Antarctica

Antarctica is a continent dedicated to science and governed by the Antarctic Treaty. It's limited use and governance is unique on planet earth.

According to its Wikipedia page: this honour belongs to B-15 which calved off the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. It measured ". . . around 295 kilometres (183 mi) long and 37 kilometres (23 mi) wide, with a surface area of 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi) -- larger than the whole island of Jamaica." Estimates are based on satellite images of the event.

Ten years later, parts of this iceberg had not melted.

Going far enough back Antarctica was tropical.

Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) was a British explorer who commanded three expeditions to the Antarctic (1907-09, 1914-17, 1921-22), during which the South Magnetic Pole was located in 1909.

It is the largest river in Antarctica, and at 30 kilometres in length, it is also the longest.

Shell Oil recently proved that regardless of the amount of money an industry is willing to 'throw' at drilling for oil in a polar environment -- US seven billion dollars spent in the Arctic -- it is not economically feasible.

As well, the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any commerce south of 60 degrees S.

Depending on what's being studied, a scientist may walk, ride a Ski-doo, ride in a truck, a bulldozer, a Tucker or a helicopter. They arrive on the continent either by government-sponsored airplanes or government-sponsored, ice-reinforced-hull boats.

This answer is an unknown, since oil exploration is prohibited under the Antarctic Treaty.

. Small amounts of tourism is acceptable because it causes no more than a minor or transitory impact on the environment but if there were masses of tourism it would ruin the environment

No one 'lives' in Antarctica, unless one has been hired by a government to live and work in Antarctica temporarily. In these cases, workers are paid for their services.

The stars that shine in the heavens over Antarctica are part of the great Southern Hemisphere of stars. Because there is no particulate in the air, and especially when there are no sunrises, star-gazing can become an engaging past time.

Antarctica is the most extreme place on earth: the coldest, driest, darkest, windiest and highest continent. It is essentially uninhabitable.

Yes. In fact, for up to six months at the South Pole, every summer, Antarctica experiences at least one 24-hour period of sunlight each day.

The ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent is under threat from global warming. As well, significant ice shelves are beginning to deteriorate, notably those in the area of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Plant fossils and coal seams could only have formed if Antarctic had once been warmer (further north).

Sunlight reaches Antarctica, when the northern hemisphere is in winter. In the Antarctic summer the sun does not set. Instead, it loops around the horizon.

Antarctica is a continent where there are no permanent residents. The Antarctic is a region, which includes several islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Nor do these islands have any permanent residents.

It is not easy to live in either.

First of all banned is spelt wrong in the question.

Smoking is banned in Antarctica because to get water you need to melt up the ice and if a fire starts from the cigarette it will be very hard to put the fire out and it will take a lot of time.

The coastal areas or anywhere else somewhat shallow.

no, its a separate continent and country on its own.

About the same time as the rest of the world. Antarctica was previously a part of the super-continent Gondwanaland which also included Africa, Australasia, India and South America before it broke up.