This list of Antarctica expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was not reached until 1911.

Pre-exploration theories 600 BC – 300 BC – Greek philosophers theorize Spherical Earth with North and South Polar regions. 150 AD – Ptolemy published Geographia, which notes Terra Australis Incognita.

Pre-19th century 13th century – Polynesians settle Auckland Islands (50° S)O'Connor, Tom Polynesians in the Southern Ocean: Occupation of the Auckland Islands in Prehistory in New Zealand Geographic 69 (September–October 2004): 6–8Anderson, Atholl, & Gerard R. O'Regan The Polynesian Archaeology of the Subantarctic Islands: An Initial Report on Enderby Island Southern Margins Project Report. Dunedin: Ngai Tahu Development Report, 1999Anderson, Atholl Subpolar Settlement in South Polynesia Antiquity 79.306 (2005): 791–800 1501–1502 – Gonçalo Coelho and Amerigo Vespucci possibly sail to (52° S) 1522 – Juan Sebastián Elcano – first circumnavigation Fernando de Magallanes discovers Strait of Magellan (54° S) 1526 – Francisco de Hoces reportedly blown south from Strait of Magellan to (56° S). He discovers the Drake Passage or Mar de Hoces. 1578 – Francis Drake claims to have discovered an ocean south of South America and "Elizabeth Island" (57° S) 1599 – Dirk Gerritsz – potentially sails to (64° S) 1603 – Gabriel de Castilla – potentially sails to (64° S) 1615 – Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten first to sail around Cape Horn cross (56° S) 1619 – García de Nodal expedition – circumnavigate Tierra del Fuego and discover Diego Ramírez Islands () 1643 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia – northerly winds push the expedition as far south as 61°59 S where icebergs were abundant. The expedition disproves beliefs that Isla de los Estados was part of Terra Australis. 1675 – Anthony de la Roché discovers South Georgia (), the first ever land discovered south of the Antarctic Convergence 1698–1699 – Edmond Halley sails to (52° S) 1720 – George Shelvocke – sails to (61° 30′ S) 1739 – Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier – discovers Bouvet Island () 1771 – James Cook – HM Bark Endeavour expedition 1771–1772 – Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovers Kerguelen Islands () 1772–1775 – James Cook – sails crossing Antarctic Circle in January 1773 and December 1773. On 30 January 1774 he reaches 71° 10′ S, his Farthest South, coming within about of the Antarctic mainland without seeing it.

19th century

1780s to 1839 – American and British whalers and sealers make incidental discoveries. 1819 – William Smith discovers South Shetland Islands (), the first land discovered south of 60° south latitude. 1819 – San Telmo is wrecked in the Drake Passage off Livingston Island. 1819–1821 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, future Admirals of Russian Imperial Navy, during Russian circumnavigation expedition, on 27 January 1820 were stopped by impassable ice in of Princess Martha Coast that later became known as the floating fragments of Fimbul Ice Shelf (). Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see and officially discover Alexander Island and Peter I Island in Antarctica in 21–28 January 1821. 1820 – Edward Bransfield with William Smith as his pilot – on 30 January 1820, sight Trinity Peninsula (). 1820 – Nathaniel Palmer sights Antarctica on 17 November 1820 1821 – George Powell, a British sealer, and Nathaniel B. Palmer, an American sealer, discover the South Orkney Islands. Powell annexes them for the British. 1821 – John Davis – on 7 February 1821 disputed claim of setting foot on Antarctica at Hughes Bay () 1823–1824 – James Weddell discovers the Weddell Sea; – on 20 February 1823 his ship Jane (160 tons) reached a new Farthest South of 74° 15′ S () 1829-1831 - Palmer–Pendleton Expedition 1830–1833 – Southern Ocean Expedition led by John Biscoe, an English sealer; circumnavigates the continent, sets foot on Anvers Island, names and annexes Graham Land, discovers Biscoe Islands, Queen Adelaide Island () and sights Enderby Land () 1837–1840 – First French Antarctic Expedition – led by Jules Dumont d'Urville; discovers Adélie Land and sets foot on an islet of Géologie Archipelago () 4 km from the mainland to take mineral and animal samples (66° S) 1838–1839 – John Balleny discovers Balleny Islands () 1838–1842 – United States Exploring Expedition – led by Charles Wilkes to Antarctic Peninsula () and eastern Antarctica; discovers "Termination Barrier" ("Shackleton Ice Shelf") 1839–1843 – James Clark Ross's expedition of 1839 to 1843 discovered the Ross Ice Shelf, Ross Sea, Mount Erebus, Mount Terror and Victoria Land; extended his Farthest South to 78° 10′ S on 23 January 1842 1851–1853 – Mercator Cooper landed on what is now known as Oates Coast in what is probably the first adequately documented landing on the mainland of Antarctica. 1872–1872 – German Antarctic Expedition under Eduard Dallmann, aboard the Grönland. 1872–1876 – under Capt. George S. Nares, becomes the first steamship to cross the Antarctic Circle; reopens the study of oceanography in the region after a 30-year gap. 1892–1893 – Carl Anton Larsen led the first Norwegian expedition to Antarctica aboard the ship Jason. Larsen became the first person to ski in Antarctica where the Larsen Ice Shelf was named after him. 1892–1893 – Dundee Whaling Expedition discover Dundee Island () 1893–1894 – Carl Anton Larsen led the second Norwegian expedition to Antarctica, commissioned and funded by the German shipping company Oceana 1893–1895 – Henryk Bull, Carstens Borchgrevink and Alexander von Tunzelmann – set foot on Antarctica at Cape Adare 1897–1899 – Belgian Antarctic Expedition – led by Adrien de Gerlache; first to winter South of the Antarctic Circle. 1898–1900 – Southern Cross Expedition, Carsten Borchgrevink – sails to Cape Adare, winters on Antarctica and takes Farthest South on 16 February 1900 at 78° 50′ S

