ABSTRACT
PEOPLE often ask what the northern races do during the pitch-dark, unbroken nights before and after the winter solstice, at a time when men and women, especially those who live beneath the celestial Pole, need to enjoy the favour of the sun’s light to pursue their occupations; and again people ask what they do during the season of continuous light in the summer, when no darkness at all appears for almost six months. Therefore, with reference to the material I have set out previously in some of the earlier chapters of Bk I, 1 we should here consider the information given by Ptolemy in Bk II, Ch. 6, of his Almagest. He tells us that on the thirty-ninth parallel the longest day lasts six months; under this parallel are situated the peoples and regions which are most remote and nearest to the Pole, in other words, the Lapplanders, Bothnians, and the islanders of Iceland. At the thirty-eighth parallel the longest day is of five months; here lie Svealand, Halsingland, Angermanland, and the northern parts of Norway. At the thirty-sixth parallel, where Gotaland, Muscovy, Russia, and Livonia are situated, the longest day is thought to last for three months. 2
Perpetual night
Perpetual daylight
Lapps, Bothnians, Icelanders Upper Sweden Götaland
