The history of Antarctica is long and harsh, and didn't include any people up until about 150 years ago. Much of its history is still a mystery, but we're learning more about it every day.
Millions of years ago, Antarctica was part of a supercontinent called Gondwana (you've probably heard of a similar supercontinent, Pangea, before). It was connected to Australia, Africa, India, and South America. In fact, if you look on a globe at the Andes Mountains along the west coast of South America, you can see that it's actually the same mountain range as extends along the Antarctic Peninsula. Do you see the connecting bit? It was just sunk into the Drake Passage. We know about these connections because scientists can study rocks in each location. On some rocks, they've found fossilized tree leaves in Antarctica that match those found in Africa and elsewhere!
The Ancient Greeks theorized there was a land called Terra Australis Incognito on the bottom of the globe but had no way of getting there to prove it. When humans became much better at exploring in the 1500s, they started searching for Antarctica, but never found it!
