What is Polar History?

What is polar history?  This is a question we’re asking in the introduction to Cambridge History of the Polar regions volume that we’re working on at the moment.  Like many things, we know what we mean by ‘polar regions’, but pinning down a precise definition is more difficult.  The act of bringing together the Arctic and Antarctica into a single volume is problematic in a number of ways, and acknowledging these problems helps to highlight some of the contradictions and tensions inherent in the idea of ‘polar history’.  Please get in touch if you have any thoughts on the meaning of polar history.