North Pole Reached
Robert Peary claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole
April 06, 1909
A Race Across the Arctic Ice
The North Pole — the northernmost point on Earth, sitting in the middle of the frozen Arctic Ocean — was one of the great targets of the age of exploration. American explorer Robert Peary claimed to have reached it on April 6, 1909, along with his assistant Matthew Henson and four Inuit guides. Their claim is still debated: some historians doubt that Peary's navigation was accurate enough to confirm he truly reached the pole. A rival explorer, Frederick Cook, claimed he had reached the pole a full year earlier, in April 1908, but his claim is even more widely disputed. Whether or not Peary truly stood at 90 degrees north, his expedition remains the most famous attempt.
Matthew Henson's Overlooked Role
Matthew Henson was an African American explorer who had accompanied Peary on seven Arctic expeditions over 18 years. He was an expert dog-sled driver, spoke some Inuktitut, and had skills that Peary relied on heavily. By many accounts, Henson may have reached the final destination before Peary. Yet for most of his life, Henson received little recognition for his contribution, while Peary was celebrated as the hero. Henson was finally awarded the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal in 2000 — nearly 40 years after his death — in belated recognition of his crucial role in one of exploration's greatest achievements.
The Arctic Today
The North Pole is not a fixed point of land — it sits on floating sea ice over the Arctic Ocean, meaning there is nothing permanent to mark the spot. Unlike Antarctica, the Arctic has no land beneath the ice, and it has no permanent scientific stations at the pole itself. Today, reaching the North Pole by foot or dogsled is a feat attempted by adventurers, while nuclear-powered submarines have passed beneath it and icebreaker ships have navigated to it. Climate change is now melting Arctic sea ice at an alarming rate, and the region has become one of the most closely watched indicators of global warming. The once-forbidding polar ice cap is shrinking visibly with each passing decade.