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First sighting of Antarctica
On 16th January 1772, Captain Cook got the first sighting of Antarctica. -
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Captain Cook
Captain Cook went to Antarctica twice in the time between these two dates. He came to a distance of 75 kilometres away from the pole. Captain Cook did a sort of circle around Antarctica to get this close to the pole! -
Captian Cook
Captain Cook reports that he saw icebergs floating in the middle of the Southern Ocean. -
Captain Von Bellingshausen and Captain Lazarev
An expedition, led by Captain Von Bellingshausen and Captain Lazarev on the ships Vostok and Mirny, reached a point that was 32 km away from the South Pole. -
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Antarctic Peninsula.
Expeditions by William Smith, and James Bransfield discovered the South Shetland Islands and the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula. -
Expeditions
In the 1820’s, there were many expeditions to Antarctica. These expeditions were taken by the British, French, American and Russian explorers. -
Hunting at Hughes Bay
Captain John Davis who was part of an American group of explorers, landed on the continent at Hughes Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. He found that the ground was good for hunting seals so he aimed the grounds to hunting. -
Little work in Antarctica
After 1840, there was very little work that was done in Antarctica. this stayed in Antarctica for about 50 years. -
First collection of Antarctic samples
On 22 January 1840, (this was two days after the discovery of the coast just west of the Balleny Islands) a few members of the crew from the 1837 – 1840 Antarctic expedition called the Jules Dumont d'Urville expedition collect samples of the mineral, algae and animal samples that lived there. -
whaling
Norwegian and Scottish expeditions have started to explore the area for whaling. -
First man to reach the South Pole
Many countries have sent exploring expeditions to Antarctica. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. -
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Most famous polar expedition
In 1912 to 1915, perhaps what is the most famous polar in the Antarctic history of expeditions is led by sir Earnest Henry Shackleton. -
Expeditions to Antarctica
In the mid-1900s, expedition in Antarctica started to become more popular. People are looking at Antarctica for science. click here -
The Antarctic treaty
In 1961, the Antarctic treaty is signed and created by 44 countries. -
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The international polar year
There have now been many major scientific expeditions in Antarctica. All of these expeditions have given science many influences.
