POLAR EXPLORATION 



4725 



POLAR EXPLORATION 



At the outbreak of the war the czar prom- 

 ised Poland self-government if it would remain 

 loyal to Russia. After the country came into 

 the possession of the Germanic powers, the 

 emperors of Austria and Germany, in Novem- 

 ber, 1915, issued a proclamation promising an 

 independent kingdom of Poland, but the proc- 

 lamation did not include the parts occupied 

 respectively by Germany and Austria. These 

 efforts to retain their interests came to naught 

 with allied victory. The Poles proclaimed a re- 

 public ; they were heard at the peace conference, 

 where they presented claims for an enlarged 

 Poland. An outlet to the sea was given at 

 Danzig, and the boundaries were to be extended 

 to embrace nearly all the Poles of Europe. 

 These had not been established in September, 



1919. On January 26, 1919, the first election in 

 Poland in 140 years was held, to choose dele- 

 gates to a national assembly. In the meantime 

 Gen. Joseph Pilsudski became temporary Presi- 

 dent, and Paderewski, the great pianist, served 

 as Premier. E.D.F. 



Consult Morflll's Story of Poland; Hill's Poland 

 and the Polish Question. 



Related Subjects. The reader who Is Inter- 

 ested in Poland will find further related material 

 in the following articles in these volumes : 



Catharine, subhead Kosciusko, Thaddeus 



Catharine II (Russia) Prussia 

 Frederick, subhead Fred- Russia 



erick II (Prussia) War of the Nations 

 Galicia Warsaw 



John III 



nTHE- STORY OF-POLAR -EXPLORATION 



JLO'LAR EXPLORA'TION. From earliest 

 times the polar regions have exercised a fascina- 

 tion that has proved an almost irresistible call 

 to adventurous men of many nations, who have 

 risked, and in many cases lost, their lives in 

 voyages of discovery. The ancients did not 

 suspect the existence of the Poles; to them 

 the regions of the North and South were mys- 

 terious zones of uninhabitable, frozen land and 

 sea. Astronomical study led to the conviction 

 that in the polar regions the sun must shine 

 at midnight in midsummer and not at all in 

 midwinter. The knowledge that the earth was 

 round appears to have been lost for a tiim \ 

 th<- Middle Ages in European countries 

 it was considered absurd, even impious, to 

 in the roundness of the earth, and 

 scholars believed it to be flat. 



When, however, the theory of the rotundity 

 of the earth was clearly proved, attention was 

 again more forcibly drawn to the Poles. It was 

 always toward the north that men's thoughts 

 turned, and vague and manifold were the tradi- 

 tions concerning the North Pole. Explorers set 

 out to search the frozen north. Centuries be- 

 fore attention was seriously drawn to the South 

 Pole, the Arctic region had been visited by 

 adventurers. The South Pole lacked the at- 

 traction offered by the search for the North- 

 west Passage, the account of the .search for 

 which is given at length in these volumes. The 

 final discovery of the North Pole was the re- 

 sult of ages of adventurous expeditions, while 

 the discovery of the South Pole was the quick 

 result of expert observation and scientifically- 

 prepared expeditions. 



Arctic Explorations 



Discovery of the North Pole. After repeated 

 ;<ts by other explorers, the North Pole 

 was located by Commander Robert E. Peary of 

 the United States navy, on April 6, 1909. Peary 

 had sp> a quarter of a century in Arc- 



tic exploration, and his achievements entitle 

 rank with the foremost explorers of his 



day. Peary's successful expedition left New 

 York in the steamer Roosevelt in July, 1908, 

 and on August 8 rcachl tin- most northerly 

 inhabited point in Greenland. In command of 

 the Roosevelt was R. Bartlctt, who had had 

 great < in navigating Arctic seas with 



previous expeditions. 



