Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

For reasons of both proximity and economics, much of the earliest European polar exploration looked to the north rather than the south. As countries like Britain and the Netherlands started expanding their colonial reach in the 16th and 17th centuries, interest in finding a “Northwest” or “Northeast” passage—i.e., a maritime route to the riches of Asia that did not require making the long trip around Africa or South America—surged, resulting in many voyages to the Arctic. 

Such voyages would continue for the next few centuries, even as a variety of factors began to drive other expeditions farther and farther south; these ranged from the profits to be made in seal hunting, to national pride, to scientific interest in magnetism and a long-theorized “missing” continent in the Southern Hemisphere. British naval captain James Cook affirmed the possibility of such a continent during his second voyage (1772-1775), and the landmass itself was likely first spotted by Europeans in 1820—though whether by an American, British, or Russian expedition remains a point of contention, as all three had ships in the region. Over the coming decades, expeditions led by explorers including the British James Clark Ross (1800-1862) and the French Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790-1842) would begin charting the contours of the continent.