| 1845-1847 | The English make a last grand attempt to find the Northwest Passage, by fielding an expedition led by John Franklin. The attempt ends in complete disaster and all members of the expedition die. The circumstances surrounding the fate of the expedition remained unclear for a long time, and several search expeditions were sent trying to find it in the following years. |
| 1853-1854 | Dr John Rae finds objects left by the Franklin expedition, which shed some light on the fate of the expedition. There are indications of cannibalism, and Rae’s reports are severely criticised and questioned. However he receives a $10 000 reward from the British authorities. |
| 1860-1873 | American Charles Francis Hall makes three trips to the Arctic, hoping to reach the North Pole. During the last of these voyages, Hall dies under mysterious circumstances, likely due to lead poisoning. |
| 1878-1880 | Finnish-Swede Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld completes the first sailing voyage through the Northwest Passage aboard the Vega. The expedition returns to Sweden in April 1880, with much festivity and rich scientific results. |
| 1882-1883 | The First International Polar Year is held, with a total of 12 research stations in the Arctic, and 2 in Subantarctic areas. Sweden participates with one station at Cap Thordsen at Isfjorden in Spitsbergen. |
| 1888 | Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen crosses Greenland for the first time. His journey garners a lot of attention, and creates a name for him within Polar research. |
| 1891-1892 | American Robert E. Peary carries out his first major expedition, exploring large parts of northern Greenland. |
| 1893-1896 | Fridtjof Nansen undertakes a major expedition aboard the Fram. Frozen into the Polar ice, the crew drifts across large parts of the Arctic Basin, meanwhile conducting extensive oceanographic studies. Nansen and another expedition member, Hjalmar Johansen, leave the ship in the spring of 1895 to reach the North Pole by dog sled. However they are forced to turn back at the record point of 86 degrees 14 minutes north. Later on, they manage to return safely to civilisation with the aid of an English expedition, after having spent the winter in Franz Josef Land. |
| 1896-1897 | Swedish Salomon August Andrée attempts to reach the North Pole by air, in a hydrogen balloon. A first attempt in the summer of 1896 fails due to unfavourable winds. In the summer of 1897 the expedition manages to take off, and the balloon disappears above the Polar ice, after which nothing more is heard. Only in the summer of 1930, the remains of the expedition are found on Kvitøya, east of Spitsbergen, a place they had reached after an arduous trek across the ice. The find receives enormous international attention, and photographs and diaries from the expedition are published. Though the goal of the expedition was not attained, Andrée is the first aeronaut in the Polar region, and for this reason can be considered a forerunner of the later development of Arctic aviation. |
| 1909 | Robert E. Peary returns from his Arctic expedition claiming to have reached the North Pole. His countryman Frederick Cook claims at about the same time to have reached the North Pole during his expedition the year before Peary. A long and bitter feud between Cook and Peary ensues, each backed by their respective camps. The uncertainty remains to this day about which of them was the first to reach the North Pole. Both their accounts have been strongly questioned, and it is possible that neither of them made it all the way. |
