File:The continent we live on (1961) (20061772884).jpg

Title: The continent we live on
Identifier: continentweliveo00sandrich (find matches)
Year: 1961 (1960s)
Authors: Sanderson, Ivan Terence, 1911-1973
Subjects: Physical geography; Natural history
Publisher: New York : Random House
Contributing Library: New College of California
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Doorway to North America The Arctic Ice Raft, Greenland, the Islands, and the Barren Lands of Keewatin and Ungava Men have been coming to the continent of North America from other lands since sometime during the last so-called ice age. They came from two sides: the first, it would seem, from the west; the Europeans, from the east. Both parties consequently gained a somewhat lopsided impression of the land because both looked at it from only one angle, as it were. To the Eskimos and the Amerindians coming from Asia the horizon was to the east; to the Europeans and Africans it was to the west, though the Spaniards approached from the south and then veered west. The last remaining avenue of approach is from the north, and this is in any case the most desirable. It is not only modern and logical but it is also a convenient route, for we are primarily interested in those natural aspects of this continent that are not the out- come of human activity. These display an orderly procession and one arranged basically by latitude so that the easiest path along which to march across them is from north to south. Maps are splendid devices but because we have to put them on flat, two-dimensional pieces of paper and have developed the habit of putting the north at the top, they give us, in most cases, a distorted idea of reality, and the more so the farther north or south we go. If, however, you look at a globe, both this and many other things will become immediately apparent. There is a huge circular area up north, well over 8,000,000 square miles in extent, of which more than 2,600,000 square miles are land or ice lying on land. From the center of this round area (namely, the North Pole) to its edge is 1600 miles. Almost three-quarters of the total land surface of our continent thus lies therein: namely, 2,506,000 out of a total of 9,355,000 square miles. Within this arbitrary circle there is great variation in cli- mate, land surface, and vegetation. The over-all concept that most of us hold of this great part of the surface of our earth is quite erroneous. For instance, there is no North Polar icecap; it is an ice raft, which is something quite different—though there is an icecap on Greenland. Icebergs and sea ice are not the same; the former is formed on land and is fresh, the latter is formed in the sea and is salt at first but goes fresh in two years. Al- though the soil of the Arctic is saturated and there is standing Polar bears crossing Arctic ice pans. The lanes of water be- tween the old hummocky pans have refrozen and the ani- mals may have to trek to open water to hunt.
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