We hope that you have downloaded your LEGO City Arctic Expedition Map, here are some more fun facts about some of the first explorers that went to the Arctic!

Roald Amundsen

Roald was born in Borge, Norway on July 16, 1872.

He was born and rasied in Norway with his three brothers. His father, who was involved with the shipping industry, died when Roald was 14 years old. Roald wanted to become an explorer, but his mother wanted him to become a doctor. He followed his mother's wishes until she died when he was 21 years old, then he left school to pursue his dream of exploring.

Roald became a crewmember on various ships traveling to the Arctic. In 1887 he was first mate on a ship named the Belgica. It became the first expedition to survive the winter on the Arctic. Roald learned valuable lessons of survival during these early trips that would help him later on. One was that fresh seal meat had vitamin C which would help in curing scurvy*. Another was to use animal skins rather than wool coats to keep warm.

*Scurvy is a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, which particularly affected poorly nourished sailors.

In 1903 Roald commanded his own expedition on his ship the Gjoa. He traveled to the magnetic North Pole and was the first to discover the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This passage has been explored many times before but Roald's navigation skills, helped him to survive the trip.

He then went on to do many more explorations around the North and South Pole. During one of his explorations he was attacked by a Polar Bear!

Roald died in a plane crash during a rescue attempt on June 18, 1928. He was trying to save some of the crew of one of Nobile's airships that had crashed.

Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson

Matthew Henson

Robert Peary

Explorer Robert Edwin Peary hired Henson as his valet for expeditions. For more than two decades, they explored the Arctic, and on April 6, 1909, Peary,Henson and the rest of their team made history.

Matthew Henson is particularly famous as he was the first African-American explorer!

Henson was born on August 8, 1866, in Maryland.

His parents were freeborn, black sharecroppers. His mother died shortly after he was born. His father took the family to Washington D.C. to look for work. He died when Henson was 11 years old,he ran away and started to work on a cabin boy on a ship.

The captain taught him to read and taught him navigating. When the captain died, Henson went to work as a store clerk. There he met Edwin Peary, a navy officer and explorer.

Henson and Peary went on many expeditions to explore Greenland and the Arctic Circle. Henson learned the survival skills of the Eskimo people.