1.
Baffin Bay (Texas)
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Baffin Bay is a bay in South Texas, an inlet of the larger Laguna Madre. Located near the Gulf of Mexico, Baffin Bay forms part of the boundary between Kenedy County and Kleberg County, the history of the bay name is unclear. The most popular story is that Captain Mifflin Kenedy, after visiting the Arctic Baffin Bay as a young man, the Arctic Baffin Bay is located between the Baffin Island of Canada and Greenland, and it is about 310 times larger by area than the Baffin Bay in Texas. The Baffin Bay has three branches, which are named as follows, Alazan Bay on the north, Cayo del Grullo, several ephemeral streams, including San Fernando, Santa Gertrudis and Los Olmos, flow into the bay, but only when it rains. Because of the freshwater inflow and extensive evaporation, which is promoted by shallow water and warm climate. Between 1946 and 1948 and in 1968, the salinity level in the bay exceeded 100‰ killing much fish in the area, about 21 km2 of the bottom of the bay is covered in seagrass, most other parts are dominated by shoal grass with occasional rocky outcrops. Scattered parts of the bay, mostly near the mouth, contain the relict serpulid worm reefs, although some tube worm species still inhabit the bay area and the reefs, they bring no significant contribution to the reef structure. Most reefs are circular or ellipsoid structures between 8 and 40 meters in diameter and 0.5 to 2 meters in height above the sediment and their total area is about 16 km2, but it is gradually reducing due to erosion. The climate has been described as semiarid, subhumid or subtropical, tropical storms and hurricanes are common, and they strongly alter the climate and hydrology of the region. The lands around the bay are flat and dominated by grasslands and oak savanna, they are used for agriculture, the waters of the bay contain several species of annelids and 29 species of diatoms. The dominant mollusks are dwarf surf clams and Capitella capitata, the serpulid worm reefs are inhabited by crustaceans, polychaetes and mollusks. Invertebrates are represented by the fiddler crab species Uca subcylindrica. The bay is a destination for recreational angling and is famous for its trophy spotted seatrout. Other species include cowfish, threadfin shad, pompano, black drum and burrowing goby, the Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas. David A. McKee, Henry Compton, Janice D. Fechhelm, fishes of the Texas Laguna Madre, A Guide for Anglers & Naturalists. Baffin Bay from the Handbook of Texas Online U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Baffin Bay
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Inuktitut
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For example, being educated in Inuktitut does not mean just using the language. An Inukitut education is not done in classrooms and from books written in their language, parents still teach their children in Inuktitut away from schools. Inuit generally consider their culture and language to be parts of a single whole. The language of Inuktitut is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada and it is one of the aboriginal languages written with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. It is recognised as a language in Nunavut alongside Inuinnaqtun. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut—the Inuit area in Labrador—following the ratification of its agreement with the government of Canada, the Canadian census reports that there are roughly 35,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada, including roughly 200 who live regularly outside of traditionally Inuit lands. The term Inuktitut is often used broadly to include Inuvialuktun. For more information on the relationship between Inuktitut and the Inuit languages spoken in Greenland and Alaska, see Inuit languages, the word Inuktitut is often used to describe both. A more proper term has been adopted using Inuit Languages when speaking of Inuinnaqtun, the demographic situation of Inuktitut is quite strong in Nunavut. Nunavut is the home of some 24,000 Inuit, most of whom – over 80% according to the 2001 census – speak Inuktitut, including some 3,500 people reported as monolinguals. 2001 census data shows that the use of Inuktitut, while lower among the young than the elderly, has stopped declining in Canada as a whole, the South Baffin dialect is spoken across the southern part of Baffin Island, including the territorial capital Iqaluit. This has in recent years made it a more widely heard dialect. Some linguists also distinguish an East Baffin dialect from either South Baffin or North Baffin, Quebec is home to roughly 12,000 Inuit, nearly all of whom live in Nunavik. According to the 2001 census, 90% of Quebec Inuit speak Inuktitut, the Nunavik dialect is relatively close to the South Baffin dialect, but not identical. In the Nunavik dialect, Inuktitut is called Inuttitut and this dialect is also sometimes called Tarramiutut or Taqramiutut. Subdialects of Inuktitut in this region include Tarrarmiut and Itivimuit, Itivimuit is associated with Inukjuak, Quebec, and there is a Itivimuit River near the town. The Nunatsiavut dialect was spoken across northern Labrador. It has a writing system, created by German missionaries from the Moravian Church in Greenland in the 1760s
4.
Greenlandic language
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Greenlandic is an Eskimo–Aleut language spoken by about 57,000 Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut, the second variety is Tunumiit oraasiat or East Greenlandic. The Thule Inuit of Greenland, Inuktun or Polar Eskimo, is a recent arrival, Greenlandic is a polysynthetic language that allows the creation of long words by stringing together roots and suffixes. Its morphosyntactic alignment is ergative, meaning that it treats the argument of a verb like the object of a transitive verb. Nouns are inflected for one of the eight cases and for possession, verbs are inflected for one of the eight moods and for the number and person of its subject and object. Both nouns and verbs have complex derivational morphology, basic word order in transitive clauses is subject–object–verb. Subordination of clauses is done by the use of special subordinate moods, a so-called fourth-person category enables switch-reference between main clauses and subordinate clauses with different subjects. However, some linguists have suggested that Greenlandic does mark future tense obligatorily, another question is whether the language has noun incorporation, or whether the processes that create complex predicates that include nominal roots are derivational in nature. When adopting new concepts or technologies, Greenlandic usually constructs new words made from Greenlandic roots, the language has been written in the Latin script since Danish colonization began in the 1700s. The first orthography was developed by Samuel Kleinschmidt in 1851, an extensive orthographic reform undertaken in 1973 that made the script easier to learn resulted in a boost in Greenlandic literacy, which is now among the highest in the world. The Greenlandic language was brought to Greenland with the arrival of the Thule people in the 1200s and it is unknown which languages were spoken by the earlier Saqqaq and Dorset cultures in Greenland. The missionary Paul Egede wrote the first Greenlandic dictionary in 1750, from the Danish colonization in the 1700s to the beginning of Greenlandic home rule in 1979, Greenlandic experienced increasing pressure from the Danish language. In the 1950s, Denmarks linguistic policies were directed at replacing Greenlandic with Danish, of primary significance was that post-primary education and official functions were conducted in Danish. From 1851 to 1973, Greenlandic was written in a complicated orthography devised by the missionary linguist Samuel Kleinschmidt, in 1973, a new orthography was introduced, intended to bring the written language closer to the spoken standard, which had changed considerably since Kleinschmidts time. The reform was effective and in the following it, Greenlandic literacy received a boost. Another development that strengthened the Greenlandic language has been the policy of greenlandization of Greenlandic society which began with the agreement of 1979. This policy has worked to reverse the trend towards marginalization of the Greenlandic language by making it the official language of education. Today Greenlandic has several dedicated news media, the Greenlandic National Radio, Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa, before June 2009, Greenlandic shared its status as the official language in Greenland with Danish
5.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
6.
Baffin Island
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Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 and its population is about 11,000 and it is located 65.4215 N and 70.9654 W. Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, is located on the southeastern coast. Until 1987, the town shared the name Frobisher Bay with the bay on which it is located, to the south lies Hudson Strait, separating Baffin Island from mainland Quebec. South of the end of the island is the Fury. To the east are Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, with Greenland beyond, the Foxe Basin, the Gulf of Boothia and Lancaster Sound separate Baffin Island from the rest of the archipelago to the west and north. The Baffin Mountains run along the shore of the island and are a part of the Arctic Cordillera. Mount Odin is the highest peak, with an elevation of at least 2,143 m, another peak of note is Mount Asgard, located in Auyuittuq National Park, with an elevation of 2,011 m. Mount Thor, with an elevation of 1,675 m, is said to have the greatest purely vertical drop of any mountain on Earth, the two largest lakes on the island lie in the south-central part of the island, Nettilling Lake and Amadjuak Lake further south. Conversely, in the 1970s parts of Baffin Island failed to have the usual ice-free period in the summer, the island has been continuously inhabited by Inuit peoples for centuries. In September 2008, Nunatsiaq News reported that a team led by Dr, so you have to consider the possibility that as remote as it may seem, these finds may represent evidence of contact with Europeans prior to the Vikings arrival in Greenland. Dr Sutherlands research eventually led to a 2012 announcement that whetstones had been found remnants of alloys indicative of Viking presence. The archaeological site at Tanfield Valley is thought to have been a trading post, Baffin Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region. Additionally, the communities of Qikiqtarjuaq and Cape Dorset are located on offshore islands, there are discussions to start the Baffinland Iron Mine, an iron ore mine with a 21-year life, at Mary River, and to build a railway and a port to transport the ore. This may create a mining community there. Baffin Island has both year-round and summer visitor wildlife, on land, examples of year-round wildlife are barren-ground caribou, polar bear, Arctic fox, Arctic hare, lemming and Arctic wolf. In 2012, a survey of caribou herds found that the population was only about 5000. Polar bears mate approximately every year with one to three cubs being born around March. Female polar bears may travel 10–20 km inland to find a large snow bank where they dig a den in which to spend the winter and later for giving birth, the polar bear population here is one of 19 genetically distinct demes of the circumpolar region
7.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland
8.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
9.
