1772-75
Under orders from the Admiralty to find the 'southern land' and take possession for George III, Captain James Cook on Resolution is the first 'modern' adventurer to cross the Antarctic Circle, although he doesn't see the continent itself. However, he says: 'I make bold to declare that the world will derive no benefit from it.'
1784
Alerted by Cook's findings on marine life, British and American sealers start decimating the Antarctic seal population.
1820-23
The Antarctic continent is sighted, but there are three contenders for the honour of who saw it first: Russian admiral Fabian von Bellingshausen, who circumnavigates it and visits nearby islands; Nathanial Palmer, an American sealing captain; and Edward Bransfield, a British naval officer. Both Palmer and Bransfield map sections of the Antarctic peninsula. A year later, John Davis, captain of the sealer Huron, is alleged to have landed on the peninsula - the first person to do so. In 1823, British naval captain James Weddell penetrates further south by ship than anyone before.
1838-42
Despatched by King Louis-Philippe to better Weddell's record, French navy captain Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville claims part of Antarctica for France, naming it Adélie Land, after his wife, and returns home with thousands of natural history specimens. Charles Wilkes, an American naval officer, maps a large chunk of the southern coast, known today as Wilkes Land.
One of the most significant visits is made in 1840 by British naval officer and scientist James Clark Ross, who already has experience of Arctic conditions. He takes two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, to within 80 miles of the coast until stopped by a massive ice barrier - now the Ross ice shelf. He discovers the Mount Erebus volcano, makes many observations of the Earth's magnetism and identifies 145 new species of fish.
1895-1900
While on a Norwegian whaling trip, Carsten Borchgrevink makes what some historians believe to be the first confirmed landing on the mainland, at Cape Adare. Three years later, he leads the British Southern Cross expedition, sledging inland to 78¡S, using dog teams and wintering on the ice for the first time.
1901-4
Britain's best-known polar explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, makes his first trip to the south as leader of the National Antarctic Expedition, spending the winter on Discovery in McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea and claiming King Edward VII Land. With Ernest Shackleton and Edward Wilson, Scott sledges south to 82ºS, discovering part of the Victoria Land mountain range. At the same time, a German expedition led by Erich von Drygalski is the first to explore the eastern coast, now Kaiser Wilhelm Land.
1907-9
Ernest Shackleton sledges to within 97 miles of the South Pole, the furthest south anyone has been, before being forced to turn back. Another party from his ship Nimrod reaches the South Magnetic Pole, and the Beardmore glacier is discovered.
1911-12
In the race to plant a flag at the South Pole, a Norwegian team of five led by experienced explorer Roald Amundsen arrives on 14 December 1911, beating Captain Scott by 33 days. As well as having a closer base and better weather, the Norwegians are expert skiers and dog handlers. Demoralised, exhausted and frostbitten, Scott's party of five - the others are Lawrence 'Titus' Oates, Edgar 'Teddy' Evans, Henry 'Birdie' Bowers and Edward Wilson - perish on the return journey.
1914-16
Shackleton returns on Endurance (see The story). He is unsuccessful in his attempt to cross the Antarctic, but he and his 27 crew are famously trapped on the ice for 15 months and live to tell the tale.
1929-31
The first crossing of the South Pole by aircraft is made in the Floyd Bennett by the American Richard Byrd, who viewed many new areas for the first time, including Marie Byrd Land, named after his wife. Admiral Byrd makes two further visits in the 1930s, carrying out extensive survey work. On his flights, he takes 1,600 aerial photos covering 150,000 square miles.
1935
Norwegian Caroline Mikkelsen is the first woman to set foot on Antarctica when she accompanies her husband, a whaling captain.
1957-58
International Geophysical Year, when 12 countries set up 50 bases on the continent. The first successful land crossing via the South Pole is led by British geologist Vivian Fuchs and New Zealander Edmund Hillary (who in 1953 was the first to climb Everest). During the 99 days of the journey, they use tractors and dog teams and are supplied from the air. Seismic readings taken en route help to establish that Greater and Lesser Antarctica are two distinct geological formations.
1992-93
Former SAS man Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Mike Stroud make the first unassisted crossing of the continent, pulling sledges - 'manhauling' - for 1,350 miles. After 97 days of pain and near starvation, the pair end up loathing each other.
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