 |
 Richard Evelyn Byrd
established the first scientific base in
Antarctica -- Little America -- in 1928. In
November of 1929, he and three others became the
first persons to fly to the South Pole and back.
In 1955 he helped establish the first permanent
U.S. bases in Antarctica. |
 Matthew Alexander
Henson became the first man to reach
the North Pole by "land" on April 6,
1909, a full 45 minutes before the leader of the
expedition, Robert Peary. |
 Robert Edwin Peary
used Eskimo survival techniques to lead the first
successful "overland" expedition to the
North Pole in 1909. He was not, however, the
first to actually reach the pole; that honor went
to his personal assistant Matthew Henson. |
 The
Quest for a Northwest Passage
The explorers who
followed Christopher Columbuswere more interested
in finding an easy route to Asia than they were
in exploring and settling North America. So they
began to look for a "Northwest
Passage," or waterway, that would take them
around or through the continent. Although
a Northwest Passage was eventually found, it is
ice-packed most of the year and has never proven
to be a viable route for shipping. |
 Greenland: Facts and
Figures Local Name
Kalaallit Nunaat. Area 840,004 sq mi. Population
57,670. Capital Nuuk. Form of
Government self-governing overseas
administrative division of Denmark |
