THE RESOURCES OF THE ARCTIC AND THE 

 PROBLEM OF THEIR UTILIZATION 



Vilhjalmur Stefansson 



The value of the Arctic to civilization will depend on two chief 

 factors, its intrinsic qualities and its position in relation to the in- 

 habited lands. We shall first briefly discuss the latter and then 

 turn to some of its intrinsic values, namely the wealth of the sea and 

 the mineral and grazing resources. 



Positional Values 



The Arctic lies in the central part of a circular region enclosed 

 for the most part by northerly extensions of rich and densely populated 

 modern countries. Therefore, by the logic of position, it should be one 

 of the great crossroads of the world. It has instead been till now with- 

 out any roads at all, or any thoroughfare, by land or sea. The condi- 

 tions which determined this are, however, passing rapidly. The lands 

 themselves may long remain pathless and the seas permanently, but 

 we are about to realize that the northern air is a potential highway. 

 This realization will bring into play the Arctic's advantage of central 

 position, especially as flying conditions for crossing it are not unfavor- 

 able. 



With our unfortunate habit of looking too frequently at Mercator 

 charts, we have visualized the northward spread of civilization as a 

 march from centers near the equator to an extremity or a sort of 

 jumping-off place in the Arctic. But if we look instead at a globe, 

 which represents the earth truly because it is shaped like it, or at a 

 map of the northern hemisphere that has the equator for circumference 

 (and especially if we represent civilization on successive historical maps 

 as it advanced by millenniums), then we see it instead gradually crowd- 

 ing in towards a center. That central region is the Arctic. 



Such a picture of civilization crowding in towards a central Arctic 

 region may have been more vivid in the mind of Europe during Eliz- 

 abethan times than it has been recently. At any rate, the men of 

 that day were more alive than we have been since to the commercial 

 importance of the geographic fact that the nearest ways from many of 

 our world centers of commerce to the markets of China and Japan lie 

 northward across the Arctic. But no one found a practicable North- 

 east or Northwest Passage route, and not any route at all was found 

 leading more directly north to China. This made it seem for a time 



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