Antarctica is generally considered to have been first sighted by European explorers in January 1820, during a Russian naval expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. However, Indigenous Polynesian traditions suggest that explorers such as Hui Te Rangiora may have reached Antarctic waters roughly 1,300 years earlier, around the early 600s CE.

Key dates in brief

  • Early 600s CE: Polynesian navigator Hui Te Rangiora (ĆȘi Te Rangiora) is believed in Māori and wider Polynesian oral tradition to have sailed far into the icy southern ocean, possibly reaching Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent itself.
  • 1520: Ferdinand Magellan becomes the first European recorded as reaching sub‑Antarctic latitudes when he rounds South America, hinting at lands and seas far to the south.
  • 1770s: James Cook sails into high southern latitudes (about 60°–70° S), proving that if a southern continent existed, it lay beyond the pack ice he encountered.
  • 27–28 January 1820: Bellingshausen and Lazarev, commanding the Vostok and Mirny , record seeing what is now recognized as the Antarctic continent near the Princess Martha Coast, a date widely cited as the first confirmed continental sighting.

Why the “discovery” date is debated

  • Multiple claimants: Russian, British, and American expeditions were all operating in Antarctic waters around 1820, so historians still debate whose sighting counts as the first clear view of the continent.
  • Indigenous knowledge: Modern scholarship increasingly emphasizes Polynesian voyages and oral histories, arguing that “when was Antarctica discovered” should include these much earlier non‑European explorations.
  • Sighted vs. understood: Early sailors often saw ice shelves and pack ice without realizing they bordered a true continent, so some “discoveries” were only recognized as such in hindsight.

Bottom line:
If the question is about standard textbook history, Antarctica was “discovered” in 1820 by Bellingshausen’s Russian expedition. If Indigenous exploration is included, Polynesian voyagers may have reached Antarctic waters about 1,300 years earlier, in the early 7th century.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.