Sixty Degrees North (33 page)

River Neva
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5

Rocky Mountains
ref1

Roosevelt, Franklin D.
ref1

Roost, The
ref1

Rostral Columns, St Petersburg
ref1

Rudbeck, Olof
ref1

Russia
ref1
,
ref2

collapse of Soviet Union
ref1

failed uprising of 1825
ref1

Revolution of 1917
ref1
,
ref2

Russian Academy of Sciences
ref1

Russian-American Company
ref1
,
ref2

Russian Museum, St Petersburg
ref1

Russian River
ref1

St Bridget
ref1

St Erik (King Erik Jedvardsson)
ref1
,
ref2

St Herman
ref1

St Isaac, Cathedral of (St Petersburg)
ref1
,
ref2

St Isodore, Church of (Fort Smith, Canada)
ref1

St Kilda
ref1

St Nicholas, Old Believer's Church of (St Petersburg)
ref1
,
ref2

St Paul
(ship)
ref1

St Peter
(ship)
ref1
,
ref2

St Peter and St Paul, Cathedral of (St Petersburg)
ref1

St Petersburg
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5

Aleksanderovskiy Park
ref1

Bronze Horseman statue
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3

Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan
ref1
,
ref2

Cathedral of St Isaac
ref1
,
ref2

Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul
ref1

Decembrists' Square
ref1

Finland Station
ref1

foundation of
ref1
,
ref2

haphazard architecture of
ref1

Hermitage Museum
ref1

known as Leningrad
ref1

known as Petrograd
ref1

Nevsky Prospekt
ref1

Old Believers Church of St Nicholas
ref1
,
ref2

Palace Square
ref1

River Neva
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5

Rostral Columns
ref1

Russian Museum
ref1

Stroganov Palace
ref1
,
ref2

Uprising Square
ref1

Winter Palace
ref1

see also
Leningrad and Petrograd

Sakha people
ref1

salmon fishing
ref1
,
ref2

Salt River
ref1

Sanders, Scott Russell
ref1

Sandvikvåg
ref1

Sandwick
ref1
,
ref2

Saqqaq people
ref1

Saskatchewan
ref1

saunas
ref1

Scalloway
ref1

Scandinavian crime writing
ref1
,
ref2

Scott, Captain Robert Falcon
ref1

sea eagles
ref1
,
ref2

sea ice
ref1

sea lions
ref1
,
ref2

sea otters
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4

seals
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5
,
ref6

Seat of Mandrup
ref1

Selbjorn
ref1

Self, Will
ref1

selkies (seal people)
ref1

Seward
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5

Shalamov, Varlam
ref1

shamans
ref1
,
ref2

Sheep Pund
ref1

Shetland
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5
,
ref6
,
ref7
,
ref8
,
ref9
,
ref10
,
ref11
,
ref12
,
ref13
,
ref14
,
ref15
,
ref16
,
ref17
,
ref18
,
ref19
,
ref20
,
ref21
,
ref22
,
ref23
,
ref24

called Thule by Ptolemy
ref1

early peoples of
ref1

‘hillfolk' (
trows
)
ref1

importance of peat
ref1

selkies, stories of
ref1

severe gales in
ref1

whaling industry
ref1

windfarms on
ref1

‘Shetland Bus'
ref1

Shetland Times
ref1

Shirreff, John
ref1

Shostakovich, Dmitri
ref1

Sibelius, Jean
ref1

Siberia
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4

climate of
ref1
,
ref2

gold mining in
ref1

gulags
ref1
,
ref2

shamans in
ref1
,
ref2

uranium mining in
ref1

siege of Leningrad, 941
ref1

Sigurd o'Gord
ref1

sila
(life force), concept of
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3

sisu
(perseverance), concept of
ref1

skraelings
ref1

skylarks
ref1
,
ref2

Slave Lake
ref1

Slave River
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4

Smith's Landing (later Fort Fitzgerald)
ref1
,
ref2

Snyder, Gary
ref1

Soini, Timo
ref1

Solan IV
ref1

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
ref1

South Georgia
ref1

South Pole
ref1

Soviet Union
ref1

Spruce Island
ref1

Stalin, Joseph
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3

Stang, Fabian
ref1

Statoil
ref1

Steller, Georg
ref1
,
ref2

Stenskov, Bolethe
ref1

Sterling Highway
ref1
,
ref2

Stokell, Sam
ref1

Stolmen
ref1

Stoltenber, Jens
ref1

storis
(pack ice)
ref1

Stroganov Palace, St Petersburg
ref1

Sturluson, Snorri
ref1

Sumburgh Head
ref1

swans
ref1

Sweden
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5
,
ref6
,
ref7

member of the EU
ref1

occupying Finland
ref1

Protestant reformation in
ref1
,
ref2

xenophobic politics in
ref1

Swedenborg, Emmanuel
ref1

Swedish People's Party
ref1

taiga
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4

Tall, Deborah
ref1

Tallinn
ref1

Tammisaari –
see
Ekenäs

Thomson, Tom
ref1

Thor
ref1

Thule (name for Shetland)
ref1

Thule people
ref1

tirricks
–
see
arctic terns

Tree of Knowledge
ref1

trows
ref1

True Finns group
ref1

tundra
ref1
,
ref2

Tuniit people
ref1
,
ref2

Turku
ref1

unicorns –
see
narwhal

Up Helly Aa festival
ref1
,
ref2

Uppsala
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3

Gamla (Old) Uppsala
ref1

University of
ref1
,
ref2

Uprising Square, St Petersburg
ref1

Ural Mountains
ref1
,
ref2

uranium mining
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3

Utøya
ref1

VÃ¥ge
ref1

van Pelt, Jacques
ref1
,
ref2

Vancouver
ref1

Vasilevsky Island
ref1
,
ref2

Viking people
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5
,
ref6
,
ref7
,
ref8
,
ref9

Viking Ship Museum, Oslo
ref1

Vitebsky, Piers
ref1

Volkov, Mikhail
ref1

von Linne, Carl (Linnaeus)
ref1

walrus
ref1
,
ref2

Wanderers, The
ref1

Watt-Cloutier, Sheila
ref1

West, Rebecca
ref1

Western Settlement (Greenland)
ref1

whales
ref1
,
ref2
,
ref3
,
ref4
,
ref5

whaling
ref1
,
ref2

Whitehorse
ref1
,
ref2

windfarms
ref1

Winnipeg
ref1

Winter Palace, St Petersburg
ref1

wolves
ref1

Wood Buffalo National Park
ref1
,
ref2

Yelagin Island
ref1

Yellowknife
ref1
,
ref2

Yggdrassil (the World Tree)
ref1

Yngling dynasty
ref1

Yukaghir people
ref1

Yukon Territory
ref1

Acknowledgements

Peter Davidson offered me encouragement when all I had was an idea. He read the earliest chapters and patiently guided me in the right direction. Without his kindness this book would probably never have been written.

During my travels the following people were particularly helpful and hospitable: Rie Oldenburg in Narsaq; Hilary LeRoy-Gauthier, Shawn Bell and Sam Stokell in Fort Smith; Eva Meyer and Maria Jarlsdotter Enckell in Mariehamn; and especially Jeff and Cassandra Raun in Anchorage.

Numerous friends assisted me in one way or another, but Jordan Ogg, Amy Liptrot, Martin MacInnes, Rob Duncan, Ruth Cockshott and Charlene Storey all deserve particular mention. So too do my friends at Nice 'n' Sleazy's acoustic night in Glasgow, who helped me through the last months of writing with their fine company and songs.

Thanks to my agent, Jenny Brown; to Esther Woolfson for her invaluable input; to Gavin Francis; to my editor, Tom Johnstone; and to everyone at Polygon/Birlinn. Thanks also to Creative Scotland, the Scottish Book Trust, Emergents, Shetland Arts and the Arts Trust of Scotland.

I began writing this book while living in Fair Isle. My love for that place and that community will last a lifetime, as will my gratitude towards people there. I felt truly at home on the isle, and still do, in a way that I have never done anywhere else; and my understanding of that crucial word – home – which is at the heart of this book, was shaped by my time there.

Thanks, finally, to my family, for putting up with me.

Author's Note

Three people quoted in this book were unaware that our conversations might be published. I have therefore changed their names.

Shetland: Mousa Broch.

Greenland: drift ice near Nanortalik.