Author: John McCannon
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780230761
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
Bitter cold and constant snow. Polar bears, seals, and killer whales. Victor Frankenstein chasing his monstrous creation across icy terrain in a dogsled. The arctic calls to mind a myriad different images. Consisting of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, the United States, Russia, Greenland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the arctic possesses a unique ecosystem—temperatures average negative 29 degrees Fahrenheit in winter and rarely rise above freezing in summer—and the indigenous peoples and cultures that live in the region have had to adapt to the harsh weather conditions. As global temperatures rise, the arctic is facing an environmental crisis, with melting glaciers causing grave concern around the world. But for all the renown of this frozen region, the arctic remains far from perfectly understood. In A History of the Arctic, award-winning polar historian John McCannon provides an engaging overview of the region that spans from the Stone Age to the present. McCannon discusses polar exploration and science, nation-building, diplomacy, environmental issues, and climate change, and the role indigenous populations have played in the arctic’s story. Chronicling the history of each arctic nation, he details the many failed searches for a Northwest Passage and the territorial claims that hamper use of these waterways. He also explores the resources found in the arctic—oil, natural gas, minerals, fresh water, and fish—and describes the importance they hold as these resources are depleted elsewhere, as well as the challenges we face in extracting them. A timely assessment of current diplomatic and environmental realities, as well as the dire risks the region now faces, A History of the Arctic is a thoroughly engrossing book on the past—and future—of the top of the world.
Author: Jeannette Mirsky
Publisher: Andesite Press
ISBN: 9781297835995
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 452
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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Alec Wilkinson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307741869
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
In 1897, at the height of the heroic age of Arctic exploration, the visionary Swedish explorer S. A. Andrée made a revolutionary attempt to discover the North Pole by flying over it in a hydrogen balloon. Thirty-three years later, his expedition diaries and papers would be discovered on the ice. Alec Wilkinson uses the explorer’s papers and contemporary sources to tell the full story of this ambitious voyage, while also showing how the late 19th century’s spirit of exploration and scientific discovery drove over 1,000 explorers to the unforgiving Arctic landscape. Suspenseful and haunting, Wilkinson captures Andrée’s remarkable adventure and illuminates the detail, beauty, and devastating conditions of traveling and dwelling on the ice.
Author: Adrian Howkins
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108627951
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 976
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Book Description
The Cambridge History of the Polar Regions is a landmark collection drawing together the history of the Arctic and Antarctica from the earliest times to the present. Structured as a series of thematic chapters, an international team of scholars offer a range of perspectives from environmental history, the history of science and exploration, cultural history, and the more traditional approaches of political, social, economic, and imperial history. The volume considers the centrality of Indigenous experience and the urgent need to build action in the present on a thorough understanding of the past. Using historical research based on methods ranging from archives and print culture to archaeology and oral histories, these essays provide fresh analyses of the discovery of Antarctica, the disappearance of Sir John Franklin, the fate of the Norse colony in Greenland, the origins of the Antarctic Treaty, and much more. This is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of our planet.
Author: Jeannette Mirsky
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781376210323
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452
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Book Description
Author: John McCannon
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195114361
Category : Arctic regions
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
McCannon also exposes the reality behind these exploits: chaotic blunders, bureaucratic competition, and the eventual rise of the GULAG as the dominant force in the North.
Author: Fridtjof Nansen
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN:
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 850
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Book Description
"In Northern Mists" is one of the best-known works by a Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. This carefully crafted e-artnow ebook is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents._x000D_ Volume 1:_x000D_ Antiquity, Before Pytheas_x000D_ Pytheas of Massalia: the Voyage to Thule_x000D_ Antiquity, After Pytheas_x000D_ The Early Middle Ages_x000D_ The Awakening of Mediæval Knowledge of the North_x000D_ Finns, Skridfinns (Lapps), and the First Settlement of Scandinavia_x000D_ The Voyages of the Norsemen: Discovery of Iceland and Greenland_x000D_ Voyages to the Uninhabited Parts of Greenland in the Middle Ages_x000D_ Wineland the Good, the Fortunate Isles, and the Discovery of America…_x000D_ Volume 2:_x000D_ Wineland the Good, the Fortunate Isles, and the Discovery of America_x000D_ Eskimo and Skræling_x000D_ The Decline of the Norse Settlements in Greenland_x000D_ Expeditions of the Norwegians to the White Sea, Voyages in the Polar Sea, Whaling and Sealing_x000D_ The North in Maps and Geographical Works of the Middle Ages_x000D_ John Cabot and the English Discovery of North America_x000D_ The Portuguese Discoveries in the North-West…
Author: Alexis S. Troubetzkoy
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1770707654
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
More than an account of the human delusion and fortitude in penetrating one of the most inhospitable areas of the world, Arctic Obsession goes beyond the gripping history of northern exploration, of the searches for the Northwest and Northeast Passages. From early medieval times to the twenty-first century, what has been the beguiling attraction of the North? What manner of men were they who boldly ventured into those hostile and unpredictable regions, scores never to return home, swallowed up by the merciless north. Today’s Arctic is developing into tomorrows hot spot. Arctic Obsession dwells on contemporary issues besetting the most fragile part of our globe global warming and environmental, ecological and geo-political concerns. The book also provides an overview of the entire Arctic region, from Canada, Russia, and Alaska to Greenland, Iceland, and the North Sea.
Author: Michael F. Robinson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226721876
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
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Book Description
In the late 1800s, “Arctic Fever” swept across the nation as dozens of American expeditions sailed north to the Arctic to find a sea route to Asia and, ultimately, to stand at the North Pole. Few of these missions were successful, and many men lost their lives en route. Yet failure did little to dampen the enthusiasm of new explorers or the crowds at home that cheered them on. Arctic exploration, Michael F. Robinson argues, was an activity that unfolded in America as much as it did in the wintry hinterland. Paying particular attention to the perils facing explorers at home, The Coldest Crucible examines their struggles to build support for the expeditions before departure, defend their claims upon their return, and cast themselves as men worthy of the nation’s full attention. In so doing, this book paints a new portrait of polar voyagers, one that removes them from the icy backdrop of the Arctic and sets them within the tempests of American cultural life. With chronological chapters featuring emblematic Arctic explorers—including Elisha Kent Kane, Charles Hall, and Robert Peary—The Coldest Crucible reveals why the North Pole, a region so geographically removed from Americans, became an iconic destination for discovery.
Author: Winton U. Solberg
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476638098
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
In 1913, an expedition was sent to the Arctic, funded by the American Museum of Natural History, the American Geographical Society and the University of Illinois. Its purpose was twofold: to discover whether an archipelago called Crocker Land--reportedly spotted by an earlier explorer in 1906--actually existed; and to engage in scientific research in the Arctic. When explorers discovered that Crocker Land did not exist, they instead pursued their research, made a number of important discoveries and documented the region's indigenous inhabitants and natural habitat. Their return to America was delayed by the difficulty of engaging a relief ship, and by the danger of German submarines in Arctic waters during the World War I.
