THE ARCTIC GRAVEYARD

Long time ago I started another of my mammoth projects, the ARTIC GRAVEYARD, a map which shows (or will show when finished) all the men and women killed or lost in "action" while participating in polar expeditions. It also includes the graves of those who were lucky to come back  home, or at least made it to die between the two polar circles at home or in the course of any other adventure.

I think this was the first "Geographical" project on which I began to work but for some reason it has been the last of all on seeing the light. Though it is far from being complete I have decided to publish it now and not waiting a minute more to finish it, a thing it would likely never happen.

Jonathan Dore, the polar specialist, did some months ago a huge contribution to the project forwarding me a map with lots of these "polar casualties". His work was mainly focused in the earlier centuries of polar exploration, precisely the most difficult area of the history to scan. You can imagine my face when he, a man I have never met in person, did that. What Jonathan, and other polar friends I have made in the course of the years I have been working on this blog, did are the kind of things which makes me keep on working amateurishly hard for all those who have interest in this things.

So, here it is the result of the combination of our join work. I hope you will like it and will amaze, the same I did before the impressive sight of all those places spreaded all over the world where so many died. It is also horrific thinking that a big number of those lost people were, and will, never  found.

I have deduced from my other previous works that a cooperative work is essential to give shape to this kind of projects. I have counted in the former ones with the disinterested and invaluale help of many polar enthusiasts which have assisted me to make more perfect and decent maps like the map which shows where the relics of the Franklin expedition are, the map which shows many of the polar memorials and other polar related elements which are spreaded all over the world and maybe the most ambitious of all, one which is aiming to show all the routes followed by the polar explorations of all times. You can visit them in the maps section of this blog and colaborate if you want. I can´t offer nothing in compensation but a "Thank you" in the box which bears the description of the pinned item.

Now it has come the time to honour those men and woman who lost their lives trying to reach the Arctic and Antarctic chimeras wherever they were or were located. Whenever it has been possible names and dates of those who died have been added to the description of the pins or to the labels, which only in some cases are accurately located. Many more death places will come in the future to fill some blanks but many others will likely remain unknown forever.

Now, let´s take a look to this particular worldwide Polar Hall of fame and amaze ourselves before the impressive dimensions of the tragedy which by definition is linked to the term "Polar exploration".

Enjoy it!!