Davis Strait
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Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canadas Baffin Island, to the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis, who explored the area seeking a Northwest Passage. By the 1650s it was used for whale hunting, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Davis Strait as follows, On the North. The Southern limit of Baffin Bay, the parallel of 60° North between Greenland and Labrador. The Eastern limit of the Northwestern Passages South of 70° North, the Davis Strait is underlain by complex geological features of buried grabens and ridges, probably formed by strike-slip faulting during Paleogene times about 45 million to 62 million years ago. The strike-slip faulting transferred plate-tectonic motions in the Labrador Sea to Baffin Bay and it is the worlds broadest strait. With a water depth of one and two thousand meters the strait is substantially shallower than the Labrador Sea to the south or Baffin Bay to the north. The strait is famous for its fierce tides that can range from 30 to 60 ft and this has led the Greenlands minister and provincial council to offer a large number of off-shore concessions to potential hydrocarbon extraction. The largest concessions areas are located in seas west of Greenland, primarily the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, june 2005 Satellite photograph of Davis Strait from MODIS, showing meltwater ponds
10.
Labrador Sea
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The Labrador Sea is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest and it connects to the north with Baffin Bay through the Davis Strait. It has been described as a sea of the Atlantic. The sea formed upon separation of the North American Plate and Greenland Plate that started about 60 million years ago, the Labrador Sea formed upon separation of the North American Plate and Greenland Plate that started about 60 million years ago and stopped about 40 million years ago. A sedimentary basin, which is now buried under the continental shelves, onset of magmatic sea-floor spreading was accompanied by volcanic eruptions of picrites and basalts in the Paleocene at the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. Between about 500 BC and 1300 AD, the southern coast of the sea contained Dorset, Beothuk and Inuit settlements, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Labrador Sea as follows, On the North, the South limit of Davis Strait. On the East, a line from Cape St. Francis 47°45′N 52°27′W to Cape Farewell, thence a line joining this ledge with the East extreme of Cape St. Charles in Labrador. The Labrador Sea is about 3,400 m deep and 1,000 km wide where it joins the Atlantic Ocean and it becomes shallower, to less than 700 m towards Baffin Bay and passes into the 300 kilometres wide Davis Strait. A 100–200 m deep turbidity current channel system, which is about 2–5 km wide and 3,800 kilometres long, runs on the bottom of the sea and it is called the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel and is one of the worlds longest drainage systems of Pleistocene age. It appears as a river bed with numerous tributaries and is maintained by high-density turbidity currents flowing within the levees. The water temperature varies between −1 °C in winter and 5–6 °C in summer, the salinity is relatively low, at 31–34.9 parts per thousand. Two-thirds of the sea is covered in ice in winter, tides are semi-diurnal, reaching 4 m. There is a water circulation in the sea. It is initiated by the East Greenland Current and continued by the West Greenland Current, then, the Baffin Island Current and Labrador Current transport cold and less saline water southward along the Canadian coast. These currents carry numerous icebergs and therefore hinder navigation and exploration of the gas fields beneath the sea bed. The speed of the Labrador current is typically 0. 3–0.5 m/s, the Labrador Current maintains the water temperature at 0 °C and salinity between 30 and 34 parts per thousand. The NADW consists of three parts of different origin and salinity, and the top one, the Labrador Sea Water, is formed in the Labrador Sea. This part occurs at a depth and has a relatively low salinity, low temperature and high oxygen content compared to the layers above
11.
Nares Strait
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Nares Strait is a waterway between Ellesmere Island and Greenland that is the northern part of Baffin Bay where it meets the Lincoln Sea. From south to north, the strait includes Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin, during 1962–64 a 20 km by 10 km ice island drifted southward from the Lincoln Sea through the Nares and Davis Straits to the Atlantic Ocean. Nares strait has a nearly permanent current from the north, powered by the Beaufort Gyre, in 1964, its name, from the British naval officer George Strong Nares, was agreed by the Danish and Canadian governments. The strait and neighbouring waters are usually hazardous for navigation and shipping, during August, however, it is usually navigable by icebreakers. Prior to 1948, only five vessels were recorded as having successfully navigated north of Kane Basin, in 2009 the ship Arctic Sunrise made the first known June transit into the Arctic Ocean. Hans Island, an island lying within the strait, is claimed by both Denmark and Canada. Thule People reached the Nares Strait in the early 13th century, archeological remains of Thule Culture and Viking presence are found on Ruin Island. Missing Ice Arches Contributed to 2007 Arctic Ice Loss http, //muenchow. cms. udel. edu/papers/MuenchowMelling2008JMR. pdf
12.
Arctic Ocean
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The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the worlds five major oceans. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean, located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America. It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter, the summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center uses satellite data to provide a record of Arctic sea ice cover. The Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history within a few years or by 2040, for much of European history, the north polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography conjectural. He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as growlers or bergy bits, his Thule was probably Norway, early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land or water. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful cartographers, tended to leave the region blank and this lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England and other European nations, the myth of an Open Polar Sea was persistent, john Barrow, longtime Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this. In the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, the explorers Elisha Kane, even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbook The Physical Geography of the Sea. Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a crossing of the Arctic Ocean. The first surface crossing of the ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, with air support. The first nautical transit of the pole was made in 1958 by the submarine USS Nautilus. Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean, scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes. In World War II, the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested, the Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2, almost the size of Antarctica. The coastline is 45,390 km long and it is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea, countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States. There are several ports and harbours around the Arctic Ocean In Alaska, in Canada, ships may anchor at Churchill in Manitoba, Nanisivik in Nunavut, Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik in the Northwest territories
13.
Arctic ice pack
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The Arctic ice pack is the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity. The Arctic ice pack undergoes a seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer, reaches a minimum around mid-September, then increases during fall. Summer ice cover in the Arctic is about 50% of winter cover, some of the ice survives from one year to the next. Currently 28% of Arctic basin sea ice is ice, thicker than seasonal ice, up to 3–4 meters thick over large areas. As well as the seasonal cycle there has been an underlying trend of declining sea ice in the Arctic in recent decades. Sea ice has an important effect on the balance of the polar oceans, since it insulates the warm ocean from the much colder air above. Sea ice is highly reflective of solar radiation, reflecting about 60% of incoming solar radiation when bare and this is much greater than the reflectivity of the sea and thus the ice also affects the absorption of sunlight at the surface. The sea ice cycle is also an important source of dense bottom water, while freezing, water rejects its salt content, leaving pure ice. The remaining surface water, made dense by the salinity, sinks. This production of water is a factor in maintaining the thermohaline circulation. In the Arctic, a key area where pancake ice forms the dominant ice type over a region is the so-called Odden ice tongue in the Greenland Sea. Most of the old ice continues south, driven by the wind, so an open water surface is exposed on which new ice forms as frazil. Reliable measurements of sea ice edge begin within the satellite era, from the late 1970s, the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer on Seasat and Nimbus 7 satellites provided information that was independent of solar illumination or meteorological conditions. The frequency and accuracy of passive microwave measurements improved with the launch of the DMSP F8 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager SSMI in 1987. Both the sea ice area and extent are estimated, with the latter being larger, the trends from 1979 to 2002 have been a statistically significant Arctic sea ice decrease of −2. 5% ±0. 9% per decade during those 23 years. Climate models simulated this trend in 2002, the September minimum ice extent trend for 1979–2011 declined by 12. 0% per decade during 32 years. In 2007 the minimum extent fell by more than a million square kilometers, new research shows the Arctic Sea ice to be melting faster than predicted by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in preparing its 2007 assessments. In 2012, a new low of about 3,500,000 km2 was reached
14.
Sea ice
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Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense water, it floats on the oceans surface. Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth’s surface and about 12% of the world’s oceans. Much of the sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earths polar regions, the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean. Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent, a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology, due to the action of winds, currents and temperature fluctuations, sea ice is very dynamic, leading to a wide variety of ice types and features. Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean, depending on location, sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs. Sea ice does not simply grow and melt, during its lifespan, it is very dynamic. Due to the action of winds, currents, water temperature. Sea ice is classified according to whether or not it is able to drift, Sea ice can be classified according to whether or not it is attached to the shoreline. If attached, it is called landfast ice, or more often, alternatively, and unlike fast ice, drift ice occurs further offshore in very wide areas, and encompasses ice that is free to move with currents and winds. The physical boundary between fast ice and drift ice is the fast ice boundary, the drift ice zone may be further divided into a shear zone, a marginal ice zone and a central pack. Drift ice consists of floes, individual pieces of sea ice 20 metres or more across, the term pack ice is used either as a synonym to drift ice, or to designate drift ice zone in which the floes are densely packed. The overall sea ice cover is termed the ice canopy from the perspective of submarine navigation, another classification used by scientists to describe sea ice is based on age, that is, on its development stages. These stages are, new ice, nilas, young ice, first-year, new ice is a general term used for recently frozen sea water that does not yet make up solid ice. It may consist of ice, slush, or shuga. Other terms, such as ice and pancake ice, are used for ice crystal accumulations under the action of wind. Nilas designates a sea ice crust up to 10 centimetres in thickness and it bends without breaking around waves and swells. Nilas can be subdivided into dark nilas – up to 5 centimetres in thickness and very dark
15.
