Antarctic Exploration Timeline & Index

Antarctic Exploration Timeline

The following timeline is drawn from a number of sources. See Antarctic Exploration Timeline – Sources for more information.

 

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Start	End	Expedition	Nation	Leader	Vessel(s)
1675	1675	Anthony de la Roché discovers South Georgia	British	Anthony de la Roché
1739	1739	Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier – discovers Bouvet Island	French	Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier	Aigle, Marie
1771	1772	First French Antarctic Expedition	French	Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec
1772	1775	James Cook crosses Antarctic Circle and reaches 71° 10′ S	British	James Cook	HMS Resolution
1819	1819	William Smith discovers South Shetland Islands	British	William Smith	The Williams
1819	1819	San Telmo wrecks in the Drake Passage off Livingston Island.	Spanish	Joaquín de Toledo y Parra	San Telmo
1819	1821	Bellingshausen and Lazarev Russian circumnavigation expedition	Russian	Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Mikhail Lazarev	Nadezhda
1820	1820	Edward Bransfield with William Smith sight Trinity Peninsula	British	Edward Bransfield	The Williams
1820	1820	Nathaniel Palmer sights Antarctica	American	Nathaniel Palmer	Hero
1821	1821	George Powell, a British sealer, and Nathaniel B. Palmer discover the South Orkney Islands	British	George Powell, Nathaniel B. Palmer	Dove, Eliza
1821	1821	John Davis – claims of setting foot on Antarctica at Hughes Bay	American	John Davis	Cecilia
1823	1824	James Weddell discovers the Weddell Sea and reached a new Farthest South of 74° 15′ S	British	James Weddell	Jane, Beaufoy
1830	1833	Southern Ocean Expedition led by John Biscoe circumnavigates Antarctica	British	John Brisco	Tula
1837	1840	Second French Antarctic Expedition	French	Jules Dumont d'Urville	Astrolabe
1838	1839	John Balleny discovers Balleny Islands	British	John Balleny	Eliza Scott, Sabrina
1838	1842	United States Exploring Expedition	American	Charles Wilkes	USS Peacock, USS Porpoise, USS Vincennes
1839	1843	James Clark Ross expedition	British	James Clark Ross	HMS Erebus, HMS Terror
1851	1853	Mercator Cooper made the first adequately documented landing on the mainland of Antarctica.	American	Mercator Cooper	Levant
1872	1876	HMS Challenger under Capt. George S. Nares, becomes the first steamship to cross the Antarctic Circle	British	George S. Nares	HMS Challenger
1892	1893	Carl Anton Larsen led the first Norwegian expedition to Antarctica aboard the ship Jason	Norwegian	Carl Anton Larsen	Jason
1892	1893	Dundee Whaling Expedition discover Dundee Island	British		Balaena, Active, Diana, Polar Star
1893	1894	Second Norwegian expedition to Antarctica	Norwegian	Carl Anton Larsen	Jason
1893	1895	Henryk Bull, Carstens Borchgrevink and Alexander von Tunzelmann – set foot on Antarctica at Cape Adare	Norwegian	Henryk Bull, Carstens Borchgrevink, Alexander von Tunzelmann	Antarctic (ship)
1897	1899	Belgian Antarctic Expedition	Belgium	Adrien de Gerlache	Beligica
1898	1900	Southern Cross Expedition	British	Carsten Borchgrevink	SS Southern Cross
1901	1904	Discovery Expedition	British	Robert Falcon Scott	Discovery
1901	1903	Gauss expedition (or First German Antarctic Expedition)	German	Erich von Drygalski	Gauss
1901	1903	Swedish Antarctic Expedition	Swedish	Otto Nordenskjöld with captain Carl Anton Larsen	Antarctic (ship)
1902	1904	Scottish National Antarctic Expedition	British	William Speirs Bruce	Scotia
1903	1905	Third French Antarctic Expedition	French	Jean-Baptiste Charcot	Francais
1907	1909	Nimrod Expedition	British	Ernest Shackleton	Nimrod
1908	1910	Fourth French Antarctic Expedition	French	Jean-Baptiste Charcot	Pourquoi-Pas? IV
1910	1912	Japanese Antarctic Expedition	Japanese	Nobu Shirase	Kainan Maru
1910	1912	Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition	Norwegian	Roald Amundsen	Fram
1910	1913	Terra Nova Expedition	British	Robert Falcon Scott	Terra Nova
1911	1913	Second German Antarctic Expedition	German	Wilhelm Filchner	Deutschland
1911	1914	Australasian Antarctic Expedition	Australian	Douglas Mawson	SY Aurora
1914	1916	Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition	British	Ernest Shackleton	Endurance
1914	1917	Ross Sea Party	British	Aeneas Mackintosh
1920	1922	British Graham Land Expedition	British	John Lachlan Cop
1921	1922	Shackleton-Rowett Expedition	British	Ernest Shackleton
1929	1931	British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE)	British, New Zealand	Douglas Mawson
1928	1930	Byrd's First expedition	American	Richard Evelyn Byrd
1931	1931	H. Halvorsen – discovered Princess Astrid Coast	Norwegian	H. Halvorsen
1931	1931	Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen – flew over Antarctica, discovered Kronprins Olav Kyst	Norwegian	Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
1933	1935	Byrd's Second expedition	American	Richard Evelyn Byrd
1933	1939	Lincoln Ellsworth – Aircraft expedition	American	Lincoln Ellsworth
1934	1937	British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE)	British	John Riddoch Rymill
1936	1936	Lars Christensen – dropped Norwegian flag over Prince Harald Coast	Norwegian	Lars Christensen
1938	1938	Third German Antarctic Expedition	German	Capt. Alfred Ritscher
1939	1941	United States Antarctic Service Expedition (Byrd's Third)	American	Richard Evelyn Byrd
