THE EUROPEANS IN THE PEOPLING OF THE WORLD
OBJECTIVES:
KNOW-HOWS:
A- LOCATE: THE MAJOR AREAS OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT, THE NORTH POLE SITES
B- EXPLAIN:
B.1. EXPLAIN WHY AND HOW THESE SETTLEMENTS WERE DONE
B.2. DISTINGUISH THE PUSH FROM THE PULL FACTORS
B.3. THE VARIOUS CONSEUQUENCES OF THESE EXPEDITIONS
C- LINK THE NORTH POLAR EXPEDITIONS TO THE EUROPEAN DEMOGRAPHICS (POPULATION GROWTH) AND TO ITS CULTURAL IMAGINARIES
D- ORAL PARTICIPATION :
C.1. PRODUCE ARGUED ANSWERS FROM THE QUESTIONS ON THE SOURCES
C.2. DISCUSS IN OPEN MODE WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR
C.3. TEST THE DNL VOCABULARY THROUGH A PICTIONARY-STYLE EXERCIZE
GENERAL SKILLS:
E- READ, CLASSIFY, MATCH AND COMPARE DATA FROM STATISTICS, MAPS, TEXTS,...
F- BUILD / FILL IN A TIMELINE
G- DRAW A ROUGH SKETCH OF EUROPEAN EXPEDITIONS IN THE NORTH POLE
H- GIVE A SHORT AND CLEAR DEFINITION OF THE LESSON’S CONCEPTS (MASUVECOMP = Majuscule, Subject, Verb, Complement, Point)
I- LOCATE EUROPEAN POPULATION FLOWS AND SETTLEMENTS ON A MAP
J- LEARN DNL HG - ENGLISH DATA + VOCABULARY: CLIMATE / NAVIGATION / POLAR GEOGRAPHY / RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS / ...
LESSON
Introduction
 I- LOCATE EUROPEAN POPULATION FLOWS AND SETTLEMENTS ON A MAP
 C.1. PRODUCE ARGUED ANSWERS FROM THE QUESTIONS ON THE SOURCES
The world population presents a contrasted situation: emptied spaces coexist with full ones.
Name the main population centers on the map
What are the main emptied spaces and why?
Apart from the Asian and African original settlements, Europeans have established a community of cultures in the western part
of the Eurasian continent: Europe is a cultural peninsula.
 J- LEARN DNL HG - ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Here, they benefit from a _________ climate, as they belong to the _________________ zone with no ________________ of
cold or warm temperatures. Their huge littoral _______________ creates an opportunity to move abroad and to develop
exchanges. Their economies were not restricted to ______________: trade became Europeans’ main sector of activities.
TASK. Choose among the words provided those which fit the best the blanks:
“Temperate - Mild - Extremes - Farming – Façade”
Thus, the expansion of Europeans to the North does not seem logical, considering the natural obstacles and dangers... (Winter
temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −43 °C (−45 °F) to −26 °C (−15 °F), averaging around −34 °C (−29 °F)).
 How to explain the attraction force of the North Pole for Europeans?
 What did their peopling impact on in the Artic?
1. MAP OF THE MAIN ARCTIC LOCATIONS
 A- LOCATE: THE MAJOR AREAS OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT, THE NORTH POLE SITES
With the help of the Atlas provided,
neatly locate the following locations:
GREENLAND
CANADA
NORWAY
RUSSIA
ELLESMERE ISLAND: 1
SEA OF LABRADOR: 2
BAY OF BAFFIN: 3
LAND OF BAFFIN: 4
2. PUSH AND PULL FACTORS
 J- LEARN DNL HG - ENGLISH DATA + VOCABULARY: CLIMATE / NAVIGATION / POLAR GEOGRAPHY / RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS / ...
Moral / spiritual motivations. From the indications below, deduct or cite what motivated these different explorers, where they
marked their ship journey, then report these places on your map.
Two examples of depictions of the polar zone, still plausible in CE 19 th – 20th c.,seen as a gate of entry into...
Classical Greek poet Pindar described the
otherworldly (mystical) perfection of the
Hyperboreans:
#2. From Gerardus Mercator,
#1. From Marshall E. Gardner, A
Hyperborea, 1595
journey to the Earth’s Interior (1928)
Gate of entry into...
Gate of entry into...
Give these theories the correct hashtag:
Hollow Earth Theory
Theory of Polar Heaven
“Never the Muse is absent
from their ways: lyres clash and
flutes cry
and
everywhere
maiden
choruses whirling *.
Neither disease nor bitter old age
is mixed
in their sacred blood; far from
labor and battle they live”
(* to whirl = to move in a circle)
Inner Continent Theory
 These three visions of the polar zone and its ice floe* reflect the cultural imaginaries of the Europeans, a driving force which
accounts for their expeditions northwards. Jules Verne was not only a novellist (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864); he
took his inspiration from scientific hypotheses of his time, as he inspired their successors... If the entrance to the nether world
was never found, it has still vehicled fanciful ideas, whether on the origins of flying saucers (e.g. The X-Files) or on the origins of
human life (René Barjavel’s The Ice People, in Antarctica).