Iceberg
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An iceberg or ice mountain is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice, as it drifts into shallower waters, it may come into contact with the seabed, a process referred to as seabed gouging by ice. Almost 91% of an iceberg is below the surface of the water, the word iceberg is a partial loan translation from Dutch ijsberg, literally meaning ice mountain, cognate to Danish isbjerg, German Eisberg, Low Saxon Iesbarg and Swedish isberg. Because the density of ice is about 920 kg/m³. The shape of the underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above the surface and this has led to the expression tip of the iceberg, for a problem or difficulty that is only a small manifestation of a larger problem. Icebergs generally range from 1 to 75 metres above sea level, the largest known iceberg in the North Atlantic was 168 metres above sea level, reported by the USCG icebreaker East Wind in 1958, making it the height of a 55-story building. These icebergs originate from the glaciers of western Greenland and may have a temperature of −15 to −20 °C. Icebergs are usually confined by winds and currents to move close to the coast, the largest icebergs recorded have been calved, or broken off, from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. Iceberg B-15, photographed by satellite in 2000, measured 295 by 37 kilometres and this iceberg was larger than Belgium. When a piece of ice melts, it makes a fizzing sound called Bergie Seltzer. This sound is made when the water-ice interface reaches compressed air trapped in the ice. As this happens, each bubble bursts, making a popping sound, the bubbles contain air trapped in snow layers very early in the history of the ice, that eventually got buried to a given depth and pressurized as it transformed into firn then to glacial ice. About a month later, this split into two pieces upon crashing into Joe Island in the Nares Strait next to Greenland. In June 2011, large fragments of the Petermann Ice Islands were observed off the Labrador coast, iceberg B-17B140 km2,1999, shipping alert issued December 2009. In addition to classification, icebergs can be classified on the basis of their shape. The two basic types of forms are tabular and non-tabular. Tabular icebergs have steep sides and a top, much like a plateau. This type of iceberg, also known as an ice island, can be quite large, Antarctic icebergs formed by breaking off from an ice shelf, such as the Ross Ice Shelf or Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, are typically tabular
16.
Polynya
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A polynya /pəˈlɪnjə/ is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is now used as term for an area of unfrozen sea within the ice pack. It is a loanword from Russian, полынья Russian pronunciation, which refers to an ice hole. In past decades, for example, some polynyas, such as the Weddell Polynya, have lasted over multiple winters and this reduces ice production and may stop it altogether. Latent heat polynya, is formed through the action of wind or ocean currents which act to drive ice away from a fixed boundary, such as a coastline, fast ice. The polynya forms initially by the first year pack ice being driven away from the coast and this new ice is then also herded downwind toward the first year pack ice. When it reaches the ice the new ice is consolidated onto the pack ice. The latent heat polynya is the water region between the coast and the ice pack. Latent heat polynyas are regions of ice production and therefore are possible sites of dense water production in both polar regions. The high ice production rates within these polynyas leads to an amount of brine rejection into the surface waters. This salty water then sinks and mixes to possibly form new water masses and it is an open question as to whether the polynyas of the Arctic can produce enough dense water to form a major portion of the dense water required to drive the thermohaline circulation. Some polynyas, such as the North Water Polynya between Canada and Greenland occur seasonally at the time and place each year. Because animals can adapt their strategies to this regularity, these types of polynyas are of special ecological research significance. In winter, marine mammals such as walruses, narwhals and belugas that do not migrate south, polar bears are known to be able to swim as far as 65 kilometres across open waters of a polynya. The presence of polynyas in McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic provides an area where penguins can feed. When submarines of the U. S. Navy made expeditions to the North Pole in the 1950s and 60s, there was a significant concern about surfacing through the thick pack ice of the Arctic Ocean. In 1962, both the USS Skate and USS Seadragon surfaced within the same, large polynya near the North Pole, lead North Water Polynya Weddell Polynya International North Water Polynya Study Polynya north of Alaska at NASA Earth Observatory
17.
Smith Sound
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Smith Sound is an uninhabited Arctic sea passage between Greenland and Canadas northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. It links Baffin Bay with Kane Basin and forms part of the Nares Strait, on the Greenland side of the sound were the now abandoned settlements of Etah and Annoatok. The first known visit to the area by Europeans was in 1616 when the Discovery, captained by Robert Bylot and piloted by William Baffin, the sound was originally named Sir Thomas Smiths Bay after the English diplomat Sir Thomas Smythe. By the 1750s it regularly appeared on maps as Sir Thomas Smiths Sound, by this time it had begun to be known simply as Smith Sound. In 1852 Edward Augustus Inglefield penetrated a little further than Baffin, glaciated Landscapes Along Smith Sound, Ellesmere Island, Canada and Greenland. Movements of Arctic Fox Populations in the Region of Baffin Bay, the Thermal History of the Nares Strait, Kane Basin, and Smith Sound Region in Canada and Greenland, Constraints from Apatite Fission-Track and /He Dating. Peary, Robert E. London, Methuen,1898
18.
International Hydrographic Organization
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The International Hydrographic Organization is the inter-governmental organisation representing hydrography. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the seas, oceans. It does this through the setting of standards, the co-ordination of the endeavours of the worlds national hydrographic offices. The IHO enjoys observer status at the United Nations where it is the competent authority on hydrographic surveying. When referring to hydrography and nautical charting in Conventions and similar Instruments, it is the IHO standards, the IHO was established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau. The present name was adopted in 1970 as part of a new international Convention on the IHO adopted by the member nations. The former name International Hydrographic Bureau was retained to describe the IHO secretariat until 8 November 2016, there were substantial differences in hydrographic procedures charts, and publications. In 1889, an International Maritime Conference was held at Washington, D. C. similar proposals were made at the sessions of the International Congress of Navigation held at Saint Petersburg in 1908 and the International Maritime Conference held at Saint Petersburg in 1912. In 1919 the hydrographers of Great Britain and France cooperated in taking the steps to convene an international conference of hydrographers. London was selected as the most suitable place for this conference, and on 24 July 1919 and this is still the major purpose of the IHO. As a result of the conference, a permanent organization was formed, the IHB, now the IHO, began its activities in 1921 with 18 nations as members. The Principality of Monaco was selected as the seat of the organization as a result of the offer of Albert I, the IHO develops hydrographic and nautical charting standards. These standards are adopted and used by its 86 member countries and others in their surveys, nautical charts. Much has been done in the field of standardisation since the Bureau was founded, the IHO has encouraged the formation of Regional Hydrographic Commissions. Each RHC coordinates the national surveying and charting activities of countries within each region, the 15 RHCs plus the IHO Hydrographic Commission on Antarctica effectively cover the world. The IHO, in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, directs the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans programme, in 2010 the IHO introduced a new, contemporary hydrographic geospatial standard for modelling marine data and information, known as S-100. S-100 and any dependent product specifications are underpinned by an on-line registry accessible via the IHO website, S-100 is aligned with the ISO19100 series of geographic standards, thereby making it fully compatible with contemporary geospatial data standards. Because S-100 is based on ISO19100, it can be used by other providers for their maritime-related data
19.
