Robert E. Peary {1856-1920} and his aide, Matthew Henson {1866-1955} are credited with the discovery of the North Pole. They set out from Ellesmere Island, the northernmost island in the Canadian Arctic, in February 1909. Peary and Henson, accompanied by four Inuit men, reached the North Pole on April 6, completing their historic journey without the benefit of sophisticated technology and earning what Peary dubbed "the prize of three centuries."