See-Antarctica.com

Unlike other unknown lands, most explorers knew the South Pole was “there.” They just could not reach it. The name Antarctica dates back to the second century A.D. (around the time of Jesus). Captain Cook (of South Sea fame) was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle in 1773, but he did not see the main continent of Antarctica (he did see some islands). Those who study such things assert that Captain Cook was probably within 150 miles of Antarctica on this voyage.

Antarctica was first seen by humans some time in the 19th century, when several expeditions ventured there and claimed to have been first. Credit for the first sighting generally goes to a Russian expedition led by explorers Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

The first person to walk on Antarctica is generally considered to be Captain John Davis, an American sealer who arrived on February 7, 1821. In the next several years, many more sealers and explorers ventured onto Antarctica. However, Davis and his sealing colleagues had no idea what they had walked on was an actual continent. Credit for recognizing that Antarctica was a content overlying the South Pole goes to Charles Wilkes, an American Naval Commander who traveled there in 1840.

In the early 1900s, there was a race to explore the extreme ends of the earth. In 1909, man first reached the North Pole. There was a frenzy to reach the South Pole with British, Scottish, Norwegian, and American expeditions trying to be first there and then trying to learn as much as could be learned of the world’s most inaccessible place. Credit for first reaching the South Pole goes to Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who landed December 14, 1911–a century ago.