2016-12-14 Wed

Today marks the 105th anniversary of the first successful journey to the South Pole! On 14th December two men arrived at the South Pole on 14 December 1911.

Over the summer season of 1911/12, two men were attempting to be the first to reach the pole. One was a Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, and the other a British explorer, Robert Scott.

With the mission “to be the first to journey that far south” Amundsen finally reached the South Pole in December 1911 with dozens of dogs and a handful of people, Amundsen finally reached the South Pole in December 1911.

Unaware of the Norway expedition a British a British Royal Navy officer Captain Robert Falcon Scott with a party of five reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. However, the ill-fated resulted in the death of Scott and his companions.

Both the brave expeditions were admired by the world with many philatelic and numismatic issues. Hungary issued a stamp with the denomination of 12 Hungarian filler that depicts a portrait of Roald Amundsen with his ship in the background.

New Zealand issued a set of Ross Dependency stamps on 2nd Nov 2011. The set consists of 5 issues commemorating Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott's separate journeys to reach the South Pole in 1911.

On the 100th anniversary of his conquest of the South Pole, Tokelau honours this explorer a new commemorative edition. A coin of 5 Tokelauan dollars was issued in 2011 which depicts a Magnetic map of “South Pole” along with the portrait of Roald Amundsen with the inscription “1911 First Man at South Pole 2011” on the obverse. The reverse depicts the Bust of Queen Elizabeth with the face value of the coin below it and the national emblem at the bottom.