9781422279267

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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 ?

I ntroduction

Words to Understand commerce  the buying and selling of goods and services indigenous  native to a particular region Norse  the people originally from what is now Norway, Denmark, and Sweden who raided and settled other parts of Europe and Greenland

S tarting in the late 1400s, themost powerful European nations sent explorers around the world, seeking to trade with distant lands and take home valuable natural resources.The era is sometimes called the Age of Exploration, but it was also an age of competition. Over the centuries, the European powers sometimes battled each other as they traded overseas and started colonies. The search for riches led to new European settlements in the Ameri- cas and others parts of the world. At times,that quest also took explorers to Earth’s remote polar regions. Starting in the 16th century, some sea captains sought what was called theNorthwest Passage—a route from the Atlantic Ocean to thePacific through thewaters north of Canada. That route would make it easier to ship goods between

Asia and Europe and perhaps lead to more colonial lands. By the 18th century, the indigenous people of Canada’sArctic,the Inuit,were trading with the English, who later took con- trol of Canada’s extreme north. The HudsonBay Company dominated the commerce in the region. Europeans tradedwith indigenous people frommanyArctic lands.Trade withGreenlandbeganevenbefore the Age of Exploration, thanks to settle- ments started there by Norse sailors from Iceland. Seal and polar bear fur andwalrus ivorywere just some of the Arctic goods that found their way into Europe and parts of Asia. Furs from Russia’sArctic regions were also part of the international trade before the Age of Exploration. At the southern end of Earth, ex- ploration and commerce were more