Roald Amundsen was born on 16 July 1872 in Borge Municipality. A Norwegian polar explorer, Amundsen first came to attention as part of an expedition that wintered in Antarctica in the 1890s. He then commanded the small ship Gjøa through the Northwest Passage between 1903 and 1906, the first to sail through it. In 1911 he led the Norwegian party that reached the South Pole on 14 December, a month before Robert Falcon Scott's team, thanks to careful planning, skiing and sled dogs. In 1926 he took part in the flight of the airship Norge over the North Pole. He disappeared in 1928 while flying to search for the crew of a crashed airship.
Before and after
- 13 April 1872Identification of Huntington's disease
- 18 May 1872Birth of Bertrand Russell
- 4 July 1872Birth of Calvin Coolidge
- from 6 July 1872 to 4 June 1873Modoc War
- 16 July 1872Birth of Roald Amundsen
- 15 August 1872Birth of Aurobindo Ghosh
- 30 November 1872First match of the England men's national association football team
- 30 November 1872The first international football match is played
- 3 December 1872George Smith reads the Babylonian flood story
More in Exploration & discovery
- 1787First Fleet
- from 19 May 1845 to 1 January 1848Franklin's lost expedition
- from 1901 to 1904Discovery Expedition (1901-1904)
- from August 1907 to March 1909British Antarctic Expedition (1907–1909)
- from 1 June 1910 to 14 June 1913Terra Nova Expedition
- from 3 June 1910 to 30 January 1912Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.