Left to right: Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting after first reaching the South Pole on 16 December 1911.
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the "Heroic" and "Mechanical" ages.[1][2][3]
During the Heroic Age, the Antarctic region became the focus of international efforts that resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration by 17 major Antarctic expeditions launched from ten countries.[4] The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances in transport and communication technologies revolutionized the work of exploration.[1][5] Each of these expeditions therefore became a feat of endurance that tested, and sometimes exceeded, the physical and mental limits of its personnel. The "heroic" label, bestowed later, recognized the adversities which had to be overcome by these pioneers, some of whom did not survive the experience: a total of 19 expedition members died during this period.
Both the geographic and magnetic South Poles were reached for the first time during the Heroic Age. The achievement of being first to the geographical pole was the primary object in many expeditions, as well as the sole rationale for Roald Amundsen's venture, which became the first to reach it in 1911. Other expeditions aimed for different objectives in different areas of the continent. As a result of all this activity, much of the continent's coastline was discovered and mapped, and significant areas of its interior were explored. The expeditions also generated large quantities of scientific data across a wide range of disciplines, the examination and analysis of which would keep the world's scientific communities busy for decades.[6]
^ abCite error: The named reference Fisherlate was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Smith, p. 414
^The historian Aant Elzinga gives the much later date of 1945, considering World War II to be the turning point in Antarctic research.Elzinga, Aang (1993). Changing Trends in Antarctic Research. Dordrecth: Springer. ISBN 978-0-58-528849-9.
^Barczewski, pp. 19–20.
^Huntford, p. 691 – "before machines took over."
^For example, the scientific results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04 were still being published in 1920 (Speak, p. 100). 25 volumes of results from the Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13 had been published by 1925. ("British Antarctic Expedition 1910–13". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 4 December 2008.)
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