Case file · Folklore / legend
The US Exploring Expedition, born of Symmes's hole
In January 1840 Charles Wilkes's United States Exploring Expedition sighted the coast of what is now Wilkes Land, proving Antarctica a continent; the voyage owed its start partly to the lobbying of hollow-Earth believers.
1840 CE · -66.50, 130.00 · status: official
The account
Jeremiah Reynolds, a follower of John Cleves Symmes, campaigned for a federal voyage to the South Seas, and Congress funded it in 1836. The expedition's collections helped found the Smithsonian.