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Whimsical look at the race to discover the North Pole.
The Americans, Germans, English, Spanish, Norwegians and French are seen vying for the top of the World, with a flag bearing a questionmark at the Polar Summit.
The map was almost certainly issued in the first decade of 20th Century, at a time when the first person to reach both the North and South Pole was being hotly contested. A French Silent Film entitled À la conquête du pôle was released in 1912, directed by and starring Georges Méliès. The film, loosely inspired by contemporary events and by Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires, follows the comic misadventures of an international group of explorers on an expedition to the North Pole, where they encounter a man-eating frost giant and a dangerous magnetic needle. This would not appear to be a promotional piece for the film, as the primary characters in the film included a Russian and a Chinese Character.
![[ Aurora Borealis ] Karte der Geographischen Verbreitung des Nordlichtes. Von H. Fritz](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/98483.jpg)
