There were four nations that played key roles in the race to discover the Antarctic continent and the south magnetic pole in the 19th century - Russia, France, America and England. These nations had various reasons for wanting to send explorers to the Southern Ocean at this time. The British sent James Clark Ross of the British Navy to explore the Antarctic in 1839. America launched the United States Exploring Expedition or USEE in 1838, captained by Charles Wilkes. The Russian Tsar, Alexander 1 sent Thaddeus von Bellingshausen to the Southern Ocean much earlier in 1819, and the French King Louis-Phillippe approved a mission by JSC Dumont d'Urville in 1838.   In the 19th century science and research were considered more important than ever. Scientists at the time were making new discoveries and advancing their knowledge of the world, and exploring new parts of the globe was a priority. Antarctica presented one of the "last frontiers" for increasing scientific and navigational knowledge.   Discovering a completely new continent would earn explorers world-wide recognition and would allow their nation to expand its territory by claiming the land and its resources. Antarctica was a place that several nations were interested in claiming for themselves.     There is a lot of confusion about who was the first to see and claim land in Antarctica. Just like the space race of the 20th century, each country involved in exploration wanted to be the first to make the discovery. To this day there is disagreement about which of the 19th century explorers was the first to discover Antarctica.