History of the Arctic Circle

Most historians believe that civilized human beings turned their eyes to the North Pole, starting from ancient Greece at the earliest. Because it is said that the Arctic Circle was first determined by the ancient Greeks. They found that the stars in the sky can be divided into two groups. One group is in the north of the world and can be seen all year round. The other group is near the zenith and the south, and they only appear periodically with the seasons. The dividing line between the two groups of stars is the circle drawn by Ursa Major, which happens to be the latitude circle of 66 33' north latitude, that is, the Arctic Circle.

In fact, Pythagoras (582-500 BC) and his school despised the idea that the earth was square or rectangular. Their philosophical thinking makes them firmly believe that the earth is perfect only if it is spherical and can meet the needs of "cosmic harmony" and "number"

Plato's student Aristotle (384 ~ 322 BC) laid the foundation of the concept of "earth". He even considered that there should be a continent in the southern hemisphere in order to balance the vast land in the northern hemisphere. Moreover, in order to avoid the embarrassing situation that the earth is "top-heavy" and its big head (North Pole) is facing down, the area around the North Pole should be a relatively light ocean.

So, more than 2000 years ago, a Greek named Bizeas bravely set sail and began the first impact of civilized human beings on the Arctic. It took him about six years to complete the voyage, and he reached Iceland or central Norway as far north as possible, possibly entering the Arctic Circle. In 325 BC, Bezias returned to Marseille (now Marseille).

After Bizeus 1200, in 870 AD, an ancient Scandinavian nobleman named Otta bypassed the northernmost cape of Scandinavia for the first time, bypassed kola peninsula and entered the White Sea. At about the same time as Ota, a Norwegian named Loki was sent to the northwest to find a new continent and discovered Iceland.

The discoverer of Greenland was a Norwegian pirate named Eric the Red Face. He was deported after two consecutive murders in Iceland, which is already under the jurisdiction of Norway. In the case of no choice, he had to pack his family and everything into a small boat without a canopy, and with a glimmer of hope, he crustily skin of head and rowed westward. After a rather difficult voyage, he finally saw a piece of land. The climate is at the best stage of the global mild period (which Europeans call the "medieval warm period"), making high-latitude areas like Greenland a suitable environment for life. Eric the Red Face lived there for three years and thought it was a good land, so he decided to go back to Iceland to recruit immigrants. In order to make this place sound more attractive, he gave a nice name, Greenland, a green land. Summer in the southern coastal area of Greenland is probably really a lush green. Sure enough, groups of immigrants came across the sea with their property and livestock.

Since then, Greenland has flourished. At the peak, there were more than 280 residential areas with thousands of people, 17 churches. Not only did he establish trade relations with Europe, but the Pope even sent someone to collect parish taxes.

However, 500 years later, around 1500, with the world climate fluctuating again (entering the Little Ice Age), the weather there became cold, so this once prosperous paradise gradually entered a state of silence. This period of human activities in the Arctic can be called spontaneous regional discovery period.