Arctic

Introduction
Physical geography
- The land
  - Geology
  - Continental ice sheets of the past
  - Terrain
  - Drainage and soils
  - Present-day glaciation
  - Greenland ice sheet
  - Other glacier groups
- Climate
- Plant and animal life
  - Vegetation
  - Animal life
    - Animals of the land and fresh water
    - Marine fauna
The people
- Adaptations to local environments
- Identification of Eastern and Western Arctic cultures
- Relations with the encompassing nation-states
- Peoples and cultures of the Eurasian Arctic and subarctic
  - Ethnic composition
  - Peoples of Fennoscandia and northwestern Siberia
  - North-central and northeastern Siberian groups
  - Linguistic affiliations
  - Demography
  - History of settlement
  - Traditional culture
- Peoples and cultures of the American Arctic
  - Linguistic composition
  - Ethnic groups
  - History of settlement
  - Traditional cultures
    - Seasonally migratory peoples: the northern Yupiit and the Inuit
    - Sedentary peoples: the southern Yupiit and the Unangan (Aleuts)
  - Historical developments
    - Greenland
    - Southern and southwestern Alaska
    - Canada and northern Alaska
  - Contemporary developments
The economy
- Resources
  - Mineral resources
  - Biological resources
  - Other renewable resources
- Transportation
  - Water transport
  - Land transport
  - Air transport
- Human resources
- Political and environmental issues
  - Administration
  - Environmental concerns
  - The Arctic in international affairs
Study and exploration
- The Northeast Passage
  - English and Dutch exploration of the Eurasian Arctic
  - Early Russian exploration
  - Conquest of the Northeast Passage
- The Northwest Passage
  - Early voyages of exploration
  - 19th-century attempts at the passage
  - Traverses of the passage in the 20th century
- Whale fisheries and the fur trade
- The North Pole
  - Attempts from Svalbard and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
  - The Fram expedition
  - The race for the pole
- Scientific exploration
  - Svalbard
  - The Russian Arctic
  - Greenland(Kalaallit Nunaat)
  - The North American Arctic
  - The Arctic Ocean

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Svalbard, Norway

subarctic and Arctic regions

mountain peaks, Nunavut, Canada

Life of polar bear cubs in the Canadian Arctic

Survival challenges for polar bear cubs in the Arctic

An Arctic fox in the process of shedding its white winter coat for a darker summer coat, standing on grass with rocks in the background.

white-tailed ptarmigan with winter plumage

white-tailed ptarmigan with summer plumage

Arctic

northernmost region of the Earth

Written by

Tim IngoldAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 14, 2026 •History

Arctic, northernmost region of Earth, centred on the North Pole and characterized by distinctively polar conditions of climate, plant and animal life, and other physical features. The term is derived from the Greek arktos (“bear”), referring to the northern constellation of the Bear. It has sometimes been used to designate the area within the Arctic Circle—a mathematical line that is drawn at latitude 66°30′ N, marking the southern limit of the zone in which there...

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