On 3 August 1895, the Sixth International Geographical Congress passed a resolution declaring that “the exploration of the Antarctic is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be undertaken.” On 14 December 1911, the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundson (1872–1928) became the first person to reach the South Pole. His English rival, Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), reached the Pole with his team a month later. It took another half century before Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) from New Zealand became the first to traverse Antarctica by land in 1958.
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Further Readings:
- Bomann-Larsen, Tor. Roald Amundsen. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2006.
- Crane, David. Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy in the Extreme South. London: Harper Collins, 2005.
- Jones, Max. The Last Great Quest: Captain Scott’s Antarctic Sacrifice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
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