Antarctic explorer

This list of Antarctic expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was not reached until 1911.

Pre-exploration theories

* 600 BC – 300 BC – Greek Philosophers theorize Spherical Earth with North and South Polar regions.
* 150 AD – Ptolemy published Geographia, which notes Terra Australis Incognita.

Pre-19th century

* 7th century – Ui-te-Rangiora is claimed to have sighted southern ice fields.
* 13th century – Polynesians settle Auckland Islands (50° S)
* 1501–1502 – Gonçalo Coelho and Amerigo Vespucci potentially sail to (52° S)
* 1522 – Juan Sebastián de El Cano – first circumnavigation Fernando de Magallanes discovers Strait of Magellan (54° S)
* 1526 – Francisco de Hoces reportedly blown south from Straits of Magallanes to (56° S)
* 1578 – Francis Drake claims to have discovered an ocean south of South America and " Elizabeth Island" (57° S)
* 1599 – Dirk Gerritsz – potentially sails to (64° S)
* 1603 – Gabriel de Castilla – potentially sails to (64° S)
* 1615 – Jacob le Maire and Willem Schouten first to sail around Cape Horn cross (56° S)
* 1619 – Garcia de Nodal expedition – circumnavigate Tierra del Fuego and discover Diego Ramírez Islands ()
* 1643 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia – northerly winds push the expedition as far south as 61°59 S where icebergs were abundant. The expedition disproves beliefs that Isla de los Estados was part of Terra Australis.
* 1675 – Anthony de la Roché discovers South Georgia (), the first ever land discovered south of the Antarctic Convergence
* 1698–1699 – Edmond Halley sails to (52° S)
* 1720 – Captain George Shelvocke – sails to (61° 30′ S)
* 1739 – Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier – discovers Bouvet Island ()
* 1771 – James Cook – HM Bark Endeavour expedition
* 1771–1772 – First French Antarctic Expedition – led by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovers Kerguelen Islands ()
* 1772–1775 – James Cook – sails crossing Antarctic Circle in January 1773 and December 1773. On 30 January 1774 he reaches 71° 10′ S, his Farthest South, coming within about of the Antarctic mainland without seeing it.

19th century

* 1780s to 1839 – American and British whalers and sealers make incidental discoveries.
* 1819 – William Smith discovers South Shetland Islands (), the first land discovered south of 60° south latitude.
* 1819 – San Telmo is wrecked in the Drake Passage off Livingston Island.
* 1819–1821 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, future Admirals of Russian Imperial Navy, during Russian circumnavigation expedition, on 27 January 1820 were stopped by impassable ice in of Princess Martha Coast that later became known as the floating fragments of Fimbul Ice Shelf (). Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see and officially discover Alexander Island and Peter I Island in Antarctica in 21–28 January 1821.
* 1820 – Edward Bransfield with William Smith as his pilot – on 30 January 1820, sight Trinity Peninsula ().
* 1820 – Nathaniel Palmer sights Antarctica on 17 November 1820
* 1821 – George Powell, a British sealer, and Nathaniel B. Palmer, an American sealer, discover the South Orkney Islands

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