At the Ends of Earth

This work is a natural and human history of the two polar regions from prehistory through centuries of European exploration to issues involving cold war politics, oil and gas drilling, tourism, and global warming. It addresses the history of the Arctic and Antarctic. The focus is on human encounters with the regions and impacts of those encounters, both direct and indirect. The text describes the great explorations, the hunting of economically valuable species, current interests in protection vs. further exploitation, differences and similarities in the development of the regions, for example, that form major chapters in the histories of these two regions.