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From a proposal made by the National Library of
Norway, University Library of Tromso, a network of national
libraries of the Scandinavian Countries, and the Federation of
Russia, the Culture Committee elected this route in 1997.
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This theme aims at clarifying the exchanges
between Europe and other continents of the Far North, as well as
between the Baltic and the Barents Seas.
 territories of myths
The areas of the Far North are known to have
generated since antiquity myths related to dangers and demons. It
is the case for example of the myth of supermen, the "Hyperborean"
of the Greeks or Nietzsche's "Ubermensch". Knowing them better
should enrich the ensemble of data concerning the mythical bases of
Europe.
voyages of discovery
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Boreal aurora
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Voyages towards these unknown territories, whose
access was regarded as forbidden for a long time, started with
Pytheas, the Greek who gave the name of Ultima Thule to these
territories, and continued thanks to many explorers, starting from
the Vikings themselves, continuing with the attempts of Willem
Barentzs at the end of the sixteenth century, up to the more recent
expeditions of Roald Amundsen.
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But these voyages of course aimed at searching for
a commercial passage towards the North-East and the North-West,
similar to those discovered towards the Far East.
If scientists have always been attracted to them
due to their local atmospheric phenomena, that accounts for only
about fifty years, more exactly since satellites brought back
photographic images of the North of the globe, since the
territories of the North have been the subject of in-depth research
regarding geophysical or electromagnetic phenomena and the analysis
of particles.
The project thus aims, through the reading of
these many accounts that speak about the fascinating spectacle of
nature, with its aurora borealis and its nocturnal suns, which
evoke the components of the Sami culture, at attracting the
interest of contemporary tour operators in search of new products
in the field of exploration and cultural tourism.
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It is in this direction that the project should
now evolve, due to the implementation of a transverse project
within the Council of Europe, a project that wishes, by taking up
the title of this route, to make it possible that "Europeans meet
Europeans", especially in territories that deserve to be
rediscovered.
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 other web sites
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documents
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media library
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