Farthest North refers, in terms of latitude, to man’s most northerly penetration of the Arctic regions before the conquest of the North Pole. The northern polar regions are much more accessible than those of the south; continental land masses extend to high latitudes, and sea voyages to the regions are relatively short. A Dutch expedition led by Willem Barentz reached 79°49’ N on 16 June 1596 to register the first recorded Farthest North. On 13 July 1607 Henry Hudson passed the 80°N mark. The record was nudged upwards in small incremental steps, including Nansen in 1895 and Cagni in 1900. Finally, in 1926, the airship Norge carried Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile and Lincoln Ellsworth over the Pole, en route from Spitsbergen to Alaska. The claims of both Frederick Cook and Robert Peary to have reached the Pole on foot, in 1908 and 1909 respectively, are not now generally believed.

See Also

Farthest South

References

Sources

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