Vocabulary: * ice floe = banquise
Genesis Excerpts: 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters.7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second
day.
Adventurers and explorers: what motivations?
 E- READ, CLASSIFY, MATCH AND COMPARE DATA FROM STATISTICS, MAPS, TEXTS,...
Who
What
when
how
/ Sir James Clark
/ Ross (April 15,
1800 - April 3,
1862) was a
British explorer
and naval officer
who went on
missions to both
the Arctic and the
continent
of
Antarctica, doing
magnetic
surveys.
Ross
went on Arctic
expeditions with
Sir William E.
Parry from 1819
to 1827. Ross
and his uncle, Sir
John
Ross,
located the North
Magnetic
Pole,
on
Boothia
Peninsula
(in
northern Canada)
on May 31 - June
1, 1831.
Motivation(s)
Location
of
the
journey’s
end
Outcome
Roald Amundsen
(1872-1928) was a
Norwegian
polar
explorer who was
the first person to
fly over the North
Pole in a dirigible
(May 11-13, 1926)
and was the first
person to reach
the South Pole,
which he flew over
from an airship. He
was also the first
person to reach
both the North and
South
Poles.
Amundsen died in
a
plane
crash
during the second
flight over in 1928,
attempting
to
rescue his friend,
the Italian explorer
Umberto
Nobile,
who was lost in an
airship on the ice
pack.
Robert
Edwin
Peary (May 6,
1856 - Feb. 20,
1920)
was
an
American explorer
and Naval officer
who led the first
expedition to the
North Pole. Peary,
Matthew
A.
Henson, and four
Eskimos were the
first
people
to
reach the North
Pole. In 1908,
Peary and his
party sailed to
Ellesmere Island.
In early March,
1909,
the
expedition left their
base
camp
at
Cape
Columbia
and headed north
in
dog
sleds.
Pearyand his team
reached the North
Pole on April 6,
1909
Sir John Franklin
(1786-1847) was an
English explorer and
Admiral who proved
the existence of a
Northwest Passage (a
water route from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean through
Canada). On a second
expedition, from 1825
to
1827,
Franklin
explored the North
American coast from
the mouth of the
Mackenzie River, in
northwestern Canada,
westward to Point
Beechey
(Alaska,
USA).
In 1845,
Franklin sailed from
England
with
an
expedition of 128 men
to Canada in search of
Northwest Passage.
The ship became
trapped in ice, and the
desperate,
freezing
and starving survivors
resorted
to
cannibalism. A small
contingent
(without
Franklin) may have
reached
Simpson
Strait, the final part of
the
Northwest
Passage.
The
expedition had died of
starvation
and
exposure in the Arctic.
Lead poisoning from
poorly-canned
food
may
have
also
hastened their death.
Sir
Alexander
Mackenzie (1755?1820)
was
a
Scottish-born
fur
trader and explorer
who charted the
Mackenzie River in
Canada and also
traveled to the
Pacific Ocean. In
1789, Mackenzie
went
on
an
expedition to chart
the
1,100-mile
Mackenzie River,
travelling from the
Great Slave Lake
to the mouth of the
Mackenzie in the
Arctic Ocean. He
was
the
first
European to cross
the North American
continent north of
Mexico (and he did
this
twice).
Mackenzie
wrote
“Voyage
from
Montreal on the
River St. Lawrence,
Through
the
Continent of North
America, to the
Frozen and Pacific
Oceans, in the
Years 1789 and
1793,” which was
published in 1801.
Charles
Francis
Hall
(1821
–
November 8, 1871)
was an American
Arctic explorer. In
his first expedition
(1860–63), he got
as far as Baffin
Island, thanks to
Inuit
guides
Ebierbing
("Joe")
and
Tookoolito
("Hannah"). For the
third expedition, he
received a grant of
$50,000 from the
U.S. Congress an
expedition to the
North Pole in the
ship Polaris. He
settled in 1871 for
the winter on the
shore of northern
Greenland.
Upon
returning to the
ship from a sledging
expedition,
Hall
suddenly fell ill
after drinking a cup
of
coffee.
He
collapsed in a fit.
Tests on tissue
samples of bone,
fingernails and hair
showed that Hall
died of poisoning.
Arsenic
was
a
common ingredient
of quack medicines
of the time. But it is
possible that he
was murdered by
one of the other
members, possibly
Dr. Bessels.
Now place these journeys on the timeline
 F- BUILD / FILL IN A TIMELINE
Discussions:
C.2. DISCUSS IN OPEN MODE WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR
Preparation task: what are the push and pull factors different in? Which ones would have attracted you most?
Debate: “A mother refuses his son to go to the North Pole expedition as organized by Sir John Franklin”. Within a
group of 2, contradict the arguments of the other (Mother / Son).
Use the check list below to assess for the debate.
ITEMS
Expected to be... LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
Pronunciation Clear, correct
Fluency
With intonations
Lexicon
Rich, varied
Conviction
Convinced
Accuracy
Strong in details
Level 1 : Not achieved
Level 2 : Low level of assimilation
Level 3 : Good level of assimilation
Level 4: Quite Good
Summary:
“As early as the 16th century (1), many eminent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea, which in the 19th century was
called the Polynya (2) or Open Polar Sea. It was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year.
Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships (3), already commonly used in the cold northern latitudes. One of the
earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who
in 1827 reached latitude 82°45° North. In 1871 the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, ended in disaster.
The first consistent, verified, and scientifically convincing attainment of the Pole was on 12 May 1926, by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen
and his US sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth from the airship Norge. Norge, though Norwegian-owned, was designed and piloted by the Italian
Umberto Nobile. The flight started from Svalbard in Norway, and crossed the Arctic Ocean to Alaska. Nobile, with several scientists and crew
from the Norge, overflew the Pole a second time on 24 May 1928, in the airship Italia. The Italia crashed on its return from the Pole, with the
loss of half the crew.”
(1) as early as =
(2) Polynya = litteraly “unfrozen sea within the ice pack”
(3) whaling ships =
4. THE IMPACTS OF EUROPEAN THEN WESTERN PEOPLING: A DAMAGED PARADISE?
Here is a list of various impacts of European the Western explorations.
Classify them regarding their subject, aspect or meaning, into three categories. Justify on your choice.
(NB: ice cap = la calotte glaciaire ; ice pack = floatting ice)
Jean Malaurie, French The development of the
anthropologist,
scurvy (scorbut) – a
geographer, physicist disease mainly due to a
and writer, helped draw deficiency in Vitamin C
the first genealogical – , which affected many
tree of the Native Inuits early explorers, helped
(syn. of “esquimos”). He doctors understand the
planned their fertility necessity of eating
to avoid blood relations fresh fruits and having
within the same Inuit exposition to the sun.
families.
It has been discovered that Jean
Malaurie
4 million people live in the discovered on June
Arctic. The region with a 16,
1951,
the
reputation of being a American military
desolate,
lifeless, air base of Thule,
inhospitable place, is in fact, built in secret to
from Alaska to Siberia, the host
nuclear
home for many indigenous bombers, and he
peoples. Over thousands of decided to publicly
years, Arctic peoples have stand up against
adapted
to
their the establishment
environment, subsisting on of this base, for
the bounty of land and sea, which the local
to live and prosper. Their population wasn’t
experience is of inestimable consulted.
importance.
Impacts _ Category #1:
British-born
novelist
Roald Dahl, author of
“Charlie
and
the
Chocolate
Factory”
(amongst others), was
named after Roald
Amundsen’s first name.
His parents celebrated
the conqueror of the
North Pole.
The
experience
of
travelling and living in
harsh
climatic
conditions is of great
scientific interest. Now,
there are studies to
prove the capacity of
human organism to
adapt itself to shortage
conditions.
While the polar maps
were being drawn, the
oil and gas businesses
startedd to covet the
region. They saw the
conquest
as
an
opportunity to explore
the shores and the
marine floors.
About 5% of people on Associations
and Seal
hunting
has
expeditions
met institutions
like the outreached the number
psychiatric disorders, UNESCO
ardently of 275,000 in 2008. This
resulting from exposure defend the right of provoked a hardening
to long periods of Arctic
minorities, of procedures and
isolation
and currently threatened by quotas, to limit the
confinement. However, the development of extinction
of
the
more (people) also industries
and
oil species, limitating it to
experience
positive activities in the Great 70,000 a year.
outcomes
resulting North.
In the 1950s and 1960s
from
coping
with Preservation of Inuit an average of over
stress ; polar conditions language, fishing zones, 291,000 seal pups were
enhance
self- rituals
and
social killed each year. This
sufficiency, improved traditions are their led to a population
health, team leadership main objectives.
decline to less than 2
and personal growth.
million seals.
Impacts _ Category #2:
Impacts _ Category #2:
5. THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE ARCTIC: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?
The Northern ice cap is
shrinking at a rate of about
3% per decade.
Currently, the melting of the
ice pack creates a new strait
North
of
Canada,
an
attractive passage
for
container ships as it allows to
save 7,000 km by comparison
with the Panama Canal way.
“An inconvenient truth”, Al Gore, 2006.
What makes the preservation of the North Polar ice cap
so vital to the planet?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Your mission: to save the Northern Paradise before it vanishes. Write a letter to the United Nations in order to slow down global
warming and to improve the protection of this ecosystem. Insist with a petition on www.change.org.
(Preamble: recall the universal principles you defend) (Articles: what your demand & propose + solutions and sanctions)
See also the video on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_shrinkage
Conclusion
Discovered by adventurous explorers, motivated by the European cultural imaginaries and by religions, the North
Pole kept its secret passage to the next or inner world. Yet, the current responsibility of human beings is to maintain
the existence of Inuit cultural identity, to preserve the ecosystem for the sustaniable development of everyone.
Maybe Paradise is not there, but life for sure, just our life, which is probably the most important treasure of all.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” (anonymous proverb).
http://agartha.greyfalcon.us/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/arctic.shtml
http://www.noatuk.fr/expeditions-polenord-peary-noatuk.html