Millions of years ago Antarctica was an ice free continent. Scientists have found fossils of trees, plants, dinosaurs and small mammals that once lived there.

Antarctica originally belonged to a land mass straddling the equator that included Africa, Australia, India and the tip of South America. This ancient supercontinent is called Gondwana. About 160 million years ago this giant land mass began to break apart and newly formed individual land masses gradually drifted to their present locations around the globe. Antarctica became a separate continent and drifted to the south pole. Glaciers began to form there about 38 million years ago and the ice cap has buried the continent for the last 5 million years.

200 million years ago: Antarctica was near the equator and surrounded on three sides by Australia, India, Africa, and South America. 100 million years ago: Gondwana breaks up and the continents begin shifting in opposite directions 60 million years ago: Antarctica moves close to the south pole and oceans develop between Antarctica, and Africa and India. Australia and Antarctica begin to separate. 45 million years ago: Antarctica continues to shift toward the south pole and becomes completely surrounded by oceans.

Scientists explain these movements by the theory of plate tectonics. The surface of the earth consists of a series of plates which can move around on the earth's molten core. Different continents ride on different plates and slowly, over millions of years, the gigantic plates move across the surface of the earth like a conveyor belt. Where they collide, volcanic activity is common; where they pull apart, ocean floors and rift valleys form. Much of what we know about Antarctica's history is the result of centuries of exploration and discovery on the continent.

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