Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/971

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 POLAR REGIONS, a general term for the regions about the North or South Pole, otherwise called the Arctic or Antarctic regions. The ancients had no actual knowledge of the Polar regions. They had probably heard rumours of the light summer nights and the dark winter nights in the north, as is shown by Homer's description of the Laestrygons having the short nights and the Cimmerians living in perpetual darkness. By astronomical speculations the Greeks had come to the conclusion that north of the Arctic Circle there must be midnight sun at midsummer and no sun at midwinter. The general view was that the Polar regions, north and south, belonged to the uninhabitable frozen zones; while according to a less scientific notion there was a happy region north of the north Wind (Boreas), where the sun was always shining and the Hyperboreans led a peaceful life. The first traveller of history who probably approached the Arctic Circle and reached the land of the midnight sun was the Greek  (q.v.), from Massalia (Marseilles), who about 325  made a voyage of discovery northwards along the west coast of Europe, which is one of the most remarkable in history. He visited England, Scotland, the Scottish isles, and probably also northern Norway, which he called Thule. He moved the limits of the known world from the south coast of England northward to the Arctic Circle. It seems probable that he made two or perhaps several voyages. He also discovered the northern coasts of Germany as far east as Jutland.

We hear of no other voyages towards the Arctic regions before the Irish monk Dicuil, writing about 825, mentions the discovery by Irish monks of a group of small islands (the Faeroes), and a greater island (Iceland), which he calls Thule, where there was hardly any night at midsummer. It is possible that Iceland and the Faeroes were inhabited by a small Celtic population before the Irish monks