Curated atlas · Exploration

Great Expeditions & Adventures

From the race to the Poles through Everest and into the deep ocean — the heroic age when explorers mapped the last blank spaces on Earth.

76 years

3,952 blocks

24 events

5 stages

1 block = 1 week · 1 row = 52 weeks76y · 3,952 blocks

1895

1905

1915

1925

1935

1945

1955

1965

Stages

Timeline ledger

Chronicle

24 events · 5 stages

Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

23y 3w

Jan 1, 1895 → Dec 25, 1917

Nansen reaches farthest north

Apr 2, 1895

Borchgrevink lands on Antarctic mainland

Feb 14, 1899

Peary claims the North Pole

Apr 6, 1909

Amundsen reaches the South Pole

Dec 12, 1911

Scott reaches the South Pole — too late

Jan 16, 1912

Shackleton's Endurance expedition

Aug 4, 1914

Aviation pioneers

20y 32w

Jun 10, 1919 → Dec 26, 1939

Mallory & Irvine disappear on Everest

Jun 3, 1924

Byrd's North Pole overflight

May 4, 1926

Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing

May 17, 1927

Piccard reaches the stratosphere

May 26, 1931

Earhart's solo Atlantic crossing

May 17, 1932

Undersea exploration

17y 31w

Jun 15, 1943 → Dec 27, 1960

Cousteau's first Aqua-Lung dive

Jun 15, 1943

Kon-Tiki expedition

Apr 22, 1947

Golden age of Himalayan mountaineering

15y 3w

Dec 27, 1949 → Dec 29, 1964

Annapurna summit — first 8,000m peak

May 30, 1950

Everest summit — Hillary and Tenzing

May 26, 1953

Hermann Buhl solos Nanga Parbat

Jun 30, 1953

Roger Bannister runs the four-minute mile

May 4, 1954

K2 summit — first ascent

Jul 27, 1954

Fuchs crosses Antarctica overland

Feb 25, 1958

Ocean depths to outer space

11y 2w

Dec 29, 1959 → Dec 29, 1970

Trieste reaches the Mariana Trench floor

Jan 19, 1960

Yuri Gagarin — first human in space

Apr 11, 1961

Sir Francis Chichester sails solo around the world

May 23, 1967

Knox-Johnston sails solo around the world

Apr 22, 1969

Apollo 11 — Moon landing

Jul 15, 1969

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