Cold region - The Arctic Arctic, AHRKtihk, is the region of continuous cold around the North Pole. It includes the Artic Ocean(the smallest ocean in the world), thousands of islands, and the northern parts of the continents of Europe, Asia and North America. People long believed that the Arctic was a cold, barren place where human beings could not live. But explorers and scientists found that, except for Greenland, nine-tenths of all arctic lands have no snow and ice in summer. Berries, vegetables and flowers grow in a few places. The sun never shines on much of the Arctic during the winter. But it shines on the entire region for at least part of the day from March to September. The Arctic has great importance to human beings. Information from arctic weather stations helps scientists predict the weather farther south - in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States. Northern nations such as Canada, The Soviet union and the United States have built military installations in the Arctic to protect their frontiers and trade routse. To build these military installations, people have had to learn many things about this harsh region of the world. Engineers have learned how to construct houses on the permanently frozen soil, and scientists have studied the plant and animal life to find ways that people can survive in the Arctic. A number of people live in the Arctic. They come from a variety of backgrounds, but all have adapted to the Arctic in similar ways. For example, all Arctic people make their clothings from animal skins. Their chief food is meat and fish. Eskimoes are the most widespread from northeastern Greenland to the Siberian coast of the Bering Sea. The Arctic has served as an important source of food since prehistoric times. Over 10,000 years ago, during the last period of the Ice Age in Europe, people who made tools like those of the modern Eskimoes hunted in the Arctic.