Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 Journey to the End of the Earth by Tishani Doshi is hosted here as the official NCERT Book PDF (2026-27 reprint). This page lets you download the chapter PDF directly, read it inline through the embedded flipbook, and review a quick chapter map so you know what to look for in the text before you start. Vistas is the supplementary reader for Class 12 English Core and supplies roughly 10 marks of the CBSE Board paper.
- Book: Vistas - the Class 12 English supplementary reader (NCERT)
- Chapter: 3 - Journey to the End of the Earth by Tishani Doshi
- Pages in textbook: 18 to 23 (6 textbook pages)
- Reprint year: 2026-27 (December 2024 reprint)
- Board weightage: 6 to 10 marks in CBSE Section C
This is the same PDF NCERT publishes on the official NCERT portal. We host it here so students do not have to chase the NCERT website during exam season; the file is identical, including the December 2024 reprint pagination.
The PDF is hosted by Collegedunia exactly as published by NCERT for the 2026-27 academic session.
Also Check:
- Journey to the End of the Earth NCERT Solutions
- Journey to the End of the Earth Revision Notes
- Journey to the End of the Earth Handwritten Notes
About the Chapter
"Journey to the End of the Earth" is a piece of literary journalism by the Indian poet, journalist and dancer Tishani Doshi (b. 1975). The essay was originally written for The Hindu and is reprinted in NCERT Vistas, Class 12. Doshi recounts a trip aboard the Russian research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy from Madras to the Antarctic Peninsula with Geoff Green's Students on Ice programme. The essay is arranged as an argument: Antarctica is the only landscape on Earth that simultaneously preserves the planet's past (Gondwana, granite shields), present (ice-core carbon records) and future (the ozone-phytoplankton cascade).
Journey to the End of the Earth Video Chapter Walkthrough
Source: Magnet Brains on YouTube
Chapter Map - What the Textbook Contains
| Textbook Page | Section / Sub-heading | Key Content |
|---|---|---|
| 18-19 | Opening | Doshi's route from Madras (13.09 degrees N) to Antarctica; the Akademik Shokalskiy; first sight of the continent |
| 19-20 | Part of history | Gondwana (650 million years ago), the breakup, the formation of the Himalayas, the opening of the Drake Passage |
| 20-21 | Human impact | 12,000 years of civilisation, blanket of carbon dioxide, three urgent debates, half-million-year ice-core archive |
| 21-22 | Phytoplankton parable | Single-celled grasses of the sea, photosynthesis, ozone protection, the small-things moral |
| 22 | Walk on the ocean | 65.55 degrees south, metre-thick ice pack over 180 m of water, crabeater seals, "everything does indeed connect" |
| 22-23 | Reading with Insight | 4 Long Answer questions on geological history, Geoff Green, the phytoplankton moral, and past-present-future |
Why You Should Read the Original NCERT Chapter
- Direct evidence for Section C: CBSE markers reward textual quotation, not paraphrase. Every quotation needed for a Long Answer comes from these 6 pages.
- Footnote glosses: the textbook glosses words like "Gondwana", "Cordilleran folds", "phytoplankton" in footnotes; these are tested for vocabulary.
- Pagination consistency: the textbook page numbers are stable across the 2024 and 2026-27 reprints, so the page-anchored study plan in the Notes PDF will line up exactly.
- Reading with Insight at end: the 4 questions on page 22-23 are the only formal exercises for this chapter. Working from the textbook copy means you see exactly what was asked.
What to Read Before You Open the PDF
- Note the route. 13.09 degrees north (Madras) to 65.55 degrees south (Tadpole Island). Nine time zones. Three bodies of water.
- Mark the three sub-headings. Part of history, Human impact, Walk on the ocean. They map onto past, present, future.
- Hunt for the four key dates / numbers. 650 million years (Gondwana), 500 million years (Gondwana thrived), 12,000 years (human civilisation), half a million years (ice-core archive).
- Track the phytoplankton chain. Ozone -> UV -> phytoplankton -> krill -> whales/seals -> global carbon cycle. Six steps.
- Underline the four Reading with Insight questions. They are the exercise that the Board reuses.
CBSE Board Weightage and Pattern
| Year | Marks From This Chapter | Question Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | Long Answer on the past-present-future thesis |
| 2024 | 4 | Short Answer on phytoplankton + 1-mark MCQ on ship name |
| 2023 | 6 | Long Answer on Geoff Green's reasons for choosing high-schoolers |
| 2022 | 5 | Short Answer on Gondwana + 1-mark MCQ on the 12,000-year figure |
| 2021 | 6 | Long Answer on "take care of the small things" in Antarctic context |
| 2020 | 4 | Short Answer on why Antarctica is called pristine |
Frequently Asked Questions on Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 NCERT Book PDF
Frequently Asked Questions on Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 NCERT Book PDF
Q1. Is the Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 NCERT Book PDF free to download?
Yes. The official NCERT chapter PDF for Journey to the End of the Earth is hosted free of charge from this page. It is the same PDF NCERT publishes on the official NCERT portal, identical in pagination and content.
Q2. Which book is Chapter 3 Journey to the End of the Earth from?
Vistas - the Class 12 English supplementary reader published by NCERT. Vistas is paired with Flamingo (the main reader) in the Class 12 English Core syllabus.
Q3. How many pages does Journey to the End of the Earth occupy in the Vistas textbook?
Six textbook pages (page 18 to page 23 in the 2026-27 reprint), including the four-question Reading with Insight exercise at the end.
Q4. Who is the author of Journey to the End of the Earth?
Tishani Doshi (born 1975, Madras) is an Indian poet, journalist and contemporary dancer. The essay was originally written for The Hindu and reprinted by NCERT in the Vistas supplementary reader.
Q5. Is this the latest 2026-27 reprint?
Yes. The PDF hosted here is the 2026-27 reprint (the latest December 2024 reprint with no textbook content changes from the previous edition).
Q6. How heavily is this chapter examined in CBSE Class 12 English Core?
Vistas chapters typically supply 6 to 10 marks of the Class 12 English Core paper, with one 6-mark Long Answer (Section C) drawn from the chapter almost every session. For Journey to the End of the Earth, the modal item is a Long Answer on the past-present-future thesis or the phytoplankton parable.
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