Quest For The South Magnetic Pole
Fact Sheet #4 : A timeline of Antarctic Exploration
A brief history of the exploration of Antarctica
What else was
happening in the
world?
350 B.C.
It was the ancient Greeks who first came up with
the idea of Antarctica. They knew about the Arctic
- named Arktos - The Bear, from the constellation
the great bear and decided that in order to balance
the world, there should be a similar cold Southern
landmass that was the same but the opposite "Ant Arktos" - opposite The Bear. They never actually
went there, it was just a lucky guess!
1773
In January, James Cook crosses the Antarctic circle
and circumnavigates Antarctica, though he doesn't
sight land, deposits of rock seen in icebergs showed
that a southern continent exists. His comment - "I
make bold to declare that the world will derive no
benefit from it".
1819 - 21
1776 - USA becomes
independent from
Great Britain
1780 - James Watt
perfects the steam
engine
1815 - Battle of
Waterloo
Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen a
Russian naval officer in the Vostok
and Mirny circumnavigates the
Antarctic, first to cross the Antarctic
circle since Cook.
He made the first sighting of the continent, reaching
69° 21'S, 2° 14'W - describing an "icefield covered with
small hillocks." on Jan 27th 1820.
For some considerable time, exactly who and when first
set eyes on Antarctica were in dispute as British naval
officers, William Smith and Edward Bransfield also saw
Antarctica on Jan 30th the same year - followed by
American sealer Nathaniel Palmer on Nov 16th.
This was the first time a continent had truly been
"discovered" (i.e. there weren't any native peoples living
there who'd known about it for ages already). All
sightings are of the Antarctic Peninsula.
1821
February the 7th. 1st known landing on
continental Antarctica by American sealer
Captain John Davis, though this is not
acknowledged by all historians.
In the winter of 1821, for the first time ever a party
of men spent a winter in Antarctica. An officer and
ten men from a British sealing ship the Lord Melville
had to spend the winter on King George Island - part of
the South Shetlands group, north of the Antarctic
Peninsula. The ship had been driven offshore and did
not return to pick them up again. They were rescued
the following summer.
1823
1830 - World's first
railway opens
1840 - Victoria
becomes queen of
Great Britain
British whaler James Weddell discovers
the sea named after him and then reaches
the most southerly point at that time 74°
15' S. No one else manages to penetrate
the Weddell sea again for 80 years.
1840's
Separate British, French and American expeditions
establish the status of Antarctica as a continent
after sailing along continuous coastline.
In 1840, British naval officer and scientist James
Clark Ross takes two ships, the Erebus and the Terror,
to within 80 miles of the coast until stopped by a
massive ice barrier - now called the Ross Ice Shelf. He
also discovers the active volcano that he names after
his ship Erebus, and identifies 145 new species of fish
(not personally you understand - a scientist on the ship
did that bit).
1859 - Darwin
publishes "Origin of
Species"
1885 - Karl Benz
builds the first motor
car
1896 - Marconi
invents wireless
telegraph (radio)
Late 1800's to early 20th century. Many expeditions
largely by sealers and whalers to all parts of
Antarctica. Mainly marine exploration and exploration
of the sub Antarctic islands.
1898
March. Adrien de Gerlache and the crew of the
"Belgica" become trapped in pack ice off the Antarctic
Peninsula in the first scientific expedition to the
continent. They become the first to survive an
Antarctic winter (involuntarily!) as their ship drifts
with the ice (they didn't enjoy it).
1901 - Australia
becomes an
independent nation.
1899
Carsten Borchgrevink leads a British expedition that
landed men at Cape Adare and built huts. This was the
first time that anyone had wintered on the Antarctic
landmass. Believed by some historians to be the first
confirmed landing on continental Antarctica.
Queen Victoria dies.
End of the Victorian
era.
President McKinley
shot, USA. Roosevelt
takes over
1902
Captain Scott, UK, leads his first Antarctic
expedition to reach the South Pole, with Ernest
Shackleton and Edward Wilson. They are forced to turn
back two months later having reached 82 degrees
south, suffering from snow blindness and scurvy.
Several other publicly and privately sponsored
expeditions around this time. By now, these are
driven by science, geography and exploration - less
by the exploitation of resources such as seals and
whales.
1903 - Wright
brothers make the
first powered flight
of an airplane
Marie Curie becomes
first woman to win a
Nobel prize
1908 - Ford motor
company produce the
"Model T"
1907 - 1909
Shackleton leads expedition to within 156km / 97mls
of the South Pole, turns back after supplies are
exhausted.
1910 - Republic of
South Africa
established
1909
January, Australian Douglas Mawson reaches the
South Magnetic Pole.
1911
1912 - Titanic sinks
December 14th. Norwegian Roald Amundsen
leads a five man expedition that reaches
the South Pole for the first time.
on maiden voyage
killing 1500 people
1912
January 18th. Britain's Captain
Robert Falcon Scott reaches the
South Pole to discover he has been
beaten by Amundsen. All of the five
man team (Scott, Bowers, Evans, Oates and Wilson), are
to perish on the return journey only 11 miles from
supply depot. Bodies are not discovered until November.
December. Douglas Mawson begins his trek across
George V Land back to his base at Commonwealth
Bay. His two companions had died, and against the odds
he makes it home. A new section of coast is discovered
and described, and radio is used for the first time in
Antarctica.
1914- 1918 World
War I
1915
October. Shackleton returns to Antarctica in an
attempt to complete the first crossing of the
continent. The goal is not attained, but one of the
greatest adventures of all time follows. Their ship is
crushed in the sea ice and a small party sets out for
South Georgia and the whaling station. The party is
eventually rescued in 1917.
1923.
The beginning of large-scale factory ship whaling in the
Ross Sea.
1928
Australian Sir George Wilkins and American
1919 Professor
Ernest Rutherford
splits the atom
1927 Al Jolson stars
in the "Jazz Singer"
the first talkie film
Carl Benjamin Eielson are the first to fly over
Antarctica around the peninsula region.
1930's - Great
depression era
1929
Richard E. Byrd and three others - US - become
the first to fly over the South Pole.
1935
Lincoln Ellsworth - US - flies across the continent.
Caroline Mikkelsen, Norway, is the first woman to set
foot on Antarctica when she accompanies her husband,
a whaling captain.
1947
Operation Highjump - US - sends the largest ever
expedition of over 4700 men, 13 ships and 23 airplanes
to Antarctica. Most of the coast is photographed for
map making.
1939 - 1945 World
War II
1947 - Picard invents
the bathyscaphe and
descends to 4000m in
the ocean.
1953 Edmund Hilary
and Sherpa Tensing
climb Mount Everest
for the first time
1956
US aircraft lands at South Pole. First people there
since Scott and his team in 1912.
1st July 1957 - 31st Dec 1958
International Geophysical Year (IGY) 12 nations
establish over 60 stations in Antarctica. The beginning
of international cooperation in Antarctica and the start
of the process by which Antarctica becomes "nonnational".
The first successful land crossing via the South Pole
is led by British geologist Vivian Fuchs with New
Zealander Edmund Hillary leading the back up party,
over 40 years after Shackleton's expedition set out
1969 – Man first
walks on the Moon
with the same aim.
1961
Antarctic treaty comes into effect.
1997
Boerge Ousland (Norway) becomes first person to
cross Antarctica unsupported. Taking 64 days from
Berkner Island to Scott base towing a 180kg (400lb)
sled and using skis and a sail.
March 2007 - March 2009
International Polar Year - Actually Spans two years in
order that researchers get the opportunity to work in
both polar regions or work summer and winter if they
wish.
Source : www.coolantarctica.com