Antarctic Exploration:Roald Amundsen (1872 - 1928)

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who became the first person to reach the South Pole. He was not the first person to reach the North Pole, but was the first to see both Poles, the first to fly over the North Pole in an airship, and the first person to sail around the world through the Northeast and Northwest passages, from the Atlantic to the Pacific (in 1905).

In 1910, Amundsen sailed for Antarctica, intending to be the first person to reach the South Pole. He set up a base camp at the Bay of Wales (by the Ross Ice Shelf).

Amundsen's expedition travelled by dog sled and reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911. They raised the Norwegian flag . They arrived back at their base camp on 25 January 1912, having covered about 2,800 km in 99 days.

The British explorer Robert Scott had also tried to be the first to the South Pole, but Amundsen beat him there by just a few weeks.

Amundsen was 55 years old when he died in a plane crash in 1928, while attempting to rescue his friend Nobile, who had been lost in a dirigible (airship) crash in the Arctic. Nobile was found by another search crew.

To find out about Amundsen's other exporations go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ice/peopleevents/pandeAMEX87.html

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Sydenham & Thomas Antarctica [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2007)

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