The Rise of Australasia

It is well known that Earth consists of seven continents and four oceans, each continent boasting considerable resources and land area, while each ocean possesses immense marine resources and islands.

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Since the Age of Great Navigation to present day, the European powers have extensively developed regions around the world, having colonized many small islands in the vast Pacific Ocean. It is not an exaggeration to say that European colonists can be found everywhere in the world.

However, things are not so absolute. Of the seven continents, Europe is the native land, home to numerous powers, which naturally goes without saying.

Africa and Asia are populated by numerous indigenous peoples, and with the frequent visits from colonists, the degree of development is already quite advanced.

The Americas and Australia are basically the same, first colonized by settlers and then becoming one or several independent countries, typical examples of colonies transformed into nations.

But there is one continent with a special name that even the mighty European powers could not develop further.

The sole remaining continent with a special name is Antarctica.

Antarctica is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean, located at the southernmost tip of Earth. It has a total area of 14.05 million square kilometers, accounting for 9.4% of the world’s total land area, far surpassing the total area of Australasia.

If one were to merely consider the total land area, then no country should refuse Antarctica, and the colonists facing it should be no fewer than those facing other continents.

But in reality, due to its location at the Earth’s southernmost end, Antarctica is subject to the coldest climate on the planet, which is the biggest problem encounter in its development.

If not for its severe cold climate, Antarctica would have been developed into a new colony by European colonists long ago, rather than being mostly uninhabited as it is now.

How extreme is the cold climate of Antarctica? Only 2% of the continent is not perennially covered by ice and snow, allowing flora and fauna to survive.

The extreme lowest temperature in Antarctica once reached -89.2 degrees Celsius, with wind speeds able to reach around 18 meters per second, and even exceeding 90 meters per second at its maximum, recognized as the coldest land with the most storms and the strongest winds in the world.

The entire continent of Antarctica has an average annual precipitation of only 55 millimeters. Near the slightly off-center point, the Antarctic Pole, there is almost no precipitation, and the air is very dry, earning it the nickname "white desert".

Within the Antarctic Circle, the warm season experiences continuous polar day, meaning uninterrupted daylight, while the cold season has continuous polar night, meaning uninterrupted night.

Polar day and polar night are unique phenomena in Antarctica, and together with the spectacular arc-shaped auroras, they render Antarctica an incredibly special land.

Although plants are seldom seen in Antarctica, still there are quite a few animals that survive on this continent.

The well-known ones include penguins, walruses, sea lions, and albatrosses. Coupled with the Antarctic snowfish, Patagonian toothfish, and krill abundant in the nearby seas, the land of Antarctica has become an area ardently claimed by various countries.

As the country nearest to Antarctica and the strongest in the Southern Hemisphere, with Henan Jeju being separated from the coastline by sea, Australasia naturally has more advantages in claiming Antarctica.

To date, countries can only reach the periphery of Antarctica. The frigid temperature directly deters outside visitors, and without sufficiently advanced warming facilities and ample supply support, the exploration of Antarctica remains a stagnant endeavor.

This also leads to the current situation where the rich resources of Antarctica remain undiscovered, and aside from the vast icy landscapes, what attracts people to this region is mainly the sense of curiosity brought about by the unknown.

But Arthur knew that Antarctica was rich in coal, petroleum, natural gas, gold, silver, nickel, molybdenum, manganese, and uranium mines, which were second to none compared with the resources of other continents. Besides the weather disadvantage, there were virtually no other flaws. It was a piece of land that Australasia, located in the Southern Hemisphere, had to compete for.

Compared with other continents, how slow was the development of Antarctica?

In 1911, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole, making him the earliest recorded person to achieve this feat.

Even now, there aren’t many who have officially reached the Antarctic Pole. Although many internationally renowned explorers have challenged Antarctica, the vast majority have perished there, with the successful returnees being one in a hundred.

To accelerate the exploration of Antarctica, Arthur decided to establish the Australasian official Antarctic expedition, supported by the entire nation, to explore the icy continent. ṟἈꞐöʙÊṠ

The expedition had many goals. First and foremost, they aimed to reach the Antarctic Pole and conduct a comprehensive survey of Antarctica.

Secondly, they intended to establish corresponding observation points and plant the Australasian flag, which would greatly assist Australasia’s claim to sovereignty over Antarctica.

Since there were very few people in Antarctica, it meant that no power had historical sovereignty over it.

At present, countries’ claims to sovereignty were based merely on the research stations they had established in Antarctica and their strong international status.

As the only superpower in the Southern Hemisphere, Australasia naturally had an advantage in this area.

With assistance from Britain, and by forming an alliance with France, they could potentially monopolize the exploration of the entire Antarctic continent.

This was one aspect of the era that Arthur was quite satisfied with; although it was a brutal era of survival of the fittest, as long as one was powerful, the benefits one could reap were far greater than those seen in a seemingly decorous and peaceful society.

The competition among nations was quite straightforward; it simply involved a comparison of national strength. Naturally, the more powerful countries would occupy more benefits.

In the current world, no country was yet able to counter the Britain-France-Australia alliance, not even the seemingly strong Island-United States alliance.

To resist the Britain-France-Australia group, it would take, at the very least, an island nation plus the United States plus another power.

Unfortunately, Italy wouldn’t help the United States and the island nation for nothing; in choosing sides, they would definitely lean towards Britain and France, since these two were closer to Italy and posed a greater threat.

Besides Italy, no other nation had the strength of a power, which dashed the hopes of the United States and the island nation to join another country in opposing Britain-France-Australia.

Moreover, Britain-France-Australia had the backing of the World Alliance; if these three countries truly united to accomplish something, at least in this world, it must be possible.

Arthur’s idea of establishing an Antarctic expedition reached the government very quickly, and the officers made concerted efforts, soon forming an expedition team.

This is the advantage of having power; one’s own idea can prompt numerous officers to work tirelessly and even risk their lives to achieve it.

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