POLAR REGIONS

Introduction

The Midnight Sun In summer at the North Pole the Sun does not set for six months. It moves across the sky and is never out of sight. Only your watch will tell you if it is midday or midnight. During the same six months, the Sun never rises in the South Pole. It is in permanent darkness. For the other six months of the year the situation is reversed.

P ytheas set out over 2,000 years ago to find new lands to the north. This early map shows the land he reached, which was probably Iceland.

Early Explorers Over 2,000 years ago Greek scholars described the world with a freezing north, which they called Arktos. They believed that if there was a cold north, there must be a cold south. This they named the Antarktos ( ante in Greek means opposite). A Greek trader, Pytheas,

sailed north and was said to have reached Iceland, but the sea further north was all ice. He was looking for new lands with which to trade. Finding new ways to trade goods was a major reason for the start of exploration.

P ythagoras was a Greek scholar who believed that the Earth was round. He thought the North Pole was a frozen land.

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