Union took over the east.
In 1941 Germany turned against the
Soviet Union and took over all of
Poland. The Nazis of Germany killed
about 3 million Polish Jews. This was
part of a massacre called the Holocaust.
Communism
The Soviet Union drove the German
army out of Poland in 1945. After the
war Poland lost its eastern lands to the
Soviet Union. However, it gained German
lands in the west. Meanwhile, the
Soviet Union set up a Communist government
in Poland. Secret police
arrested and sometimes killed people
who disagreed with the government.
In 1980 an electrician named Lech
Walesa helped bring together almost 10
million Polish workers into an organization
called Solidarity. It protested the
Communist government. In 1981 the
government made the group illegal.
Modern Poland
After more protests the government
made Solidarity legal in 1989.
Communism soon collapsed. In 1990
Poland electedWalesa president. He and
later leaders worked to improve the
economy. Poland joined the European
Union in 2004.
#More to explore
Communism • European Union
• Holocaust • Lithuania •Warsaw
•WorldWar II
966 1386 1772—95 1918 1939 1945 1989
Poland adopts
Christianity.
Poland and
Lithuania unite.
Russia, Austria,
and Prussia
take Poland’s
land; Poland
ceases to exist.
Poland is
reborn as an
independent
republic.
Germany
invades
Poland.
Poland
becomes a
Communist
country.
Poland’s
Communist
government
falls.
T I M E L I N E
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Poland 109
Polar Exploration
Polar exploration is the exploration of
the lands around the North and South
poles. The poles are the coldest and
most remote regions on Earth. The
North Pole is in the Arctic Ocean,
which is covered by a huge, floating ice
sheet. The South Pole is on land, in the
frozen continent of Antarctica.
Some early polar explorers used dogsleds
or went on foot. This was dangerous, as
huge cracks in the ice could swallow
dogs, sleds, and people. Other explorers
used ships. This also was dangerous, as
floating ice could wreck the ships. Later
explorers used icebreakers (ships that can
cut through ice), dirigibles (aircraft that
float like balloons), airplanes, and snowmobiles.
Reasons for Polar Exploration
People made early polar explorations for
a number of reasons. Some people
wanted the fame that would come from
being the first to reach an unknown
land. Others were hoping to discover
shorter sailing routes from Europe to
eastern Asia. Still others sought to get
rich from whale and seal hunting. More
recently, people began exploring the
polar regions to gather scientific information.
Many adventurous explorers
died or risked their lives trying to
achieve these goals.
Exploring the Arctic
Native peoples have lived in the regions
around the Arctic Ocean for thousands
of years. The first outsider to reach the
Arctic was probably an ancient Greek
named Pytheas. He reached Norway or
Iceland in about 300 BC. The Vikings of
Norway traveled to Iceland and Greenland
in the 800s and 900s.
By the 1500s the Dutch and the English
were venturing to the Arctic in search of
trade routes. In 1878–79 a Swedish
explorer, Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiold,
sailed from Europe through the
Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This
route was called the Northeast Passage.
In 1905 the Norwegian explorer Roald
Amundsen became the first to sail
through the Northwest Passage. This
was a route through the Arctic from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
The U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary
claimed to be the first person to reach
the North Pole, in 1909. Peary, Mat-
On May 1,
1986,
members of
the Steger
International
North Pole
Expedition
reached the
North Pole
assisted only
by dogs.
Matthew Henson (center) waves from the
North Pole in 1909. With him stand other
members of the group led by Robert E. Peary.
110 Polar Exploration BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
thew Henson, and four Eskimo (Inuit)
made the last part of the trip on
dogsleds. Some people later questioned
whether Peary really did reach the pole.
In 1926 Amundsen and two companions
flew over the North Pole in a dirigible.
In 1937 pilots from the Soviet
Union flew an airplane to the United
States over the North Pole. In 1958 a
U.S. submarine became the first ship to
cross the North Pole under the Arctic ice
sheet.
Exploring Antarctica
Several explorers first saw Antarctica in
1820. People first landed on the continent
in 1895. British explorers Robert F.
Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton each
led expeditions there in the early 1900s.
Scott reached the South Pole on January
18, 1912. He had hoped to be the first
to do so. However, Roald Amundsen
and four companions had reached the
pole a month earlier, on December 14,
1911. Scott and his men died on their
return trip.
In 1928 the U.S. explorer Richard E.
Byrd set up a base on an ice shelf on
Antarctica’s coast. Byrd made the first
flight over the South Pole in 1929.
Meanwhile, many countries were
becoming interested in the scientific
study of Antarctica. During 1957–58
scientists from several countries set up
50 bases throughout Antarctica for scientific
research. In 1959 a number of
countries signed the Antarctic Treaty.
