On December 14, 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first humans to reach the South Pole. Amundsen's success was largely due to his meticulous preparation and his use of sled dogs, a technique he learned from the Inuit. He was involved in a dramatic 'race to the pole' against British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. While Amundsen's team arrived safely and returned without casualty, Scott’s party arrived 34 days later only to find the Norwegian flag already planted. Tragically, Scott and his entire team perished on the return journey due to exhaustion, starvation, and extreme cold. Amundsen’s achievement marked the end of the 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration' and provided the first inland data from the world's most isolated continent, proving that the South Pole was located on a high plateau rather than a sea.