| November 9, 2002 |
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The Polar Controversy
This  conspiracy-busting site answers the trick question, "Who discovered the North Pole first, Frederick Cook or Robert E. Peary?" It appears that the 1909 "race to the pole" was a fraud hatched by Cook, who, according to most accounts, never made it within 500 miles of the North Pole. Unscrupulous newspapers perpetuated the story, yet scholars and publications such as Scientific American soon repudiated it. This site examines how Cook staged the hoax and why he got busted in the end. Turns out he was a repeat offender, having bribed a guide a year earlier to corroborate his story of being the first to climb Mt. McKinley. Eventually his Eskimo guides eventually talked, claiming Cook traveled south, not north. Despite being condemned in Congress for the hoax, Cook tried to cast aspersions on Peary's accomplishments, and Cook's descendents continue to claim their ancestor was the first to the pole. The essays and book reviews here present strong evidence that Peary reached the North Pole, but Cook never did. (in History) |
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