20th century 1901–1904 – Discovery Expedition – led by Robert Falcon Scott, on 30 December 1903, reached (82° 17′S) 1902 - First balloon flight over Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott 1901–1903 – Gauss expedition (or First German Antarctic Expedition) – led by Erich von Drygalski 1901–1903 – Swedish Antarctic Expedition – led by Otto Nordenskjöld with captain Carl Anton Larsen 1902–1904 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition – led by William Speirs Bruce 1903–1905 – Second French Antarctic Expedition – led by Jean-Baptiste Charcot 1907–1909 – Nimrod Expedition – On 9 January 1909, Ernest Shackleton reached 88° 23 ′S (Farthest South), and on 16 January 1909, Professor Edgeworth David reached the South Magnetic Pole at () (mean position) 1908–1910 – Third French Antarctic Expedition – led by Jean-Baptiste Charcot 1910–1912 – Japanese Antarctic Expedition – led by Nobu Shirase 1910–1912 – Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition – On 14 December 1911, reached the South Pole (90° S) 1910–1913 – Terra Nova Expedition – On 17 January 1912, Robert Falcon Scott, reached the South Pole (90° S) 1911–1913 – Second German Antarctic Expedition – led by Wilhelm Filchner 1911–1914 – Australasian Antarctic Expedition – led by Douglas Mawson 1914–1916 – Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition – led by Ernest Shackleton 1914–1917 – Ross Sea party – led by Aeneas Mackintosh 1920–1922 – British Graham Land Expedition – a British expedition to Graham Land led by John Lachlan Cope 1921–1922 – Shackleton–Rowett Expedition – led by Ernest Shackleton – the last expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration 1924–1951 – Discovery Investigations 1928 - First aeroplane flight over Antarctica by Hubert Wilkins and Carl Ben Eielson 1929–1931 – British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) – led by Douglas Mawson 1928–1930 – Richard Evelyn Byrd – First expedition 1931 – H. Halvorsen – discovered Princess Astrid Coast 1931 – Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen – flew over Antarctica, discovered Kronprins Olav Kyst 1933–1935 – Richard Evelyn Byrd – Second expedition 1933–1939 – Lincoln Ellsworth – Aircraft expedition 1934–1937 – British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) – led by John Riddoch Rymill 1936 – Lars Christensen – dropped Norwegian flag over Prince Harald Coast 1938 -1939 – German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939), – led by Capt. Alfred Ritscher 1939–1941 – United States Antarctic Service Expedition – led by Richard Evelyn Byrd (Byrd's third expedition) 1943–1945 – Operation Tabarin – led by Lieutenant James Marr 1946–1947 – Operation Highjump – led by Richard Evelyn Byrd (Byrd's fourth expedition) 1947 – First Chilean Antarctic Expedition 1947–1948 – Operation Windmill – led by Commander Gerald Ketchum 1947–1948 – Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition – led by Finn Ronne 1948–1949 – Fourth French Antarctic Expedition (ship Commandant Charcot) – led by André-Frank Liotard 1949–1951 – Fifth French Antarctic Expedition : Port Martin Station established in Adélie Land – led by André-Frank Liotard 1949–1952 – Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition – led by John Giaever 1950–1952 – Sixth French Antarctic Expedition – led by Michel Barré 1951-1953 – Seventh French Antarctic Expedition : Petrel Island Station established in Adélie Land – led by Mario Marret 1953 – Esperanza Base established 1954 – Mawson Station established 1955–1956 – Operation Deep Freeze – led by Richard Evelyn Byrd (Byrd's fifth expedition) 1955–1957 – Falkland Island Dependency Aerial Survey led by P G Mott 1955–1957 – 1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Mikhail Somov 1955–1958 – Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition – led by Vivian Fuchs (UK); New Zealand support led by Edmund Hillary 1956 – Dumont d'Urville Station established 1956 – Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station established 1956 - McMurdo Station established 1956–1958 – 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Aleksei Treshnikov 1957–1958 – International Geophysical Year 1957–1958 – New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition 1957 – Scott Base established 1957–1958 – Luncke Expedition 1957–1959 – 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Yevgeny Tolstikov 1958–1959 – New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition 1958–1960 – 4th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Aleksandr Dralkin 1959– 1960 – New Zealand Alpine Club Antarctic Expedition - led by Robert Cawley (see NZAJ 1960 p. 253–) 1959–1961 – 5th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Yevgeny Korotkevich 1960 – South African National Antarctic Expedition 1960–1962 – 6th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by V. Driatsky 1961–1963 – 7th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Aleksandr Dralkin 1962–1962 – Vostok traverse – led by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) 1962–1963 – New Zealand Federated Mountain Clubs Antarctic Expedition – Led by John M. Millen 1962–1964 – 8th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Mikhail Somov 1963–1965 – 9th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Mikhail Somov and Pavel Senko 1964–1965 – South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse I 1964–1966 – 10th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by M. Ostrekin, I. Petrov 1965–1966 – South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse II 1965–1967 – 11th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by D. Maksutov, Leonid Dubrovin 1965–1965 – Operación 90 – Terrestrial Argentine Expedition to the South Pole Led by Coronel D. Jorge Leal. 1966–1968 – 12th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Pavel Senko and Vladislav Gerbovich 1966–1967 – New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme Mariner Glacier Northern Party Expedition – led by John E S Lawrence 1967–1968 – South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse III 1967–1969 – 13th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by Aleksei Treshnikov 1968–1970 – 14th Soviet Antarctic Expedition – led by D. Maksutov, Ernst Krenkel