ally the peoples of the northlands will be drawn more and 
more into world affairs from lower latitudes. It is unlikely 
that the Eskimos and other native peoples will maintain 
their identity indefinitely. We who have known these re- 
markable peoples even slightly contemplate with profound 
regret the eventuality that they will become casualties of 
our advancing “civilization.” 
Clearly the resources of the North Polar Lands are im- 
portant and hold high promise for further development, 
but the current role of the northlands in their relationship 
to human affairs derives not so much from economic factors 
as from their geographic location. 
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS 
By the sheer logic of its position, the Arctic is destined to 
become one of the great crossroads for air traffic on a global 
scale. Most of the earth’s regions — indeed, those most 
highly developed and, except for India and China, most 
populous — he about the Arctic. Lloyd calls attention to 
the fact that 90 per cent of the people live north of the 
equator, that 10 of the world’s largest cities lie between the 
Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer, and that only 9 of 
the world’s 41 cities with populations over a million lie out- 
side this zone.” The greater part of the world’s oceanic 
trafic has therefore been in the Northern Hemisphere. 
The shortest route from San Francisco to Shanghai is not 
across the Pacific but via Alaska, and the latter route is 
2300 miles shorter. If you were to travel by conventional 
routes on sea and land from San Francisco to Moscow, 
which would be via Tokyo and Vladivostok, you would 
cover 15,500 miles. If you flew over the Arctic, you would 
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