Polar History

ROALD ENGELBREGT GRAVNING AMUNDSEN (1872–1928) Roald Amundsen left his mark on the Heroic Era as one of the most successful polar explorers ever born. He led the 1910–12 Antarctic expedition which was the first to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911. He was the first to traverse the…

CAPTAIN ROBERT FALCON SCOTT, CVO, RN (1868 –1912) Robert F. Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). On the first Antarctic expedition, Scott set a new southern record by…

Ernest Shackleton was one of the most celebrated explorers of the Heroic Age. He led the 1907-09 Nimrod Antarctic expedition, which pioneered a route to the South Pole and reached latitude 88° 23'. His return to Antarctica in 1914 was intended to achieve the first trans-Antarctic crossing, but instead resulted…