيکا”
  • Quechua: “Antártida”
  • Quechua: “Antartika”
  • Romanian: “Antarctica”
  • Romanian: “Antarctida”
  • Romansh: “Antarctica”
  • Russia Buriat: “Антарктида”
  • Russia Buriat: “Антарктика”
  • Russian: “Антарктида”
  • Rusyn: “Антарктіда”
  • Sakizaya: “Nan-ci-cow”
  • Samoan: “Anetatika”
  • Samogitian: “Antarktėda”
  • Sanskrit: “अण्टार्क्टिका”
  • Santali: “ᱟᱱᱴᱟᱨᱠᱚᱴᱤᱠᱟ”
  • Saraiki: “انٹارکٹیکا”
  • Sardinian: “Antàrticu”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Antarktikoa”
  • Scots: “Antarcticae”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “An Antartaig”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Antargtaga”
  • Serbian: “Антарктик”
  • Serbian: “Антарктика”
  • Serbian: “Антартик”
  • Serbian: “Арктик”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Antarktik”
  • Shan: “Antarctica”
  • Shan: “ဢႅၼ်ႇတၢၵ်ႈတီးၵႃႈ”
  • Shona: “Antarctica”
  • Shona: “Anthakitika”
  • Sicilian: “Antàrtidi”
  • Silesian: “Antarktyda”
  • Sindhi: “انٽارڪٽيڪا”
  • Sinhala: “ඇන්ටාක්ටිකාව”
  • Skolt Sami: “Saujjnannâm”
  • Slovak: “Antarctica”
  • Slovak: “Antarktída”
  • Slovenian: “Antarktika”
  • Slovenian: “bela celina”
  • Somali: “Antaarktika”
  • Somali: “Antarktika”
  • Somali: “Antiarktis”
  • South Azerbaijani: “آنتارکتیکا”
  • South Azerbaijani: “جنوبی قوطب”
  • Spanish: “Antártica o Antártida”
  • Spanish: “Antártica”
  • Spanish: “Antártico”
  • Spanish: “Antártida o Antártica”
  • Spanish: “Antártida”
  • Spanish: “continente antártico”
  • Spanish: “continente austral”
  • Standard Moroccan Tamazight: “ⴰⵏⵜⴰⵔⴽⵜⵉⴽⴰ”
  • Sundanese: “Antartika”
  • Swahili: “Antaktika”
  • Swahili: “Antaktiki”
  • Swahili: “Bara la Antaktiki”
  • Swedish: “Antarktis”
  • Swiss German: “Antarktika”
  • Tachelhit: “Antarktika”
  • Tagalog: “Antarctica”
  • Tagalog: “Antartida”
  • Tagalog: “Antartika”
  • Tai Nüa: “ᥟᥦᥢᥱ ᥖᥣᥐ ᥖᥤᥱ ᥐᥣᥱ”
  • Tajik: “Антарктида”
  • Talysh: “Antarktidə”
  • Talysh: “Qutbi kəfşənon”
  • Tamil: “அண்டார்க்டிக்கா”
  • Tamil: “அண்டார்டிகா”
  • Tamil: “அண்டார்டிக்கா”
  • Tamil: “அண்டார்ட்டிக்கா”
  • Tamil: “அந்தாட்டிக்கா”
  • Tamil: “அன்டார்க்டிக்கா”
  • Tamil: “அன்டார்டிகா”
  • Tamil: “அன்டார்ட்டிகா”
  • Tatar: “Antarqtida”
  • Tatar: “Антарктида”
  • Tatar: “Антарктика”
  • Telugu: “అంటార్కటికా”
  • Telugu: “అంటార్కిటికా”
  • Tetum: “Antártida”
  • Thai: “Antarctica”
  • Thai: “ทวีปแอนตาร์กติก”
  • Thai: “ทวีปแอนตาร์กติกา”
  • Thai: “แอนตาร์กติก”
  • Thai: “แอนตาร์กติกา”
  • Tibetan: “ལྷོ་མཐའི་གླིང་།”
  • Tibetan: “ལྷོ་རྩེའི་མཐའ་གླིང་།”
  • Tigrinya: “አንታርክቲካ”
  • Tigrinya: “ኣንታርክቲካ”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “ʻAnetātika”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “ʻAnitātika”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Antarktika”
  • Tsonga: “Antakthika”
  • Tulu: “ಅಂಟಾರ್ಕ್ಟಿಕ”
  • Turkish: “Antarktika kıtası”
  • Turkish: “Antarktika”
  • Turkmen: “Antarktika”
  • Twi: “Antaateka”
  • Tyap: “A̱ntati̱ka”
  • Udmurt: “Антарктида”
  • Uighur: “ئانتاركتىدا”
  • Uighur: “ئانتاركتىكا”
  • Ukrainian: “Антарктида”
  • Ukrainian: “Антарктика”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Antarktika”
  • Urdu: “انٹارکٹکا”
  • Urdu: “انٹارکٹیکا”
  • Uzbek: “Antarktida”
  • Venetian: “Antàrtede”
  • Venetian: “Antàrtide”
  • Veps: “Antarktid”
  • Vietnamese: “Châu Nam Cực”
  • Vietnamese: “Nam Cực”
  • Vlaams: “Antarctica”
  • Võro: “Antarktis”
  • Walloon: “Antartike”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Antartika”
  • Welsh: “Antarctica”
  • Welsh: “Yr Antarctig”
  • Western Armenian: “Անթարքթիքա”
  • Western Frisian: “Antarctica”
  • Western Frisian: “Antarktika”
  • Western Panjabi: “انٹارکٹکا”
  • Wolof: “Antarktik”
  • Wolof: “Goxub Dottub Bëj-saalum”
  • Wu Chinese: “南極洲”
  • Yakut: “Антарктика”
  • Yiddish: “אנטארקטיקע”
  • Yiddish: “אַנטאַרקטיקע”
  • Yoruba: “Antakítíkà”
  • Yoruba: “Antárktìkà”
  • Yue Chinese: “南極洲”
  • Zeeuws: “Antartica”
  • Zhuang: “Namzgigcouh”
  • Zulu: “i-Antarctica”
  • Zulu: “I-Antatika”
  • “Antarktėda”
  • “Antarktis”
  • “Antàrtid”
  • “Antartidah”
  • “Antartide”
  • “Antartika”
  • “Antartikah”
  • “AQ”
  • “ATA”
  • “ma Antasika”
  • “अंटार्कटिका”

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Antarctica”. Photo: ravas51, CC BY-SA 2.0.