Ellesmere Island
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Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and it comprises an area of 196,235 km2 and the total length of the island is 830 kilometres, making it the worlds tenth largest island and Canadas third largest island. The Arctic Cordillera mountain system covers much of Ellesmere Island, making it the most mountainous in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Arctic willow is the only woody species to grow on Ellesmere Island. The first human inhabitants of Ellesmere Island were small bands drawn to the area for Peary caribou, muskox, vikings from the Greenland colonies reached Ellesmere Island, Skraeling Island, and Ruin Island during hunting expeditions and trading with the Inuit groups. Unusual structures on Bache peninsula may be the remains of a late-period Dorset stone longhouse, the first European to sight the island after the height of the Little Ice Age was William Baffin in 1616. Ellesmere Island was named in 1852 by Edward Inglefields expedition after Francis Egerton, the US expedition led by Adolphus Greely in 1881 crossed the island from east to west, establishing Fort Conger in the northern part of the island. The Greely expedition found fossil forests on Ellesmere Island in the late 1880s, Stenkul Fiord was first explored in 1902 by Per Schei, a member of Otto Sverdrups 2nd Norwegian Polar Expedition. In 1906 Robert Peary led an expedition in northern Ellesmere Island, during Pearys expedition, the Ice Shelf was continuous, a modern estimate is that it covered 8,900 km2. In 2011, Jon Turk and Erik Boomer completed the first known circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, Ellesmere Island contains Canadas northernmost point, Cape Columbia at 83°6′41″N. Barbeau Peak, the highest mountain in Nunavut is located in the British Empire Range on Ellesmere Island, the most northern mountain range in the world, the Challenger Mountains, is located in the northeast region of the island. The northern lobe of the island is called Grant Land, in July 2007, a study noted the disappearance of habitat for waterfowl, invertebrates, and algae on Ellesmere Island. The researchers noted that In the 1980s they often needed to wear hip waders to make their way to the ponds. while by 2006 the same areas were dry enough to burn. The northwest coast of Ellesmere Island was covered by a massive,500 km long ice shelf until the 20th century. A1986 survey of Canadian ice shelves found that 48 km2 or 3.3 km3 of ice calved from the Milne and Ayles ice shelves between 1959 and 1974. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest remaining section of thick landfast sea ice along the coastline of Ellesmere Island. It further decreased by 27% in thickness between 1967 and 1999, Schei and later Nathorst described the Paleocene-Eocene fossil forest in the Stenkul Fiord sediments. The Stenkul Fiord site represents a series of deltaic swamp and floodplain forests, the trees stood for at least 400 years. Individual stumps and stems of >1 m diameter were abundant, and are identified as Metasequoia, well preserved Pliocene peats containing abundant vertebrate and plant macrofossils characteristic of a boreal forest have been reported from Strathcona Fiord
20.
Coburg Island
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Coburg Island is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the members of Queen Elizabeth Islands located in Baffin Bays Lady Ann Strait and it is separated from Ellesmere Island by Glacier Strait, Devon Island is to the south. Elsewhere in Nunavut, there is also a tiny Saxe-Coburg Island, lying in Davis Strait, south of Leopold Island, the island is characterized by cliffs, rocky shores, and tundra. Bowhead whale, narwhal, polar bear, seal, walrus, coburg Island has several designated conservation classifications including International Biological Program site and Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site. Along with the marine area, the island is a part of the Nirjutiqavvik National Wildlife Area. A portion of Cambridge Point is within the NWA, coburg Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama, Natural Resources Canada
21.
Devon Island
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Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut and it is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canadas sixth largest island, and the 27th-largest island in the world. It comprises 55,247 km2 of Precambrian gneiss and Paleozoic siltstones and shales, the highest point is the Devon Ice Cap at 1,920 m which is part of the Arctic Cordillera. Devon Island contains several mountain ranges, such as the Treuter Mountains, Haddington Range. Robert Bylot and William Baffin were the first Europeans to sight the island in 1616, William Edward Parry charted its south coast in 1819-20, and named it North Devon, after Devon in England, a name which was changed to Devon Island by the end of the 1800s. In 1850 Edwin De Haven sailed up Wellington Channel and sighted the Grinnell Peninsula, an outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudsons Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices led to the dispersal of 53 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934 and it was considered a disaster due to wind conditions and the much colder climate, and the Inuit chose to leave in 1936. Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s, but it was closed again in 1951, only the ruins of a few buildings remain. Animal life is concentrated in the Truelove Lowland area of the island, temperatures during the brief growing season seldom exceed 10 °C, and in winter can plunge to as low as −50 °C. With a polar desert ecology, Devon Island receives very little precipitation, cape Liddon is an Important Bird Area notable for its black guillemot and northern fulmar populations. Cape Vera, another IBA site, is noted for its northern fulmar population. Devon Island is also notable for the presence of the Haughton impact crater, the impact left a crater about 23 km in diameter, which was a lake for several million years. The Devon Island Research Station was established in 1960 and it is maintained by the Arctic Institute of North America and it is located in Truelove Lowland, on the northeast coast of Devon Island. The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station project entered its third season in 2004, in July 2004, Devon Island became the temporary home for five scientists and two journalists, who were to use the Mars-like environment to simulate living and working on the Red Planet. April 2007 through 21 August 2007 was the longest simulation period, the Haughton crater is now considered one of Earths best Mars analog sites. It is the home to a complementary scientific program, NASAs Haughton Mars Project. HMP has conducted geological, hydrological, botanical, and microbiological studies in this harsh environment since 1997, hMP-2008 is the twelfth field season at Devon Island. In 2007, fossils of the seal ancestor Puijila darwini were found on the island
22.
Bylot Island
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Bylot Island lies off the northern end of Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Eclipse Sound to the southeast and Navy Board Inlet to the southwest separate it from Baffin Island, parry Channel lies to its northwest. At 11,067 km2 it is ranked 71st largest island in the world, the island measures 180 km east to west and 110 km north to south and is one of the largest uninhabited islands in the world. While there are no permanent settlements on this Canadian Arctic island, Inuit from Pond Inlet, an Inuit seasonal hunting camp is located southwest of Cape Graham Moore. The islands mountains are part of the Byam Martin Mountains, which is part of the Baffin Mountains of the Arctic Cordillera, in addition to Angilaaq Mountain, Malik Mountain, Mount St. Hans, and Mount Thule are notable. Tay Bay is on the west coast, vertical cliffs along the coastline are made up of Precambrian dolomite. The western shore faces Navy Board Inlet, the islands north shore, facing Lancaster Sound, is a polar bear maternity den area. Beluga, bowhead whale, harp seal, narwhal, and ringed seal frequent the area, the island is named for the Arctic explorer Robert Bylot, who was the first European to sight it in 1616. The whaling captain William Adams was the first to prove the islands insular nature in 1872, almost all of the island is within the Sirmilik National Park, harbouring large populations of thick-billed murres, black-legged kittiwakes and greater snow geese. The eastern area of the island is designated as the Bylot Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Three areas are classified as Canadian Important Bird Areas, Cape Graham Moore, Cape Hay, audet, Benoît, Gauthier, Gilles, and Lévesque, Esther, Feeding Ecology of Greater Snow Goose Goslings in Mesic Tundra on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada, The Condor. 2,361 Drury, W. H. and Drury, Mary B, the Bylot Island Expedition, Massachusetts Audubon Society,1955 Falconer, G. Glaciers of Northern Baffin and Bylot Islands, NWT, Ottawa, Geographical Branch, Dept. 3,229 Hofmann, H. J. and Jackson, G. D. Shale-Facies Microfossils from the Proterozoic Bylot Supergroup, Baffin Island, travel literature of a research trip to Bylot Island in 1954. An account of a crossing of Bylot Island in 1963, Bylot Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama, Natural Resources Canada
23.
Cape Graham Moore
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Cape Graham Moore is an uninhabited headland on Bylot Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located at the southeastern tip protruding into Lancaster Sound. The community of Pond Inlet is 70 km to the southwest and it is named in honour of Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Moore. The habitat is characterized by rocky shores and coastal cliffs that reach an elevation of 150 m above sea level, the cape is a Canadian Important Bird Area, an International Biological Program site, Key Marine Habitat site, and Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site. Other IBAs on the island include Cape Hay and Southwest Bylot plain, the cape is part of the Bylot Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Notable bird species include the black-legged kittiwake and thick-billed murre, both of which are colonial seabirds, the area is also frequented by bowhead whales, narwhals, polar bears, harp seals, and white whales. Cape Graham Moore at the Atlas of Canada
24.
Hudson Strait
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Hudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Quebec. The strait is about 450 mi long and its width varies from 150 mi at its largest point, to a minimum of 40 mi. The name was changed to Hudson Strait in honor of the first European to sail beyond the Furious Overfall in 1610, Hudson was followed by Thomas Button in 1612, and a more detailed mapping expedition led by William Baffin in 1615. Hudson Strait links the northern seaports of Manitoba and Ontario with the Atlantic Ocean and it could be an eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage were it not for ice in the Fury and Hecla Strait south of western Baffin Island. The South coast of Baffin Island between Lloyd Point and East Bluff, the mainland between Cape Chidley and Nuvuk Point
25.
