The discovery of the North Pole is controversial with competing claims. Frederick A. Cook claimed to have reached the North Pole first on April 2, 1908, but his claim is widely disputed. Robert E. Peary is traditionally credited with being the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909, accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Inuit guides, and his claim was recognized by the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Congress. However, modern experts tend to dismiss both Cook's and Peary's claims due to lack of conclusive evidence. The first undisputed visit to the North Pole was an overflight by Roald Amundsen and his crew in the airship Norge in 1926. The first confirmed foot expedition to the North Pole was by a Soviet research group in 1948, and the first surface expedition over the ice was Ralph Plaisted's snowmobile expedition in 1968.
Thus, while Peary is often credited historically, the title of first to reach the North Pole on foot is not definitively awarded due to controversies over evidence. The first undisputed arrival was by air in 1926.
