Research suggests Maori navigators were likely the first humans to set eyes on Antarctic waters.

Captain James Cook is the first recorded European navigator to cross, though he doesn’t see land.

Explorers set eyes on Antarctica, though it’s debated whether it was Thaddeus von Bellingshausen or Edward Bransfield.

Captain James Weddell, after whom the sea is named, sets a record for the furthest south ever travelled.

Sir James Clark Ross locates the northern magnetic pole and charts much of Antarctica’s coastline.

Sir John Franklin goes in search of the Northwest Passage but none of the 129 men return.

Fridtjof Nansen’s sets a new record for the farthest travel north, though he doesn’t make the pole.

Robert Peary claims to reach the geographic North Pole, though it’s disputed by Frederick Cook.

Roald Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South Pole, a month before Robert Falcon Scott.

Richard Byrd, Bernt Balchen, Harold June and Ashley McKinley are the first people to fly over the South Pole.

Danish Norwegian explorer Caroline Mikkelsen is the first woman to set foot on Antarctica.