The continent of Antarctica contains about 10 percent of all the land on earth.
Yet Antarctica is the most remote, hard-to-get-to place on our planet. Its possible to visit every continent except Antarctica without ever crossing more than about 100 miles of sea. But Antarctica is everywhere at least 600 miles from the nearest continent!
Antarctica is also the loneliest place on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, large parts of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Greenland, and Scandinavia lie above the Arctic Circle.
Even though it’s cold, thousands of people live in this polar region. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica reaches all the way to the Antarctic Circle.
In this region, there are no trees, few plants, and not a single permanent inhabitant!
