9781422279267

1 0

P O L A R P O L I T I C S : E A R T H ’ S N E X T B AT T L E G RO U N D S ?

Contact with the larger world be- yond theArctic increased as Europeans came to the region.They saw the value of goods that came from the sea mam- mals that were crucial to indigenous life.Whales, for example, were once an important source of oil for lamps,while seals provided fur. Seeking to trade for those goods or hunt the animals them- selves, the Europeans expanded their presence in theArctic.While European rulers set up many colonies in warmer climates, they limited their settlements in the Arctic. Still, they sent explorers and laid claim to lands. Today, defining where theArctic be- gins and ends is not easy, as scientists from different fields define it different ways. But eight nations have some land or water that are part of the region: Canada, theUnited States,Russia,Den- mark (through its control of Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

Early Conflicts One of the first document-

ed conflicts between the Norse and North American indigenous people took place in Newfound- land. Norse settlers led by Leif Eriksson landed in that part of Canada around 1000. The native peoples, though, were not Inuit, the indigenous people found across Arctic Canada. But a few centuries later, the Arctic did see warfare between the Thule, the ancestors of today’s Inuit, and Eu- ropeans. The fighting took place in Greenland. The Norse had settled there about 20 years before Eriksson reached North America. They established settlements on the southern coast, and in warmer months ventured north to hunt the game that provided the goods to trade with Europe. The Inuit reached Greenland from Canada perhaps 100 years after the Norse arrived. As they moved south, the invading Inuit attacked Norse settlements, which led, in part, to the Norse settlements’ failure.

Some of the Arctic land lies below the Arctic Circle, which is set at 66 degrees North latitude. Russia has the mostArctic territory, controlling almost half of it, followed by Denmark and Canada.