Dorset culture
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The Dorset culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that preceded the Inuit in the Arctic of North America. It is named after Cape Dorset in Nunavut, Canada where the first evidence of its existence was found, the culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, soapstone lamps, and burins, the Dorset were first identified as a separate culture in 1925. Archaeology has been critical to adding to knowledge about them because the Dorset were essentially extinct by 1500 due to difficulties in adapting to the Medieval Warm Period, the Thule people, who began migrating east from Alaska in the 11th century, began the displacement of the Dorset. Modern genetic studies show the Dorset population were distinct from later groups, Inuit legends recount them driving away people they called the Tuniit or Sivullirmiut First Inhabitants. According to legend, the First Inhabitants were giants, taller and stronger than the Inuit, scholars now believe the Dorset and the later Thule people were the peoples encountered by Norsemen who visited the area. The Norse called these indigenous peoples skræling, in 1925 anthropologist Diamond Jenness received some odd artifacts from Cape Dorset. As they were different from those of the Inuit, he speculated that they were indicative of an ancient. Jenness named the culture Dorset after the location of the find and these artifacts showed a consistent and distinct cultural pattern that included sophisticated art distinct from that of the Inuit. For example, the carvings featured uniquely large hairstyles for women, much research since then has revealed many details of the Dorset people and their culture. The origins of the Dorset people are not well understood and they may have developed from the previous cultures of Pre-Dorset, Saqqaq or Independence I. There are, however, problems with this theory, these cultures had bow and arrow technology which the Dorsets lacked. Possibly due to a shift from terrestrial to aquatic hunting, the bow and arrow became lost to the Dorset, another piece of technology that is missing from the Dorset are drills, there are no drill holes in Dorset artifacts. Instead, the Dorset gouged lenticular holes, for example, bone needles are common in Dorset sites, but they have long and narrow holes that have been painstakingly carved or gouged. Both the Pre-Dorset and Thule had drills, Dorset culture and history is divided into four periods, the Early, Middle, Late, and Terminal phases. The Terminal phase was already in progress when the Thule entered the Canadian Arctic and it is probably closely related to the onset of the Medieval Warm Period, which started to warm the Arctic considerably around AD800. With the warmer climates, the sea ice became less predictable and was isolated from the High Arctic, the Dorset were highly adapted to living in a very cold climate, and much of their food came from hunting sea mammals through holes in the ice. The massive decline in sea-ice which the Medieval Warm Period produced would have had an impact upon their way of life
26.
Thule people
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The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, in the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation Thule originates from the location of Thule in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, the links between the Thule and the Inuit are biological, cultural, and linguistic. Evidence supports the idea that the Thule were in contact with the Vikings, in Viking sources, these peoples are called the Skræling. Some Thule migrated southward, in the Second Expansion or Second Phase, by the 13th or 14th century, the Thule had occupied an area currently inhabited by the Central Inuit, and by the 15th century, the Thule replaced the Dorset. Intensified contacts with Europeans began in the 18th century, compounded by the already disruptive effects of the Little Ice Age, the Thule communities broke apart, and the people were henceforward known as the Eskimo, and later, Inuit. The Thule Tradition lasted from about 200 B. C. to 1600 A. D. around the Bering Strait, Thule culture was mapped out by Therkel Mathiassen, following his participation as an archaeologist and cartographer of the Fifth Danish Expedition to Arctic America in 1921–1924. There are three stages of development leading up to Thule culture, they are Okvik/Old Bering Sea, Punuk, Birnirk and these groups of peoples have been referred to as “Neo-Eskimo” cultures, which are differentiated from the earlier Norton Tradition. There are several stages of the Thule tradition, Old Bering Sea Stage, Punuk Stage and these stages represent variations of the Thule Tradition as it expanded over time. And spread across the coasts of Labrador and Greenland and it is the most recent “neo-Eskimo” culture. Jenness identified the Bering Sea culture as a highly developed Inuit culture of northeastern Asiatic origin, a strong maritime adaptation is characteristic of the Thule, and the OBS stage, and then can be seen in the archaeological evidence. Both Kayaks and umiaks appear in the record for the first time. The toolkits of the people of the time are dominated by polished-slate rather than flaked-stone artifacts, including knives, projectile heads. There are many important innovations that emerged that allowed hunting to be more efficient, harpoon mounted ice picks were used for seal hunting, as well as ivory plugs and mouthpieces for inflating harpoon line floats, which enabled them to recover larger sea mammals when dispatched. These people relied heavily on seal and walrus for subsistence and it is easy to pick out OBS technology because of the artistic curvilinear dots, circles, and shorter lines that were used to decorate their tools. The chronological relationship between the Okvik and Old Bering Seas cultures has been the subject of debate and remains largely undecided, based mainly on art styles. The Punuk stage is a development of Old Bering Sea stage, with distribution along the major Strait islands, the Punuk culture was initially defined by Henry Collins in 1928 from a 16 ft deep midden on one of the Punuk Islands. Punuk is differentiated with Old Bering Sea through its artifact styles and house forms, as well as harpoon styles, Punuk settlements were larger and more common than earlier villages
27.
Inuit
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Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Inuit is a noun, the singular is Inuk. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo-Aleut family, Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate spoken in Nunavut. In the United States and Canada, the term Eskimo was commonly used to describe the Inuit and Alaskas Yupik, however, Inuit is not accepted as a term for the Yupik, and Eskimo is the only term that includes Yupik, Iñupiat and Inuit. However, aboriginal peoples in Canada and Greenlandic Inuit view Eskimo as pejorative, in Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classified the Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the First Nations or the Métis. These areas are known in Inuktitut as the Inuit Nunangat, in the United States, the Iñupiat live primarily on the Alaska North Slope and on Little Diomede Island. The Greenlandic Inuit are descendants of migrations from Canada. In the 21st century they are citizens of Denmark, although not of the European Union, Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule culture, who emerged from western Alaska around 1000 CE. They had split from the related Aleut group about 4,000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants, possibly related to the Chukchi language group and they spread eastwards across the Arctic. They displaced the related Dorset culture, the last major Paleo-Eskimo culture, Inuit legends speak of the Tuniit as giants, people who were taller and stronger than the Inuit. Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as dwarfs, researchers believe that the Dorset culture lacked the dogs, larger weapons and other technologies of the Inuit society, which gave the latter an advantage. By 1300, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled, faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the Algonquian and Siouan to the south, the Tuniit gradually receded. They were thought to have become extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B. Collins determined that, based on the ruins found at Native Point, the Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–03, when exposure to new infectious diseases brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people. In the early 21st century, mitochondrial DNA research has supported the theory of continuity between the Tuniit and the Sadlermiut peoples and it also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the Aleutian Islands between the Dorset and Thule transition. In contrast to other Tuniit populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies, in Canada and Greenland, Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of the Arctic tree line, the effective southern border of Inuit society. The most southern officially recognized Inuit community in the world is Rigolet in Nunatsiavut, south of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern Labrador Inuit in NunatuKavut continued their traditional transhumant semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis and they did not establish stationary communities
28.
Norse colonization of North America
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The Norse colonization of North America began as early as the 10th century AD when Norsemen explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic including the northeastern fringes of North America. Viking houses were found at L’Anse aux Meadows near the tip of Newfoundland in 1960. This discovery aided the reignition of archaeological exploration for the Vikings in the north Atlantic, the Norse colony in Greenland lasted for almost 500 years. Continental North American settlements were small and did not develop into permanent colonies, while voyages, for example to collect timber, are likely to have occurred for some time, there is no evidence of any lasting Norse settlements on mainland North America. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norsemen from Iceland first settled Greenland in the 980s, Erik the Red, having been banished from Iceland for manslaughter, allegedly explored the uninhabited southwestern coast of Greenland during the three years of his banishment. The inner reaches of one long fjord, named Eiriksfjord after him, was where he established his estate Brattahlid. He issued tracts of land to his followers, at its peak the colony consisted of two settlements. The Eastern was at the tip of Greenland, while the Western Settlement was about 500 km up the west coast. A smaller settlement near the Eastern Settlement is sometimes considered the Middle Settlement, the combined population was around 2, 000–3,000. At least 400 farms have been identified by archaeologists, Norse Greenland had a bishopric and exported walrus ivory, furs, rope, sheep, whale or seal blubber, live animals such as polar bears, and cattle hides. In 1126, the population requested a Bishop, and in 1261 and they continued to have their own law and became almost completely independent after 1349, the time of the Black Death. In 1380, the Norwegian Kingdom entered into a union with the Kingdom of Denmark. There is evidence of Norse trade with the natives, the Norse would have encountered both Native Americans and the Thule, the ancestors of the Inuit. The Dorset had withdrawn from Greenland before the Norse settlement of the island, a small ivory statue that appears to represent a European has also been found among the ruins of an Inuit community house. The colony began to decline in the 14th century, the Western Settlement was abandoned around 1350, and the last bishop at Garðar died in 1377. After a marriage was recorded in 1408, no written records mention the settlers and it is probable that the Eastern Settlement was defunct by the late 15th century. The most recent radiocarbon date found in Norse settlements as of 2002 was 1430, several theories have been advanced to explain the decline. In addition, Greenlandic ivory may have been supplanted in European markets by cheaper ivory from Africa, despite the loss of contact with the Greenlanders, the Norwegian-Danish crown continued to consider Greenland a possession
29.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
30.
