History of Antarctic exploration | Special collections, archives and manuscripts
  2. Swedish Polar History Web
  3. History of Antarctic exploration

History of Antarctic exploration

Chronology

1497Portuguese Vasco da Gama sails south from Europe and goes around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
1599Dutchman Dirk Gerritsz is thrown off course by a storm, some 500 kilometres south of Cape Horn. He reports seeing snow-covered mountains in the distance. These are likely the South Shetland Islands outside the northernmost part of the Antarctic peninsula. 
1772-1775Englishman James Cook circumnavigates the Antarctic continent without knowing. During this voyage, he discovers the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia.
1800After reports from Cook about the large colonies of fur seals, an intense seal hunt is initiated by American and European explorers. 
1821American seal hunter John Davis becomes the first man to land in Antarctica.
1823English seal hunter James Weddel reaches a latitude of 74 degrees 15 minutes in the Weddel Sea, making him the southernmost traveler at this time.
1840American Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes leads the first scientific expedition to Antarctica. He would finally prove that Antarctica is a continent and not simply ice and scattered island groups.
1841Englishman James Clark Ross leads a British expedition to Antarctica. Among the discoveries of the expedition are the Ross Shelf Ice and the Mount Erebus volcano.
1882-1883The first International Polar Year. Out of fourteen stations in total, two were located in subantarctic areas, to study meteorology and magnetism. 
1898As the leader of an English expedition, Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink becomes the first man to winter in the Antarctic continent.
1901-1904 English Naval officer Robert Falcon Scott leads the Discovery expedition to Victoria Land. Among the expedition members is Ernest Shackleton, and an attempt is made to reach the South Pole. However the group is forced to abandon the attempt at 82 degrees south latitude.
1901-1903The Swedish expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld to the Weddel Sea and the area around the Antarctic peninsula is carried out. Two wintera are spent at the Snow Hill base station. The expedition ship, the Antarctic which is meant to bring new supplies for the members gets stuck in the pack ice and sinks, resulting in the expedition members being divided into two groups. They are reunited through a series of fortunate circumstances, and in the autumn of 1903 manage to return to Sweden via Argentina, with ample scientific results. 
1903Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Charcot leads an expedition to the area around the Antarctic peninsula, performing significant survey work. 
1907Ernest Shackleton leads the Nimrod expedition. Among other things it attempts to reach the South Pole, but fails.
1911Norwegian Roald Amundsen reaches the South Pole on December 14th. He attains this goal in competition with Robert F. Scott and a month later, Scott arrives at the South Pole, finding himself defeated. On the way back, Scott faces many difficult obstacles including exhaustion and harsh weather, and all members of Scott's group perish.
1914-1916Ernest Shackleton's great Transantarctic expedition aboard the Endurance sets off. Already in January 1915, the Endurance gets stuck in the ice on the Weddel Sea, and sinks later in the same year. The crew is forced to tow the lifeboats across the ice, and in April 1916 they reach the desolate Elephant Island. From here, Shackleton and five men set out in one of the lifeboats across the stormy sea toward South Georgia to reach civilization. They eventually reach South Georgia, and in time manage to rescue the men remaining on Elephant Island.
1929American Richard E. Byrd sets out from his base Little America with a Ford Trimotor plane and makes a nonstop flight to the South Pole. 
1932-1933The Second International Polar Year.
1935First transcontinental flight over the Antarctic, by American Lincoln Ellsworth.
1949-1952Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic expedition carried out, yielding rich scientific results.
1958First transcontinental land expedition across the Antarctic, led by Vivian Fuchs and Edmund Hillary.
1959Signing of the Antarctic Treaty. It takes effect in 1961 and means all land claims are frozen under the treaty. In addition, the continent cannot be used for any military purposes. 
1984The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat is established, and continuous Swedish research is now carried out in the Antarctic. 
Last modified