The Polar Regions

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 volume considers the centrality of Indigenous experience and the urgent need to build action in the present on a thorough understanding of the past. Using historical research based on methods ranging from archives and print culture to archaeology and oral histories, these essays provide fresh analyses of the discovery of Antarctica, the disappearance of Sir John Franklin, the fate of the Norse colony in Greenland, the origins of the Antarctic Treaty, and much more. This is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of our planet.

The Routledge Handbook of the Polar Regions is an authoritative guide to the Arctic and the Antarctic through an exploration of key areas of research in the physical and natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities. It presents 38 new and original contributions from leading figures and voices in polar research, policy and practice, as well as work from emerging scholars. This handbook aims to approach and understand the Polar Regions as places that are at the forefront of global conversations about some of the most pressing contemporary issues and research questions of our age. The volume provides a discussion of the similarities and differences between the two regions to help deepen understanding and knowledge. Major themes and issues are integrated in the comprehensive introduction chapter by the editors, who are top researchers in their respective fields. The contributions show how polar researchers engage with contemporary debates and use interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to address new developments as well as map out exciting trajectories for future work in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The handbook provides an easy access to key items of scholarly literature and material otherwise inaccessible or scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books. A unique one-stop research resource for researchers and policymakers with an interest in the Arctic and Antarctic, it is also a comprehensive reference work for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.

Comprehensive, up-to-date account of polar climate change over the last one million years for researchers and advanced students in polar science.

The world’s polar regions are attracting more interest than ever before. Once regarded as barren, inhospitable places where only explorers go, the north and south polar regions have been transformed into high profile tourism destinations, increasingly visited by cruise ships as well as becoming accessible with direct flights. Tourism is seen as one of the few economic opportunities in these regions but at the same time the polar regions are being opened up to tourism development they are being affected by a number of new factors that are interconnected to travel and tourism. Climate change, landscape and species loss, increasing interest in energy resources and minerals, social changes in indigenous societies, and a new polar geopolitics all bring into question the sustainability of polar regions and the place of tourism within them. This timely volume provides a contemporary account of tourism and its impacts in polar regions. It explores the development and prospects of polar tourism, as well as tourism’s impacts and associated change at high latitudes from environmental, economic, social and political perspectives. It draws on cutting edge research from both the Arctic and Antarctic to provide a comparative review and illustrate the real life issues arising from tourism’s role in these regions. Integrating theory and practice the book fully evaluates varying perspectives on polar tourism and proposes actions that could be taken by local and global management to achieve a sustainable future for polar regions and development of tourism. This complete and current account of polar tourism issues is written by an international team of leading researchers in this area and will have global appeal to higher level students, researchers, academics in Tourism, Environmental Studies, Arctic/Polar Studies and conservation enthusiasts alike.

Throughout the twentieth century, glaciologists and geophysicists from Denmark, Norway and Sweden made important scientific contributions across the Arctic and Antarctic. This research was of acute security and policy interest during the Cold War, as knowledge of the polar regions assumed military importance. But scientists also helped make the polar regions Nordic spaces in a cultural and political sense, with scientists from Norden punching far above their weight in terms of population, geographical size or economic activity. This volume presents an image of Norden that stretches far beyond its conventional limits, covering a vast area in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Sea, as well as parts of Antarctica. Rich in resources, scarce in population, but critically important in global and regional geopolitics, these spaces were contested by major powers such as Russia, the United States, Canada and, in the Antarctic, Argentina, Australia, South Africa and others. The empirical focus on Danish, Norwegian and Swedish influence in the polar regions during the twentieth century embraces a diverse array of themes, from the role of science in policy and diplomacy to the tensions between nationalism and internationalism, with clear relevance to the important role science plays in contemporary discussions about Nordic engagement with the polar regions.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1861.