John Davis (English explorer)
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John Davis or Davys was one of the chief English navigators of Elizabeth I. He led several voyages to discover the Northwest Passage and served as pilot and he discovered the Falkland Islands in August 1592. It is important that Captain John Davis of Sandridge should not be confused with a contemporary, both served in the fleet of Captain James Lancaster during the first voyage of the East India Company to the East Indies. Davis was born in the parish of Stoke Gabriel in Devon circa 1550 and it has been suggested that he learned much of his seamanship as a child while plying boats along the river Dart, and went to sea at an early age. His childhood neighbours included Adrian Gilbert and Humphrey Gilbert and their half-brother Walter Raleigh, from early on, he also became friends with John Dee. He began pitching a voyage in search of the Northwest Passage to the queens secretary Francis Walsingham in 1583. Two years later, in 1585, the secretary relented and funded the expedition, which traced Frobishers route to Greenlands east coast, around Cape Farewell, sunshine attempted to circumnavigate the island from the east. His ships were attacked by Inuit in Hamilton Inlet. A third expedition in 1587 reached 72°12N and Disko Island before being repulsed by unfavorable winds, on his return, he charted the Davis Inlet in the coast of Labrador. The log of this remained a textbook model for later captains for centuries. In 1588, he seems to have commanded Black Dog against the Spanish Armada, in 1589, he joined the Earl of Cumberland as part of the Azores Voyage of 1589. In 1591 he accompanied Thomas Cavendish on the mans last voyage and his crew was forced to kill hundreds of penguins for food on the islands, but the stored meat spoiled in the tropics and only fourteen of his 76 men made it home alive. He narrowly escaped destruction from treachery at Achin on Sumatra, from 1601 to 1603, he accompanied Sir James Lancaster as Pilot-Major on the first voyage of the English East India Company. For his part Davis was to receive if the voyage doubled its original investment. Before departure, Davis had told London merchants that pepper could be obtained in Aceh at a price of four reals of eight per hundredweight whereas it was actually 20, when the voyage returned, Lancaster complained that Davis had been wrong about both the price and availability of pepper. On this journey, he was killed off Bintan Island near Singapore by one of his captive Japanese pirates whose vessel he had just seized, Daviss explorations in the Arctic were published by Richard Hakluyt and appeared on his world map. Davis himself published a treatise on practical navigation called The Seamans Secrets in 1594. The account of Daviss last voyage was written by Michelborne on his return to England in 1606 and his invention of the backstaff and double quadrant remained popular among English seamen until long after Hadleys reflecting quadrant had been introduced
31.
Age of Discovery
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It also marks the rise of the period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism. Many lands previously unknown to Europeans were discovered during this period, from the perspective of many non-Europeans, the Age of Discovery marked the arrival of settlers and invaders from a previously unknown continent. This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture and it also allowed for the expansion of Christianity throughout the world with the spread of missionary activity, becoming the worlds largest religion. The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon funded Christopher Columbuss plan to sail west to reach the Indies by crossing the Atlantic and he landed on a continent uncharted by Europeans and seen as a new world, the Americas. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia, another source was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, the Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics, the Republic of Venice especially, fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders, between 1405 and 1421, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China sponsored a series of long range tributary missions under the command of Zheng He. The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia, by 1400 a Latin translation of Ptolemys Geographia reached Italy coming from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for mapmaking and worldview, although reinforcing the idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked, a prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards, most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics. The close Italian links to the Levant raised great curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east, christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant, from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, about the same time, Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, and subsequently his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir, travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts, other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck, who reached China through Central Asia. After returning, he dictated an account of his journeys to a scholar he met in Granada, the Rihla, between 1357 and 1371 a book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired extraordinary popularity. These overland journeys had little immediate effect, the Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous
32.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
33.
Northwest Passage
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For centuries explorers sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year, Arctic sea ice decline has rendered the waterways more navigable. If, as has been claimed, parts of the end of the Passage are barely 15 metres deep. Fully loaded, Nordic Orion was too large to sail through the Panama Canal, between the end of the 15th century and the 20th century, colonial powers from Europe dispatched explorers in an attempt to discover a commercial sea route north and west around North America. The Northwest Passage represented a new route to the trading nations of Asia. England called the northern route the Northwest Passage. The desire to establish such a route motivated much of the European exploration of both coasts of North America, when it became apparent that there was no route through the heart of the continent, attention turned to the possibility of a passage through northern waters. There was a lack of knowledge about conditions, for instance. Explorers thought that a water route close to the North Pole must exist. The belief that a route lay to the far north persisted for several centuries, many ended in disaster, including that by Sir John Franklin in 1845. While searching for him the McClure Arctic Expedition discovered the Northwest Passage in 1850, in 1906, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen first successfully completed a passage from Greenland to Alaska in the sloop Gjøa. Since that date, several fortified ships have made the journey, from east to west, the direction of most early exploration attempts, expeditions entered the passage from the Atlantic Ocean via the Davis Strait and through Baffin Bay. Five to seven routes have taken through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, via the McClure Strait, Dease Strait, and the Prince of Wales Strait. From there ships passed through waterways through the Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, on August 21,2007, the Northwest Passage became open to ships without the need of an icebreaker. According to Nalan Koc of the Norwegian Polar Institute, this was the first time the Passage has been clear since they began keeping records in 1972, the Northwest Passage opened again on August 25,2008. Thawing ocean or melting ice simultaneously opened up the Northwest Passage, awaited by shipping companies, this historic event will cut thousands of miles off their routes. We are going to see more and more as the years go by. Due to Arctic shrinkage, the Beluga group of Bremen, Germany, however, Canadas Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that ships entering the North-West passage should first report to his government
34.
Thomas Smythe
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Sir Thomas Smythe or Smith, was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until enveloped by scandal, the second surviving son of Thomas Customer Smythe of Westenhanger Castle in Kent, by his wife Alice, daughter of Sir Andrew Judde. His grandfather, John Smythe of Corsham, Wiltshire, was described as yeoman, haberdasher and clothier and his father was also a haberdasher, and was ‘customer’ of the port of London. He purchased Westenhanger from Sir Thomas Sackville, and other property from Robert Dudley, Thomas Smythes elder son, Sir John Smythe or Smith of Westenhanger, was High Sheriff of Kent in 1600, and father of Thomas Smythe, 1st Viscount Strangford. Thomas senior, one of thirteen children, was brought in his fathers business, in 1580, young Smythe was admitted to the freedom of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and also of the Worshipful Company of Skinners. He quickly rose to wealth and distinction after entering politics to augment his business, Smythe was made Auditor for the City of London from 1597 to 1598, and Treasurer of St Bartholomews Hospital from 1597 to 1601. In 1597, he was elected to Parliament for Aylesbury. In 1599, he was elected alderman for Farringdon Without and chosen as one of the two sheriffs of the City of London for 1600, Smythe financed numerous Elizabethan-era trade ventures and voyages of exploration during the early 17th century. In 1592, Smythe obtained settlement rights to the Virginia colony from Sir Walter Raleigh, when the East India Company was formed in October 1600, Smythe was appointed as its first governor by the charter dated 31 December, a position he held for only four months. Smythe advised Essex to turn himself in to the Lord Mayor of London, when Essex refused, Smythe left to confer with the Lord Mayor. When Smythe was later accused of complicity in the Essex Rebellion and he was fired from his office of sheriff and committed to the Tower of London. However, his imprisonment proved short due to Queen Elizabeths death on 24 March 1603, on 13 May 1603, after the accession of James I, Smythe was knighted. Later that year he was re-elected to Parliament for Dunwich in place of Sir Valentine Knightley, after one of his sons married intro the aristocracy, Smythe became part of the court faction along with Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick. In 1614, Smythe was elected Member of Parliament for Sandwich, during this period, the company established trade with India. Meanwhile, in 1604, Smythe was appointed one of the receivers for the Duchy of Cornwall, like Smythes grandfather, Sir Andrew Judde, Lord Mayor of London and one of the founders of the Muscovy Company, Smythe involved himself in the Muscovy trade. Sailing from Gravesend on 13 June 1603, his party arrived at Arkhangelsk on 22 July, and was taken by way of Kholmogory and Vologda to Yaroslavl, during that winter, Smythe obtained new privileges for the company. In the spring he went to Moscow to meet with associates and he returned to Arkhangelsk and sailed for England on 28 May 1604. In 1609, Smythe obtained a charter for the London Virginia Company
35.
Far East
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The Far East is an alternate geographical term in English, that usually refers to East Asia, the Russian Far East, and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons, since the 1960s, East Asia has become the most common term for the region in international mass media outlets. Far East is often deprecated as archaic and Eurocentric, along with the terms Near East and Middle East. The term Far East came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 12th century, for the same reason, Chinese people in the 19th and early 20th centuries called Western countries Tàixī —i. e. anything further west than the Arab world. Prior to the era, Far East referred to anything further east than the Middle East. In the 16th century, King John III of Portugal called India a rich, the term was popularized during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India. Many European languages have terms, such as the French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Polish, Norwegian. Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as separation, the Far East is not just geographically distant. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of Australia and New Zealand and this combination of cultural and geographic subjectivity was well illustrated in 1939 by Robert Menzies, a Prime Minister of Australia. Reflecting on his countrys geopolitical concerns with the onset of war, Menzies commented that, what Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the Near North. Far East in its sense is comparable to terms such as the Orient, which means East. Southeast Asia, the Russian Far East, and occasionally the Indian Subcontinent might be included in the Far East to some extent, for the people who live in that part of the world, however, it is neither East nor West and certainly not Far. A more generally acceptable term for the area is East Asia, furthermore, the United Kingdom and United States have historically used Far East for several military units and commands in the region, British Far East Command RAF Far East Air Force U. S. Far East Air Force The U. S. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations, Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western
36.
