The frozen southern continent wasn't discovered until 1820. American seal hunter John Dis was the first to say he landed on Antarctica in 1821, although some historians dispute his claim.
At the beginning of the 20th century, two groups of explorers set out across the desolate Antarctic landscape in a race to walk where no one had been before. One team was led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and the other by English nal officer Robert Scott. The groups spent 99 days racing to the South Pole, before Amundsen's group claimed victory on Dec. 14, 1912. Scott and his crew made it to the pole four weeks later on Jan. 17, 1913, but did not make it back alive. A search party found Scott and his two remaining companions inside their sleeping bags in a small tent on the ice, 11 miles (17 km) from the nearest cache of food and supplies.
In 1914, the Irish-born British explorer Ernest Shackleton set out to be the first to achieve an overland crossing of Antarctica through the South Pole — about a 1,800-mile (2,900 km) trek. Shackleton and his crew of 27 men faced incredible challenges and never made it across the continent, although they all eventually made it home alive.