1943	1945	Operation Tabarin	British	James Marr
1946	1947	Operation Highjump – led by Richard Evelyn Byrd (Byrd's fourth expedition)	American	Richard Evelyn Byrd
1947	1947	First Chilean Antarctic Expedition	Chilean	Federico Guesalaga Toro
1947	1948	Operation Windmill	American	Commander Gerald Ketchum
1947	1948	Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition	American	Finn Ronne
1949	1950	Adelie-Land, Ship Commandant Charcot	French	Michel Barre
1949	1952	Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition	Norwegian, British	John Giaever
1955	1956	Operation Deep Freeze – Byrd's fifth expedition	American	Richard Evelyn Byrd
1955	1957	1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Mikhail Somov
1956	1958	Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition	British	Vivian Fuchs
1956	1958	2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Aleksei Treshnikov
1957	1958	New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition	New Zealand
1957	1958	Luncke Expedition	Norwegian	Bernard Lunke
1957	1959	3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Yevgeny Tolstikov
1958	1959	New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition	New Zealand
1958	1960	4th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Aleksandr Dralkin
1959	1961	5th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Yevgeny Korotkevich
1960	1960	South African National Antarctic Expedition	South African
1960	1962	6th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V. Driatsky
1961	1963	7th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Aleksandr Dralkin
1962	1962	Vostok traverse – led by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE)	Australian
1962	1964	8th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Mikhail Somov
1963	1965	9th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Mikhail Somov, Pavel Senko
1964	1965	South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse I	American
1964	1966	10th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	M. Ostrekin, I. Petrov
1965	1966	South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse II	American
1965	1967	11th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	D. Maksutov, Leonid Dubrovin
1965	1965	Operación 90 – Terrestrial Argentine Expedition to the South Pole	Argentinian	Coronel D. Jorge Leal
1966	1968	12th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Pavel Senko, Vladislav Gerbovich
1966	1967	New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme Mariner Glacier Northern Party Expedition	New Zealand	John E S Lawrence
1967	1968	South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse III	American
1967	1969	13th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Aleksei Treshnikov
1968	1970	14th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	D. Maksutov, Ernst Krenkel
1969	1970	New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition	New Zealand
1969	1971	15th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Pavel Senko, Vladislav Gerbovich
1970	1972	16th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	I. Petrov, Yury Tarbeyev
1971	1973	17th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Yevgeny Korotkevich, V. Averyano
1972	1974	18th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	Pavel Senko
1973	1975	19th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	D. Maksutov, V. Ignatov
1974	1976	20th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V. Serdyukov, N. Kornilov
1975	1977	21st Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	O. Sedov, G. Bardin
1976	1978	22nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N. Tyabin, Leonid Dubrovin
1977	1979	23rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V. Serdyukov, O. Sedov
1978	1980	24th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	A. Artemyev, O. Sedov
1979	1980	25th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N. Kornilov, N. Tyabin
1980	1981	Transglobe Expedition	British	Ranulph Fiennes
1980	1982	26th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V. Serdyukov, V. Shamontyev
1981	1983	27th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	D. Maksutov, R. Galkin
1981	1982	First Indian Expedition to Antarctica	Indian	Dr. Sayed Zahoor Qasim
1982	1983	Second Indian Expedition to Antarctica	Indian	V. K. Raina
1982	1984	28th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N. Kornilov, A. Artemyev
1983	1985	29th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N. Tyabin, L. Bulatov
1983	1985	Third Indian Expedition to Antarctica	Indian	Dr Harsh K. Gupta
1984	1987	In the Footsteps of Scott	British	Robert Swan	Southern Quest
1984	1985	1st Uruguayan Antarctic Expedition – Antarkos I	Uruguayan	Lt. Col. Omar Porciúncula
1984	1986	30th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	D. Maksutov, R. Galkin
1985	1987	31st Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N. Tyabin, V. Dubovtsev
1986	1988	32nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V. Klokov, V. Vovk
1987	1989	33rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	N.A. Kornilov, Yu.A. Khabarov
1987	1988	First Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition – St. Kliment Ohridski Base established	Bulgarian	Christo Pimpirev, Borislav Kamenov
1988	1990	34th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	S.M. Pryamikov, L.V. Bulatov
1989	1991	35th Soviet Antarctic Expedition	Soviet	V.M. Piguzov