Foriegn Names in Antarctica
Published Thursday, March 30, 2006 by CCAer | E-mail this post
This little news story from
IOL, a South African news web site:
Amundsen and Scott may have to share billing with Confucius and Mao Zedong when China publishes a new map of Antarctica.
Chinese researchers back from a four-month expedition said 46 newly surveyed Antarctic islands would receive Chinese names, state media said on Wednesday. Scholars, politicians, emperors and artists figured high on the 160-name shortlist.
"This first map will be a landmark contribution made by China to the world in Antarctic research," Xinhua news agency quoted Zhao Yue, a scientist on the expedition, as saying.
Zhao added that Chinese names should be featured given China's independent survey of the Grove area - a mountainous area in Antarctica's eastern extreme - and the prevalence of foreign names on Antarctic maps.
The map will be published in March 2007.
Aren’t all names in Antarctica foriegn?
... and what's 'foreign' anyway in a region not part of your 'own' country?