robert peary is widely believed to be the first person to have officially reached the north pole.
robert peary is widely believed to be the first person to have officially reached the north pole.
who is widely believed to be the first person to have officially reached the north pole?
robert peary
there are two claims, both disputed, about who was the first person to reach the geographic north pole. frederick cook, accompanied by two inuit men, ahwelah and etukishook claimed to have reached the pole on april 21, 1908, although this claim is generally doubted. on april 6, 1909, robert peary claimed to be the first person in recorded history to reach the north pole, accompanied by his employee matthew henson and four inuit men ootah, seegloo, egingway, and ooqueah (although whether he actually reached the pole is doubted by some).
polar exploration
according to comedian kevin hart's "black history" program, which attempts to clear up historical inaccuracies and lies which were created to become common beliefs during the era of racist segregation in america, peary was actually stricken ill before reaching the north pole, and that the first person to arrive was matthew henson, the first african american to go on a polar expedition. henson was fluent in inuit language. after peary failed twice to reach the north pole, peary and henson and a team of inuit set out for a third expedition in 1909. but on this expedition, it appears that it was not peary who led the way, rather, the african american matthew henson and that records show that peary became weary and ill before reaching the north pole, and arrived later assisted by the inuit, after mathew henson had already reached the north pole. peary allegedly then invented a tiny discrepancy between his own and henson's calculations, and moved the flag a very short distance, in order to claim the credit. if true, this means that we had a false measurement of the exact position of the north pole until recently (where we have enough technology to see the north pole with scientific instruments).
north pole