The Peoples’ Land

• Main Author: McGhee, Robert
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressNew York, NY 2006
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192807304.003.0013; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/51979722/isbn-9780912807304-book-part-13.pdf

Abstract The Native Occupants of the Arctic had little interest in the endeavours of the explorers to which history has accorded such great importance. The quest for sea-passages to the north of Asia and America, the search for Franklin and the race to the Pole, brought relatively few southerners into the Arctic latitudes and very few of those wished to stay longer than was necessary. Most of these visitors found no quick fortunes in the Arctic, had little interest in its people or the lands that they called home, and left the country as quickly as possible to return home and write their books portraying the cold white hell they had experienced. To the northerners who came into contact with such expeditions, the visiting strangers were no more than useful sources of valuable goods: metal tools, wood, exotic ornaments, and eventually tobacco, tea and other staples of the global market.