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A Day in the Past

Explorers

125 stories through the year, in calendar order. Tap one to visit its day.

January

2 Jan 1886 Born: Apsley Cherry-GarrardApsley Cherry-Garrard was an English explorer of Antarctica, the frozen continent around the South Pole. He was a member of the Terra Nova Expedition…
5 Jan 1906 Born: Kathleen KenyonKathleen Kenyon was a British archaeologist, someone who learns about the past by digging up and studying ancient remains. From 1952 to 1958 she led …
7 Jan 1835 HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Chonos IslandsThe Royal Navy survey ship HMS Beagle dropped anchor off the Chonos Archipelago, a group of islands. On board was the naturalist Charles Darwin. Darw…
Photo: R. T. Pritchett, Public domain
8 Jan 1823 Born: Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace was a naturalist, explorer and illustrator. He worked out the theory of evolution by natural selection on his own. His paper on…
9 Jan 1909 Shackleton's team gets closer to the South Pole than anyone beforeDuring the Nimrod Expedition, Ernest Shackleton and his team planted the British flag about 180 kilometres from the South Pole. No one had ever been …
Photo: George Charles Beresford / Adam Cuerden, Public domain
10 Jan 1917 The Ross Sea party is rescued in AntarcticaSeven men of the Ross Sea party were rescued after being stranded in Antarctica for several months. They were part of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Tr…
11 Jan 1935 Amelia Earhart flies solo from Hawaii to CaliforniaAmerican pilot Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly alone from Honolulu, in Hawaii, to Oakland, in California. She flew a Lockheed Vega aero…
Photo: Underwood & Underwood (active 1880 – c. 1950), Public domain
13 Jan 1888 The National Geographic Society is foundedA group of 33 explorers and scientists met at a club in Washington, DC, to start a society to spread knowledge about geography. It became the Nationa…
Photo: APK, CC BY-SA 3.0
14 Jan 1911 Roald Amundsen's expedition reaches AntarcticaNorwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team reached the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, aboard the ship Fram. They built their base hut,…
Photo: Anonymous, Public domain
14 Jan 1939 Norway claims Queen Maud Land in AntarcticaNorway claimed a huge region of Antarctica called Queen Maud Land, named after Norway's Queen Maud. It covers about a fifth of the continent, roughly…
16 Jan 1909 Shackleton's expedition reaches the South Magnetic PoleA team from Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition reached the estimated position of the South Magnetic Pole. The team was led by geology p…
17 Jan 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail to explore North AmericaItalian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano left Madeira in his ship La Dauphine, sailing west for the King of France. He hoped to find a sea route to th…
17 Jan 1773 Captain Cook's ship is the first to cross the Antarctic CircleOn his second great voyage, Captain James Cook sailed HMS Resolution south of the Antarctic Circle. It was the first ship ever known to do so. Cook h…
Photo: William Hodges, Public domain
17 Jan 1912 Captain Scott's team reaches the South PoleBritish explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and four companions reached the South Pole. There they discovered that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amu…
Photo: Henry Maull (1829–1914) and John Fox (1832–1907), Public domain
18 Jan 1778 Captain Cook reaches the Hawaiian IslandsOn his third voyage of exploration, British explorer Captain James Cook reached the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. He was the first known Eur…
Photo: Jacques Descloitres, Public domain
18 Jan 1788 HMS Supply, first ship of the First Fleet, reaches Botany BayHMS Supply became the first ship of Britain's First Fleet to reach Botany Bay, in Australia. The fleet had sailed from England in May 1787 to set up …
19 Jan 1817 José de San Martín leads his army across the AndesGeneral José de San Martín led an army of more than 5,000 soldiers over the Andes mountains from Argentina into Chile. The crossing took 21 days, at …
19 Jan 2007 Kite-skiers reach Antarctica's Pole of InaccessibilityA four-man team called N2i reached Antarctica's Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the continent furthest from the sea. They had travelled 1,093 m…
19 Jan 2024 Japan's 'Moon Sniper' lands on the MoonJapan's SLIM spacecraft, nicknamed the 'Moon Sniper', made a soft landing on the Moon. Japan became the fifth country to do this, after the Soviet Un…
Photo: Hms1103, CC BY-SA 4.0
20 Jan 1788 The main part of the First Fleet reaches Botany BayThe main group of ships of the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay, in Australia, marking the start of British settlement there. The eleven ships had l…
Photo: Original drawing by R. Cleveley, engraving by T. Medland, Public domain
20 Jan 1930 Born: Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin is an American astronaut who was the second person to walk on the Moon. During the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, he stepped onto the Moon 19…
23 Jan Every year Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)Bounty Day is a public holiday on the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. It marks the day in 1790 when sailors who …
23 Jan 1960 The Trieste reaches the deepest point of the oceanThe bathyscaphe Trieste, a deep-diving research vessel, became the first crewed craft to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. T…
24 Jan 1848 Gold is found at Sutter's Mill, starting the California Gold RushJames W. Marshall, a carpenter building a sawmill for John Sutter at Coloma, California, found gold. His discovery set off the California Gold Rush, …
24 Jan 1908 Robert Baden-Powell organises the first Boy Scout troopRobert Baden-Powell, a British Army officer, organised the first Boy Scout troop in England. His handbook Scouting for Boys came out in parts from Ja…
Photo: James Russell & Sons, Public domain
25 Jan 1585 Walter Raleigh is knighted after naming VirginiaWalter Raleigh was knighted, becoming Sir Walter Raleigh. Shortly before, he had named a region of North America 'Virginia' in honour of Queen Elizab…
25 Jan 1890 Nellie Bly completes a record-breaking trip around the worldAmerican journalist Nellie Bly arrived back in New York after travelling around the world by land and sea in just over 72 days. This was a record at …
26 Jan 1788 The First Fleet lands at Sydney Cove in AustraliaCaptain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet of eleven British ships landed at Sydney Cove. They had left Portsmouth in May 1787 with more than 1,400 p…
Photo: Francis Wheatley, Public domain
27 Jan 1820 A Russian expedition discovers the continent of AntarcticaA Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev came close to the coast of Antarctica, discovering the continent. …
Photo: unidentified artist, Public domain
29 Jan 1819 Stamford Raffles lands on the island of SingaporeThe British official Stamford Raffles landed on the island of Singapore. That year he secured control of it from local rulers, to protect British shi…
30 Jan 1820 Edward Bransfield sights Antarctica and claims its discoveryEdward Bransfield, a Royal Navy officer, sighted the Trinity Peninsula, the northernmost part of the Antarctic Peninsula. He claimed the discovery of…
Photo: Edited by Apcbg, CC BY-SA 3.0
31 Jan 1971 Apollo 14 blasts off for the MoonAstronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell lifted off on a Saturn V rocket on the Apollo 14 mission. It became the third mission to lan…
Photo: Edgar D. Mitchell / NASA, Public domain

February

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December