Who was th 1st explorer to Antarctica?

The first explorer to reach Antarctica was Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, a Russian naval officer and explorer. He, along with Mikhail Lazarev, led an expedition that sighted the Antarctic mainland on January 27, 1820. Their voyage was significant in mapping the previously uncharted southern continent. Bellingshausen's expedition is often credited with being the first to discover the Antarctic landmass.