Who were the first two explorers to see Antarctica?

The first two explorers known to have seen Antarctica were Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, who were part of a Russian expedition in 1820. They sighted the Antarctic landmass on January 27, 1820, near the Fimbul Ice Shelf. Their voyage marked the first confirmed sighting of the continent, which had been speculated upon by earlier explorers but not directly observed.