In the summer of 1888, the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen became the first man to cross the inland ice-covered areas of Greenland. After spending the winter in Greenland, he returned to be celebrated as a national hero. Nansen’s Arctic expedition covered the years from 1893 to 1895. Fridtjof Nansen and Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen had set off from the ice-bound ›Fram‹ with 28 dogs and provisions for 100 days. On 8th April 1895 however, they abandoned hopes of reaching the North Pole – but they had nevertheless come further north than anyone before them.

The Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin had received his education in, among other places, Berlin. His expeditions of discovery to Central Asia made him famous, the books on his travels becoming bestsellers in Germany as well.