Henry Hudson
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Henry Hudson, born circa 1565-1570, dead 1611, was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northwest Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle. Hudson explored the region around modern New York metropolitan area while looking for a route to Asia while in the employment of the Dutch East India Company. He explored the Hudson River, and laid thereby the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region, Hudson discovered the Hudson Strait and the immense Hudson Bay on his final expedition. While searching for the Northwest Passage, Hudson and his son would lose their lives. In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay, Hudson wanted to press on to the west, the mutineers cast Hudson, his son and seven others adrift, the Hudsons, and those cast off at their side, were never seen again. His name also lives on with the Hudsons Bay Company that explored and worked in the vast Hudson Bay watershed and this large company, and one of the longest lasting, was very successful with fur trading all across North America. Canada acquired a portion of land from the purchase of Hudsons Bay Company lands. Details of Hudsons birth and early life are mostly unknown, some sources have identified Hudson as having been born in about 1565, but others date his birth to around 1570. Other historians assert even less certainty, Mancall, for instance, states that was born in the 1560s. Hudson is thought to have spent many years at sea, beginning as a cabin boy, in 1607, the Muscovy Company of England hired Hudson to find a northerly route to the Pacific coast of Asia. The English were battling the Dutch for northwest routes and it was thought at the time that, because the sun shone for three months in the northern latitudes in the summer, the ice would melt and a ship could make it across the top of the world. Hudson sailed on 1 May with a crew of ten men and they reached the east coast of Greenland on 14 June, coasting it northward until the 22nd. Here they named a headland Youngs Cape, a high mount, like a round castle near it Mount of Gods Mercy. After turning east, they sighted Newland on the 27th, near the mouth of the great bay Hudson later simply named the Great Indraught. On 13 July Hudson and his crew thought they had sailed as far north as 80°23 N, the following day they entered what Hudson later in the voyage named Whales Bay, naming its northwestern point Collins Cape after his boatswain, William Collins. They sailed north the following two days, on the 16th they reached as far north as Hakluyts Headland at 79°49 N, thinking they saw the land continue to 82° N when really it trended to the east. Encountering ice packed along the north coast, they were forced to turn back south, Hudson wanted to make his return by the north of Greenland to Davis his Streights, and so for Kingdom of England, but ice conditions would have made this impossible
37.
Thomas Button
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Born about 1575, he was the fourth son of Miles Button of Worlton, Glamorgan, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Edward Lewis. His fathers family had been landowners, originally at Bitton in Gloucestershire, around 1595 he married Elizabeth, daughter of landowner Sir Walter Rice of Newton House, Llandeilo, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Mansell of Margam. This made him a nephew of the prominent naval officer Sir Robert Mansell, in April 1612 he was given command of two navy ships, Resolution and Discovery, to lead an expedition in search of the North-West Passage. Sailing from England about the beginning of May 1612, they reached the mouth of a river which he named the Nelson after the ships master and they wintered at what is now known as Port Nelson and the next year headed north to search for the Northwest Passage. They lost the Resolution to sea ice and continued on to 65° North and he discovered and named Mansel Island and returned to England in September 1613. He is credited with exploring and securing the west coast of Hudson Bay for his country, the region would again be visited twelve years later in 1631 by Captains Thomas James and Luke Foxe. Supposedly, upon discovering a cross erected by Button at Port Nelson, Captain Foxe christened the shore north of the Nelson River as New North Wales, the first maps of areas near Hudson Bay were struck from his explorations and from those of his predecessor, Henry Hudson. On his return, he was appointed Admiral of the Irish coasts and he was buried on 8 April 1634 at the church of St Margarets, Westminster, survived by his wife and five of their seven children. He left no will and his Welsh lands passed to his eldest son, Miles, after waiting three years, his widow received 650 pounds from the government in settlement of pay and expenses he was owed. Manitoba Historical Society Biography of Button
38.
Hudson Bay
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Hudson Bay is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of 1,230,000 square kilometres. Hudson Bays southern arm is called James Bay, the Eastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay is Wînipekw or Wînipâkw, meaning muddy or brackish water. Lake Winnipeg is similarly named by the local Cree, as is the location for the city of Winnipeg, Hudson Bay encompasses 1,230,000 square kilometres, making it the second-largest bay in the world. The bay is shallow and is considered an epicontinental sea. It is about 1,370 km long and 1,050 km wide, on the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait, on the north, with the Arctic Ocean by Foxe Basin, and Fury and Hecla Strait. Geographic coordinates, 78° to 95° W, 51° to 70° N. Hudson Bay is part of the North Atlantic Ocean, sometimes the Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait basins are considered part of the Arctic Ocean even though their waters flow predominantly to the Atlantic. Some sources describe Hudson Bay as a sea of the Atlantic Ocean. English explorers and colonists named Hudson Bay after Sir Henry Hudson who explored the bay beginning August 2,1610 on his ship Discovery. On his fourth voyage to North America, Hudson worked his way around Greenlands west coast and into the bay, Discovery became trapped in the ice over the winter, and the crew survived onshore at the southern tip of James Bay. When the ice cleared in the spring, Hudson wanted to explore the rest of the area and they left Hudson and others adrift in a small boat. No one knows the fate of Hudson or the crew members stranded with him, in 1668, Nonsuch reached the bay and traded for beaver pelts, leading to the creation of the Hudsons Bay Company which still bears the historic name. The HBC negotiated a trading monopoly from the British crown for the Hudson Bay watershed, called Ruperts Land, france contested this grant by sending several military expeditions to the region, but abandoned its claim in the Treaty of Utrecht. See Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay, during this period, the Hudsons Bay Company built several forts and trading posts along the coast at the mouth of the major rivers. The strategic locations were bases for inland exploration, more importantly, they were trading posts with the indigenous peoples who came to them with furs from their trapping season. The HBC shipped the furs to Europe and continued to use these posts until the beginning of the 20th century, the port of Churchill is still an important shipping link for trade with Europe and Russia. HBCs trade monopoly was abolished in 1870, and it ceded Ruperts Land to Canada, starting in 1913, the Bay was extensively charted by the Canadian Governments CSS Acadia to develop it for navigation. This mapping progress led to the establishment of Churchill, Manitoba as a port for wheat exports in 1929. Due to a change in naming conventions, Hudsons Bay is now called Hudson Bay, as a result, the names of the body of water and the company are often mistaken for one another
39.
Labrador
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Labrador /ˈlæbrədɔːr/ LAB-rə-dor is the distinct northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in Atlantic Canada, Labrador occupies the eastern part of the Labrador Peninsula. It is bordered to the west and the south by the Canadian province of Quebec, Labrador also shares a small land border with the Canadian territory of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. Though Labrador covers 71 percent of the land area, it has only 8 percent of the provinces population. The aboriginal peoples of Labrador include the Northern Inuit of Nunatsiavut, the Southern Inuit-Métis of Nunatukavut, many of the non-aboriginal population in Labrador did not permanently settle in Labrador until the natural resource developments of the 1940s and 1950s. Before the 1950s, very few people lived in Labrador year-round. The few European immigrants who worked seasonally for foreign merchants and brought their families were known as Settlers, Labrador has a roughly triangular shape that encompasses the easternmost section of the Canadian Shield, a sweeping geographical region of thin soil and abundant mineral resources. Its western border with Quebec is the divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands that drain into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, Northern Labradors climate is classified as polar, while Southern Labradors climate is classified as subarctic. Labrador can be divided into four regions, the North Coast, Central Labrador, Western Labrador. Each of those regions is described below, from Cape Chidley to Hamilton Inlet, the long thin northern tip of Labrador holds the Torngat Mountains, named after an Inuit spirit believed to inhabit them. The mountains stretch along the coast from Port Manvers to Cape Chidley, the Torngat Mountain range is also home to Mount Caubvick, the highest point in the province. This area is predominantly Inuit, with the small Innu community of Natuashish being the exception, the north coast is the most isolated region of Labrador, with snowmobiles, boats, and planes being the only modern modes of transportation. The largest community in this region is Nain, Nunatsiavut is an Inuit self-government region in Labrador created on June 23,2000. The Settlement area comprises the majority of Labradors North Coast, while the area also includes land farther to the interior. Nain is the center of Nunatsiavut. The most populous region of Labrador, Central Labrador extends from the shores of Lake Melville into the interior and it contains the Churchill River, the largest river in Labrador and one of the largest in Canada
40.
