Polar Studies: Introductory readings

In this addition to the What Everyone Needs to Know RG series, David Day examines the most forbidding and formidably inaccessible continent on Earth. For over a century following its discovery by European explorers in 1820, Antarctica played host to competing claims by rival nations vying for access to the frozen land's vast marine resources - namely the skins and oils of seals and whales. Though the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 was meant to end this contention, countries have found other means of extending control over the land, with scientific bases establishing at least symbolic claims. ...

The Arctic is demanding global attention. It is warming, melting, and thawing in a manner that threatens fundamental state-change. For communities that call the Arctic 'home' this is unwelcome. A warming Arctic brings with it the spectre of costly disruption and interference in indigenous lives and communal welfare. For others, the disappearance of sea ice makes the Arctic appear more accessible and less remote. ...

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 Encyclopedia Arctica is the typescript of a proposed 20-volume reference work on the northern arctic and subarctic regions. The project began in 1947 under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy and drew on the expertise of governments (especially Canada), learned societies, and scholars from all over the world. ...

The Antarctic is unique, geographically, politically, and scientifically. It is the most remote, hostile, and dangerous continent, while at the same time it is the most pristine and least developed. Antarctica is the only major part of the Earth's landmass not directly governed by one nation, but under the control of a Treaty, with a multitude of acceding nations. The Encyclopedia of the Antarctic brings together large quantities of information on the wide variety of factors, issues and individuals influencing and relating to the Antarctic. ...

With detailed essays on the Arctic's environment, wildlife, climate, history, exploration, resources, economics, politics, indigenous cultures and languages, conservation initiatives and more, this Encyclopedia is the only major work and comprehensive reference on this vast, complex, changing, and increasingly important part of the globe. Including 305 maps. ...

This encyclopedia covers the history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration, from the voyage to Pytheas ca. 325 BC to the present. It features include: A-Z biographical, geographical and subject entries on Arctic and Antarctic exploration and explorers and an alphabetical chronology of expeditions.

Volume 5 covers the Arctic region while volume 6 covers the SubArctic.

The vast empty spaces of the Poles were the last frontier to be assailed by explorers intent on achieving a geographical goal. But long before the North Pole was finally attained, men sailed the seas searching for an easier and shorter path to the riches of the Orient. The mapmakers of the day translated sparse information into often fanciful, sometimes stunningly artistic maps. Derek Hayes documents the international race for the Pole involving expeditions on foot, by hot air balloon and by airplane. Along with the detailed historical maps, Hayes provides insightful commentary, and describes the aspirations and motivations of explorers and the harsh realities they faced. ...

This book is a practical, portable guide to all of the Arctic's natural history--sky, atmosphere, terrain, ice, the sea, plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects--for those who will experience the Arctic firsthand and for armchair travelers who would just as soon read about its splendors and surprises. ...

The Arctic is in Paul Nicklen's blood. Born and raised on Baffin Island, Nunavut, he grew up in one of the only non-Inuit families in a tiny native settlement amid the ice fields, floes, and frigid seas of Northern Canada. At an age when most children are playing hide-and-seek, he was learning life-and-death lessons of survival: how to read the weather, find shelter in a frozen snowscape, or live off the land as his Inuit neighbors had done for centuries. ...

Includes a section on primary sources for Antarctica.