The Arctic: A History - Softcover

Vaughan, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0750922567 ISBN 13: 9780750922562

Publisher: History Pr Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

Focusing on the human inhabitants of the Arctic and their struggle for existence, this book describes the history and culture of ethnic groups such as the Inuit and Samoyed tribes, from the Stone Age to the 1990s. In addition the text looks at the impact of European, American and Russian explorations and the attempts to forge a trade route through north-west or north-east passages - including those by the 16th-century explorer Willem Barentsz, and by Henry Hudson, whose name lives on in Hudson Bay. It also describes the exploration and exploitation of the region by the West and Russia, including the effects of the whaling industry, fur trading, ivory trading, and the mining of coal and drilling of oil. The strategic and scientific importance of the Arctic region, and the resultant race between East and West to control and colonize this apparently barren region is also given due regard.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Vaugh has lectured in history at the Universities of Cambridge, Hull, and Central Michigan. He has been the editor of the Journal of Medieval History.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Original inhabitants

Humans may have lived in the Arctic as long as 30,000 years ago. Towards the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, hunters of caribou, woolly mammoths and woolly rhino followed herds of these animals through northern Siberia. They became the first humans to cross the Bering Strait to North America; a few thousand years later, some had settled along the Arctic coasts and become expert hunters of whales, walruses and seals. Although the indigenous peoples of the circumpolar world were ethnically diverse and scattered widely, their clothes, homes and semi-nomadic lifestyle gave them much in common. They hunted the same animals, shared some spiritual beliefs and organized their communities along co-operative lines...

About this edition

• Publisher: History Pr Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0750922567
• ISBN 13: 9780750922562
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352