What exctaly is the Antarctia

For hundreds of years men thought there were only six continents (great masses of land) on earth. They believed that Antarctica, the region lying around the South Pole, was merely solid ice covering an ocean, which is true around the North Pole. Then they found that Antarctica is really a continent, almost twice as big as Australia (which means it is much bigger than the United States). It is the seventh continent. The Antarctic continent is the coldest place on earth. The temperature is usually around 60 degrees below zero.

Most of the land is covered with ice hundreds of feet thick. In many places the ice may be thousands of feet thick. In some places this sheet of ice extends hundreds of miles out into the ocean. It snows on Antarctica about as often as it rains in most parts of the United States, and often there are blizzards (snow driven with great force by high winds). Antarctica is a high continent. Most of it is thousands of feet above sea level. There are many high mountains. The highest is Mt. Markham, which is more than 15,000 feet high. This is higher than any mountain in the United States.