The history of the North Pole exploration arose from the history of the search for the elusive Northwest Passage, the waterway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the gateway to fabled land of India. Many explorers were commissioned to sail out in search of it; some never coming back. Christopher Columbus was one. James Clark Ross was another. While neither man found what they were looking for, Ross also discovered an interesting land, and planted his flag there.

On this day, June 1, in 1831, in the middle of their four-year polar expedition, James Clark Ross and his uncle, Sir John Ross located the North Magnetic Pole, on Boothia Peninsula, in what today is northern Canada, north of King William Island (the exact coordinates were 70° 05.3′ N, 96° 46′ W.)

Ross wrote in his journal that the discovery was the achievement of his life’s work: “It almost seemed as if … our voyage and all its labours were at an end and that nothing now remained for us but to return home and be happy for the rest of our days.” But that feeling did not last long, and in 1839 Ross led an expedition to find the other pole to the south.