Polar Bear

Moving along, here we find an impressive resident of the North: the polar bear. 

The last great ice age saw the cooling of temperatures in the far north and different species emerge.

This is the skull of a mammoth.

Illustrations here include extinct animals of North America that ranged far into the northern reaches of the continent.

Here we have a three dimensional model of the Arctic.

Explorers would venture into the Arctic- some seeking knowledge, others seeking trade routes and riches.

Here we have items of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, a scientific endeavour that spent several years ranging through the North from 1913-18, learning much along the way.

A few decades earlier, the ill-fated Franklin Expedition went into northern waters and disappeared into the mists of time. The Erebus and the Terror, sailing under the command of Sir John A. Franklin in 1845, would be found in 2014 and 2016 in shallow Arctic waters. Some of the bodies of the men have been found, while other artifacts have been collected in the decades of searching for the ships and their crew. Items here from the expedition include things like a pipe, toothbrush, fish hook, or sheath. The story captivated the public back in the day, and the discovery of the ships has added on a new chapter to that story.

Of course, before white explorers, indigenous peoples had long been here. Items here include arrow shafts and tools.