Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole - Dec. 14, 1911

Roald Amundsen and his expedition became the first people to reach the South Pole, beating Robert Falcon Scott's expedition, on this day in 1911.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff
Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff you
missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore
the past one day at a time with a quick
look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome
to the podcast. I'm Christopher haciotis your temporary host, sitting

(00:22):
in for Tracy V. Wilson this week. Today is December
four and Roald Amondson reached the South Pole on this
day in nineteen eleven. Born in what's now Norway in
eighteen seventy two, Amonson was born into a nautical family,
a family of captains and shipbuilders ship owners. His mother
wanted him to be a doctor, so Amonson attended university

(00:43):
with that intent, but when she passed away when he
was in his early twenties, he dropped out and took
to the seas as a polar explorer. He explored Antarctica
with a Belgian team in the final years of the
nineteenth century, and about five years later was the first
to make a successful expedition through Canada's Northwest Passage, which
connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He was inspired by

(01:04):
Robert Peary reaching the North Pole in nineteen o nine.
In fact, he wasn't just inspired, he'd had actually been
planning his own track to the North Pole. So instead,
Amerson decided to head for the South Pole. He set
off on June third, nine ten, and though he was
planning to head south, he knew the plan all along,
but he allowed people who financed his trip to believe

(01:25):
he was going to the North Pole. The same held
true for his crew, but when they reached the Portuguese
archipelago of Madera, he let them know about the change
in plans, and six months later they arrived at the
Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The crew set up base
and named it Framheim, and spent months preparing for the
trek to the Pole. Amonson had learned much from the
Inuit people while exploring the North Pole and adopted some

(01:47):
of their sealskin technology rather than relying on wool clothing,
for example. The first attempt for the poll took place
in September of nineteen eleven, but it didn't work out,
and the team that departed had turned back a month later.
For the second time, Amonson and four others set out.
This was on October nineteenth nineteen eleven. They took four

(02:08):
sledges and fifty two dogs, and the plan was actually
to eat some of the dogs along the way. And
nearly after crossing ice and snow for two months straight,
Amonson and his team arrived at the South Pole on
December fourteenth, nineteen eleven. Now it was another month and
a half back to their base camp, then a few
months on to Australia, where he finally announced his successful expedition.

(02:31):
You can read Amonson's own account of the journey in
his nineteen twelve book The South Pole, An Account of
the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition. In the from nineteen twelve, now
Amondson was called brave, he was called prepared, he was
called smart, But in his own words he attributed the
success of the expedition to preparation. In his own words,
he wrote, I may say that this is the greatest factor,

(02:54):
the way in which the expedition is equipped, the way
in which every difficulty is foreseen and precautions take, and
for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has
everything in order. Luck people call it. Defeat is certain
for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions
in time. This is called bad luck. Now, speaking of defeat,

(03:16):
here's the thing I haven't told you yet. Emmonson wasn't
the only explorer trying to reach the South Pole. There's
another character crucial to this story, and that's a British
man by the name of Robert Falcon Scott. In fact,
Scott and Emerson were in a heated competition to make
it to the South Pole first, and you know that
Emonson was the first person to reach the pole. Scott's

(03:37):
tale of failure, though, is fascinating in its own right
and includes English pride, ponies devoured by Orca, and tens
of thousands of cigars good stuff. In fact, if you'd
like to learn more about the Race to the South Pole,
give a list to the September twenty two, two thousand
episode of our Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast,
which is aptly titled The Race to the South Pole.

(03:59):
Thanks to see Pegraman Chandler Mayze for their audio work
on this show, and you can subscribe to This Day
in History Class on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app,
or any place you like to find podcasts. Make sure
to listen tomorrow when we delve into the death of
an American cultural leader and icon of resistance.