William Baffin
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William Baffin was an English navigator and explorer. He is primarily known for his attempt to discover a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific and he was also responsible for exceptional surveys of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf on behalf of the East India Company. Nothing is known about Baffins early life and it has been conjectured that he was born to a humble station in London and gradually raised himself through his diligence and perseverance. In printing his journals, Samuel Purchas wrote of him as a learned-unlearned Mariner, wanting art of words who really employed himself to those industries, whereof here you see so evident fruits. His earliest mention occurs in 1612, when he was pilot on Captain James Halls 4th expedition to Greenland. Halls three earlier explorations had been underwritten by Christian IV, a king of Denmark anxious to reëstablish contact with the Norse settlements there and it was still unknown that they had been overrun by the Inuit centuries before, but after the third failed expedition, Christian abandoned the project. Hall then successfully interested four English merchants—Thomas Smythe, James Lancaster, William Cockayne, Baffin and Hall sailed from the Humber aboard the Patience on 22 April, accompanied by the Hearts Ease. During this voyage, Captain Hall was killed by the Inuit on the west coast of Greenland, over the next two years, Baffin served in the Muscovy Company-controlled whale-fishery off Spitzbergen. Icy conditions precluded exploration to the north, but Baffin examined a considerable portion of Spitzbergens coast, in 1615, he entered the service of the Company of Merchants of London, Discoverers of the North-West Passage, which had been established in 1612. Its first governor was Thomas Smythe, one of the underwriters of Halls fourth voyage, Baffin served as pilot of Discovery, which left England under Captain Robert Bylot on 15 March. It carefully explored Hudson Strait in search of a Northwest Passage from the North Atlantic to the Far East, the accuracy of Baffins tidal and astronomical observations on this voyage was confirmed in a remarkable manner when William Edward Parry passed over the same ground in 1821. Baffin again sailed as pilot of Discovery the next year, with the abandonment of projects for the Northwest Passage, Baffin took service with the East India Company, possibly with the intent of eventually discovering the passage from the western end. He left as masters mate to Andrew Shilling, captain of Anne Royal, the fleet—under the command of Captain Martin Pring—reached Saldanha Bay on 21 June and Surat in British India in September. Baffins ship then performed separate service on runs to Mocha in Yemen and other ports of the Red Sea, upon his return to London in September,1619, the company granted him special recognition for the valuable charts he had made during the course of his voyage. In 1620, he sailed east again as master of the London on the recommendation of Capt. Shilling. Baffin left the Downs on 25 March and reached Swally Roads on 9 November. Hearing of a joint Portuguese and Dutch fleet searching for them, Shilling went in search of them, he was wounded in battle in the Gulf of Oman on 28 December and died on 6 January. A year later, the East India Company agreed to join the Persian assaults on the Portuguese fortresses on Qeshm and Hormuz islands in exchange for certain trade concessions
41.
Discovery (1602 ship)
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Discovery or Discoverie was a small 20-ton,38 foot long fly-boat of the British East India Company, launched before 1602. It was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London, the journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia. When Captain Newport returned to London, England, he left Discovery behind for the use of the colonists and these explorations were commemorated in the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, established in 2006. In 1610, Admiral Sir George Somers, proposed a trip to Bermuda aboard Patience accompanied by Captain Samuel Argall on Discovery with the intention of gathering more local supplies for Jamestown, blown north towards Newfoundland, the ships became separated in fog. Argall attempted fishing before turning back and she then took part in six expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage. Replicas of Discovery and her sisters, the larger Susan Constant, a new Discovery, built in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, was launched in September 2006. The previous replica, built in 1984 in Jamestown, was shipped to the United Kingdom for a tour of the UK as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Virginias founding. After its tour, which finished in September 2007, the ship was laid up in Ipswich Marina awaiting a move to a permanent home. The ship is currently on permanent display at the castle, in May 2007, the United States Postal Service issued the first 41 cent denomination first class stamp. The stamp had an image of Susan Constant, Godspeed, Discovery was also depicted on Virginias coin of the 50 State Quarters, in celebration of the quadricentennial of Jamestown. Ship replica Discovery replica at Museum in Docklands, London Jamestown settlement ships
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Lancaster Sound
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Lancaster Sound is a body of water in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located between Devon Island and Baffin Island, forming the entrance to the Parry Channel and the Northwest Passage. East of the sound lies Baffin Bay, to the west lies Viscount Melville Sound, further west a traveller would enter the MClure Strait before heading into the Arctic Ocean. Lancaster Sound was named in 1616 by explorer William Baffin for Sir James Lancaster, the abortive expedition by the British explorer John Ross in 1818 ended when he saw what he believed were mountains blocking the end of Lancaster Sound. In 1819 William Edward Parry got through it and went as far west as Melville Island, the sound was thoroughly explored during an extensive aerial mapping program of Northern Canada by the Canadian Government which took from the 1930s until the late 1950s to complete. Coincidentally, the type of aircraft that was used to complete the program was the Avro Lancaster. The Inuit and their ancestors have relied for thousands of years on the Sounds abundant natural wealth for food, clothing and shelter. Today, residents of the three Nunavut communities of Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, and Resolute continue this tradition, depending on its waters for their economic, ice cover, both land-fast ice and pack ice, is common for nine months of the year. A shore lead system ensures there are water areas. Wildlife is rich and varied, with an amount of Arctic cod known to exist there. The Arctic cod is part of the diet for many of the birds in Lancaster Sound. In 1974, Norlands Petroleum Ltd was given approval-in-principle to drill a well in the middle of Lancaster Sound. This area was not yet represented in the Canadian National Marine Conservation Areas systems, a preliminary Minerals and Energy Resource Assessment to create a National Marine Park was completed in 1989. On December 8,2009, Canadian Environment Minister, Jim Prentice announced a $5 million feasibility study for a new National Marine Conservation Area in Lancaster Sound, the new seismic tests were not part of the Mineral and Energy Resource Assessment process necessary in establishing new parks. In June 2010, communities and groups came out against seismic testing in Lancaster, in late June planned seismic tests were apparently scaled back. But then in late July NRCAN announced that plans for seismic testing were proceeding despite the opposition of Inuit communities. In a major ruling on Aug 8,2010 a Nunavut court sided with the Inuit and stopped the planned seismic testing citing the risks to marine animals and cultural heritage. The federal Conservative government announced on December 6,2010 that it will establish the boundaries of a new park in Lancaster Sound
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John Ross (Royal Navy officer)
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Admiral Sir John Ross, CB, RN was a British naval officer and Arctic explorer. Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross of Balsarroch, minister of Inch in Wigtownshire, and Elizabeth Corsane, daughter of Robert Corsane, in 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel, in 1808, he acted as a captain of the Swedish Navy and in 1812 became a Commander. Sir John was the uncle of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, RN who explored the Arctic with him and this entailed going around the extreme northeast coast of America and sailing to the Bering Strait. He was also to note the currents, tides, the state of ice and magnetism and he left London in April 1818 in the Isabella accompanied by the Alexander under Lieutenant William Edward Parry. He sailed counter-clockwise around Baffin Bay repeating the observations made by William Baffin two hundred years before, in August he reached Lancaster Sound at the north end of Baffin Island and entered Lancaster Sound which later proved to be the eastern gate of the Northwest Passage. He sailed a number of miles west but went no further and he named the apparent mountains Croker Mountains, in honor of John Wilson Croker, then First Secretary of the Admiralty. He then returned to England despite the protests of several of his officers, including Parry, the account of his voyage, published a year later, brought to light their disagreement, and the ensuing controversy over the existence of Croker Mountains ruined his reputation. This expedition failed to discover much that was new and its main effect was to open a route for whale ships to northern Baffin Bay and provoke William Edward Parry to re-explore Lancaster Sound and find a major portion of the northwest passage. Ross attained the rank of captain on his return to Scotland and about this time built the house North West Castle, in Stranraer, partly to redeem his reputation Ross proposed to use a shallow-draft steam ship to break through the ice. The Admiralty was not interested, but he was able to convince the gin-magnate Felix Booth to finance a second expedition and his ship was the Victory, a side-wheel steamer with paddles that could be lifted away from the ice and an experimental high-pressure boiler built by John Ericsson. It carried four officers and 19 men, the goal was Prince Regent Inlet at the west end of Baffin Island where Parry had lost his ship in 1825. He left the Thames on 23 May 1829, Baffin Bay was unusually ice free and on 6 August 1829 he passed the point where he had turned back 10 years before. On 11 August 1829 he turned south into Prince Regent Inlet, the hulk was gone but there were heaps of stores on the beach, some of which he took. Continuing south he became the first European in the Gulf of Boothia and he took winter quarters at Felix Harbour at the eastern tip of the Boothia Peninsula. In January 1830 a group of Netsilik Inuit arrived and provided food, for one of them the ships carpenter made a wooden leg. In the spring of 1830 James Clark Ross made several trips west into the interior. On 9 April 1830 he reached the west side of the Boothia Peninsula and in May 1830 crossed over ice to the northwest shore of King William Island and it was mid-September 1830 before the ice broke part of its grip
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Baffin, William", Encyclopædia Britannica, 3 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 192
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "
